Chapter 24
CALDER
The Ravenspell door shut of its own accord behind us.
I didn’t say a word. If I opened my mouth right now, I’d lose it. Every instinct in my body was screaming at me to throw my mate over my shoulder and run until Eternity Falls was nothing more than a dot on the horizon.
Thorne jumped down the porch steps. She carried the leaden box beneath her arm, but that didn’t stop the magic inside from leaking out. Whatever that gem was made of hurt my teeth and set my nerves on edge. Or maybe my mate was responsible for all that.
We hit the cobblestone sidewalk at an unprecedented pace, this time whipping past the hydrangeas without so much as a glance.
A few turned in our direction, but not a single jaw snapped at us.
Which was good. I couldn’t guarantee I wouldn’t snap back.
And I was in no mood to pay the witches for damage to their plants.
Five years. Five fucking years, I’d let Evander step on my neck.
I’d lied. I’d stolen. I’d blown up my own marriage, all to keep Thorne safe.
And she’d just volunteered to face down the bastard himself.
Had she not heard me when I said he was psychotic?
Had she forgotten that I said he lacked all conscience?
That he kills without remorse? Just because he was human didn’t mean he wasn’t dangerous.
Thorne paused at the gate, and a moment later, a buzzer sounded, and the door swung open.
We hurried down the driveway and practically sprinted to Ricky’s truck, which sat parked half on the curb.
At the sight of us, relief loosened his grip on the steering wheel, and color returned to his knuckles.
“Get in,” he ordered.
I pulled the back driver’s side door open and jumped in. Thorne hurried around the nose and slid into the front passenger seat, placing the box on her lap before pulling the door shut.
Ricky punched the truck into drive and gunned it down the street. “Is that it?”
“Yup, given to us with compliments of the Ravenspells.”
Shock had Ricky’s head snapping toward Thorne. “Wait, what?”
“Long story,” Thorne said. “All that matters is we now have magical backup. And—gods, Ricky! Look out!”
Ricky forced his attention back to the road and jerked the steering wheel to a sharp left to avoid what looked like a cat sitting in the middle of the road.
We veered around it at top speed, and I glanced back to find the cat completely unfazed by the near accident.
It just lifted its back leg and started licking itself.
On the crotch. In the middle of the road.
Cassian, following closely behind in his SUV with Felix in the passenger seat, also had to swerve to avoid the weirdly chill feline.
I turned back to the conversation at hand to catch Thorne finishing giving Ricky the cliff notes version of everything that went down in the basement.
“Okay,” he said. “Magical backup. Not gonna turn that down. That’s good.”
“You aren’t going,” I growled at Thorne before she could say another word.
She just stared at me. “We settled this inside.”
“We didn’t settle shit, and you know that.”
“Hey. Language. No cussing at my baby sis,” Ricky grumbled.
Another growl ripped free from my throat. “I’m sure you’ll feel differently when I tell you her plan.”
“Calder—”
“She plans to be the one who takes the gem back from Evander. Before he can activate it. Which means she wants to be there. At the exchange.”
Ricky tossed his sister another glance, but he wasn’t nearly angry enough for my liking.
“Look, it makes the most sense,” Thorne started.
“Oh, I’d love to hear this. Tell me how it makes sense for you to put yourself in direct danger?”
“I’m already in danger!” she snapped. “Or did you forget that he kind of holds my life in his hands right now?”
“Which is why you aren’t going!”
“You need a third person,” she argued. “You and Selene can’t do this alone. She and her sisters are going to be hyper-focused on shutting down Wren. And you’ve got the bear shifter to deal with. You need help.”
“At least on that, we agree. I’ll take Ricky. Or Cassian. Or Felix. Anyone but you.”
“Hey,” Ricky muttered up front. “I don’t even know the plan yet, but sure, put me in, coach.”
“No,” Thorne said, cutting him off. “It can’t be one of my brothers.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because Evander will know something is up the second you roll up with a six-foot-two wall of muscle standing behind you. If you bring any of my brothers, Evander is immediately going to know you’re planning something. And then it’s bye-bye files and goodnight Eternity Falls.”
“You don’t think he’ll panic when he sees you?”
“No.” Thorne rolled her eyes. “Humans tend to think biasedly. They rarely see a woman as a threat. He knows we’re married. So, he’ll likely just assume I came to support you. Maybe to get the files back. But he won’t assume we’re there to ambush him.”
“That’s garbage,” I shot back. “Wren is a woman. He knows exactly how dangerous she is.”
“She’s a witch,” Thorne corrected. “Anyone with magic is dangerous.”
“He knows you’re a werewolf, Thorne.”
“He’ll still underestimate me, Calder. Trust me. You bring Ricky, and it’ll set off all of Evander’s alarm bells. You bring me, and he might give it a thought, but ultimately, he’ll brush the thought aside.”
I hated that her logic made sense. But that didn’t mean I had to accept it. “No, just no. Okay? You aren’t going in there.”
“Alright, enough,” Ricky barked. He caught my gaze in the rearview mirror. “Knock it off, Calder. You’re annoying both of us.”
I glared at his reflection. “Stay out of this.”
“I’m driving the getaway car. I’m already in this,” Ricky fired back. “Listen to yourself. You’re entirely wrapped up in your mate-bond, and it’s making you stupid.”
I let loose another growl.
But Ricky just talked over it, pretending he hadn’t spotted me flashing my fangs in the mirror. “You and I both know Thorne is more than capable. According to you both, you’ve pulled off some shady shit before—”
“Shady shit that landed her in the hospital last time, in case anyone forgot that part.”
“Language,” Ricky snarled, ignoring the fact that he’d also dropped the S-bomb.
“The real reason you’re so agitated is because you don’t want your mate in the line of fire.
And I get that. But Thorne’s right. We’re already in danger.
If this guy goes back on his word and doesn’t give us the files, we’re dead anyway. ”
I swallowed hard.
“Plus,” Ricky added, easing off the gas as we took a sharp turn, “you should know by now that Thorne always gets her way. Arguing with her is a waste of oxygen. You should also know that her brothers would never let her go in without backup. So, shut up, accept it, and let’s work together to ensure tonight ends on a good note. ”
I stared at the back of Ricky’s headrest, imagining all the different ways I could kill him. He was supposed to side with me. Supposed to want to protect his damn sister. Not toss her in the fire.
I forced my attention back to Thorne. She sat there with a box of nightmare magic resting on her thighs, her hand casually draped over the lid. She didn’t look scared.
Thorne caught my stare and sighed. “You’re acting like I’m walking into a den of vampires armed with a stick. I am a werewolf. Evander is the weakest link in this mess.”
“He’s hardly weak. Don’t underestimate him. Those artifacts have changed him.”
“I know,” she said, her voice softening. “I’ve got this, okay? Stop treating me like I’m made of glass.”
In other words, stop deciding for her.
I wanted her away from this mess, somewhere safe, surrounded by her brothers. But I had to curb that protective tendency of mine. Thorne needed me to respect her agency. If I couldn’t do that, I’d lose her all over again.
Gods, it killed me to accept this. But finally I nodded.
“Fine,” I breathed out. “Stay behind me until I have the files. You don’t take a single step toward him until I give the signal.”
Thorne offered a small smirk. “Deal.”
I leaned my head back against the seat and dragged both hands over my face.
“Alright,” Ricky said, clearly satisfied he’d ended the dispute. “So, the coven takes the witch. You take the bear. Thorne takes the human. Fine. What about the rest of us? Because there is no universe where me, Cassian, and Felix sit on the sidelines while my sister walks into that mess.”
“You three will form our second wave. Once the fighting starts, that’s when you move in.”
“Fair enough. Now, wanna tell me where we’re going?”
“Head out of town,” I said, staring out the dark window. “About fifteen miles down the road is a small town with an abandoned lumber mill.”
“I know the one,” Ricky said, hitting the gas.
We fell into agonizing silence. I wasn’t exactly in the mood to chat, and Ricky and Thorne seemed to understand that.
I kept reminding myself that we weren’t going in alone.
Besides Thorne and me, we had the Ravenspells, chock full of magic, and Thorne’s brothers.
Three alpha werewolves who would die to protect their sister.
We weren’t outnumbered. But that still didn’t make this any easier.
My wolf loathed the idea of putting Thorne in danger.
I sat in the back, my forearms resting on my knees, staring at the back of her seat.
The streetlights flickered past, casting harsh, rhythmic yellow slashes across her profile.
She didn’t fidget. She didn’t anxiously tap her fingers against the leaden box resting on her thighs.
She just stared straight ahead, her jaw set, her breathing completely even.
It drove my wolf absolutely out of its mind.
I was practically vibrating out of my skin. Every mile that ticked by was a mile closer to Evander.
Then, I felt the exact second we crossed the Eternity Falls town line. The faint, static hum of the Ravenspell wards—magic I hadn’t even realized I was feeling—simply vanished.