“Busy,” she repeated flatly, sipping her coffee.“Unbelievable.”
Jacob grinned.“At least they’re consistent.”
Saffron sighed.“The druid stone is old.Ancient.It can amplify or reverse spells including those that are tied to the bloodline of shifters.If Marcus had gotten it, the world would look very different.If his Council has it in this life, then we have a problem.”She looked around the table, her gaze steady.“And to face that problem, we’ll need all of us—every ounce of power.The bond won’t hold with only three.We have to find our fourth.”
“Where do we even start?”Willow asked, worry creasing her brow.
Saffron tapped her nails against her mug.“We scry for her.We use what’s ours.The bond of four.We’ll find her, and through her, the stone.”
Ursula hesitated.“But we will need something that holds the four of us already?We don’t have anything like that, as we do not know who she is.”
Saffron smiled, a little wickedly.“But we do have this.”She reached into her satchel and pulled out a crystal, faintly glowing.“It holds the essence of the four of us, bound centuries ago.Now that we have broken Marcus’s curse we can use this.It will know where she is.”
Nolan leaned in with a grin.“Why didn’t you use this earlier, mate?”
Saffie felt heat rise in her cheeks.“I was busy.”She had to work to ignore the laughing from her mates.
They spread a map across the table, the paper trembling slightly as if the air itself knew something was about to change.Saffron dangled the crystal on its chain, murmuring the old words.The glow deepened, light bleeding into the crystal until it was almost blinding.The chain pulled taut, the crystal swinging with deliberate force.Everyone leaned in, breaths held, as it circled once, twice ...then dipped sharply.The glow flared before it landed hard against the paper.
The table went silent.
Nolan leaned over, eyes widening.His voice was low, disbelieving.“You’ve got to be kidding.That’s right here.This very building.”
Before anyone could speak, the intercom buzzed.Everyone froze.Ursula rose and pressed the button.
A hesitant female voice crackled through.“Um ...hi.This is going to sound crazy, but I had a dream two nights ago telling me to come here.Said to ring the bell at exactly this time.I waited until the very minute the lady who was glowing in my dream told me to wait until, and ...well, here I am.Could someone maybe tell me what the fuck is going on?”
Chapter Six
The intercom buzz stillrang in Saffron’s ears when the knock came at Ursula’s apartment door.The kitchen had gone dead quiet, the smell of coffee and toast hanging heavy as if even the air was waiting.
Nolan was the first to react, his voice low and rough with a thrill that made the hairs on Saffron’s arms lift.“She’s here.”
Chairs scraped.Isaac stood slowly, steady as always, while Nolan bristled like a wolf about to lunge.Willow’s wide eyes softened into a smile, but Ursula’s hand froze halfway to the teapot, and Jacob’s laughter cut off like a blade.Everyone felt it—the shift, the gravity of something arriving that would change them all.
Ursula opened the door.The woman who stepped in smelled of rain and wild things.She was small, maybe five foot four, slender but curvy in a way that drew the eye.Her skin glowed warm in the morning light, her dark curls framing a face both delicate and strong.And her eyes—brown with glints of green—held the kind of wary curiosity of someone who’d walked into the wrong room but didn’t want to admit it.
