The coven was based in Trinity Park— deep in witch territory. Flames engulfed the house, licking at the roof as smoke thick enough to choke on filled the air.
Human firefighters were already working to put out the flames, while a circle of witches I recognized as some of the coven’s neighbors were standing nearby. They chanted softly, doing what they could to starve the fire of oxygen.
The house had been painted a butter yellow with white trim. The yellow was no more. What hadn’t yet burned was black with smoke and soot, and a creaking sound wrenched through the air before a chunk of what was once the roof of the porch collapsed.
My stomach swam sickly. Anyone still in that house was likely dead.
I ignored the wolves as I frantically searched faces. Where the hell was Evie?
“Danica,” Nathaniel’s voice was low, and he pointed toward a fire truck. Evie sat in the back, her face ashen as she stared at the house.
Her gaze met mine, her face crumbling as she choked on another sob.
“They’re gone,” she said. “I think they’re all gone, Dani.”
I hauled her into my arms, stroking her hair. She could’ve been in that house. She could have been in that fucking house.
Evie coughed and I leaned back as a paramedic handed her the face mask she’d dropped.
“You need oxygen,” he told her. She held it up to her face and her eyes turned blank as she gazed past me to the burning house.
A cop in plain clothes walked toward us, casting a wary look at Nathaniel as he approached Evie. It was unlikely that he knew he was within a few feet of the werewolf Alpha, but his instincts still warned him Nathaniel was a predator.
The cop introduced himself as Detective Trevor Roberts. “I’d like to take your statement if you feel up to giving it,” he said to Evie.
I opened my mouth to object, but she nodded, a tear rolling down her cheek.
“Do you live in the house?”
She nodded again and he made a note on his notepad.
“And what time did you arrive back here?”
“About 11:00pm.”
“Where were you tonight?”
“I’m dating a wolf from Nathaniel’s pack,” she said, glancing at me and then away. I attempted to ignore the stab of hurt that burrowed into my gut. Evie hadn’t mentioned that she was seeing anyone when we had lunch last week.
“Name?”
“Liam…” she trailed off. “I can’t remember his last name. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“You’re in shock,” I said. I glanced at the cop. “Does she have to do this now?”
“It would be best,” he said, shooting me an unfriendly look. “I understand this is difficult.”
He didn’t understand, not really. Everyone in that house was Evie’s family. Her words from one of our last arguments played on a loop in my head.
“Gemma was there when I got my first period. Noelle bought me chocolate when my first boyfriend broke my heart. Ainsley taught me how to ward.”
Around a third of the coven were based in that house. Evie had lived with them since she was fourteen. And if they’d been inside, they were likely dead.
“Liam O’Connor,” Nathaniel’s voice was a low growl. His expression was carefully neutral as he approached us. But Roberts still shot him a wary look, instinctively averting his gaze and writing the name down as Nathaniel spoke. Roberts was too jumpy to do this job. Nathaniel’s wolf likely saw him as prey.
“O’Connor,” Evie murmured. “That’s right.”
Her eyes met Nathaniel’s for a single moment and he nodded at her before turning to stalk away.
