Page 39 of The Heart of Moonlight Falls

“I’ve seen the rest of you,” James warned. “No point running.”

William turned toward the other men. “Come on. Honest mistake. We thought the place was unoccupied. No idea it had been rented out.”

“Yeah right.” Sebastian switched on the living room light, and James let his spell snuff out. “You broke in. Why bother if you thought no one lived here?”

“What were you doing, William?” James demanded when no one spoke up.

Before William could reply, one of the men—someone James could have sworn was relatively new in town—lunged for James, grabbing him and pinning his arms to his sides.

“Get the other one,” the attacker shouted.

The other man—who James would have bet was named Jim Mills—grabbed at Sebastian. James stomped on the insole of the man holding him. He grunted in pain, his hold loosening enough for James to elbow him in the gut and twist free. James grabbed the man going for Sebastian by the back of his shirt.

“Stop now, or I’ll be using magic next,” James growled.

Both men stood stalk still.

“Where did William go?” Sebastian asked.

“Shit.” James looked around. William was nowhere to be seen. “He couldn’t have gone far.”

“No, all because of you,” the man who’d attacked James said, pointing at Sebastian. “You trapped us!”

“Is that why you’re here?” James looked between them.

Jim glared. “He needs to go back to Storm House and release us from his curse.”

“So you were going to abduct him and try to trap him there?”

“Someone’s got to do something.” Jim crossed his arms indignantly.

James couldn’t believe it. He was almost blind with anger. “And you thought this was justifiable?”

Jim clapped the other man on the shoulder. “Let’s go.” He gestured to the open door.

James stepped in front of them. “I don’t think so. I’m calling the police.”

“Got your phone in your underwear,” the other man sneered.

Shit, their phones were upstairs.

“We can’t go to jail anyway,” the man said. “We’re trapped, so no one’s taking us down to Apple Valley, are they?” They pushed past James to leave.

Sebastian took an unsteady step after them.

James grabbed his arm. “Let them go. They can’t escape Moonlight Falls. I’m sure Eleanor will figure out what to do with them. People can’t just commit crimes because they’re trapped here and unable to be taken to jail.”

Sebastian closed the front door. “True.” The tension disappeared from his body, leaving him looking scared and hurt.

James wrapped his arms around him. “Are you okay? I mean, of course, you aren’t. William just led a group of people to break in and kidnap you.”

“Definitely doesn’t make me like the duplex any more than before.” Sebastian glanced hopelessly around the sparse room. “How did William know I lived here?”

“He must have seen us coming in or out.” The only time James had noticed William was when he and Sebastian had been on the way to the duplex, but William had gone into town hall before he could have seen where they were going. He must have seen them another time or seen Sebastian coming and going without James.

James retrieved his phone and called Eleanor, waking the poor woman up. James had never heard her so mad. She said William was dismissed from his position as a city councilor. Sharing the Storm House secret should have been enough to get rid of him, but breaking and entering and attempted kidnapping was a whole other story.

“Let’s call the police anyway,” Eleanor said. “They can come arrest everyone involved, and when they can’t get out of Moonlight Falls with them, at least someone on the outside will know there’s something strange going on.”

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