Page 35 of Her Forbidden Shifters
Small miracles, and all.
“I agree with the coven option,” Liam said. “Using your coven sister to perform a spell is much less risky than using Noah as bait.”
“And less violence potential,” I added. “The worst that might happen in this scenario is the spell doesn’t work.”
“Then we use me as bait if your plan A doesn’t work?” Noah asked, slouching in his seat.
I shrugged. “Why do you want to be used as bait so badly?”
“I want to do something to help, not sit around on my ass all day and all night, worrying about my sister and wondering if we’re going to find her in time.” His emerald gaze was softer, sadder when his eyes rested on mine. His lips were pulled down at the corners. He was feeling tortured over all of this.
“Would it work with sex magic?” Liam said. “Like with your healing?”
I shook my head. “As much as I appreciate the offer, even with sex, the location spell wouldn’t work. Locating things is not my forte. Toni is much better at those types of spells than I could ever hope to be. Forcing something to work out of desperation may cause a spell to backfire in a big way. I don’t want to risk that. Not for something like this.”
Liam nodded. “What you said makes a lot of sense. And for the record, I wasn’t offering. I simply was asking out of curiosity. Exploring the options, if you will.”
“I understand, thank you for explaining,” I said.
He nodded.
“When are you planning on heading to your coven?” Jacob asked. “We are racing against the clock and rituals do have a habit of being a bit time-consuming.”
I glared at him again. He could be such an ass. I didn’t understand where all his animosity was coming from except for the fact that I had sex with Liam and my actions had gone against protocols, but even he was known to bend a rule a time or two. I didn’t understand it, and I didn’t have the energy to figure it out. My focus needed to stay on finding Avery and as soon as possible.
“In the morning, once I have had some sleep,” I said, my words coming out short again. He deserved it. Him and his baiting. Asshole. “Is that okay with you?”
Jacob crossed his arms over his chest. He pulled his gaze from mine and shrugged.
“So, plan A is the coven. Plan B is using me as bait?” Noah asked.
I shook my head. I was bound and determined to prevent using him as bait as much as possible. “No.”
“What if we did a version of Noah’s option, just without using bait?” Jacob asked.
Well, color me surprised. Jacob had me convinced he had some sort of vendetta against Noah. I guess the time they spent in the hotel together really worked to open his eyes and take pity on him. I wouldn’t go as far as considering them friends. Jacob was fickle when it came to things like that.
“I like that option,” I said, then turned toward my boss. “Liam?”
He nodded, sitting forward. “I agree. There has to be something they want in exchange. Otherwise, this whole thing makes zero sense.”
“We have yet to receive a ransom demand,” I said. “I seriously doubt we would get one too. Not this long afterward.”
“Maybe,” Liam said. “Maybe not. But I agree we need to exhaust all other options before we use Noah as bait.”
I nodded. Fair enough. I would come up with some way to prevent him from being used as bait regardless of how many options we had exhausted. What we had shared between us might have been over for years, not to mention ended on a not-so-positive note, but I still cared for him very deeply.
“But they wouldn’t dare expose themselves publicly,” Jacob said. “That’s just not something they would do, especially considering they have prided themselves on remaining anonymous.”
“Which is why I said there has to be something they want,” Liam said. “Something they would risk exposure for.”
“Yes, but what?” I asked.
“The million-dollar question, Savvy,” Noah said. “But what if what they want is me?”
I groaned at his use of a nickname for me. Whatever, it wasn’t worth arguing about. I shrugged it off… for the time being. “Not using you as bait. Drop it and leave it alone now.”
“I’ll get to work figuring out whatever the thing is,” Jacob said. “No matter what it is.”
