I locked eyes with Serenity, noticing she was already smiling at me. Her brown eyes were watery as she ran them over me from head to toe, as if checking to make sure I was in one piece. I was doing the same. I hadn’t quite realized just how worried I’d been until this moment. After I was arrested, everything just happened so fast that I lost her in the whirlwind.
Leaping off the couch, I approached the portal. Gareth slipped behind me, placing a protective hand on the small of my back. I glanced up at August, who held Serenity the same way, realizing his eyes were locked on Gareth's hand with a raised brow. That was definitely going to be an interesting conversation later.
Serenity stepped forward, reaching out as if to touch the portal, but Bastian stopped her as he lowered his arms. Sorry,mon amour, it’s too dangerous. If we touch the portal, it may disrupt the balance of magic.” My cousin paused,nodding at her warlock, and he smiled down at her softly, his violet eyes full of adoration.
“Are you okay?” I asked her, getting as close as I could to the portal without making contact.
She nodded. “We’re fine. Sean and Lox are here, too.”
I peered around the dark room behind them and realized that I didn’t recognize anything. I thought they were going back to the pack house in Blood Moon territory, but this wasn’t the pack house.
“We’re hiding out at one of Bastian’s beach houses for the time being,” she said without me having to ask. “They thought it would be safer to stay away from the pack house for now since Estelle probably knows where it is. She reached out, locking her fingers through Bastian’s, and Faust flanked her on the left, placing himself as close to her as he could.
I smiled at the picture they all made. My sweet cousin, surrounded by her harem of badass men who would tear the world apart for her. Even Faust, the biggest asshole I knew, aside from Gareth, or... who Gareth tried to pretend to be.
“Any leads on the witch?” Gareth asked. We all looked at him. It was the first time he’d spoken since shifting back to a human with anyone other than me. War and Thane glanced at each other, a silent exchange passing between them.
Atlas, who stood with his hands in his suit pockets, nodded. The vampire was always dressed for business and had this whole dark, suave aura about him. “There have been sightings, but nothing concrete. We have scouts and informants reporting to us daily, so it’s only a matter of time until she slips up and exposes herself.” He looked down at me, giving me a weak smile. “Beatrix, we have some information that might upset you.”
I tensed, and Gareth's fingers flexed against my back. War peered down at me, eyes unsure, his hands balled at his sides. I nodded at Atlas. “Let me have it.” I was ready for anything at this point. What more could possibly go wrong in my life? Surely, it couldn’t be worse than getting arrested for a murder I didn’t commit.
Atlas looked to Bastian, and the warlock took a deep breath before saying, “As your lawyer, I’m privy to certain details of the investigation, and apparently, they have several surveillance recordings from the alleyway behind the bar where Savannah was killed.” He glanced at Gareth, his eyes flickering away immediately. Guiltily. “It’s not a pretty sight. But that’s not the worst of it.”
“Just tell me,” I said, my entire body locking up, butterflies fluttering in my stomach with nauseating nerves.
“The video clearly shows you killing Savannah that night,” he said as a matter of fact. I froze, sucking in a painfully sharp breath, feeling Gareth go still behind me. But Bastian wasn’t finished, probably sensing the tension rolling off of the wolf behind me. “I joined the forensics team dispatched to the crime scene and ran a few tests myself. The magic signature left behind was potent enough that it stuck to the area even after her body was removed.”
I didn’t understand what he was trying to say. Magical signature? I didn’t have a magical signature. Not to mention the fact that I wasn’t even in the damn alleyway to begin with.
“What he’s trying to say,” Serenity said, stepping closer, “is that someone used a glamor to make it look like you were the one who killed Savannah. They knew exactly where the cameras were and knew that if they used your face, there would be enough hard evidence for an open and shut case.”
I blinked at my cousin and Bastian. He noddedsolemnly, saying, “I confirmed it myself. Glamour magic was used, and the residue was all over the crime scene. Whoever did it was incredibly skilled.”
“Someone set me up,” I grumbled. My heart was pounding, and my mind was swirling with theories. One stood out prominently above all the rest. “It’s Estelle; I know it.”
“But her magic was stripped,” Serenity said.
Bastian shook his head. “It was, but there are always loopholes. She’s one of the most powerful witches I’ve ever encountered, and she has friends who are just as strong. We can’t rule out the possibility that her magic has been unlocked.”
Just the thought of it made me want to throw up. We had her right where we needed her. In cuffs. On the stand, where she would confess her crimes and be judged. After a year of waiting, we were finally going to get the justice we deserved. But things never seemed to happen that way for us.
“So, what now?” I asked, feeling hopeless. “If she’s back to full power, then we’re fucked, right?”
“We’ll find her,” War said, a bit of violence in his voice. I looked up at him, noting the stiffness in his stance and the darkness of his eyes. He was pissed.
“Were you able to trace the magic?” Thane asked Bastian. “At least to a clan?”
Bastian nodded. “It was definitely someone from the Nightingale clan, but that’s all I could pick up. There are thousands of magic users in Nightingale, so pinpointing the exact signature could take weeks, if not months.”
“Could it have been Estelle herself?” Serenity asked.
Thane shook his head. “No. She wouldn’t do the dirty work herself. You saw what lengths she went to withSenator Harker. He was just a grunt who got his hands dirty on her behalf. That’s how she operates.”
“So, what? Do we just stay in hiding until she gets caught?” I asked, raking my fingers through my hair in frustration. “Ugh! I fucking hate this! Just when we were starting to feel normal again!”
Thane wrapped his arms around me, and I buried my face into his chest, tears pricking at my eyes, but I wouldn't let them fall. They were more tears of frustration and anger than anything else.
“We’ll get that bitch, little wolf. I promise,” he whispered against my hair, his calm voice soothing something inside of me. My shoulders dropped, and I breathed out a long sigh. Thane placed a kiss on the top of my head before I pulled away.
