Page 46 of Captive Witch

I slip onto one of the stools, my heart aching when I see the mural on the wall, and bring the mug to my lips. “Thanks,” I mutter.

“What do you need?” he asks, leaning back against the counter.

“I have the hunters tracking her, though whoever took her obviously had enough magic to trick even Brent.” Closing my eyes, I hang my head. “I brought her sister and the roommate back with me. They were… distraught. They’ll stay here through the solstice.”

Frank hums. “Go.”

My head snaps up.

“I got the witchlings,” he says, chuckling at his own joke before sobering up. “You go find her.”

Nodding, I drain the coffee, cursing under my breath when the hot liquid burns my tongue. I head toward the front door, pausing then turning to the back door instead. Just as I reach for the slider’s handle, a small voice stops me.

“Gideon?”

Glancing over my shoulder, I see Jules standing at the foot of the stairs, twisting her fingers together.

“I… Can I talk to you?” she asks, chewing on her inner cheek.

I wave her over, opening the slider door and walking to the chairs by the firepit. Sitting down, I watch her hesitate. “I promise I won’t bite you.”

She looks at me, her lips parted in surprise before a smile slowly spreads over her face. “As long as you promise.” Sitting down on the other chair, she sighs.

“I know you lied,” I say, forcing myself to relax into the seat and not glance at the tree line behind us.

Biting her lower lip, tears fill her eyes. “I’m sorry… I haven’t even told Addy this, and it feels… wrong to tell someone else first.” She wipes her cheeks on the sleeve of her shirt. “I-I never wanted to hurt her. She was doing so much better once she met you, and I couldn’t ruin that. But one night, she went to your bar, and… I…”

I reach over, patting her hand and nodding. “You can tell me. If it’ll help me save her right now, I need to know.”

She nods, swallowing hard. “I woke up after she left. I knew our mother was hiding something. I’d seen it when she insisted on tutoring me. A notebook tucked into her bookcase, but the one time I asked about it, she freaked out. Shemovedit, Gideon.” Taking a deep breath, she lets it out. “It took me days to find it again, using one of the few locator spells I’d found. It was her journal. She… She wrote about how she… how she killed our grandmother.”

Wiping more tears from her face, she pulls a small, teal book from her back pocket.

“I made a copy of it,” she whispers, her voice cracking. “There’s so much more in there, Gideon.” She looks at me, her green eyes pleading. “I want Addy to read it when you think she’s ready because it’s… it’s a lot, okay?”

I gently pull the book from her hands, setting it on the chair beside me. “Thank you for this.”

“It isn’t unusual for a witch in the coven to find a man to get pregnant,” she shrugs, licking her lips, “but that journal will tell Addy we don’t have the same dad. My dad is a human, a random man our mother found, but hers… Hers was something else.”

My brows furrow. “Did she say what he was?”

Juliana shakes her head. “No, but my grandmother was something similar, which is why she was killed.” She turns, grabbing my arm with her hands. Her small, pale fingers dig into my forearm. “I want to be here when you give it to her. I-I have to make sure she knows that I love her just like I always have. Please.”

Sobs wrack her small form, and I kneel before her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “She knows that already, just as you know she loves you. Nothing will change that.”

The slider door opens, and we look over to see Wren standing in the doorway, worry creasing her brows. “Jules?”

I pat Juliana’s back, steering her toward the door. “Go inside. Frank made some coffee if you want to warm up a bit.”

“Aren’t you coming?” Wren asks, pulling Jules inside and toward the couch.

I shake my head. “I have something to do. I’ll be back later.” Sliding the door shut, I turn toward the tree line and shift without bothering to strip free of my clothes. Shreds of clothing fly into the air around me as I take off at a sprint.

Chapter nineteen

Adara

“Lockwood Forest?” I ask, looking at the forest around us.

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