Chapter 59
BAILEY
“You guys come on over to Tyson and Ivy’s place,” Erica says on the phone. She’s got me on speaker. “Me and my sisters just got here.”
“Oh yeah?” I ask.
She adds, “The rest of the council are either here or on the way with their mates. The guys are grilling food and we’ll go from there.”
“We’re having a party?” I ask.
Jase is frowning.
“Not exactly,” Erica says. “We’re getting ready to deal with this.
We’re gonna hang out over here and pretend everything is normal.
But we’re really on high alert. Joel has several alphas and betas stationed in the town hall.
He’ll bring his laptop so he can tap into all the surveillance equipment from there.
Since we suspect they’re coming to the cave behind the falls to cast a spell for Alta’s husband, being here makes sense. Nice and close.”
“Have you guys called Anya?” I ask.
I hear Erica saying hello to Riley who must have just arrived so Dani chimes in. “Nope! Alta shouldn’t be able to use her magic, but Anya might be in on this. We’re watching to see what happens. So is the SCC.”
“Okay, we’ll head over. What can we bring?” I ask.
Jase shoots me a look of annoyance.
I hear a voice. “Just yourselves. We have loads of food.”
That’s Ivy.
“We have two carrot cakes in the freezer from Jase’s dad. I’ll bring one.”
“Ooh, carrot cake,” Ivy says. “I love carrot cake.”
“I’ll grab it. We’ll be there in a few,” I say and end the call.
“Any excuse for a party around here,” Jase mutters.
“No, any excuse for treats,” I correct. “Three of the girls that’ll be there are pregnant. And even the ones who aren’t pregnant like treats, Jason.”
He looks me up and down as a slow smile spreads across his face. It makes me shiver in a very delicious way.
Yeah. I know what he’s thinking. Eventually I’ll be pregnant, too.
“I’ll have to show you those booties from the lady on the plane. They’re adorable.”
He cracks half a smile and then his expression changes. “Just hoping it’s a son that marries a Fae female, not a daughter marrying a Fae male. Fae males are notorious for being assholes that cause havoc wherever they go.”
“Ohmigosh. I was dying to talk about that whole thing before we mated and I’m so glad I can talk about it now. I’m going to dig in and find out everything I can about the Fae. Weird that we’ve had no contact with them yet it’s clear we’re going to be entrenched in that world eventually.”
***
Ivy, Amie, and Stacy are on the back porch swing eating toasted marshmallows.
I didn’t factor thaw time into the carrot cake so that’s still on the counter inside.
We decided we’ll eat it here tomorrow, having coffee together in the afternoon for a “We Must Chat Book Club” chat which will hopefully also be a post-mortem of all this stuff.
Because we’re hoping it’ll be over tonight.
Erica and Riley are on a blanket on the grass. I’m on Jase’s lap on a lawn chair beside the fire pot, toasting a marshmallow on a stick.
Linc, Mase, Grey, and Tyson were playing cornhole until a few minutes ago, but now that it’s getting dark, they’ve wrapped it up and are also standing by the fire.
“Take that in for Halla, will you, please?” I ask Linc as he’s about to go into the house.
He takes the stick from me. “Sure thing.”
Aphra and her daughter Halla as well as Ronnie and Dani are inside with Mitch, so they won’t be seen if they happen to fly another drone overhead.
Joel has been in the house, eyes on the cameras.
Cat’s at home but on standby if, for any reason, someone needs medical help.
And Brody is back at the town hall with his people and there are additional alphas including most of the retired council alphas there keeping watch in case anything goes south with someone trying to enter the village at the four corners.
I’ve already texted Cicely to fill her in. She and Jared are out at his trailer tonight, but told us to consider themselves on standby.
Erica answers her ringing phone and her body language instantly changes. She listens for a minute, says, “Okay,” and hangs up.
“Everyone casually but quickly move inside,” she says.
Nobody asks questions.
Tyson tosses a bucket of water on the fire as the girls on the swing mosey inside.
Jase and me follow. The other guys are behind us.
Once we’re inside, Erica says, “Vivi just had a premonition of flowers suddenly blooming. Green trumpet flowers.”
***
Not even ten minutes later, Tyson alerts us because he’s by the window and has just watched a riot of trumpet blooms erupt.
They’re filling the grass around the perimeter of Tyson and Ivy’s house, even drooping into the lake on one side, which would’ve meant that if Aphra and Erica hadn’t worked together to detoxify them, they would right now be leaching toxins into our lake as well as our river, likely also contaminating the village’s drinking water.
She not only wants all our alphas disabled, she gives no fucks about anyone else here, no care for the environment, either.
We triggered a code alert going out to everyone in the pack to stay indoors. In case Alta is watching, they’ll hopefully assume everyone is inside and ill.
Thankfully, nobody is sneezing, nobody feels the effects of the toxins, so they were neutralized, but I know Jase and the other guys are less than happy that Dr. Blakely is still here because Jase says we’ll have to play things “by the book.”
On our way over here, he told me that after the other nonsense we already had with Aviva Starling, if the SCC doesn’t dispense adequate justice here, our council will do it ourselves. Because if we don’t, we’ll continue to be targets for power-hungry supernaturals.
The magic in our cave is abundant and important and if charges are filed against Alta for this while she does something inside the cave behind the waterfall, we’ll have to safeguard it even more than we do now.
Because the SCC lists charges filed with case details on the secure archives’ server.
I know this for a fact as I’ve spent countless hours reading files on that server.
***
Five minutes ago, a small drone flew low, along the waterline out behind Tyson’s house.
We’ve been sitting in the dark inside the dining room, watching the lake. It’s exactly an hour after those flowers have bloomed when we see a little light on the water. A boat.
My heart stutters. It’s all happening.
“What about Erica?” I say aloud.
“Hm?” Erica looks my way.
“She’s trying to make all the alphas and super alphas sick. What about you? What plan does she have to stop you from stopping her?”
“I’m covered. I’ve done an extra-special protection spell. I’ve also got all these crystals on.”
She flashes her ringed fingers and bangle-laden wrists. She’s also wearing three necklaces.
“I deconstructed everything in the crystals and plants in that basement,” Dani adds.
“She’s not super creative, obviously. She’s using the same plants as last time to attack the shifters.
It stands to reason she’s probably using a similar getup for Erica as what she set up to stop me. We’ve got this.”
“She’s not even close to being one of their strongest or smartest witches,” Joel calls over. “Her background check? I’d say she’s near the bottom of that organizational chart.”
“You’d be correct,” Aphra says, coming into the room.
She was upstairs putting her daughter to bed in a guestroom.
“Like I told the Young sisters, Alta’s always had an inferiority complex.
Always trying to get Anya’s approval. Not the savviest witch, either.
I also predict she’ll use the same bag of tricks she used for Dani, thinking she can disable Erica. ”
“Even knowing how much power Erica has?” I ask.
Aphra nods. “She thinks she’s harming Erica’s mate. She’ll expect it to throw her off her game.”
“I mean, she’s got human henchman. Surely, they can’t do much to help her cause other than spy on airlines, carry unconscious people, or carry a woman and be a creepy perv making gross sexual threats.” I roll my eyes.
I feel something weird spike in my chest.
It’s like Jase’s face just turned to stone.
It reminds me of the look on his face back in that basement when he was trapped and watching them carry me down the stairs.
Eureka hits me.
I gasp. “I know how to stop her.”
All eyes swing to me.
“There’s a Starling power suppression necklace in my carry-on bag!”
“There’s no time,” Joel says, staring at his laptop. “They’re just now getting into our cave.” He turns the screen so we can all see.
Alta stands in our cave with a large tote bag. Her two stepsons are hoisting a frail-looking man up out of the little dingy and onto the stone ledge.
“Go get it, Jase?” Erica suggests. “Get it and get outdoors with it as fast as you can and I’ll talk Grey through getting it to us in that cave using his telekinesis gift. This way, in case she does have something else planned to fight me, we’re covered.”
“No need,” my brother says with a grin. “I’ve been practicing. Just get it outside.”
“Back in a minute,” Jase says and he’s immediately gone.
“You’ve got smarts,” Dr. Blakely says, tapping his temple. “I do hope you’ll work with me, Bailey. I sent you an email this afternoon, by the way.”
“Thanks, Doc,” I say. “I’ll look it over and think about it.”
“Take a month and decide,” he says. “Enjoy your honeymooning time. You two have certainly earned it.”
“I appreciate that.”
Of course I’ll look at the offer letter, but I think I’d rather stay here. See Linc’s and Joel’s mates through their dramas. Be here for the birth of my nephews.