Page 83 of Wind with a Chance of Wolfsbane

“Call me back,” she said, desperation clinging to her every word. “If you don’t, I’m grabbing the girls, and I’m bringing them with me to Grimm Cove.”

“Mina! No.”

“I don’t want them near the place either, but if you fall out of contact with me, I’ll do it,” she warned. “I’ll bring them in a heartbeat.”

“I’ll call you back. I promise,” I said.

“I love you. Don’t get dead,” she stated clearly.

“Ditto,” I shot back before hanging up.

I put my cell in the cup holder and then put the car in gear, pulling back onto the road. It was time I faced down the demons of my past, all while hoping the demons of the future were nothing more than figments of my imagination.

ChapterTwenty-Five

Jonathan

“Almost done,”said Marcy from the roadside before returning to a rather in-depth conversation with the ants.

Jonathan leaned against the vehicle, wondering what other trouble the eccentric blonde woman could possibly manage to get into before the morning was out. So far, she was certainly on a roll, and he found it amusing and was surprisingly pleased to be back in Grimm Cove despite having planned to return closer to Samhain, which was still two months out.

Three months ago, Grimm Cove found itself being overrun by ghouls who had been controlled by Dragos, of all people. The bastard had managed to gain his freedom from the cave that Jonathan and the others had mystically locked him in. Jonathan still wasn’t entirely sure how that was. He knew it had something to do with the Order of the Dragon, but the exact details were still unknown.

That was worrisome.

The spells they’d used to bind the master vampire to the cave had been ancient and powerful. They’d required blood sacrifices, among other things, and the group of Roma who had added in the spell work had sworn that only the blood from two or more of the lines of those present that night could be used ever to release the demon.

Jonathan knew for a fact that no one from the Van Helsing or Harker lines would have ever dared to do such a thing. Quinn had no family to speak of. Arthur’s relative was standing before Jonathan, picking wildflowers, and she hadn’t had anything to do with Dragos’s release. Seward, like Quinn, had no living family members.

That left the Murray line, and as far as Jonathan knew, Wilhelmina had taken those secrets with her to her grave. Even if someone from her line knew the truth, they’d still require the blood of another original line to break the spell.

The Order had to have found another way to grant Dragos his freedom. Some loophole no one could have foreseen. The bastards had been surfacing more and more over the past nine months and were proving to be more of a thorn in the side than usual.

They’d not only broken Dragos free from his mystical prison and, in turn, released his ghoul hordes on innocents, but they’d also sent Jack the Ripper and a practitioner of the dark arts after the woman who was still picking wildflowers.

Jonathan had learned the details of the events after they’d taken place because he’d been busy putting out fires The Order had started in various other locations around the globe. He was sure that had been by design. They were smart enough to spread opposing resources thin to increase their odds of success.

Their plan had nearly been a complete success. Dragos had shown up in Grimm Cove with his horde of ghouls in tow. At the same time, Bram’s daughter Dana had relocated to the town with her two best friends—Poppy and Marcy. The three women quickly found themselves tangling with a succubus witch and, right behind that, Dragos and his ghouls.

From the accounts Jonathan had been given of events, the women had handled themselves well. But the showdown with Dragos had left Bram having to reveal the truth of who he was to Dana. Prior to that, she’d not known her father was him or that he was a vampire.

Had Jonathan been present, he might have been able to help smooth things between Bram and Dana, which sounded as though it had gotten off to a rocky start. In addition, had Jonathan been present, he might have been able to help protect his pack members from harm.

As it stood, one was still in serious condition.

Kellan had happened upon Dana while she was going for a morning run in the woods. Woods that were infested with Dragos’s horde of ghouls. Kellan had been there to help protect Dana but at great cost to himself.

He’d been injured during it all and had yet to recover. He was trapped in wolf form and under the watchful eye of the local veterinarian, who was staying in close contact with Jonathan and Bram.

Dwayne and Marjorie were beside themselves, praying for a miracle that didn’t seem to want to come.

Jonathan tried, but so far, he was failing at getting through to Kellan. He couldn’t connect to him mentally, and that was beyond worrisome. He’d not wanted to tell Dwayne, but the same thing had happened with Myron and Digby long ago—when both had snapped.

The idea that he could possibly lose Kellan too, like he’d lost his brothers, weighed heavily on Jonathan. The last thing he wanted to have to do was hunt Kellan down and kill him, but if the young wolf-shifter snapped fully, that’s what would need to be done.

Currently, the biggest fear was that, like Myron, Kellan would simply check out.

Jonathan’s wolf snarled within him, agitated at the idea of anything happening to Kellan.

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