Page 35 of Enspelled

He nods. Considering how hard he’s been to shake off, I was fully expecting a lengthy argument instead of easy agreement. “And what will you be doing?”

“There’s a coven meeting today, and I have a feeling we’re all going to want to know what it’s about. So I need to be there for it.” My eyes go to the cell phone in his hand. “Have you called yet?”

“Will do,” he says as he starts dialing.

“When she answers, you’re going to have to do most of the talking so I can focus on this. And if my mom comes up the stairs…”

“Hide under your bed,” he says straight-faced.

My lips tighten. “No, you jump out of the window.”

“Sure thing.” He smiles.

Shaking my head, I close my eyes so I can focus on the spell that I hope is going to be strong enough to save Briar from an elemental witch’s attack.

10

KEANE

Bodie’s cell phone vibrates across the table, and despite Briar being closer to it when she dives for it, I beat her to it—to her evident frustration.

Swallowing a smile, I answer it. “Yeah?”

Her eyes narrow.

I pull the cell phone from my ear, press the speaker button, and place the phone on the dining table between us.

Briar smiles gratefully. Seeing the pleasure in her eyes stirs something warm inside me. Something that feels almost as good as when wolf Briar snuggled into my lap on the couch and promptly fell asleep.

I didn’t have the heart to move her, so when my eyes got heavy, I turned the TV off and stopped fighting sleep.

And I slept all night, apparently, since a hard thump to the floor, courtesy of a shove from my suddenly human couch-mate, was what woke me.

There have been maybe three occasions in the past ten years I slept all night, and each of them involved putting away enough alcohol to kill a regular human. When I woke, it felt like I’d slept for five minutes, gritty-eyed with a foul taste in my mouth and a sore head.

But not this morning. Other than a sore hip, I felt rested, refreshed, and clearheaded.

I don’t want to believe it’s because of the wolf who shifted in the middle of the night to a naked woman, but my instincts—and the rumble of agreement from my wolf —tells me that my tranquil night had everything to do with Briar.

“You have an elemental witch after you,” Bodie announces cheerfully.

Her bright smile fades, and I fight back the urge to snarl at the drifter wolf. “I know. She found us last night.”

“And you’re still alive?” a familiar female voice exclaims. Sera.

“She realized I would be more valuable to her alive than dead, even if I…” Briar’s voice trails off and she lowers her head.

I study her for a moment.

She killed Diana Calla, and this is the first time I’m seeing the impact it’s having on her. And this is just the start of it. You don’t kill someone without it affecting you. If anyone would know that, it’s me.

And then there’s the slaughter of a pack in Texas that I’m trying to ignore. A slaughter that happened because I chose revenge instead of dealing with a serial-killing beta wolf.

“I’m guessing she was trying to kill you,” Bodie says.

Briar sighs. “It doesn’t matter. I still—”

“Were defending yourself—and me,” I interrupt, “and I think we agreed that there were some people in this world deserving of your pity, and some who are not.”

---