Page 86 of Enspelled

When she blanches, I wish I’d kept my mouth shut. “Okay. I won’t be long.”

Letting her go proves harder than I thought it would. How can someone feel so… right in your arms, when you’ve only just pulled them close?

But I do it and watch her walk away.

I lose sight of her, but that doesn’t mean I don’t hear the soft tread of her steps moving further and further away. “Briar! I said not to wander far.”

“Clearly it’s not far enough, if you can still hear me,” she yells back. “So stop listening.”

Grinning, I shake my head.

25

BRIAR

The moment I’m out of sight, my smile slips away as I search for a large gray wolf with amber eyes.

He was there. I swear he was standing right behind Keane, staring at me.

And then I blinked, and he was gone. If I told Keane that, there’s no way he wouldn’t think I was crazy whenI’mseriously starting to think I’ve gone crazy.

I recall the soft look in his eyes when he pinned me against the tree and told me nothing would happen to me because he’d protect me.

A slow smile drifts across my face.

And the cabin…

Should I stop thinking about what we did in the cabin? Yes. But do I? Nope.

Instead, I lean against a tree like an idiot, close my eyes and let the stupid grin I’ve been holding inside out because, holy crap, Keane Destin knows what he’s doing with his tongue and with his body.

And he likes me.

There’s no way he’d have been looking at me like that, or be kissing me so softly if he didn’t.

“So what happens now, Briar?” I whisper beneath my breath.

Do you go and watch him kill Layla Markham, and then live happily ever after?

With a wolf?

My smile fades.

I start thinking about how long this new Keane will last. He won’t want to stay in Madden Grove, and the witches won’t want me to stay here, either. Not if they still blame me for the explosions.

Then there’s Georgia Calla.

Uh, where is a chocolate chip cookie when you need it?

“Briar!”

My eyes snap open at Keane’s yell, and I peel my back from the tree. “Five more minutes,” I call back.

Not to pee, but to continue my hunt for a wolf that shouldn’t be here when the last time I saw him was in my head.

I’ve taken a step when a thought hits me with the force of a punch to the gut.

What if he was Keane’s dad?

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