Page 96 of Bound to the Wolf
Delainey kept talking. “Emerson used the hospitality gifts to manipulate our minds, and he was sabotaging our research and investigation from the very beginning. He’s in this up to his neck.”
“I only did it because I love you.” Emerson looked at Briana, his smooth hands still raised, the words coming out thin and reedy through that pinched mouth.
“Someone who loved me would never do this.” Briana’s wrist was raw from where she’d torn the bracelet off, and there was a bruise on her cheek. She stood with her shoulders squared despite the dirt ground into her clothes.
Emerson made to lunge at her. Cole growled while Hugh charged forward and snapped his teeth at Emerson, since he was closer. Hugh’s jaws closed a half-inch from Emerson’s forearm with an audible clack, and Emerson jerked back so hard he stumbled, his polished loafers slipping on the torn-up grass.
Elise took Nico’s hand. “You aren’t my parents,” she told Brenda. “I never want to see you again, and I am never going to be a member of the Wallace Grove Coven.” Her voice didn’t waver.
The smug smile peeled off Brenda’s face as her composure cracked. “Elise,” she said, and for the first time her voice lost its imperious edge.
But Elise looked away and tugged on Nico’s hand. She walked by Reece and knelt beside him, working her healing magic, even though it had done nothing before, as if Brenda and Tim weren’t right there.
Brenda looked at Briana as if she was the one who could fix things. “This was a misunderstanding. We can come to some sort of terms.”
Delainey heard Reece groan and wanted to run to him, but things needed to be settled right now.
She took a final step forward and made sure her voice carried. “What I understand is that you tried to kill my mate. You all get the hell out of our territory before we send your skins back to Wallace Grove and damn the consequences.”
“Get out,” Briana added, stepping forward so that she stood shoulder to shoulder with Delainey. “All of you. You are no longer entitled to our hospitality. We rebuke you.”
“I rebuke you,” said Delainey.
“I rebuke you,” came from both Aya and Serena.
Elise said nothing. She had already said her piece.
The witches took a step back. Briana nodded to Cole. He flexed his claws for a moment, then let his hand shift back to human. The claws retracted with a faint wet sound, and he straightened to his full height. “My allies have spoken,” he said. “Get out of this territory, and if you are ever spotted again, your lives are forfeit.”
Allies.
Delainey didn’t repeat it out loud. But that was a word that wasn’t spoken lightly in these parts. It would need to be discussed further, but she liked the sound of it.
Chapter
Forty-Five
After forty-five minutes, the Nevins discovered that their fancy Rolls-Royce had flat tires when they tried to get into it. Brenda and Emerson were carrying the unconscious Tim and put him in the backseat of one of the other cars.
Javi couldn’t stop scowling. He’d barely tasted any blood during this little mission, and his wolf was prowling under his skin, ready for more of a fight.
He didn’t trust these witches at all.
He expected that the second they got out of sight, they would turn right back around and cause more trouble. They didn’t waste time starting up their cars and peeling out onto the road.
“I want to follow them out of town,” Javi squared his shoulders toward Cole. He wouldn’t feel safe until he knew they were beyond the county line and not the Southern Basin Pack’s problem anymore.
Cole considered him for a moment. Javi tried to keep still, but he was bouncing on his feet. He had too much energy and no outlet for it.
“I’ll go with him,” a soft voice said behind him. Javi almost smiled, and his wolf perked up.
He turned around to see straight black hair falling in front of rich brown eyes on an intense witch’s face.
She was a full head shorter than him, straight-backed and serious, with a dark green jacket zipped tight to her sternum.
Little Aya. Oh, he wouldn’t mind that at all.
Aya — the ally, if Cole’s words were true, and his alpha didn’t lie.
