Rowena stared at the stack of blueberry pancakes in front of her. Cross and his enforcers had opted not to partake in Gina's offer to feed them breakfast. Abby had a bowl of fruit while Little Mikey was scowling at Rowena, his hand pressed against his stomach, which was making odd gurgling noises. The pawn shop had been closed and after Sal woke up, he opted to go home for the day.

"So, let me get this straight," Gina said, leaning forward on the small dining room table. "You put a curse on my boyfriend because he wouldn't tell you about a woman's gambling debts?"

"That's right," Rowena said, nodding. She picked up the miniature pitcher of blueberry syrup and generously poured them on her pancakes.

"Don't forget the woman is the same woman who Reed cheated on you with," Abby interjected before popping an apple slice in her mouth.

Gina tapped her manicured fingers against the table. "Right, she was the other woman and now she's dead."

Again, Rowena nodded.

"And she died in a house fire after you cursed your ex-boyfriend that his hair would fall out and his house would burn down?"

"She cursed my hair to fall out too!" Little Mikey groaned. "Baby, you know you love my hair."

Gina gave him a tepid smile and patted his arm. "Let me handle this, Mikey." She turned back to Rowena. "And you cursed your ex after damaging his car with a baseball bat?"

Rowena sighed. "Gina, you know I have a bad temper. Rolando is always giving me a hard time about it."

Cross, who was standing behind Rowena, leaned down. "Who is Rolando? Were you seeing someone besides Reed? Who is he? Tell me everything."

"Calm down, Crazy. Rolando is our boss at Sweeter Homes," Rowena answered. "Rolando Sanchez."

Abby, Liam, and Matt all stared at Cross. He shrugged his shoulders. "What?"

Liam cleared his throat. "You sound..."

Cross scowled. "What? I sound what?"

"Jealous." Gina pointed at Cross. "You sound jealous but you have no reason to. One, you're incredibly handsome. And two, Rolando is like an uncle to all of us." She turned to Rowena. "And having a bad temper is not an excuse to go postal on someone's car, Rowena. No wonder they think you killed that woman."

"I know it looks bad but I'm innocent. I would never kill someone. It's a commandment. Thou shall not kill. If I broke that, my family would kill me before disowning me...again. You know how they are."

"Mentally stable women do not curse people's hair to fall out and for their houses to burn down." Gina shook her head.

"His hair didn't fall out," Matt shared. When all eyes turned to him, he scratched the back of his neck and cleared his throat. "I mean, Reed's house burned down but her curse about the hair didn't work."

"That's right!" Rowena gave a nervous laugh. "That just proves how innocent I am. It was probably just a coincidence."

"I was wrong," Little Mikey groaned. "I called you the Flores dud. Everyone said you didn't inherit the gift but maybe you have something else. Maybe you can curse people."

"So, you think I have a different gift? Most everyone in my family has the ability to make effective herbal remedies and amulets or they have visions. I'm the only one who is normal. My parents used to say I must've been switched at birth. As Little Mikey said earlier—I'm a dud."

Little Mikey gave a pained expression. "You're not a dud."

"Well, you'd say that now since you have bubble guts after I cursed you," Rowena said.

"Maybe only some of her curses come true since she's not a full witch," Liam suggested. "Little Mikey's stomach began to hurt after she cursed him. He seemed totally fine earlier."

"I'm not a witch at all," Rowena reminded them as Little Mikey jumped up and ran towards the hall.

"And yet Mikey's running to the bathroom and is probably going to leave it smelly," Gina muttered.

"Gina, we really need to know what kind of bets Casey was involved with. It could help us figure out who killed her." Rowena looked back at the hallway the bookie had gone through. "Isn't there anything you can do?"

Gina leaned back in her chair. "I can ask Mikey, but he has this crazy rule about never sharing that information. It's how he's so trusted."

"A criminal is trusted?" Liam snorted.

Gina glared at him. "Mikey may be involved in some illegal activity, but it would happen if he was involved or not. At least with him in charge, he keeps out most of the really bad crimes in Clarkton. Gambling is not as bad as prostitution or escort services and he's had to run those types out before."

"Really?" Abby asked. "Clarkton has always reminded me of one of those towns you'd imagine in a fifties sitcom. Or the Stepford Wives."

Gina made a scoffing sound. "You'd be surprised what kind of evil lives under the veneer of goodness."

"Can we get back on topic, please?" Rowena asked around a mouthful of pancakes.

"I'll ask him, but you're going to have to cover five shifts for me at work." Gina was smirking.

Rowena's eyes widened. "That's blackmail!"

"No, it isn't. You want me to scratch your back, you have to scratch mine too."

"I always hated that saying," Rowena muttered. "Know that if I do cover your shifts, I'm not going to let you choose any more paranormal romance stories for book club."

"What!" Gina slammed her hands on the table. "That's not fair, Rowena. I get sick of those boring historical romances you pick. We need paranormal shifter romances. Oooh...I found some interracial shifter romances I wanted to pick too."

"Nope, no paranormal at all. Especially wolf shifter romances. I've had enough." Rowena crossed her arms.

Abby was giggling next to her. "Rowena has told us quite a bit about the romance novels you've read for book club."

Gina was still sneering at Rowena. She turned to Abby. "They're fun reads but there's something incredibly attractive about a possessive alpha."

Behind Rowena, Cross smirked and nudged Rowena's shoulder. He placed a hand on her shoulder. Rowena wanted to stab him with her fork.

Gina's eyes narrowed. "So, what's the deal between you two? Rowena's been dating Reed so I know you both haven't known one another very long. You two dating?"

"No!" Rowena answered, shoving the hand off her shoulder. She couldn't help but glare back at the man who kidnapped her. As if she'd be his girlfriend after what he'd done to her.

"Rowena is helping us investigate Casey's death. She was the primary suspect early in the investigation," Matt answered.

"Aren't we still early in the investigation?" Rowena muttered to Abby, who bit her bottom lip to stop herself from responding.

"She's staying with me for the next few days to be on the safe side, "Cross said. "Reed was involved with both Casey and Rowena. We don't know if he's a factor in Casey's death. It's best for Rowena to stay safe just in case he was. She'll be missing work so she may not be able to cover for you."

Rowena couldn't help but be slightly impressed with the lie. She almost believed it. If Casey's brother Flint hadn't tried to kill her, she would've totally bought the fake concern from Cross. Sure, he wanted her to be his consort but only for appearance's sake. Rowena didn't think the handsome alpha had any real feelings for her.

The sound of someone groaning caused them all to turn toward the hall. Little Mikey was leaning against the wall, clutching his stomach.

"I give up!" he shouted. "Tell the witch to make it stop."

Gina raised a brow to Rowena, who shrugged. "I didn't think anything would really happen."

"Tell us about Casey's gambling bets and Rowena will lift the curse," Cross reminded him.

Little Mikey cursed and took a few steps closer. "Fine! But you have to swear this information doesn't leave this room and you can never tell anyone what I told you."

"You have my word," Cross said.

Gina stood up and helped Mikey back to the table. Perspiration beaded Little Mikey's forehead and his shirt was soaked in sweat. He took a deep breath. "Dog racing."

"The illegal gambling ring involved dog racing?" Rowena asked. "That's kind of anticlimactic."

Little Mikey groaned in pain but shook his head. "This isn't your normal dog racing. Everyone's allowed to participate but these aren't your normal racing dogs."

"What do you mean?" Liam asked, his eyes narrowed.

"They're not racing dogs. They're fighting dogs. The goal is for them to win the race but if they attack another dog before getting to the finish line, that's totally acceptable. Usually only one or two survive the race. The crowd loves it."

"That's inhumane!" Rowena shouted. "You just told us you keep the bad criminals out of Clarkton, but how could you be part of that?"

"Disgusting," Abby hissed. "We need to put a stop to it."

"I already tried," Little Mikey panted. "It doesn't happen in Clarkton though so I can't control it. Casey Sloane didn't make bets with me about the dog racing. I don't participate in it. I only know about it because she and a few others have asked me to start taking bets on those dogs."

"Then why did you make it sound like you were holding Casey's bets a secret?" Rowena asked.

"Because if the people who run that dog race find out I snitched, I would lose my reputation. As a bookie, I need that to be successful."

"Do you know who is running these dog races?" Matt asked.

Little Mikey shook his head.

"Do you know when and where the races are?" Cross asked.

Little Mikey used a paper napkin to wipe the sweat from his brow. A piece of the napkin stuck to his forehead. "Last Monday of the month. There's an abandoned warehouse outside of Clarkton. They won't let you in."

"That's a few days away. We could just call the cops and have it shut down," Rowena suggested.

Little Mikey shook his head. "I heard some of the local cops attend those dog races. They won't shut it down."

"They probably get some sort of payout to keep quiet," Matt said.

"You're going to have to go undercover and stop it from the inside," Gina said, picking at the tissue stuck to her boyfriend's forehead. "That's what they'd do in those action books we read. They go undercover."

"Did Casey ever mention if she had a dog she used at the races?" Rowena asked.

Little Mikey closed his eyes. "She mentioned having a sure thing. She said I'd make a lot of money with her, but I refused. She kept saying her dog could beat all of the others. I don't know much beyond that."

"Did she mention her dog's name?" Cross asked.

Little Mikey shook his head. "No."

"If we followed Gina's advice, surely someone there would remember Casey and the name of her dog," Rowena said.

"You won't be attending," Cross said. "It isn't safe."

"You can't attend," Little Mikey moaned. "You have to have a special card to get in."

"You can't help them get a card?" Gina asked.

Little Mikey smirked. "I can try but only if the witch removes her curse."

Gina glowered at Rowena. "Well? You heard the man. Remove the curse. He told you what he knew."

Cross nudged Rowena again who rolled her eyes. "Fine, but I really don't think the words I said in anger have anything to do with how Little Mikey is feeling. I'm telling you it's a coincidence."

"Just remove it," Gina demanded.

"Little Mikey, I remove all the curses I said to you, and I hope you feel better, never lose your hair, and win all your gambling bets in the future."

Little Mikey's body began to shake.

"Maybe we should call an ambulance," Rowena suggested.

The bookie then began coughing and wheezing before he lifted his head and exhaled deeply. He closed his eyes for a moment, touched his stomach, and glanced in Rowena's direction. "You're definitely not a dud."