Two dozen gingersnaps, four dozen peanut butter cookies, three dozen chocolate chip cookies, a plateful of cheese scones, another plateful of pizza bites and a bowl full of fresh fruit were set on the counter. There were cheese, ham and beef sandwiches in the fridge and a large pot of chilli in the slow cooker. Mari nodded in satisfaction. “I’ll just take some of these snacks up to Gryff with a nice cup of tea and then I’ll start on the workshop.”

Elys dried the last bowl and set it down on the counter. “I’m not sure that you should be over in the workshop,” she said. “I mean, your supposed to be taking things easy.”

“This isn’t too bad,” Mari said. “And I would have been happy to wash up myself. I don’t like the idea of you putting yourself out.” She slid a bowl of tinned soup into the microwave. “It’s not like this is going to go on for months, is it?” She patted the young werewolf on the shoulder. “You helped a great deal, sweetheart, but I’m used to this. I’ve baked and cooked for school fairs, church suppers and I don’t know how many kids’ parties. You get into a rhythm. Now you have yourself a cup of coffee and take a sit down before you do anything else. I’m used to this.” Mari pulled two plates out of the cupboard. “Right, you load up a plate for yourself while I get a tray ready for Gryff.” She paused, hovering over the pizza bites. “Will he heal well, do you know? With him being…”

“He’ll be fine,” Elys said. “Especially with you looking after him.”

The microwave pinged. “That’s good to know,” Mari said, quickly loading up the tray. “Now you get yourself plenty to eat. You’ve worked hard.”

“I will, Mrs Hewson,” Elys said.

Mari carried the tray upstairs and set it down on the bedside cabinet. “How are you feeling, young man?”

“I’m feeling a lot better,” Gryff said, pushing himself shakily up from the pillows.

Mari felt a pang as Gryff reminded her so much of Toby when he didn’t want to stay in bed no matter how poorly he was. “You lie down and get some food inside you,” she said. “There’s butterbean soup, cheese scones, some of those chocolate chip cookies that you like and a nice cup of tea.” She patted his shoulder. “I’ve had a word with Alyn and you three lads are moving in here anyway. It will do me good to have someone to look after. So you take your time in that bed. Elys told me how badly you’d been hurt.”

“Are you sure?” Gryff asked, his eyes wide.

“Absolutely!” Mari said. “Now get that food inside you while I go and sort out the workshop.”

Carwyn followed Mari out of the house. “Are you really going to clean the workshop?” he asked.

“I won’t do a proper deep clean,” she said. “But it won’t hurt to have a clear out and poke into all the corners.” She froze. “Is that…?” She found herself clutching at Carwyn’s arm. She stared at the huge wolf padding towards her. It was nearly as tall as her and looked massively muscled under its thick pelt.

“You must be getting used to werewolves,” Carwyn muttered. “Elys was in the kitchen with you for most of the morning.”

Mari swallowed. “I don’t mean to be disrespectful,” she said as the wolf sat on its haunches in front of her. “Obviously. As you and your friends are keeping me safe, and I’m grateful.” She looked frantically at Carwyn before looking back at the wolf. “But it’s taking a bit of getting used to. I hope you don’t mind.” She stared into the golden eyes of the wolf who looked back impassively. “Could you let your people know that there’s some snacks in the kitchen and sandwiches in the fridge, if they want it,” she said. “And if you’ve got any, well, special requests…”

Carwyn sighed. “Dammit, Tony, you’re going to have to do the talking. But don’t upset her, okay?” He slipped out of his jacket and held it in front of the wolf.

Mari couldn’t look away as the shape behind the jacket blurred and twisted until there was a very large, very naked man holding Carwyn’s jacket in front of him. “Oh!”

“I’m Tony, pleased to meet you,” he said. “I’d shake hands, but it’s probably best if I keep the jacket in place.”

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“Yes, I suppose it is,” Mari said, wide eyed.

“We’re patrolling around the area in fur,” Tony said. “We’ve got a better chance of spotting something when we're like that. But don’t worry, when we go into your house we’ll be in skin. We’ve got clothes stashed in the living room.” He grinned, showing a lot of bright white teeth. “And thank you for putting some food out for us. I’ll have to get in quick to make sure that I get some.”

“There’s chilli in the slow cooker,” Mari said. “And there are bread rolls on the counter by the microwave.”

Tony’s grin got wider. “You are spoiling us,” he said. “And don’t worry. This is a threat to all of us and we won’t let it get away.” He nodded to Carwyn. “I’d better keep going or Daryl will be biting my tail.”

Carwyn reached over to hold the jacket. “Thanks for helping us out, Tony. I’ll see you later.”

Mari watched the huge wolf trot around to the back of the building. “So I don’t have to get in dog biscuits or anything,” she said.

Carwyn laughed. “If you give them dog biscuits, let me be there to see it,” he said. “It’ll be hilarious.” He looked down at Mari. “The werewolves you meet here are alright. They’re straightforward with outsiders, though they’re pretty weird with each other. I can never work it all out.” He thought for a moment. “The ones in the local pack are steady and more likely to volunteer at a charity than hurt anyone. It’s just if you see a lone wolf, a stray if you like, that you need to call me. They can be trickier.”

Mari nodded as she walked over to the workshop.

The workshop was a familiar space. There may be a guard on the door and goblins working on cars, but she knew it and at least she could be useful here. “We may as well have a good clear out,” Mari said. “Strip everything out and get it nice and clean.” She looked around the workshop. “Of course, I won’t interfere with the cars and the work that Alyn’s doing, but giving everything a good going over will be one way of checking all the corners.”

“Lord Maldwyn took the boxes away,” Carwyn said. “There shouldn’t be anything left.”

Mari looked haunted. “If I’d given this place a proper clear out, there wouldn’t have been all this trouble,” she whispered. “And Gryff wouldn’t have been hurt. But with all the fuss over Sion’s death and the police investigation, I didn’t pay attention.”

“If you had found those boxes without goblins, or at least those who knew what was going on, you would have been killed, or worse.” Carwyn caught her arm and looked deep into her eyes. “The regular police as well as the non-normals are all over this stuff. Any of the addicts would have you breathing in the smoke and then drinking from you for as long as they could keep you alive.” He grimaced. “I suppose that it’s better that way.” He glared over to where Leo was working on a Ford Focus.

“They’ve got rid of the Volvo,” Mari said. “Was that, you know…”

Carwyn shook his head. “They were worried about Gryff and couldn't rest. They kept themselves busy. They’ve already got a buyer for it.”

“They’re hard workers,” Mari said. “And just young lads as well.”

Carwyn’s eyes narrowed. “I know that you’re missing Alice and Toby, but that doesn’t mean that you can fill that space with goblins.”

“You’re saying goblin like it’s a dirty word,” Mari said tartly. “And Gryff was happy to help me out yesterday. All three of them were ready to look after me. It seems a shame if I can’t keep an eye out for them.”

“I worry about you, Mari,” Carwyn said. “Things could have been different.”

“Your mother hated me,” Mari said. “We could have been happy together, I daresay. We had a good time when we were younger. But your mother would never have allowed you to marry me.”

“I might have had a thing to say about that,” Carwyn said. “You walked away without giving me a chance.”

“You ended up moving away to Aberystwyth in the end, and it wasn’t far enough,” Mari said. “You still ended up divorced. Anyway, we’re too old for that nonsense now. I’m going to give this place a good clear out and at least we can be sure that there’s nothing else left.” She stalked over to the cleaning rags.

Lord Maldwyn joined her. “Mrs Hewson, are you sure that you’re well enough to join us? You were affected by enchantment and it must have left you weakened.”

“I like to stay busy,” Mari said. “And a good clear out won’t hurt.”

“We’ve already moved all the boxes,” Lord Maldwyn said. “There’s nothing for them here now. You should rest.”

“It won’t hurt for me to have a quick poke around,” Mari said. “And I haven’t been down in the void for a while.”

“What do you mean, the void?” Lord Maldwyn said.

“The void, the underfloor storage,” Mari said. “My husband had the workshop built and you know that nothing around here is flat. To make it level, he had to build the workshop on a platform. It ended up with a big space underneath the floor and we called it the void.” She looked at Alyn who walked up behind Lord Maldwyn. “Didn’t the estate agents tell you?”

“How big is this void?” Lord Maldwyn said, his fists clenching.

“Sion stored his car parts and scrap down there,” Mari said. She looked over at Alyn. “I was in such a daze when he died, I don’t remember clearing it. If the stuff is still there, you can have it if you can use it.”

“Are we talking a few small shelves or a larger space?” Lord Maldwyn asked, his voice carefully controlled.

Mari thought for a moment. “I’m trying to remember. There was a lot of fuss about making sure that the car lifts were well supported, but if I’m remembering correctly, it’s about ten foot high and about the same size as the main workshop, though it slopes under the back rooms.”

Lord Maldwyn looked around the large main workshop. The Ford Focus and the Mini barely took up a corner of the space. “I think that we’ll need to do a proper search of this void,” he said. He turned around to Alyn. “Summon my allies. A dark threat lies beneath our feet. We must investigate.”