“No.”
Spencer looked like death, he was pale and sweating and barely standing upright, whatever Mark had drugged him with clearly hadn’t fully left his system yet, Which honestly made the entire situation somehow worse. Because the panic in his face looked real.
Bas paced along the back of the sofa with his fur puffed out aggressively. “I knew the twins were bad news,” he hissed.
“You think everyone’s bad news,” Binky shot back.
“Correct-a-mundo.”
Dave, meanwhile, had physically moved between Jessica and Spencer approximately thirty seconds earlier, after it became clear Jessica was one emotional sentence away from punching the bounty hunter directly through a wall.
“Everybody breathe,” Dave tried.
“No,” Jessica snapped immediately.
Maeve folded her arms, studying Spencer carefully. “You said your brother took her,” she said sharply.
Spencer dragged a hand through his hair roughly. “Yes.”
“And the gold-eyed creep?”
A muscle jumped in Spencer’s jaw. “Gerald.”
Jessica narrowed her eyes. “That’s the fiancé.”
Spencer nodded once.
Maeve immediately disliked him even more. Which was impressive, considering she had already mentally labelled himfuture magical accident victim.
“So let me get this straight,” Isabeau said slowly. “Your brother drugged you, forged a note, handed Edith over to her nightmare fiancé, and now she’s gods knows where?”
Spencer’s expression hardened. “They’ll head for the mainland.”
“Oh absolutely not,” Jessica hissed. Magic flickered through the room violently. The lights dimmed. Maeve exchanged a quick glance with Arietta.
Yep.
Jessica wasn’t even a witch, her powers had never manifested, so this had to do with the Gate, and recently it had taken on a mind of its own.
Spencer took a step forward and had to steady himself again. “I’m going after her.”
Binky immediately flapped upward indignantly. “You are the reason she’s gone!”
“I know and I’m sorry.” The immediate answer stunned the room quiet.
Because there was no defensiveness to it, it was raw and honest. Spencer swallowed hard.
“I know,” he repeated quietly. “And I want to fix it.”
Maeve stared at him for a long moment. The male looked genuinely wrecked over this, not angry over a job gone wrong, but almost heartbroken.
Oh, this was significantly messier than she thought.
Before she could say anything, the front door burst open and Denzel flew into the room like an angry missile landing directly onto the table. Everyone stared.
“You flew into a cupboard again, didn’t you?” Bas asked.
Denzel ignored him.
