Page 73 of Tangled Fates

I watched him set it down on the coffee table. “We got any sugar?”

Dean whizzed around the corner. “Sugars, creamers, and finger foods.”

“Mmmm, my favorite,” Raven hummed into my chest.

I kissed the top of her head once more. “Ready to get to work?”

She tilted her gaze up to mine. “Depends. How are you feeling?”

I kissed her forehead. “Better.”

“Good,” Levi said as he flopped down on the couch, “because for a second there I thought I was going to have to thwap your nose with a magazine.”

We all broke down laughing, and I was thankful for it. A good, boisterous laugh always busted up a tense moment. We all made our way toward the coffee table, plucking mugs up for ourselves and dousing them with whatever was necessary to make Levi’s burnt-ass coffee taste better.

And after I eased myself into a high-backed chair, I rested my ankle on top of its opposite knee.

“All right, next steps. Anyone got any ideas?” I asked.

Dean took a sip of his over-sugared coffee. “I think we need a reconnaissance mission.”

Raven shook her head. “If we get caught?—”

Levi nodded. “Actually, I’m in agreement with Dean. Something happened back there in that cave, and I don’t know what.”

I furrowed my brow. “Yeah, Levi. What did happen? You were so sure that Brody was in that cave.”

Levi shrugged. “I honestly couldn’t tell you. Standing next to that cabin when we first approached the lake, I would have bet my soul on the fact that Brody was in that dumbass cave. However, the second we got inside, it’s like a switch flipped. I went from being surer than ever to being so sure that he wasn’t there that it almost panicked me.”

“Almost?” Dean asked.

Levi shot him a look. “You know what I mean. I thought I had led our Alpha into an ambush with my fuckery.”

“Except, I don’t think you did,” Raven said.

We all looked at her, and even I could see how hard her brain was working.

“What is it?” I asked. “What are you thinking?”

Raven sighed heavily. “It doesn’t make one damn bit of sense, but I truly believe that Levi thought Brody was in that cave. And then, I think we crossed a threshold of some sort.”

Levi narrowed his gaze. “You think there was some sort of, what, magic at play?”

I let the words tumble around in my mind. “We sent Brody off to find a witch to initially break the contract, right?”

The guys all nodded as Dean responded. “Right.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose as it all came together in my head. “Any chance we’ve just found a witch? Maybe a witch that has taken Brody from us because they believe he’s the rightful Alpha for the pack?”

Dean pointed at her. “The dream with the woman in the red dress. You said she was chanting or something?”

I heaved a heavy sigh. “Fucking hell, this is so much bigger than we thought.”

Raven’s eyes widened. “My God, Brody’s been captured by a witch.”

Silence fell between all of us before Raven got that look in her eye. A look that told us we needed to listen.

“I think I know what we need to do,” she said as her gaze volleyed between the three of us.

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