Page 53 of Warrior Witch

“Keep your voice down. This isn’t a question of who stole samples of whose blood while they slept to prove a point. This is about family. Long-lost family. It’s like a lifetime movie!” I held my arms above my head, grinning widely in hopes he’d pick up on how exciting this moment should be for him.

Instead of cheering at my genius, he pinched the bridge of his nose like he had a headache.

“You know what? This isn’t the time to deal with this.” He pinned me with a hard look and pointed his finger in my face. “Do not bring this up with Addie yet. We’ll deal with it after we’ve figured out how to break Harlow’s curse. Okay?”

I shrugged. It was no skin off my nose what he did with the information. My motivation behind puzzling out the connection was a hunch that itched under my skin until I needed to prove myself right.

I loved solving mysteries, which was why I had the best job ever.

Considering Kylen got really quiet after my big reveal, I was glad the place we needed to go wasn’t that far away. The trees began to feel familiar as I pictured following Harlow through the woods, her panic an acidic tang in the air. I’d been distracted by a scent on… I looked ahead and found the rock that had taken my attention the first time here and beside it…

“Oh, hell yeah. I thought I lost this.” My puppy pack was under a creeping vine beside the rock. Inside was a change of clothes, a couple of snacks, and my cell phone. “Damn. It’s dead. Think anyone has a charger back at the motel?”

Kylen watched me, eyes wide in bewilderment. Shit, that was right. Stinky plant. I closed my eyes, picturing the scene. Harlow over there, punk ass wolf on top of her, absorbing her magic. The wind shifted from the northwest to the south, and the smell came from…

“There!” I pointed to a grayish green pod that stuck out of a sheet of moss wedged under a boulder.

Kylen took a step forward, then another, before falling to his knees and digging in the dirt like a man possessed. He sifted through the earth until a spot of blue appeared.

“It’s… Holy shit. You found it.” Kylen’s face was so pale, it made me glad he was already sitting so he wouldn’t fall over.

“That’s it, then?” I asked, opening an emergency Twinkie.

He surged to his feet, grasped me by the shoulders, and pressed his lips hard against mine. My first reaction was to protect my treat, but when it became obvious this was gratitude, not food theft, I waited him out. He pulled back and glanced over his shoulder at his prize.

“I know we’re going to be sharing a mate and all that, but I don’t swing that way. You might be better off talking to Bruin,” I said through a mouthful of Twinkie.

He winked, color slowly returning to his face. “Don’t worry. I’ve got that covered.”

I barked a laugh as he turned his attention to claiming his prize before we walked back to town in companionable silence.

***

We returned to the motel in good spirits while the sun was still in the sky, for a change, so that Kylen could pot his new plant pet to study. Harlow sat with him, watching him with interest as he worked.

“I don’t totally get it, but it’s cute the way he gets so excited!”

Lindsay and Addie stretched out on the queen bed and turned on some reality television show, while Bruin sat in a corner, pretending to bitch about the choice while conveniently commentating on the characters by name. Hendrix had gone to stretch his wings while I curled up beside the bed and let Addie stroke my head absently. Human or dog, I defy anyone to say they don’t like having their head stroked.

A noise outside heralded Hendrix’s return, but the quick open and close of the next room’s door set me on alert. I slid out from beneath Addie’s hand, then slipped through to the adjoining room with Harlow.

“We have a problem,” Hendrix said, pulling the curtains closed. “There is a whole pack of bikers headed this way. I couldn’t make out the club on their cuts, but there’s only one group I know you have beef with.”

The three of us glanced at the wall to next door, while Kylen paused in his work, spinning in the chair to face us.

“We need to bring everyone in on this,” Hendrix said. “Especially if Bruin’s the one who called them in.”

Harlow shook her head. “He wouldn’t, and it’d be better to keep him out of the way. Let the club think he isn’t involved. What I need is for you to keep Addie safe while I deal with this. Promise me.”

Movement in the doorway caught my attention, but when I glanced over, there was nothing but the blonde tips of someone’s hair disappearing back into the other room.

I stayed quiet with Kylen while Hendrix and Harlow went back and forth for a few minutes on the best course of action. Basically, Hendrix was being reasonable, and my mate acted like she had a death wish. Not that I was biased at all. We had no way of knowing the power these bikers were packing, but Harlow was adamant.

“I’ve dealt with them before, and I can do it again.” She spoke through gritted teeth, trying to keep her voice low so as not to alert the other room of the situation. “Seriously, Hendrix, you better back off, or I swear I’ll fry your balls so bad they’ll twitch any time you so much as think the word electricity.”

Despite my newfound electrical abilities, even I wouldn’t have tried her on that one. As she disappeared through the door, the three of us shared a helpless look. No one in the other room would be happy with us letting her walk out.

Her wishes were clear. Keep Addie safe. But that didn’t mean we couldn’t still help.

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