Page 60 of Bait N' Witch

“Downstairs to the panic room. Move.”

Another round of explosions rocked the house as they hurried. He had to grab Atleigh, as a violent shudder sent her tumbling down.

With more haste than calm, he ran them to the kitchen, down Rowan’s stairs, to the door hidden on the wall opposite the windows. With a whispered word, the door appeared. He quickly punched in a series of numbers in a keypad, and, with a thunk, the bolt slid back, and the door swung open.

“Get inside and don’t come out until I tell you to or someone you know comes for you.”

“You’re leaving us?” Lachlyn screeched, even as she followed her sisters inside.

The three most precious faces in the world peered out at him, fear dilating their pupils, their bodies visibly trembling.

“The wards will withstand only so much, but a magical alarm was automatically triggered. Help is coming.” Fast, he hoped. The problem with teleporting was it could be intercepted by magical means. He had no idea if the werewolves had another mage helping them, but he couldn’t risk teleporting out. And the witches and warlocks coming to help would have to teleport somewhere a decent distance away and cover the rest of the way on foot.

“I have to hold them off until then. And if Rowan is out there…”

“Go, Dad,” Atleigh said. “Don’t let them kill her.”

A swell of pure love kicked him in the gut. With a muffled exclamation, he leaned in and gave each of his daughters a kiss. “Even if they get by me and into the house, they shouldn’t be able to get into this room. Even then, your mother’s kiss of protection will keep you safe.”

Gods above and below, torn didn’t begin to describe his emotions. But leaving his daughters safe in the magical room built into the solid granite of the mountain while he went to keep the attackers out was his only choice.

“I love you. Always.”

With that, he whispered the words that shut and locked the door and hid it from sight.

…

Rowan’s only thoughts involved keeping the wolves out. The problem was, she had to remain a ghost or risk the shifters controlling her and using her to get past Greyson’s wards inside. With a thought, pure will creating action, she forced her spectral form to disappear and reappear outside.

Remaining unseen, she took stock of the situation. Three wolves—massive in their animal forms, one gray and two red—stood facing the back of the house. Catching glints here and there, she could tell more remained concealed by the trees beyond. Knowing how this attack was going from the inside, she’d guess more still surrounded the house from all four sides to ensure no one got out easily.

Okay. Time for distract and disturb. Rowan had no idea if what she was about to try would even work. But people saw ghosts all the time, right?

Thinking solid thoughts, she willed her ghostly form to materialize to the attackers. The act required a huge amount of concentration and the unpleasant sensation akin to being underwater after the air in her lungs ran out. Finally, she thought she’d achieved it, based on what she could see of her more solid-looking form.

“I’m here,” she called. “I’m the one you want.”

The three wolves closest to her turned with a snarl. Guess it worked.

One of the red wolves leaped at her, and she allowed her form to disappear. Not difficult. Holding herself as a visible entity had taken effort. Her body wanted to be invisible, to no longer exist.

The creature flew through the air and slammed into the pine tree behind where she’d appeared. The tree, on the skinnier side, cracked and split with the impact, and pine needles rained down like dry water as the upper half fell to the ground with a crash of limbs, pinning the wolf beneath it.

His companions didn’t bother to check on him. Instead they let out twin howls, which Rowan, as an Aneval, easily translated into, “She’s here. Bring reinforcements.”

A midnight-black female wolf sprinted from around the side of the house, followed by three others. Those inside the tree line remained where they were as far as Rowan could tell. As the female neared, the big gray wolf suddenly shifted, his body shimmering like a mirage with the change as bone realigned and fur receded into skin, clothing appearing, until before her stood a man with gray at the temples and a nasty scar running down the side of his neck.

“She is here, mistress.” He addressed the black female wolf, slightly smaller in form than most of the others.

Kaios’s lover. Rowan had seen her only in human form before.

The red wolf with him—the one still standing, at least—growled, and Scar Neck grimaced.

“That is, there’s a ghost that looks like the McAuliffe witch here.”

The hackles raised on the black wolf’s back, and she bared her teeth in a silent display of displeasure.

Before Rowan could hear more, the sensation of ice being wrapped around her neck invaded her form an instant before she was yanked back into the house.

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