“The Lincoln sisters might be swimming with the fishes by then,” Bo contributed glumly from under the table.
“Thanks for that comforting thought,” Samuel muttered.
The unspoken possibility of the Lincoln sisters’ fate hung in the air like a nasty smell.
“Barney is right though,” Gavin said nervously. “The Ashgrove witches and Melody are under the influenceof that witch. Unless we break the subjugation spell they’re under, bringing them onboard now will only alert our enemy.”
Didi’s jaw tightened. “That’s where Abby comes in. The kind of binding this witch used requires proximity to unravel. The spell is woven into the Ashgrove witches and Melody’s magical signatures at a fundamental level. The only way to break it is to overpower it.”
Barney’s pupils flared. “Ah. So somebody whose power doesn’t play by the usual rules could do it.”
The vampire and the witch looked at me like I was steak at an all-meat diner.
Amber flared in Samuel’s pupils, his displeasure singing across the mate bond.
“Abby’s not a witch,” my alpha said coolly.
Bo poked his head out.
“Yeah,” my dog huffed. “She couldn’t hex a carrot if she tried.”
I decided to ignore my dog’s insult.
“The barriers at the Holts’ ball and under the Chamber of Commerce were static ones,” I protested weakly, my pulse quickening. “This is binding magic that’s alive inside people.”
“Which is exactly why it might work,” Didi said. Her gaze had sharpened. “Your power doesn’t just break magic, Abby. At the Holts’ ball, you issued a command that overrode every supernatural in the room. Alphas, vampires, fae. Things that should have been impossible.” She paused. “Subjugation magic forces a witch’s will into submission. I thinkyou can do that too. And I believe you can do the opposite. You can nullify control. That’s how you broke the crystal skull curse. You overwhelmed it.”
My mouth went dry. I’d never thought about it that way.
Didi wrinkled her brow. “I also think your powers are strongest when you’re near a ley line or a convergence.”
“This is all speculation,” Samuel said reluctantly.
The glance he shot me felt like a warning to keep quiet about my new white wolf powers.
“It’s the best theory we’ve got,” Didi said flatly.
Bo’s ears flattened. “Can I say that walking into a dark witch’s lair and hoping for the best is the kind of plan that makes me want to poop? And I mean bad poop.”
Didi narrowed her eyes. “There is no good poop.”
Gavin’s tail was twitching nervously. Barney looked like he had opinions about this proposal that centuries of aristocratic restraint were barely containing.
Still, the final call lay with Samuel.
I felt him reach a decision across the mate bond.
“How do we contact the Ashgrove witches?” he said, frowning. “They’ve gone dark and the witch controlling them is unlikely to make it easy for them to communicate.”
“Melody might be able to get through to the ones in her coven,” Didi said. “Of course, there’s no guarantee they’ll agree to help. The binding might not let them.”
“Shouldn’t we break the spell now?” Gavin said, puzzled. “They’ll be able to cooperate then.”
Didi shook her head. “Esmeralda will feel it. She’ll know we’re coming. We have to get them to the property and do it there.”
I considered this with a frown. “It’s a risk. She might catch on to what we’re planning.”
A muscle jumped in Samuel’s jawline. “Right now, every option is a risk.”
