‘You do?’
He nodded at my surprised look.
‘Gave it to me when I drove him home. In case of emergencies.’
Ashley cleared her throat.
‘Speaking of Wyn and his wolfie brethren,’ she said, her voice loaded with caution. ‘I know no one wants to say it, but someone has to. The Were that attacked the party, was it from his pack?’
‘No idea.’ I reluctantly replayed the dark energy I’d felt all around us at the party. ‘Whoever it was, they were beyond strong and definitely not in town to see the sights.’
‘You think they know about Cole?’ Lydia asked.
‘I think we should assume they do. And I think we should assume this wasn’t a one-and-done attack.’
‘Meaning we have a month to figure this out before the next full moon,’ she replied.
I nodded, then turned to Jackson, who was busy tapping away at his phone.
‘My memory is still kind of foggy,’ I said. ‘Did you notice anything in particular? Colour of its eyes, any distinctive markings?’
Tucking his phone in his back pocket, he gave a shrug.
‘Not that I can recollect. Eyes could’ve been green, could’ve been yellow, rain made it hard to see. Coat was grey but I couldn’t pick it out of a line-up, I was more concerned with the teeth and the claws, if I’m being honest.’
A line-up of wolves. He had no idea how terrifying that thought was.
‘So, you’re not entirely stupid,’ Ashley said with a heavy sigh. ‘But you are mostly useless.’
‘For real, I don’t get any points for getting Em home in one piece?’ he said, throwing up his arms in frustration.
‘A million points,’ I said.
‘Minus the million you lose for taking her out in the first place,’ Lydia said.
‘And we’re done.’ Ashley clapped her hands together and ushered the twins towards the door. ‘I get a trillion points for tolerating both of y’all so early in the morning. Go on, scat, my little super witch needs a nap.’
The pair of them looked to me and I returned a rueful smile. I wasn’t exactly clamouring to be on my own but I needed space to concentrate and the twins weren’t exactly a calming influence.
‘I can’t go home like this.’ Jackson waved a hand at his bare chest as Lydia bent down to squint at his new scars before giving them an exploratory poke. ‘Lyds, go home and grab me a shirt.’
Without asking, she opened the drawer of my dresser and took out a powder puff pink baby tee. ‘You can wear this, I’m not your servant.’
He pulled the comically small T-shirt over his head. Withinseconds it was ruined, stretched irrevocably out shape, but it was worth it to see the matching grins on Ashley and Lydia’s faces.
‘Can I speak with Em for a second, please?’ he said, beseeching eyes turned to Ashley.
‘Nuh-uh, you got her all last night,’ Lydia said, hip-checking her brother out of the way. ‘I need to speak to her.’
‘So in demand.’ Ashley looked from twin to twin to me, rolling her eyes at the slight inclination of my head. ‘Fine. Jackson, you’re with me. I have something big and heavy that needs moving in the kitchen.’
‘What?’
‘I don’t know,’ she said, clipping him around the back of the head then directing him out of my bedroom. ‘I’ll think of something when we get there. Just walk your ass down those stairs before I push you down.’
Lydia closed the door behind them, hovering by it until she’d decided they were all the way out of earshot. Then she turned to me with the most serious look I had ever seen on her face.
‘What’s wrong?’ I asked, prickling with concern.
