Page 86 of Magic's Rise

“Hey, all I did was press the magic boob.” The joke falls flat. “How are you feeling? Any desire to keel over again?”

Aspen shakes his head, then lifts a hand to his head. “I’ll be fine, thanks to your fast thinking. But we need to figure out who tried to poison us.”

I hug Haut’s arm around me like a teddy bear. “Is it possible the guy who attacked us before is behind this?”

Griffen frowns as his gaze sweeps over the woods. “I’d like to say no, but his scent has proved elusive.”

“It wasn’t masked at the gas station,” Haut rumbles.

“Nor outside the hotel,” Levi adds. “Also wasn’t a wolf of any kind.”

“Not sure it was a wolf we faced in the forest.” Aspen’s head lifts. “If we analyze the poison, it might give us some leads.”

“Uh, there might be an issue with that.” Tris points to the ground.

All eyes turn to the mess of empty red cups, scattered in our haste to save Aspen, the evidence of the poisoner long gone.

STAINED IN RED

“The party is over!” Griffen announces. “Everyone not on patrol duty, go home.”

“Let’s get you to your room.” Tris loops an arm around Aspen’s waist as he helps him off the table. “I’m keeping an eye on you tonight. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.”

Aspen sways on his feet. “Really, I’m fine.”

“Uh huh. Sure, you are.” Tris leads him away, and despite his protest, Aspen is too weak to put up a fight.

Levi goes with them, sticking to their shadows as he sweeps the area for signs of danger.

Griffen steps forward, his hard gaze sweeping over Aris, Mina, and Kaela. “I’ll find some space for all of you to sleep. Consider yourselves guests of the pack until we’ve gotten to the bottom of this.”

Mina whimpers, and Aris wraps an arm around her. Kaela murmurs to her werewolf beau, who trails after them as Griffen leads them away.

Haut touches the small of my back. “Let’s go inside.”

I look up at him. “I want to watch the fire a little longer.”

His expression tenses, but he nods, and we sit together on the bench where the poisoning happened, facing the bonfire. The flames flicker and crackle, the warmth on my face not enough to chase away the chill in the air.

Slowly, the pack members dissipate into the darkness, leaving us alone.

“Was I wrong to think I could come here and help Silver Hollow?” I ask Haut, biting my lip.

“Your grandma never would have done it.”

“Right.” I nod glumly. “It was stupid.”

“No, it was brave.” Haut drapes his arm on the table behind me. “Charlene had her good qualities, but she was also selfish. She wouldn’t have put herself out there for a stranger. But you didn’t think twice about it.”

“Actually, I thought more than twice about coming here,” I admit, feeling a pang of guilt. “But it turns out I’m selfish, too, and it almost killed Aspen.”

“The moon-madness amulets,” Haut says without a trace of question in his tone.

My face lifts to his in surprise. “You knew?”

“What, you think I don’t know how your mind works?” Haut chuckles softly.

A smile twitches at my lips. “Sometimes I wonder.”

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