Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Xander ends his phone call and returns to my side. “That was Jonas. He and Lucy just had an…experience.”
“So did Breena,” I reply. “Breen, where are you?”
“I’m at Giles’s shop. Did Xander just say that Jonas and Lucy had something happen, too?”
“Yeah. Are you two able to meet us at Lucy’s?”
“We’re on our way.”
Breena hangs up, and Xander immediately takes my elbow, leading me to my car.
“Sounds like the bastard had fun with all six of us at once,” he says, his handsome-as-sin face drawn into lines of worry as he types out a text on his phone. Probably getting someone to come and take care of the catch on the boat. It’d be a shame to let it go to waste.
“There was no real power behind what happened out there,” I remind him as he finishes and puts down his phone. “It was just an attempt to frighten us.”
“He fucked with us in our place.” He wipes his hand over his mouth as I drive across town to Lucy’s. “And that on its own means that I’ll destroy him. Once and for all. He’ll pay for all of it.”
Whenever Xander is in this mood, I know not to antagonize him. Not because I’m afraid of him, but because he’s in what I always called intense witch mode. And while it’s incredibly interesting to watch, I’ve also always found it sexy as hell.
He’s just so big and broody and absolutely a force to be reckoned with.
I see Giles and Breena parking just as we reach Lucy’s. All four of us go into the apothecary together.
Nothing looks amiss in the Blood Moon Apothecary, but I can feel the energy, and it makes my hackles rise.
“Oh, I don’t like this.”
Xander says nothing, but the look on his face is grim.
“I couldn’t leave Merlin at the shop,” Breena says, holding her black cat familiar in her arms. When Nera, the Irish Wolfhound who happens to be Lucy’s familiar, runs over to greet Merlin, Breena sets the cat on the floor, and the two animals rub against each other, then curl up together on a bed in the corner.
“I love that they’re friends,” Lucy says with a grin as she gestures for us to follow her through the doorway to the kitchen, waving at her assistant, Delia. “I’ll be back here if you need anything.”
“I’ve got this,” Delia says with a wink. “Take your time.”
“She’s a gem,” I announce as I sit in a chair and accept a cup of tea from Jonas. I take a sniff and confirm my suspicion that it contains a protection tincture.
Jonas is always looking out for us like that.
“I don’t know what I would do without her,” Lucy agrees. “Okay, I’m just going to run down what happened here really quick.”
“It happened so fast,” Jonas adds.
“Superfast,” Lucy agrees. “But there’s no doubt that it was it. The doors blew open, and the wind picked up like crazy. There was a loud scream, like the one it made both times we defeated it, as if it was hurt and angry.”
“It’s likely both,” Xander says, his voice as cool as a cucumber.
“And then it made a tornado in the center of the shop,” Lucy continues. “When I looked at Jonas, his eyes were black.”
“Same thing happened at Gems,” Giles says. “But it was Breena’s eyes that turned black.”
“We were on Xander’s boat,” I add. “There was a ton of wind. Xander’s eyes are always black, so I can’t help there.”
“But Lorelei’s eyes were black.”
My head whips around to stare at Xander. “What?”
“Black as night. Creepy as shit.”
“So creepy,” Giles agrees.
“Your shop looks perfect,” I say to Lucy. “If there was a tornado in here, why wasn’t it destroyed?”
“That’s just it. Nothing was moved,” Lucy says. “The wind just stopped, and everything was totally normal afterward—as if nothing at all had happened.”
“Same at Gems,” Breena adds.
“I noticed the same when we got to shore. It was as if nothing happened.”
“So, it can scare us, but that’s about it right now,” Xander says. “That’s good news.”
“The bad news is that it’s gaining strength,” Jonas replies. “Stay on alert.”
“My wards are about to be so strong and powerful with a mirror spell that will shoot everything it gives right back to it and punch it in the fucking face,” I decide, still fuming. “This fucker won’t know what hit him.”
“I like that enthusiasm,” Jonas says with a grin. “I think we’ll all follow suit.”
“How’s the tapestry?” I ask Breena. “Did you have to re-weave that part of it?”
“Only a little,” Breena replies. “And I already got the new wool, dyed it, and spun it. I’m ready to get started again.”
“I thought Lucy and I were going to dye it for you.”
“I had everything on hand, and it wasn’t much,” Breena assures me. “It didn’t take long. In fact, I should get home and start weaving again. I just went to the shop to have lunch with my new husband when all hell broke loose.”