Page 27 of Ignited Spirits
“Smart thinking, wolf boy.”
Luca’s mouth twitches like he wants to grin, and it makes my heart feel all mushy in my chest. He’s so serious all the time, and it’s only gotten worse after what happened to Archer.
I hate that he seems to have the weight of the world on his shoulders with all his pack responsibilities and now this mess with Lua. I just want to lighten his load anyway I can.
Waiting a beat for anyone to object, I open a portal directly into my kitchen, not wanting to risk being seen outside of my house if I am in trouble.
When I walk through, I’m greeted by the scent of a plethora of food. On the marble counters, I see a beef roast, chicken cordon bleu, various vegetable sides, salads, and enough food for a feast.
Combined with my mom’s frazzled expression, I can tell that she’s been stress cooking. For as long as I can remember, my mom has always made way too much food when something’s going wrong as a way to cope, which doesn’t bode well for us.
My mom is so preoccupied with the soup she’s stirring that she doesn’t even notice the six of us walking into her kitchen. “Mom?” I ask hesitantly, not wanting to startle her.
“Izzy?” My mom looks at me in confusion before her face contorts in panic. “You can’t be here! You need to leave.”
Her frantic tone is enough to make my heart race. “What? Why?”
Mom turns off the heat and wipes her hands on her apron before rushing over to me. She enfolds me in a hug that feels like home before she pulls back and levels me with a serious look. “Because the council and most of the town are looking foryou. There’s an arrest warrant and execute-on sight order out for you.”
My eyes widen, and I say the only thing I can think of. “Oh shit.”
CHAPTER 10
IZZY
“Language,” my mom chides half-heartedly. She’s too worried about my being here to really care about my swearing.
“Why is there an arrest warrant for me?” I ask, even though I can think of quite a few things that would make the council want to arrest me, not the least of which was accidentally killing a councilman.
“They found out you killed Doyle. Your father is currently in prison for aiding and abetting you. Rhys and Aiden are both trying to get him out.”
My stomach drops to the floor at hearing that my dad is behind bars. “What? I leave for five days, and this is what happens? Fuck, we have to break him out.”
This is so not good.
People arrested by the council rarely live long enough to make it to trial. No wonder my mom has been stress cooking up a storm. There’s not a whole lot she can do for Dad. Me, on the other hand, there’s a lot I can—and will—do for him.
My mom is already shaking her head before I can even finish. “Isabel, no. You can’t break your father out.”
“Oh, but I can.” I give my mom what’s probably an unhinged smile because I’m feeling a little violent at the threat to my dad. “I have a hellhound, a full-bloodedcura, a wolf with unknown extra magic, a super powerful mage, and an alpha wolf on my side. Oh, and I have some of the strongestcuramagic Hades has ever seen. We can absolutely break him out.”
I’m so tired of the council and how their word is absolute law. No one challenges the rules, practices, or arbitrary decrees from the council. Instead, everyone blindly follows what they say without ever questioning whether it’s the right thing to do, and I’m sick of it.
“Hades?” Mom asks in confusion.
I shrug. “It’s a long story, but that’s Levi’s brother. He’s… interesting.” I have no idea how to even begin to explain Hades to my mom. He’s a character, that’s for sure.
The front door slams and multiple sets of footsteps sound as people walk straight toward us. I want to scream in frustration, because how the hell did the council already find me? They must be getting help from someone like Lua to have already realized I’m in town.
My wide eyes find my mom’s as we both panic about the situation, and my mind races with what to do. Before I can figure it out, Rhys and Aiden walk through the doorway, looking almost as burned out as I feel.
Rhys has circles under his hazel eyes, and his dark brown hair is sticking up in all directions, like he’s been running his hands through it.
Aiden’s normally smiling gray eyes are pinched at the corners, and his posture is slumped in defeat.
Attempting to smile at my mom, Rhys is the first one to notice me. When he does, he stops in his tracks and blinks a few times, like he’s not sure I’m real. “Izzy? What are you doing here?”
“We need Anya’s help and came here before trying to find her, just in case anything was going on. Good thing, too, because apparently everything has gone wrong. The whole town is hunting for me.” Which is awesome. It’s not like I had any other problems on my plate or anything. I can just use my abundance of free time to find some way to free Dad.
