Chapter One
“Boy, this is one heck of a start to the new year, hey?” Twobble’s eyes gleamed with something that made me laugh despite the gravity of the situation.
“We haven’t even made it to the new year,” Nova pointed out.
“Let’s be a little sensitive here,” Stella warned. “Someone just lost their four-legged father, and we don’t know if we’ll actually be able to get him back.”
Keegan grimaced. “That might have been the least sensitive thing said so far.”
Twobble’s brows lifted. “He’s got a point.”
Stella’s gaze flew to mine. “Oh, darling. We’ll get the old codger back. Don’t worry.”
I smiled, nodding. “I know we will. He’s counting on it.”
As I looked at my expanded family, comfort and love surrounded me, and I knew we would somehow get my dad back to Stonewick, where he belonged.
The thought of him in Shadowick or anywhere else knotted my stomach.
To have gotten so close to having my father in my life and then having him stolen right out from under us was unfathomable.
Unthinkable.
But I remembered precisely what Keegan, Stella, Nova, Twobble, and Ember told me about not revealing that Frank was my father. They didn’t want me to become irrational or make decisions based on raw emotions.
And they were right.
At this particular moment, I was irrational and would burn Shadowick down to get him back.
When my friends finally revealed to me that Frank was, in fact, my dad, I couldn’t understand their line of thinking. Why wait to tell me my father was alive and following me everywhere around town? That he’d been by my side all that time. I missed out on so much.
But now I had my answer as to why they held back.
It would have colored my entrance into the magical world.
Because these emotions roiling through me were so raw and painful that I would do just about anything to get my father back and to make Gideon pay, and that would be precisely what Gideon would want.
For me to make mistakes…
Do things I couldn’t take back.
Stumble into Gideon’s plan and hand over Stonewick because of my weakness, my love for my father.
I turned back to look at the cottage as Miora continued to restack each stone and strengthen the Ward.
The cottage had become my home. The beacon of light that I could always fall into when my mind churned with uncertainty, or I craved a little magical normalcy…a little privacy for when fudge brownies explode from my feeble attempts at spell work.
And a thought occurred to me.
“How could a lone wolf do so much damage?” I asked anyone who could provide an answer.
I mean, the cottage withstood many creatures on the night during the small battle we encountered, but this wasonewolf.
Not a pack.
Sure, he towered over most mortals and had the strength of something I hadn’t met before, but the question wouldn’t stop stirring.
Nova cleared her throat and glanced at Keegan. “It’s something we’ve never seen before.”
