The Wolf Witch (The Keys Trilogy Book 1) by Anna Roberts Page A

where I’m from, right? I could have had the Keys. Fucking paradise . Not to mention an actual wolf witch to settle this kind of thing; we don’t chew on hearts like swamp trash down there, Reese. Because we leave the coronations to the old lady.”
    Reese snuffled. “Please.”
    “No. I don’t want it. What the hell made you think I ever did?”
    “I don’t know,” said Reese, in a mopey, childish voice. “You were always there. You put up with all his...bullshit all those years. I just figured...”
    “What? That I wanted to be next in line?” said Charlie. “Dream the fuck on, kiddo. Let me tell you something. I had a nice little coke operation going, okay? I had an apartment. I had money. I’d even put down money on a business property. Yeah, that’s right – old Charlie was going legit. I was going to spend my days frying up snapper and mahi-mahi and hosing the tourists for it. And you know what happened? The minute it got out that your old man was sick? That he might be losing control of his turf?”
    Reese shook his head.
    “Bunch of little shitbag kids,” said Charlie. “Fucking infants . Came around and set fire to it. Lost my deposit. Lost any chance of putting down cash on another property on account of the arson. And you know why they did that?”
    “Uhuh.”
    “Because I was loyal, Reese. Because they thought I was next in line. They wanted to send a message.”
    Grayson cleared his throat. “You’re not exactly selling this, Charlie.”
    “Fuck selling,” said Charlie. “What do you want to do, Gray? Ease him into it? There’s no time for easing. He needs to get the hell out there and show those people that the second verse is the same as the fucking first, even if he has to do it Okefenokee style with barbeque sauce. Son follows father. No regime change. Same deal.”
    Reese sniffed. There was a second when it looked like he might have actually been thinking about what he had to do, but then he glanced over at Lyle’s body and started to whimper again. “I’m not doing it.”
    “Please, Reese,” said Grayson, weighing in as the good cop. “How many more times do we have to explain the consequences to you? This is the only way the swamp wolves are ever going to accept that you’re in charge.”
    “I don’t wanna be in charge.”
    Charlie exhaled. “Oh my God, what are you? Five? I don’t want to do a lot of things. I don’t want to change into a goddamn wolf every time the full moon rolls around, but I don’t get any choice in the matter.”
    “I can’t,” said Reese, blubbering all over himself. “I can’t eat...”
    “You’ve eaten worse,” said Grayson, with a sharpness so sudden that even Charlie flinched. “Usually deep fried and swimming in fucking corn syrup.”
    Reese stopped sniveling and stared.
    “Wow,” said Charlie, glancing at Grayson with a new respect. “Really?”
    “I’m old,” said Grayson, moving over to the bed. He slid his hands under Lyle’s lifeless shoulders. “I’m tired. And I really like that new couch.”
    Finally. Someone was doing something . “Here, I’ll take the top half,” said Charlie. “Get his legs.”

 
    6
     
    “Can I ask you something?” said Blue, swinging her beer bottle between her fingers. Maybe it was because she had drank half of it too fast, but the rocking of the boat bothered her less now.
    “Sure. Anything,” said Gabe. “Twenty questions. Hit me up.”
    “When you said your grandfather knew about the eyes on the boat...was he from Cuba?”
    Gabe shook his head. “Nah. Born in the USA. His old man was from Cuba, though, so according to the one drop rule I’m not totally white trash.”
    “You are not white trash.”
    He grinned. “I’m off-white trash. Your average all-American mutt. Little Cubano, splash of Italian, drop of the Irish and a whole heap of Cajun.”
    “Your parents still around?”
    He shook his head. “Mom’s dead. Dad is...I don’t know. Only thing he ever gave me was a