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  Midnight Web

  A Moonshadow Bay Novel, Book 2

  Yasmine Galenorn

  A Nightqueen Enterprises LLC Publication

  Published by Yasmine Galenorn

  PO Box 2037, Kirkland WA 98083-2037

  MIDNIGHT WEB

  A Moonshadow Bay Novel

  Copyright © 2021 by Yasmine Galenorn

  First Electronic Printing: 2021 Nightqueen Enterprises LLC

  First Print Edition: 2021 Nightqueen Enterprises

  Cover Art & Design: Ravven

  Art Copyright: Yasmine Galenorn

  Editor: Elizabeth Flynn

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any format, be it print or electronic or audio, without permission. Please prevent piracy by purchasing only authorized versions of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, or places is entirely coincidental and not to be construed as representative or an endorsement of any living/ existing group, person, place, or business.

  A Nightqueen Enterprises LLC Publication

  Published in the United States of America

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Welcome to Midnight Web

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Playlist

  Biography

  Acknowledgments

  Welcome to the world of Moonshadow Bay, where magic lurks in the moonlight, and danger in the shadows.

  Thanks to my usual crew: Samwise, my husband, Andria and Jennifer—without their help, I’d be swamped. To the women who have helped me find my way in indie, you’re all great, and thank you to everyone. To Kate Danley in particular, for running our author sprints that have helped me regain my focus in this current pandemic. To my wonderful cover artist, Ravven, for the beautiful work she’s done.

  Also, my love to my furbles, who keep me happy. My most reverent devotion to Mielikki, Tapio, Ukko, Rauni, and Brighid, my spiritual guardians and guides. My love and reverence to Herne, and Cernunnos, and to the Fae, who still rule the wild places of this world. And a nod to the Wild Hunt, which runs deep in my magick, as well as in my fiction.

  You can find me through my website at Galenorn.com and be sure to sign up for my newsletter to keep updated on all my latest releases! You can find my advice on writing, discussions about the books, and general ramblings on my YouTube channel. If you liked this book, I’d be grateful if you’d leave a review—it helps more than you can think.

  August, 2020

  Brightest Blessings,

  ~The Painted Panther~

  ~Yasmine Galenorn~

  Welcome to Midnight Web

  Moonshadow Bay…where magic lurks in the moonlight, and danger hides in the shadows. January Jaxson’s settling into her life in Moonshadow Bay, and her new relationship with wolf shifter Killian O’Connell. Her job with Conjure Ink is proving both fascinating as well as dangerous. But little does January realize that she's about to let the actual genie out of the proverbial bottle.

  When she bought an old bottle in a thrift shop, January didn’t expect to be purchasing a guest for her home. Now, with a djinn on her hands, she finds herself promising to track down something for her unexpected houseguest so he can finally gain his freedom.

  At the same time, she’s thrown into one of the spookiest hauntings she’s ever experienced when a local restaurant suddenly falls prey to ghosts seeking revenge. Will she be able to get rid of her houseguest and keep the ghosts from killing their latest target, or will this job prove too much for January as she faces the big 4-1?

  Reading Order for the Moonshadow Bay Series:

  Book 1: Starlight Web

  Book 2: Midnight Web

  Book 3: Conjure Web

  Chapter One

  “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.” I leaned on the back of the sofa, staring at the coffee table. Ari and I had turned it into a makeshift altar for a ritual, but now I was seriously rethinking the wisdom of what we were about to do.

  Ari snorted, shaking her red hair that was cut in a euro-bob. She was petite, so slight she looked like a gust of wind could have swept her away, but she had an imposing personality and it was hard to say no to her. So when she had suggested a pre-birthday ritual to ring in my new year, I had finally agreed. I wasn’t too sure about turning forty-one, but it had to be better than forty. Forty had been hard. Forty had been hell. Forty had been the worst year in my life. My parents had died, my marriage had broken up when I found my ex with his tongue between another woman’s legs, and I had been bilked out of half the business I built up from scratch. Forty-one promised to be a breeze compared to all that. I had a new boyfriend, I was living in my hometown again, which I loved, and I had a new job that I thoroughly enjoyed.

  “Oh come on, you keep complaining that you need to get back into practice with your magic. This is a fun way to do it!” She nodded to the tray of cupcakes on the coffee table. “Plus…cupcakes.”

  Cupcakes changed everything.

  “Well, when you put it that way…” I shook off the feeling that this might not be the best idea. The Ladies hadn’t warned me off of it and I trusted that they’d keep me out of trouble. “All right, let’s do it.”

  “Good…now you just need three things to represent the wishes you’re making,” Ari said. “I haven’t done a wishcraft ritual in a while, so this should be fun. Especially with this to wash everything down!” She held up a bottle of spiced rum, our drink of choice when we were kicking back. It was dark, sweet, and went down with a kick. “And don’t forget to dress the part,” she added as I turned to go upstairs. “Also, put Xi and Klaus in your bedroom. We don’t want them inadvertently getting hit by anything we conjure up.”

  Once again, I hesitated, trying to swat away the feeling this might not be for the best. But the fact was, even though Ari was braver than I was, she hadn’t spent eighteen years coping with an ex who constantly gaslighted her. I decided that I was tired of being a worrywart.

  “All right, let’s do it. Let’s see…what can I use?”

  Since my birthday was the next day, we wanted to hold the ritual before I technically turned forty-one. Also, I was having an actual party the next night, so tonight it was just Ari and me. I had thought about inviting my aunt Teran, but she had a date tonight.

  I headed upstairs to my bedroom, thinking about the three wishes I was going to summon into my life, and the best way to set the mood.

  Wishcraft rituals were different than actual magical circles. Wishcraft was lighter and usually didn’t work as well, but it was a good way to spend some magical energy without being too worried about screwing up. You could perform a wishcraft ritual while tipsy and it was a pretty good bet the roof wouldn’t cave in.

  My gaze fell on the nightgown I had recently bought. Killian, my neighbor and new boyfriend, had been with me when I found it, and I’d fallen in love with the midnight blue gown. A halter top, the skirt was sheer and sequins glimmered like stars across the material. Swarovski crystals sparkled around the plunging neckline. It would be perfect, I thought, quickly changing out of my skirt and blouse. I slid on the nightgown and then re-did my makeup. Immediately, I felt more glamorous.

  Looki
ng over the items on my vanity, I caught sight of the bottle I had recently purchased at a thrift store. It was an old perfume bottle with a crystal stopper. Unfortunately, the stopper was stuck and I hadn’t been able to use it yet. The bottle reminded me of mercury glass and was the color of lavender smoke.

  I picked it up, holding it carefully. There was something about the energy that made me wistful, like a promise trapped behind a veil, and I kept feeling that if I could just get the stopper unstuck, it would let out a flood of possibilities.

  “This will work,” I said, carefully tucking it into a basket that was sitting on my nightstand. Now, I just needed two more items. For the second, I hesitated, then picked up a book that I had been reading titled Ghosts Around Puget Sound and tucked that in the basket, along with a crystal that Killian had given me.

  That left one last item, and one last wish. Frowning, I sat down on the bed for a moment, wondering if I should be wishing what I was about to wish for.

  Esmara, can you hear me? Am I doing the right thing?

  I waited for a moment. My great-aunt Esmara belonged to the Ladies of our family. A group of women who had once ruled the roost, in death the Ladies continued to hold sway over the living. My aunt Teran’s guardian was my great-aunt Prue, who had been Esmara’s sister. Both were firecrackers, even after death. Both doled out advice when they saw fit, and woe be to the sorry sap who didn’t listen. My mother had recently joined the Ladies after a car crash took both my parents’ lives, but she was getting acclimated to the spirit world and not ready yet to take her place as a guide.

  I cleared my throat, waiting, but if Esmara was listening, she didn’t feel the need to answer. I decided to take her silence as tacit approval and dug through my jewelry box until I found a matchbook labeled “Gunther’s.” Gunther’s had been a bar that my ex and I had frequented, but to me it would forever symbolize the memory of Ellison telling me he was bored with our marriage, bored with me, and he planned on marrying someone else. That was the day after I caught him with his head between the thighs of his mistress—now his fiancée.

  I flipped open the lid and, finding a pen in the drawer of the rolltop desk that had been my mother’s, I wrote Ellison’s name inside the matchbook, and tossed that into the basket along with the bottle and the book on ghosts.

  Ready for action, I headed for the stairs. Xi and Klaus were tussling in the hallway so I scooped them up and tucked them into the guest room, making certain they had water. They had already eaten dinner and there was a litter box in the guest room so they would be fine for the evening. Gently shutting the door, smiling, I clambered down the stairs.

  In less than a month, I had come to love the cats more than I had thought possible, and I was grateful that Killian was a vet. It had been a long time since I’d been able to share my home with an animal. I was constantly calling him to make certain they were okay, and he’d rest my worries with a smile and infinite patience.

  Ari was finishing the setup for the ritual. She glanced up as I came through the door, her eyes widening. “You’re gorgeous,” she said, staring at me. “Too bad I’ve got a girlfriend,” she added, but I knew she was joking.

  We had been best friends since childhood, and I had always known she was gay, but it never made a difference and we were as comfortable as two old shoes. I was mostly straight—I had never met a woman who had triggered my interest sexually, but I wasn’t averse to the idea.

  “You wish,” I said, grinning.

  “Hey, I—” She stopped, snorting. “Never mind. You’re just baiting me.”

  “It’s fun to watch you get your feathers ruffled,” I said. “I found the three items.” I set them out on the table.

  Ari stared at the collection with raised eyebrows. “I’m not going to ask you what those are for, but…that’s an odd assortment of goodies,” she said. “Are you sure about them?”

  I nodded. “About as sure as I can get.” I glanced around. “Are we ready? The cats are in the guest room, and we’ve got cupcakes and rum.” Traditionally, cakes and wine were appropriate for a ritual, but whatever worked was fine, in my opinion. There was a difference between ritual theater, which was best reserved for large groups, and working magic, which could get down and dirty and often called for substitutions.

  “Okay, let’s get this party started,” Ari said, dimming the lights.

  I lit the candles and stood back, staring at the table.

  It was beautiful in the flickering light, with a shimmering black and silver cloth over it, and the crystal ball that sat in the center. To either side of the quartz sphere stood a gold and silver candle, and a double-edged dagger rested in front of the crystal. It was Ari’s blade. I had my mother’s athame—her ritual dagger—but I really needed to buy one of my own. I had spent too much time among those who were squeamish about Otherkin, including those of us who had witchblood. I had buried my magic for too long. Now I was letting it out. Like a butterfly, I was coming out of my chrysalis, shaking the dew off my wings, ready to fly.

  As Ari picked up the dagger and began to draw the circle, a slow flicker of joy began to spread through my heart. I was home, and I was learning what it meant to be me again.

  My name is January Jaxson, and I’ll be forty-one years old tomorrow. I’m a witch by birth, born into one of the families known for witchblood. My great-grandfather, Brian Fletcher, and his wife Colleen moved over from England. Our family powers descended through her, and together, they helped to found Moonshadow Bay, a quirky town that welcomed Otherkin of all persuasions, be they shifter, vampire, witch, or something else. And those something elses could be both interesting and dangerous.

  I had been married for eighteen years before I realized it had been one long lie from beginning to end. I walked away after torching my wedding dress and Ellison’s tux, and trashing his convertible. He was downright lucky I didn’t cast a spell to make his dick shrivel up for good. Even though I still wanted to see him go down, I had stopped at filling his convertible with water.

  Now, a little over a month since I moved home, I have an unexpected new boyfriend who likes the fact that I’m not bone-thin, I’m back in Moonshadow Bay and out of Seattle, and I have a new job that is shaping up to be a crackerjack career. So yeah, forty-one promised to be far less scary than I had first feared.

  We were a third of the way through the rum when we decided to officially start the circle. Oh, Ari had already cast it, but then we got distracted by the cupcakes and booze. I didn’t drink a lot, but Ari and I had pulled a few all-nighters back in the day, and my birthday seemed like the perfect excuse to let loose and just relax.

  “So, how’s work going?” she asked, pouring another shot of rum for us. She held up her glass. “Here’s to you and your new life!”

  “I’ll drink to that!” I clinked her glass with mine and we downed the shots, then took another bite of one of the pineapple cupcakes with coconut icing that she had picked up on the way over. Together, the combination was absolutely scrumptious. Piña colada cupcakes for the win!

  I settled back against the sofa—we had opted to sit on the floor—and let out a long, contented sigh. “I like work, but I feel like I’m ready for another challenge. The past few weeks I’ve been researching Bigfoot sightings around the area. I have yet to meet Mr. B., but after talking to some of the people who have seen him, I think I’m a believer.”

  “Of course he exists,” Ari said. “Shifters exist, and vampires, and we’re both witches. Why wouldn’t Bigfoot exist? But I’m not sure I want to meet one. The sasquatch are dangerous and unpredictable, from what I’ve heard.”

  “You think?” I asked, taking another bite of my cupcake.

  “Oh, I know so. I had a cousin who was chased through a graveyard by one. He almost ended up falling into an open grave awaiting a burial the next day. If he had tripped into it, he’d never have made it out alive. He wouldn’t have been able to escape.” She shifted, crossing her legs into the lotus position.

&nbsp
; While I was limber, I had not yet mastered that asana. I had taken up yoga again, wanting to be a little more flexible now that Killian and I were doing the hot-and-heavy several times a week. He was an ardent lover, and I had no complaints. He seemed to be enjoying himself as much as I was, but I wanted to spice it up, and that meant stretching some muscles that hadn’t been used for a while.

  “How did he finally manage to get away?” I asked, thinking I should interview Ari’s cousin.

  “He ran out onto the freeway. He said he’d rather dodge cars than try to hide from Bigfoot. He was convinced he was on the dinner menu. A police car saw him. He told them what happened and they thought he was drunk and took him into the station. When they found out he wasn’t, and saw how scared he was, they sent a car out to investigate but by then, of course, the creature was gone.” Ari pressed a napkin to her lips and poured two more shots of rum. “All right, let’s get this down and then start your ritual!”

  I laughingly clinked glasses again and slammed the rum back, not even wincing at the warm spice anymore. We were both drunk, and it wasn’t the best idea to work magic from an inebriated state, but I was in that headspace where bad ideas often made perfect sense. And I wanted to make sparklies happen.

  “All right, how do we do this?” When I turned sixteen, my mother had held a wishcraft ritual for me, but that had been long ago and far away, and fairly tame compared to what I was planning for tonight.

  “Lemme think,” Ari said, wincing. “Well, you make three wishes—like the genie in the bottle type of wishes—we seal the energy after each one, and then go back to cupcakes and rum.” She grinned. “I think the ritual’s mainly an excuse to eat and drink, but it seems like the perfect way to cement your focus for the coming year.”