Page 6 of Enspelled

“This isn’t over,” I interrupt. “Until I know for sure who killed my pack, we stick together. From what you told me about Layla Markham’s determination to do anything necessary to stay coven leader, it could just as easily be her.”

Briar doesn’t respond.

“And then there’s your shifting ability,” I remind her.

She darts a glance at me. “What about it?”

“If you’re not a witch, that ability makes you a wolf. And in Madden Grove, all wolves belong to a pack.”

Her expression turns blank. “But I’m not a wolf. I’m…” Her voice trails off. “Something, but not a wolf.”

“Well, when Liam Wolfe learns what you did, he’s going to treat you as if you are.”

She stares at me without speaking for several seconds. “He would make me live with the wolves. Is that what you’re saying?”

“If you wanted to stay in Madden Grove, yes.”

“And if I didn’t want to stay?”

“Then you’d be a lone wolf. No home, no pack, no—”

“Family,” she interrupts quietly.

I nod, the flare of pain in her eyes reminding me that today she lost her aunt, the last member of her family. She’s been handling it well so far, but is this the point where it hits home and she breaks down?

With all her family dead, Briar Fenix still doesn’t strike me as lone wolf material. She’s too trusting, too soft, and altogether too emotional to survive long on her own.

She turns away. “Then I’d still like to go back home. If only to say goodbye to the house, if I’m never going to see it again.”

I study her profile for so long that eventually, she darts a glance at me.

The next several seconds pass in silence before I make a decision. It’s not one I would have made before, but the look in her eyes makes it an easy one. “What’s the address again?”

3

SERA

Sitting in the front seat of my car, with my eyes glued to the navy front door several feet away, I will myself to get out.

“Briar needs you, Sera,” I mutter beneath my breath. “You know the answer to removing those souls is in the grimoire.”

I make no move to climb out of my car. Sneaking into Layla Markham, the green witch coven leader’s house to take a peek at a spell was one thing, but sneaking in tostealthe grimoire is something else.

But that’s what I have to do, because I need serious alone time with the thing. One quick peek isn’t going to be enough to find a way to help Briar.

Since all the lights are still off, she must not be back from smearing Briar’s name all over town, which means now is the perfect opportunity to get in.

Briar wouldn’t be happy to know this is what I was doing, but when I think of the evasiveness in her eyes back at the grocery store parking lot, it’s clear she isn’t being completely honest with me about what’s going on.

And Keane Destin.

My eyes narrow at the thought of the wolf who must’ve kidnapped her in just her nightgown.

No. I have to do this. Maybe I’ll even find a better spell to blow the wolf up, because if anyone needs—

My passenger door swings open and a dark-haired, blue-eyed man climbs in, settling in the seat beside me. Bodie. The drifter wolf. “So, what are we doing?”

I gape at him for a second, which is about how long it takes to get over my shock at his sudden arrival. “What the hell are you doing here?” I hiss. “I told you I wanted nothing to do with you.”

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