Page 53 of Captive Witch

I slide into the seat beside him, running my hand over the wood. “You make this?” I smirk when he grunts. “Looks good.”

“It’s alright. Serves its purpose.” He raps his knuckles on it with a frown. “Could’ve turned out better.”

I chuckle, raising a brow as I look over at him. “When’s the last time you built something like this?”

He shrugs, laughing under his breath. “Maybe half a century ago? Just a bit rusty.”

“Sure, a bit.” I shake my head. “How is Mila?”

His eyes brighten at the mention of her name. “She’s better. She’s been helping at the bar with Cali. It’s been nice to keep her close to me, and I think it’s helped her to be around the new pack members. Lets them get to know each other again under the new circumstances.” He strokes a hand down his beard. “I even taught her how to man the bar the other night.”

“Careful,” I say, smirking. “Teach her too much, you might be out of a job.”

A loud bark of laughter rumbles out of him. “As if I’ll ever see that day.”

Soft footsteps come down the stairs and cross into the kitchen. Adara’s perfume wafts to me as she rests her hand on my shoulder. A crease forms between her brows, and she looks at Frank. “Have you seen Jules or Wren?”

Frank’s gaze flits to the stairs, then me before landing back on Adara. “Jules fell asleep on the couch a bit ago once Kaylus returned, so I carried her upstairs. Wren was with her when I last checked on them ten, maybe fifteen minutes ago.”

Adara worries her lip. “They aren’t in there. I even checked the bathroom.”

Shoving his chair back, Frank strides to the stairs and flies up them. I stand and wrap my arms around Adara’s shoulders, pulling her into me briefly. “Come on,” I grab her hand and pull her toward the front door, “let’s check the front yard.”

Her eyes glow silver as she surveys the trees around us, but after walking around the house together, and then again withFrank, there’s nothing—no scent, no trail, no footprints. Adara glances into the trees, her frown deepening. “Kaylus says he hasn’t seen anything since he got back, but he went for a quick hunt before settling into the trees… He got back maybe ten minutes ago.”

I turn toward Frank, his hand raking through his auburn hair. “You didn’t see anything? Didn’t hear a single door close?”

He shakes his head, his lips forming a thin line. “No, nothing. I know better, Gideon.”

Adara whips around, running back into the house. We follow after her as she races up the stairs, tearing into the spare room—the room she’d originally slept in. Moving to the two backpacks situated against the far wall beneath the window, she tears into the first one—a bright purple one, Juliana’s. After a few minutes, she pulls out a small cell phone and swipes it open, muttering under her breath, “Of course she doesn’t even use a passcode. Juliana…” Her thumb slides over the screen as she chews the inside of her cheek. Her brows furrow before she sets the phone on the ground and opens the second bag.

“Adara?” I ask, stepping toward her and crouching down.

She shakes me off when I touch her shoulder, focused on the contents in the black pack before her. “Who did you tell when you took them off campus?”

“I emailed the headmistress and that frustrating oracle who talks in riddles.”

Her head snaps up. “The headmistress? You talked to her?”

“I used Wren’s student email.” I grab her forearm, making her stop. “Adara, tell me what you found on the phone. What are you looking for?”

She pulls out of my grasp, dumping the contents of Wren’s bag on the floor and spreads it out. Reaching for the small black phone, she pushes the button on the side and curses under herbreath. “It has a passcode.” Sighing, she holds out Jules’s phone to me. “The academy called her…”

A lead weight forms in my gut. “They called her?”

Adara licks her lips, pressing a few buttons and a smallduh-duncomes from the phone. “The academy wouldn’t call after hours like this…” Clenching her eyes shut, she purses her lips to one side.

“Try Jules’s birthday,” Frank says, coming a bit farther into the room.

I raise a brow at him, and he shrugs.

Adara gasps. “Of course,” she says, typing on Wren’s phone. The blue glow shines onto her face, and she lets out a quiet, “Finally.” Scrolling, she taps on a few icons and shoves the phone at me. “Is this the email?”

I glance at the screen, skimming the email, and nod.

“I need to call Chloe.” She looks up at me, tears swimming in her eyes. “This email was sent to the headmistress, but that isn’t who responded.”

“Who…” I snatch the phone from her hands and look over the email that was sent back.

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