Page 5 of Ensnared
At least I hope so. My plans are detailed and elaborate, and if Skye accepts, she’ll be working on them for months, if not years to come. With her powers as unpredictable as they are, it might take her a while to master spells of such complexity. I have no idea how her magic works yet, so everything I just said could be complete bullshit.
“She is?” Ty purses his lips. “I thought she was a programmer.”
“That’s it exactly,” I say. “She can doboth. I think.”
He stares at me as though I’ve lost my mind. Which, let’s be honest, I probably have.
“How did you even find out about her?”
I could collect my laptop from my office downstairs and show him. I’d saved the video of Skye’s arrest, the cringe-worthy dog rescue complete with her shooting sparks from her fingers. But I want to give her a chance to share that with him—and Jack—on her own terms.
“It’s a long story.” He glares at me, so I add, “I promise I’ll tell you, or Skye will, but we need to clean up the broken glass and get it out of your feet.”
He glances down at himself as though he only just now realized that he’s got blood all over him. “I’m not talking to her.”
Fuck, there it is. Exactly what I’d been afraid of. If he and Jack turn away from Skye, she might not want to stay. And I need her to. For the clan, not for myself. I need her to create what I’ve been trying to implement for more than a year. I have no idea how to get someone else—another witch—here to put up the protection for us, not without exposing us to danger.
“Does she know?” he asks finally.
I don’t need him to clarify what he means. “No.”
And she won’t find out if I can help it. Nothing good can come from a witch knowing about sea dragons, not even a nice one like Skye. We’ll keep the secret from her for however long it takes.
With a groan, I get up and steady myself on the wall until the pounding in my head steadies into a low, dull throb. I want to shift to my dragon form, but gods know what would happen to my half-healed nose then. Better to wait until morning.
“I’ll get that broom,” I mutter.
I leave Ty watching over Jack, and when I return minutes later with the broom and dustpan, the door to Jack’s room is closed. I get the hint. Ty wants nothing to do with me right now, and I don’t blame him.
But I can’t escape myself.
Three
Skye
A loud poundingshakes my door, and I jerk up from sleep. Light filters in through a gap in the curtains, barely enough to see by.
“Yeah,” I croak. “Coming.”
I push out of bed and wobble over to the front door. Aiden stands on the other side, his face a marbled map of bruises. They radiate from his nose so his left eye is bloodshot and almost swollen shut, and there’s a nasty swelling to the nose that can only mean one thing.
I cover my mouth with my hand. “Did Ty break your nose?”
He rolls his eyes and pushes past me into the living space. “It’s no big deal.”
“What? Of course it’s a big deal. Did you set it properly?” I close the door so the cold morning air doesn’t seep in and follow him. “Do you have a doctor in the village?”
My sleepy brain slowly remembers the events of last night. Hot embarrassment flushes through me, then the cold realization that he has come to take me away. This is it, my last morning in Amber Bay.
He stops so abruptly that I bump into his back.
“What’s this?” he barks.
I peer around him and see he’s focused on my suitcases. He glances toward the kitchen table where neat stacks of my new winter gear are ready for whoever will take them back to the shop in Anchorage, and his frown deepens.
“Uh, I packed,” I say. “I wanted to be ready. And how is Jack?”
“Better.” He turns to me. “Ready for what?”
