Chapter 22
THORNE
A piece of gravel dug into my knee, right through my jeans. I cursed under my breath, then swiped it aside before crouching low behind the stone retaining wall across the street from the Ravenspell estate. Calder dipped down next to me.
Directly ahead of us, the property loomed, blocking out the moonlight. Thankfully, our senses were keen enough even when cast in darkness, but I had to admit, a little light would have been helpful.
The estate sat behind a ten-foot wrought-iron fence—as did the other two main estates in town.
The St. Germains and, well, ours. When I was younger, I used to joke that our ancestors must have gotten a bulk discount from the same supplier.
Or perhaps our ancestors had simply enjoyed pissing each other off. Gods knew their descendants did.
A three-way blood feud had raged for centuries between my family, the St. Germains, and the Ravenspells. Not a soul alive knew how the rivalry had begun. But recently, things had begun to change, and it was all because of Izzy.
When I caught wind of her arrival, I’d sought her out and almost instantly claimed her as my best friend. But soon after, Lucien entered the picture, and he’d claimed her as his mate, much to my dismay.
At first, I’d wanted to use that connection to exact a little revenge on the pompous fanger.
But I’d soon come to realize doing so would destroy Izzy’s and my budding relationship.
And that was the last thing I’d wanted. I had many acquaintances and knew practically everyone in town, but I didn’t have many true friends.
In fact, Izzy was the only one. The Wolfe name evoked fear in most, if not all, of the townspeople.
Not Izzy, though. She’d welcomed me with open arms and wanted nothing in return. And I loved her for it.
So, I’d agreed to play nice with the St. Germains. I knew better than anyone that mate trumped all else. If I forced Izzy to choose between me and Lucien, I would lose. I didn’t hold that against her. It was just the way of our crazy paranormal world.
The Ravenspells, however, were another matter entirely.
I’d expected our lifelong feud to continue.
Except after my attack, Izzy had befriended Selene—the eldest sister.
And though Izzy had never asked me to play nice with the witch, Selene had taken me under her wing after the fiasco with Trystan.
She’d fed me healing draughts and worked with me to heal not only physically, but mentally as well.
She was part of the reason my panic attacks had diminished.
We weren’t exactly braiding each other’s hair or exchanging friendship bracelets, but a quiet, undeniable respect had taken root between us.
Which made tonight a massive, possibly unforgiveable, betrayal.
But as I stared at the dark, imposing mansion, the choice crystallized in my mind. I would do whatever it took to protect Calder and to ensure my family’s survival.
So, thieving it was.
“You ready?” Calder whispered at my side.
“Sure,” I returned.
“Remember, when we get across the street—”
“Calder,” I cut him off. “I know the plan. We’ve been over it six times since we left my condo. Give it a rest, will ya?”
He stared at me, his eyes practically burning in the darkness. He was wound tight enough to snap. “Thorne. We have zero margin for error here. If we screw this up, we won’t get a second shot. So, remember—”
“I know,” I stressed, bumping my shoulder against his arm. “This isn’t the first time I’ve done this with you. We’ve been over all the wards, and we can handle any surprises.”
My gaze immediately flitted to the giant bush of hydrangeas sitting against the iron fence.
For a month, I’d been listening to Miss Hannigan go on and on about her special little creations.
And I had to admit, they impressed me. Their blooms were the size of dinner plates, and their stalks pulsed with an unearthly bioluminescent glow.
Every few seconds, the petals shifted position, almost as though listening for nearby movement.
Not good for us, but good for Miss Hannigan. I was glad her business was blossoming.
Miss H. had mentioned these little beasties hunted by scent and sound.
So, we needed to be careful. If we alerted the little ankle-biters to our presence, they would set off the wards, and the last thing we needed was the sheriff and the Ravenspells catching us frolicking in their man-eating garden.
I reached up and tapped the Bluetooth earbud wedged in my ear. “We’re ready.”
“Good,” came Felix’s voice loud and clear. “I’ve got eyes on Lyra. She’s, uh… well, let’s just say she’s keeping the sheriff very busy tonight. Gods bless her terrible taste in men.”
“I’m in position,” Cassian reported next.
“It’s not a good position, but let’s just hope this tree branch holds me a little longer.
The hydrangeas cover about eighty percent of the grounds.
My guess is Miss H. hasn’t reinforced the entire property yet.
Score us. There looks to be about a three-foot blind spot between the edge of the plants and the porch step of the side door.
From there, you should be clear to enter. ”
“Provided you can get inside,” Ricky added. “I’m still not convinced. But I’m here, locked and loaded in case you need to make a fast getaway. I’m tucked away out of sight around the back.”
I didn’t bother replying to my brother’s comments.
He’d been a negative Nancy since we first started laying out the plan earlier today.
For some reason, he didn’t think Calder and I were capable of pulling this off, which made me laugh.
Calder and I had pulled off way more complicated heists than this back in the day.
Instead, I reached into my pocket and pulled out Calder’s and my secret weapon—a vial of sludge-brown liquid.
I popped the lid and immediately wrinkled my nose at the scent.
I had no idea what was in this concoction—I’d never asked—but I did know its rank stench would mask Calder’s and my scent.
And right now, that was all that mattered.
I turned the vial over and dribbled a few drops onto my wrists, then rubbed both on my throat. It smelled like the apothecary’s dumpster after sitting in the sun for three days, but if it kept Miss H’s mutant plants from making a meal out of us, I would bathe in the stuff.
I handed the vial over to Calder, who also swiped the sludge across his wrists and throat.
We both stared at each other, pure displeasure crinkling our noses. Then he nodded, and we moved.
Step one: vault the retaining wall.
Step two: circle around the estate to the safest entry point.
Step three: pick the fence lock.
Step four: evade detection.
Step five: get our asses inside the house and down the stairs into the vault, where Wren claimed we’d find the artifact.
Step six: escape like our lives depended on it. Which they did.
The first two steps went off without a hitch. The third took me a couple of minutes, considering I hadn’t had to pick a lock in years. I was a bit rusty. Calder said nothing, but the hard line of his mouth told me he’d clocked every extra second.
Thankfully, a minute later, a heavy click sounded, and I pushed open the gate. The hinges didn’t make a sound, perfectly oiled. We slipped through the narrow gap, and I closed the gate behind us. We didn’t need to alert anyone to our presence here, and an open door would do exactly that.
Once inside, Calder and I both paused, waiting to see if the plants reacted in any way at all. Thankfully, they didn’t even twitch in our direction.
“Huh,” Ricky muttered through the earpiece. “I’ll be damned. It worked.”
I rolled my eyes instead of retorting back. Talking seemed like a really bad idea right now.
Taking my hand, Calder led me down the cobblestone path and toward the side door, our steps silent. I matched his stride, sticking close enough to feel the heat of his back through the front of my shirt.
Three feet away, one hydrangea turned in my direction.
Good gods. Up close, they were even worse.
The blue light pulsed, almost like a heartbeat.
The stalk was as thick as my wrist, and a series of razor-sharp, green barbs peeled back to expose a dark, sticky-looking center.
It snapped its jaws closed and caught a moth, swallowing the insect whole.
Oh, no thank you.
Someone needed to write a letter to the town council about Miss H’s creations. They were truly terrifying. I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced my legs to keep moving. Three feet. We just had to stay within the three-foot blind spot.
“You’re clear,” Cassian whispered through the earpiece.
We navigated the last curve of the cobblestone path. The side of the Ravenspell mansion towered above us, constructed of dark, heavy stone and ivy-choked trellises. A small wooden porch jutted out from the wall, leading to a heavy oak door.
Calder crouched on the first wooden plank, his eyes scanning the frame of the door. “First ward,” he whispered.
I nodded, then reached into my pocket and pulled out our second—and final—secret weapon.
Calder and I had learned a long time ago that most people warded their artifacts to protect them from—you guessed it—theft.
It’d cost us an arm and a leg, but after one particularly harrowing job, we’d purchased a ward-breaker.
We could only use the magic once before it needed to charge, and that took days.
Which meant we had to be smart about this, and we’d discussed this at great length back at the condo.