Did this have something to do with the wolves who had harassed them during their spell a few weeks ago? Was this the fucking Iron Runners? Why did they care?
With all four of them inside, one of the werewolves tried to follow. He threw himself at the door. But it was like there was an impenetrable sheet of glass keeping him out. His body slammed against the invisible barrier with a meaty thud, and the wards flared bright blue for a split second before fading. No matter how many times he threw himself at the threshold, he couldn't cross it.
They'd spent a lot of time reinforcing the wards of this house, and no one was getting in without an invite.
Aya was clutching her arm. Blood seeped between her fingers where claws had caught her. Serena kept cursing and throwing as much magic as she could muster out the door towards the wolves.
Briana was holding Aya close to her, but she seemed frozen and unsure of what to do. She was their de facto leader, but she wasn't a soldier. Their coven didn't fight as a rule. Why would they? They had cordial relations with the other covens in the city.
Except for the occasional harassment, they stayed away from wolves—except for Elise in her current madness.
Briana was great at the technical shit. She'd figured out how to get them the house at a good deal. She made sure they registered their cars with the state and that all the bills were paid. But when it came to fighting, she couldn't hack it.
The wolves pulled back, realizing they weren't going to get into the house. Delainey thought they might leave it at that … until she smelled the smoke. The four witches ran towards the back of the house to find the kitchen entrance in flames. Fire licked up the doorframe and across the ceiling, blistering paint and curling wallpaper.
A moment later, the sprinkler system triggered, which took care of the fire but also left their entire house soaking wet. The back door was destroyed along with the entire back entrance, and several of their winter coats were nothing but ash and soot.
Serena flipped the main breaker, her hand shaking as she yanked the switch down. The house went dark, which was probably for the best because the last thing they needed was electricity and water mixing and electrocuting one of them or causing more fire.
They were stuck in kitchen and stood in the water that wasn't going to go anywhere without someone doingsomething.
"What do we fucking do?" Serena's voice cracked as she swept soaked hair back from her face. "Those fucking assholes! We're going to show them that they don't get to mess with us. We are getting Elise back. We need to call her parents right now."
Delainey almost agreed.
They basically had a plan in place that could magically track Elise to figure out where she was. But they had spent days plotting and planning when she was taken to the Southern Basin Pack. Delainey was almost certain that wasn't where she was being taken now, because why would the alpha offer her safe passage and safe haven only to kidnap her and his own beta off the streets? That didn't make any sense.
"We can't take on a full werewolf pack," Delainey said.
Serena wasn't easily deterred. "We know what we have to do. Her parents will say yes."
That was true. And Delainey definitely liked the idea of going in with all of the magic a coven like Elise's parents could muster. But there was a price.
She didn't like that Elise was stupid enough to be dating a werewolf. She wasn't sure she could accept it. But Elise's parents would blow a gasket. They would pull her back into her old coven and lock her up until she saw reason.
And if she didn't see reason, a part of Delainey feared that they might take it further. They might go into her mind and erase memories of Nico and blot out whatever had possessed Elise to fall for him in the first place.
There was a reason Elise had run from them.
"We can't go to them," Delainey said, her jaw tight. "Elise would never forgive us."
"Elise isn't thinking clearly." Serena threw her hands up in exasperation. "I'm pretty sure she would be okay if we rescued her from those motherfuckers."
Delainey's mouth tasted sour before she even uttered the words. "There is another option." She couldn't believe her mind was going there.
Briana was the first to figure out what she meant. Her eyes widened. "Are you serious?"
Serena looked at Briana and then back at Delainey. Then her eyes got wide, too. "No. No, not! You can't mean that!"
"Elise is never going to forgive us if we go and rescue her and leave her boyfriend behind," Delainey said. It wasbeastlyto even consider, but that was the reality of the situation. "And I would much rather have Elise in our coven, even if she's dating a lousy wolf, and has lost half of her mind, than have her hate us forever."
As far as rousing speeches went, well … it moved the coven to Briana's car.
They all piled in and drove out of the city on a path they had planned to take, ready to go to war for their sister. And now they were looking for allies to help her.
Briana pulled up to the driveway of the Southern Basin pack house, gravel crunching under the tires. Four wolves in human form were waiting. The one at the front was probably the alpha, Cole. He looked ready to attack them the second they got out of the car.
Aya reached into the center console and pulled out a Kleenex, which she held out the window and waved around. Delainey hoped the werewolves were smart enough to understand what a white flag meant.
