Page 94 of Freed

“Who are they?” I ask through the bond, looking at the three strangers in our yard. Worry and fear start to spike.

“Cherry,” Maddox says out loud, beckoning me over to where he’s standing with them. I continue to clutch Gage’s hand as I move over, stepping up against Maddox’s side as his arm comes down around my shoulders, holding me tightly.

“I’d like you to meet our neighbors, Leonard, Janet, and their son, Craig.” He points to each of them and I say hello, my fear easing away when I realize they aren’t a threat.

“They came over to help the others when they heard the commotion.”

“Thank you for helping us,” I tell them with a small smile.

“Of course. I’ve never heard of a coordinated rogue attack before. Certainly never here,” Janet says as she glances around at all the dead bodies littering our yard.

“Well, we’ve taken care of the man responsible for it.”

“Mage?” Leonard asks.

“He wasn’t a mage, but he used magic somehow to aid him.”

“Is that his car parked out front?” their teenaged son, Craig, asks, gesturing over his shoulder.

Maddox frowns as he looks in that direction. “What car?”

“The rusty blue Toyota. I didn’t see it earlier, but I noticed it there a few minutes ago when I was checking the perimeter.”

Maddox’s eyebrows raise in surprise as he gently presses me to Gage’s side. “Cherry, stay here with Gage.”

“I’m coming too.”

He frowns down at me and I shrug. “Blaze is dead. What are you worried about?”

“His car could be booby-trapped.”

“We can help with that,” Philip says as his coven approaches.

“Cherry!” Erica gasps, pushing through and throwing her arms around me. “Thank Goddess you’re okay!”

I smile and hug her back. “I’m glad you guys are okay too. Where’s Lexi?” I ask, not having seen her yet.

“I’m here and uninjured, thanks to you!” she says, hugging me tightly.

“I think I may have had something to do with keeping you alive,” Alaric says with a pretend glare aimed her way.

“Of course you did!” she says, turning to hug him, which then makes her other mates demand hugs too.

“Let’s go check out that car,” Philip says, leading the charge with Jon and Maddox down the side of our house to the front.

I see the car instantly. It sticks out in this neighborhood and would be better at home in a junkyard. Bain places an arm around my shoulder, placing himself between me and the car as we move closer. He stops us twenty feet away as the three mages and Maddox approach.

They glance in the windows and shake their heads. “I don’t see anything,” Jon says before carefully opening the back door. Nothing happens.

“I think that’s the car Blaze took me in,” I tell them, recognizing the interior. Just then, a loud banging starts coming from the trunk, and Bain lifts me up, stepping backward as I wrap my arms around his neck, holding my cheek against him as we both watch the others approach the trunk.

Jon steps up to it, making sure the others are ready before he grabs the handle, throwing it open and stepping back. Several gasps fill the air, but I can’t see what or who is in there from here.

“Philip?” Jon asks in confusion.

Philip frowns, stepping closer so he can see inside the trunk. I watch as his eyes grow wide in shock, his jaw dropping open as he gasps, “Edwin?!”

He lurches forward toward the trunk, reaching in as I whisper, “I recognize the name. Who’s Edwin?”