She waved her hand, and the branches released Adora. She fell to the ground, and Werner crouched beside her, his fingers feeling for a pulse in her neck above that glowing band of green light before relief crossed his face.
His face solemn, he drew her unconscious body into his arms, whispering into her ear as he stroked her hair.
Cece studied the wound in Briggs’s side and the one in his leg. “You’re still bleeding.”
“They’re healing,” he said, stroking her hair back from her face. “You were so brave, my mate.”
“I was terrified,” she said with a broken laugh.
He kissed her. “I’m proud of you.”
She hugged him hard before studying her grandparents. “How the hell did they find us?”
“I don’t know,” he said.
Briggs’s father joined them. He was holding a fallen pine tree branch against his crotch, the thick pine needles on the branch covering him, and he grinned at Cece. “Figured maybe you wouldn’t want to see your future father-in-law’s junk up close.”
She stared blankly at him before starting to laugh so hard that it nearly bent her over.
Rubbing her back while she laughed, Briggs said, “Are you okay, Dad?”
“Just a bit of singed fur, my boy,” Alex said. He glanced at Werner and Adora and then at Alistair, still lying in the snow, before shaking his head. “Goddamn witches.”
He grimaced and glanced at Cece. “No offense, Cece.”
Still giggling, she said, “None taken.”
“Well,” his father clapped Briggs on the back with his free hand, “I’d better get back to your mother before she thinks I drowned during my swim. Love you, son.”
“I love you, Dad. Thanks.”
Alex winked at him. “Anytime.”
He shifted to his polar bear form and loped across the snow toward home. Briggs rested his forehead against Cece’s, and she took a deep breath. “I love you, Briggs.”
“I love you, Cecelia.”
CHAPTER 43
“Wait, wait, wait.” Maisie walked into the living room, dodging a vine that immediately tried to wrap around her, and plopped down on the sectional. She stared at Cece and Briggs, who sat at the other end of the couch, before sipping her coffee. “I still don’t understand a) how your crazy ass grandmother and uncle found you in Alaska, and 2) how your grandfather then found all of you.”
“Or why your father showed up when he did,” Kinsley said. “Did he hear the fighting?”
She was sitting in the rocking chair near the fireplace, and Cece sighed when vines slid up Kinsley’s arms and across her shoulders. They caressed her cheeks and slid through her hair, and Cece waved her hands impatiently in Kinsley’s direction.
The vines retreated reluctantly, and Cece said, “Sorry, Kins.”
“It’s fine. You know I don’t mind,” Kinsley said. “Your magic seems supercharged today.”
“Yeah, because they were probably fucking like bunnies all morning,” Maisie said.
“Maize!” Kinsley threw a pillow at her, nearly spilling Maisie’s coffee.
“What? Am I wrong?” Maisie asked Cece.
“No,” Cece said.
Maisie laughed and threw the pillow back to Kinsley. “Told you, Kins.”
