Page 31 of Enspelled

He says nothing until I’ve almost cleared my plate. “Anyway, I’m not sure we can trust her, or anyone in town. We need to go to Layla’s house.”

With my mouth stuffed full of eggs and bacon, I chew furiously, because this is not a plan I agree with.

As I chew, amusement stirs in his amber eyes. “I thought you said you didn’t usually eat like that?”

And then I remember Keane catching me stuffing an entire muffin in my mouth. Whoever this Mara is, I doubt she stores food in her cheeks like a squirrel.

I choke down half-chewed food that almost immediately gets stuck in my throat. A long swallow of juice later, my mouth is empty. “I don’t. And we can’t go to Layla’s house. What if she’s there?”

“All the better,” he says, rising to his feet and picking up his plate.

“But we don’t know it was even her. It could be someone else,” I argue.

He rounds the table and picks up my plate before heading to the sink with it.

Is he cleaning up after I cooked breakfast for us?

The thought almost distracts me from our argument until he speaks. “Then the sooner we can cross her name off our list, the sooner we can move onto whoever that someone else could be.”

“But—”

He dumps the dishes in the sink and swings around to face me, a frustrated snarl twisting his lips. “Briar, we don’t have time to be fucking about in Madden Grove. You’ve just admitted that Georgia Calla is looking to use you as some kind of weapon. Liam Wolfe is coming after me today because that one-day pass he gave me ran out, and I haven’t even considered what the other witches in town are planning. The sooner I get to the bottom of who killed my pack, the sooner we get out of here.”

My arguments dissolve as I stare at him. “You said we.”

He blinks. “No, I said I.”

I part my lips.

“And if I said we,” he continues, “I meant that it’s just as dangerous for you to stay here as it is for me. So we both need to get out of town. Sooner rather than later.”

Separate is what he meant. Not together. He couldn’t have been any clearer if he’d tried.

What did you think would happen? That you’d serve as his sidekick while he hunts out-of-control shifters?

I shake the thought away before it can burrow deeper into my mind.

Whatever happens, I’m next to useless right now. I have two abilities that I can’t control. Sera might be able to figure out if a spell caused this shifting ability, but there’s nothing anyone can do about this explosive power. I’ve had it all my life, and not once have I ever been able to control it.

“I’m not saying it isn’t dangerous,” I tell him, figuring he doesn’t need to know about Georgia torturing one of Liam’s wolves. If he knew what she was capable of and the lengths she’d gone to, he might just decide she was the one responsible for killing his pack and want to go after her. “But Sera has Layla’s grimoire. Can we at least give her an hour to call with news?”

An argument is brewing in his eyes, so I keep talking. “I know Sera. She’ll call this morning with at least an update, and she might have found something helpful. Surely we can wait an hour before we go?”

He studies me for several seconds, and I hold my breath.

“Please,” I whisper.

After another long moment, he nods once. “One hour. And if she hasn’t called, we’ll call her. Once. If she doesn’t pick up, we go.”

“And if Layla is home?”

A dark smile curves his lips. “Then we find out how strong a witch is without her grimoire.”

9

SERA

“Sera! Breakfast!” Mom yells up the stairs, her voice rattling around my head and dragging me from sleep.

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