There was no reason to believe that this was anything more than one of mom’s impulsive decisions. They didn’t happen a lot, but when she set her mind to something, there wasn’t a shifter alive who could change it. Her strength of will had no doubt saved her when she’d been raising three wolf pups determined to destroy her house, plants, and sanity.
Hunter pulled into the garage and said, “I’m going into the office to take care of some shit. We need to fast-track the packages with armored vests and weapons so they’re in our allies’ hands before Jewels blows everything up.”
None of us knew what the next month would bring, or who’d be standing when it all ended, but we were preparing for every possible outcome.
Which meant outfitting as many shifters as we could with magical protection.
“Yeah, it would be good to get that all sorted this week,” Finley said. “So we can focus on tracking Jewels.”
That sparked Constantine’s interest, as he leaned forward. “We absolutely need to focus on finding her now you’ve bonded in a completed quintet.”
He’d been pleased when we’d filled him in on the changes withinour pack, and the magic that flowed between all of our beasts. “You’ll be able to share in that energy,”he’d said, but none of us were willing to try that when it could hurt Emme.
No fucking thank you.
Talon’s huge shoulders bumped the witch-wolf, who flinched but didn’t protest the dragon squishing him. “I’ll check out the compound first, and if it’s safe for all of us to travel there, that can be our first place to investigate.”
Talon adjusted his shirt, clearly uncomfortable in the limited space, and Emme’s bite came into view. It was nice not to want to tear his head off at the sight.We were growing. Some of us rather slowly and at an odd angle, but therewasgrowth.
Hunter’s dominance pressed into me, and in the new version of our quintet, where I could internally see our beasts, the black wolf stood above the pack. “Yeah, I think we should start there too,” he said. “So far none of our contacts have come close to discovering where the witch and her allies are hiding.”
“We might…” Constantine cleared his throat. “…be able to track her using magic. If we can find a connection to her essence or coven.”
Finley scoffed, his gaze dark as it narrowed on Constantine. He wasn’t very forgiving of deadshit parents. “Are you even any good at magic? You’re only half witch.”
There was a heavy moment of silence. “I’m the lone option you’ve got,” Constantine finally said. “And as I told you, while my magic is weaker than a full-blooded witch, the wolf adds an element that they don’t have. I can scent magic and track witches through their scent. The individual magical notes are as identifying as a fingerprint.”
I wouldn’t admit it out loud, not even under torture, but that was kind of impressive.
“I’m also the only one who can teach Emme how to properly access her magic,” he added, more bite in his tone. “Which is important when you have no other magical allies.”
Hunter grunted, and he didn’t sound pleased. “Emme won’t be put in any danger. I don’t fucking care about the outcome of not having magic on our side. She’s the one we all protect, end of story.”
My wolf howled at the very thought of our mate being hurt, and I pushed down those swirls of darkness that wanted to tear through the world until we destroyed every threat to Emme.
“And no more council meetings,” Hunter added. “Outside of thefew entitled alphas I still trust, the rest are useless and most likely Fletcher’s spies. We need to approach this as if we can trust no one other than our immediate pack and families. Understood?”
“Yep,” I said, tempering down my rage. I might prefer not to dwell on the shittier side of life, but I could absolutely take the low road if necessary. Real fucking low. “Those assholes are all but dead to us.”
“Dead as their fucking dominance,” Hunter confirmed. “Okay, I need to get to the offices. You all hold down the fort here.”
When we hauled ass out of the car, I leaned down to speak to him through the open door. “Will we see you at the game?”
Hunter nodded in an impatient jerk of his head. “Yep, I’ll be there to keep our pack safe. Update me if anything happens in the meantime. And make sure you bring your parents tonight, annoying pup.”
I loved that bossy fuck, but there were days I could just… “You got it, Hurricane.”
Emme’s name for him was so fitting, and I’d have been mad not to come up with it, but it made sense that my perfect, precious Shortcake would be the nickname genius.
After Hunter left, Constantine muttered something about heading to the library for research. We apparently had a ton of history books in there. Who knew?
All I knew was our romance section was woefully underrepresented, though Emme was helping me amend that oversight.
I had no idea why Constantine was wasting his time; as far as I could tell no one ever learned from the past, since they kept repeating it. There was literally no fucking point in studying it.
Still, I might change my tune ifoldConnie did find anything useful.
When we entered the house, Finley clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Get your family over here and I’ll make the snacks. It’ll be good to catch up with everyone.”
