Page 127 of Sienna Rossi: Beyond Shattered Trust

And for someone who has evaded being caught for decades, we can’t risk that happening.

It’s been almost an hour, and we’ve just finished setting up the spells, making sure to remain discreet as we do. Everything is done, and Uncle Liam has been on the move in the last five minutes. A check of the cameras outside the Westwood Mansion shows that Katara got in the car with him.

Now we just hope she reaches out to her boyfriend.

We’ve set up the three spells in locations that work near shops she goes to and shops she might be able to escape from Uncle Liam. We girls were the ones who chose the locations based on what we thought, although Jayce didn’t seem to approve of us pointing out a certain lingerie store that we knew Katara likes to go to.

But both boys are now out of sight, and we are all following the tag on Uncle Liam as we wait. It’s tense, and we’re all on edge, wondering if this is going to work.

“She’s entered the lingerie store,” Ahren’s voice comes through my earpiece. I hear Jayce mutter something incoherent, and I smile slightly. “As predicted, Uncle Liam is standing outside, looking uncomfortable.”

I exchange looks with Heaven and Allie; we’re all wearing triumphant expressions, as we predicted.

“Alright, she’s taken a random bunch of items, without even checking sizes…” Ahren murmurs. We wait, paying attention for the signal that she’s left the store.

“On the move,” Jayce murmurs quietly.

My heart skips a beat; it’s happening. We begin moving towards the trap near the lingerie store. That’s the one we’re going to capture him with. It’s a few minutes’ walk, but we aren’t going to risk using any excess magic to travel there faster in case the primordial senses it.

“Spotted,” Jayce murmurs softly through the earpiece.

Oh, Katara, please stay safe.

The wait feels like ages as we wait for some kind of signal to be ready.

“He’s moving alone. She’s returning,” Ahren says. “I’ll move in now.”

My stomach twists. “Stay safe,” I say softly. Ahren is the real bait; under his disguise, he’ll be making his way through the city centre, heading towards us, in hopes that the primordial is drawn to him. If our hypothesis is correct, he’s stealing abilities to feed himself. If this doesn’t work, then Jayce will engage with him and pretend he realised he met up with Katara and confront him whilst subtly guiding him towards the spell that is waiting for him.

A magical shield covers our bodies, and I pray it’s enough to protect us if he gets in range.

“Moving northwest,” Jayce’s voice comes.

“Roger that,” Allie murmurs; they’re coming right towards us now. We remain ready. We’ll see Ahren first, as long as that plan works, but if he somehow ends up spotting us, then things can go awry, although we have cast a concealment spell to mask our presence.

I sense Ahren’s disguised aura; it’s subtle, but it’s approaching. He’s kept most of it masked, and we’ve changed it so the primordial doesn’t recognise it from the other night. But we all know not to underestimate the enemy, especially since we don’t know exactly what calibre he is.

They’re nearing, and we’re ready, but I feel uneasy. I cannot sense the primordial’s power at all. His appearance and his aura are completely normal, blending in with everyone else who is walking by.

A chill runs down my spine when Jayce’s tense voice comes through the earpiece: “Lost him.”

I turn to the girls, my eyes widening, but before any of us can say something, I sense it before I feel the sinister presence behind me.

“Look what we have here,” a voice whispers in my ear, and my blood runs cold.

No one needs to tell me who that is – I already know.

Intuition

Jayce

Ihear the whisper of the voice through the earpiece, followed by the soft gasp that escapes Sienna, my blood running cold.

Not this time. Not my woman.

I move as fast as I can, feeling the instant connection to Sienna, pinpointing her location and sending a bolt of lightning her way. I don’t need to see her to know I won’t hit her.

The lightning surrounds her, and I hear a low snarl of anger as a second surge of aura engulfs the air all around. It’s the very same aura I felt that night outside the takeaway shop. Then I feel power surge from five different sources. The enemy, the girls and Ahren’s – our cover is blown, and now we need to get this bastard into the centre of the concealed spell before he does any damage.