“That’s the problem. We all put our energy into helping Johnny create this concealment shield, so it’s not a hostile spell. My magic is a part of it, so my magic doesn’t recognize it as a threat to combat. Hard to explain, kid, but we’ll figure it out. Tell me about my Cass.”
Her Cass. My bestie finally found his better half and now…
I couldn’t think about it.
I tried to keep my voice upbeat: “Well, we have a great plan.”
“Don’t fuck with me, Evie. That’s my soulmate in there. Give it to me straight.”
My voice shook. “He’s gone, T. Cho sent out some initial feelers but nothing came back. The sirens have him and no one can go in after him without the gate ripping them in half, according to my father at least.”
I wasn’t prepared for the wail that came through the other end of the phone. It was a cry of anger and desperation, coming from one of the strongest witches I’d ever met.
“But we have a plan,” I hastened to add. “We’re going to jump in a helicopter and fly to see the selkies. I’m going to convince them to go in after Cass and save him or something brilliant. Don’t worry.”
Silence.
Until finally, “The selkies…?” Her voice was airy on the other line. “The Selkies!” she shouted, making me jump.
“Yeah…”
“Evie. The selkies aren’t shifters. Their ability to change forms is confined to their seal skins. Legend says that anyone with magical blood wearing a seal skin can become a selkie, even if only temporarily. Men and women used to try to steal the skins in order to harness their powers.”
What was she suggesting? “Could I do this? Could Brock and I temporarily become selkies enough to convince the underworld that we have a demonic energy signature?” It was as bananas as it got, but it was also the only plan we had that didn’t rely on an untrained bartender.
“Yes,” Tianna confirmed. “You and Brock could cloak your energy in demon magic to cross into the underworld and save Cass. At least, that’s the theory.”
Oh fuck. My alpha was not going to like this.
15Friend or foe?
After suggestingI was crazy about twenty times, Brock finally agreed to at least ask the selkies if it was even possible to disguise ourselves as them. Now we were a few minutes away from their cove just off of the coast of Washington state. I’d always wanted to ride in a helicopter, just not like this.
“It’s totally weird to me that the government knows exactly where we are right now.” I reached out and rubbed the small lump on his shoulder, evident even beneath his t-shirt.
Brock grimaced. “If there’s a murder within five miles of my location, I’ll probably get blamed for it.”
My eyes widened.
“I’m messing around,” he told me before looking out at the open sea, but he was right. He’d taken a huge risk to protect his wolves.
Since we were on borrowed time, we’d convinced a fae pilot Brock knew to fly us to the selkies. I didn’t want Cass in the underworld after nightfall.
“I’m going to do a water landing!” the pilot shouted over the sound of the whirring blades.
A water landing?That sounded scary, but his bird looked equipped for that sort of thing with floats for landing gear, so I just held on white-knuckled until he lowered us near the edge of the shoreline.
“I’ve got an inflatable boat,” the pilot called out, and ten minutes later Brock had rowed us ashore.
“Let’s be quick. Cass is … counting on us,” I told Brock over the lump in my throat that had been lodged there since I found out the sirens had taken my bestie.
My alpha gripped my hand and we slow-jogged to the thick patch of forest where we’d seen the last selkie leader, or whatever she was.
Brock was staring into the forest. “Was it through here?”
“No, I think it was farther down.” I pulled his hand and that’s when the leader of the selkies emerged from the trees.
“Broke your sword again, kitsune?” the long-haired selkie asked behind black eyes that scared the shit out of me. Why couldn’t they be beautiful mermaids instead?
