“You gave them a time-out in the yard,” Ko muttered.
“They’re considering their life choices,” Cas shot back without missing a beat, making me snicker despite my state of snack isolation.
“Anyway,” Foster rumbled around his mouthful of salty goodness, “Little Boss said she wants to show you something. So haul ass to Ko’s lab.”
“Bullied by an alpha wolf in my own home,” I grumbled, shooting Seri dagger eyes. “Denied snackies. My gift derided, my heart crushed—”
“You are not bullied or denied or unloved.” She rolled her eyes, reached into her back pocket, and whipped out two of my favorite meat snack sticks. Smacking them into my palm, she stretched up on her tiptoes and kissed my jaw. “You are, however, a fang-rotted menace. Never interrupt my work like that again.”
“Or what?” I couldn’t resist bedeviling her when she was trying to look so fierce.
“I have a best friend now, and I’m not afraid to sic him on you.” She gave me the sweetest smile and, before I could respond, added, “If that isn’t enough incentive to behave, I’ll tattle to Simmy, andhe’lldeal with you again,cricket boy.”
Spinning around, she flounced from the room, curls bouncing, ass sashaying, and damned if I didn’t run after her like the whipped puppy I was.
#
Seri
A simple piece of paper lay on one of Koa’s lab tables. A dream that, with the Goddess’ blessing, would soon become reality. After months of research, countless failed attempts, and more than a few tearful nights, I’d finally done it. Created a ward against siphoning.
At least, IthoughtI had.
I glanced around at my mismatched family. Each of them was as eager and anxious as I was, just in different ways. It was both reassuring and terrifying to think how much they believed in me.
“Let’s test it,” I said, my voice strong with determination.
“How do you want to do that?” Koa asked in his deep rumble.
I bit my lip, suddenly uncertain. Testing a ward against siphoning meant we needed something that would try to suppress my magic, something that would mimic what Arabesque had done to me for years. The memory of that violation made my chest tighten painfully.
“That’s the problem, isn’t it?” Casimir paced beside the lab table, and his voice took on that clipped tone he used when he was worried, but trying to hide it. “We need to test if it blocks siphoning, but siphoning is dark magic. None of us are going to perform that kind of spell on you.”
Foster, who was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed, spoke up.
“What if you don’t need to test it against actual siphoning? Maybe just see if it blocks any device trying to shut down her magic? That would at least prove the concept works.”
“That’s actually not a terrible idea,” Koa remarked, sounding slightly surprised that Foster had come up with it.
“I have something that might work. That enchanted faerie cord from King Aerin. My share of the payment for eliminating that chort before we came to Evermere.” Casimir stopped pacing, and I perked upwith interest. “The cord is enchanted to lock down the power of anyone it binds and forces shapeshifters to remain in their current form. It’s not siphoning, but the theory is there. It’s designed to disrupt access.”
“That could work. It won’t tell us if the ward can stop an actual siphoning attempt, but it would test the basic principle,” Koa agreed.
“We also have a Hexenfänger,” Zane chirped, then held his hands up when Casimir shot him a murderous glare. “Which isNEVERgoing to happen. I’d personally behead anyone who even brought that thing near our moonbeam with the intent of putting it on her.”
I didn’t remember what a Hexenfänger was at the moment, but judging from everyone’s reactions, it wasn’t something I wanted to experience.
“Another option,” Foster suggested, “would be to ask your nephilim warrior buddy, Kerry Harker, or Queen Kaori if they could get us some of that power-suppression fabric the Council of Elders uses for their criminals’ prison uniforms.”
“The faerie cord sounds like it would work just fine for a test, and we already have it. I’d like to try it now. I’m too excited to wait!” I glanced at Casimir, who nodded, his beautiful green eyes softening as they met mine.
As he left the room, Zane sidled closer, peering at my design.
“You know,” he said with a mischievous grin, “if this works, we should celebrate. I’m thinking cake, confetti cannons, the works. Maybe even convince Cas to wear a party hat!”
“Let’s see if it works first,” Koa said, but there was a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. He took my notebook and held it open to the final design while Zane grabbed a small mirror from one of the shelves.
Casimir returned with a slender cord that shimmered with an otherworldly light. It looked innocent enough, but I could feel the power embedded within it, like a storm waiting to break.
