“All right, Odin, send forth your witch minions. We'll wait for your call,” I said, too tired to argue further.
“If Vivian is guilty, I will discover it,” Odin vowed before he hugged me. “In the meantime, watch your back, Ellie. I still don't believe this is Vivian.”
I nodded and Odin used his shining one traveling stone to return to Coven Cay. We didn't need him to take us back. Now that we knew where we were going, we could use our own charms to get there. After an exchange of grim looks, we did just that and traveled back to Pyrosvesti.
Chapter Thirty-Five
After I informed my parents and the other men about what had happened on Sabban and explained to my mom why Odin wouldn't be joining us for lunch, we had a heated discussion on what to do next over the meal my mom had prepared. All we could do was wait but it waswherewe'd be waiting that had instigated an argument.
“You may all return with us to the Azure Kingdom,” Verin had immediately offered.
“No offense, but you haven't done the best job of protecting her down there,” Slate said.
Verin grunted since he couldn't argue with that.
“Even if it isn't Vivian, we're still dealing with a Water Witch, and taking Elaria underwater would be giving the witch the upper hand,” Torin said. “We need to be somewhere the witch can find us but where we aren't surrounded by her element.”
The men nodded in agreement—no one wanted to hide, especially not me. Hiding would only draw this out. It would be far better if we could lure our enemy to us. And if we were going to do that, we'd better be the ones with the advantage.
“That leaves out Tír na nÓg,” Slate said. “It's too secure for a witch to access. Unless, of course, itisVivian. In which case, she could use the traveling stone Elaria gave her.”
“I think we should assume it's Vivian but make ourselves accessible to every witch, just in case it isn't,” Gage suggested.
“Then Slate's zone is a bad choice as well,” Torin pointed out.
“Not necessarily,” Slate protested. “Witches have access to my zone and we'd have my Gargoyles for added protection. I think it's a good option. We'd be encased in earth with an army at our backs.”
“We've damaged your zone enough.” I shook my head. “I don't want to jeopardize it or your residents again.”
Slate sighed deeply, then nodded. “You're right. They're still recovering from my stint as Gargo.”
“That leaves the Crouching Lion,” Banning said triumphantly.
“Or my house in Hawaii,” I added.
“If we stay at your place, we'll be on our own,” Banning argued. “At the club, we'll have my Blooders.”
“Which means that we'll be putting them at risk.”
“They need some excitement anyway.” He winked at me as he leaned forward onto his forearms. “Plus, it's a large property without any close neighbors. Your neighbors are only a few feet away.”
Banning had the cuffs of his button-down shirt rolled up, exposing some of his tattoos. As I stared at the swirling designs, a tingle of awareness flashed over my skin, washing down from my collarbone to tighten my breasts before it headed lower. I swallowed past the sudden dryness in my throat and looked away from those corded, tattooed arms.
“We'd be putting your customers at risk too,” I went on a bit breathlessly. “Humans.”
“We can close down until this is taken care of.”
“Are you sure you want to do that?”
“The club is nothing to me; you are everything.” Banning settled his softly glowing green stare on me. “I'm sure.”
“All right then.” I cleared my throat and looked at the other men. “Do the rest of you agree on the Crouching Lion?”
They agreed.
“Grab whatever you need and meet us at the club,” Banning said to the others.
The other men agreed and left.
