“There’s something in there that can help us.” I push.
“I don’t doubt that.” Tiana levels a look at me. “What I’m arguing is your safety.”
The door opens and Kade walks in, shutting it behind her. “What did I miss?”
Jacob looks down at my mother. “I’m gonna go deal with the pack,” he says it to her, but he’s practically glaring at Kade the whole time.
Kade stares back at him. “What? You should be thanking me for that distraction.”
Jacob groans.
Seth comes around the counter. “I’ll come with you, Dad.”
“Seth.” My mother’s head comes around. “Don’t you want to stay? This is Blackwood business, and you’re a Blackwood.”
“I’m going to go be with the pack.”
“Go, Seth,” I tell him. “It’s fine.”
My mother glares at me. I shrug it off. Jacob doesn’t get involved in any of it. He just grins at Seth and holds the door open for him as he steps out, then looks back at all of us and quietly tips his head before stepping out and shutting the door behind him.
My mother scoffs and shakes her head at the closed door.
I rub Mara’s back, and get us back on subject. “I still think I should go in there.”
Mara’s head whips around to me. “Alone? No.”
I groan.
“I think your family is right, Aaron,” Kade says. “What’s left in the Witching Glen is the worst of the worst.” Then a wicked grin crosses her face, slow and savoring. “Including Ellie.”
Samara snorts.
“I say we focus on Henry,” Tiana says.
“No.”
She glares at me. “I don’t give a shit about Eric, Aaron.”
“Well, you should,” I say. Tiana smirks at me.
“Why? Because you still somehow—which I cannot figure out for the life of me—want a relationship with this imbecile?”
“Shut up, Tiana!” I snap at her.
Mara looks up at me and shakes her head, and the rest of what I was going to say dies in my mouth. Then she turns on my sister with a glare she usually saves for me.
“You cannot punish him for wanting the love of his father.”
Tiana opens her mouth. Then she shuts it. She groans and lets her hands fall to her sides, slapping against her thighs.
My mother crosses to her and places a hand on her shoulder. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Mara is right.”
“I know,” Tiana groans.
“I think we all need some time to think this over,” my mother says.
I shake my head. I pat Mara’s hip and she stands, and I stand up with her. “No time, Ma. Eric has dark magic and there’s no telling what he’s going to do with it. And it doesn’t help that he’s working with Henry.”
