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“Aside from the fact your prophetic dreams have been harping on the eventuality of your dad and Clayton coming here,” Belle said, “the council is not going to keep ignoring a reservation that keeps killing or maiming its witches.”
I grimaced. “I guess the thing we need to hold on to is the fact that neither of us are the same people that we were back then.”
“Yes, and we’re not as powerless, either,” Belle said. “We may be little more than leaves in a storm when it comes to our magic and theirs, but we do hold one key advantage over them.”
“This reservation.” And, more importantly, the wild magic and my link to it.
Whether in the end it would be enough was the question neither of us could answer—especially given I had absolutely no idea what my mental state would be when I eventually came face-to-face with the man who’d tried to rape me.
“And if we can’t permanently leave the reservation thanks to your tie with the wild magic,” Belle said, touching my knee in compassionate understanding, “then it’s that connection that might save us even if we can’t save ourselves.”
“God, I hope so,” I muttered and pushed to my feet. “Want a hand up?”
“Yes.” Her fingers gripped mine. “Monty and Aiden are almost at our door.”
“You go answer. I’ll push the furniture back and grab our gear.”
She nodded, picked up the two mugs, and then headed into the café. Once I’d put everything back in place, I grabbed the backpack, loaded it up with a number of charms, potions, and our silver knives, and then followed her out.
Monty was standing in the middle of the café, his gaze on the netlike structure that now flowed up our walls. “I see you’ve decided not to wait for me to show you that spell.”
“We couldn’t afford to.” I walked past him and gave Aiden a quick “hello” kiss.
“Debatable point, given it wouldn’t have taken all that long to show you the basics,” Monty said. “But there are some very nice variations included in your version. Whether they’ll hold up against a full-on attack is now the question.”
“And one I’d rather avoid getting an answer to. Are Ashworth and Eli on their way?”
“They’re still camping out by the lake, keeping an eye on things,” Aiden said. “There’s been no sign of the soucouyant, though.”
“Which hopefully means she hasn’t woken yet and doesn’t know what is going on.” Monty’s gaze swept me and then moved onto Belle. “You two ready?”
“I’m not entirely sure why I’m included in this motley crew,” she replied, “but yes, I am.”
“You mean aside from the fact that any sensible questing company should always involve a beautiful woman?”
“Oh dear,” Aiden murmured, even as I rather mildly said, “Are you saying that I’m not beautiful?”
He looked at me, but instead of contriteness, I got a big grin. “Lizzie my darling, you are lovely, but aside from the fact we’re related, you’re also not Amazonian perfect.”
“Monty my darling,” Belle said, in a perfect imitation of his tone. “No amount of flattery in the world could get you anywhere near my body when we were sixteen. Let me assure you now, that hasn’t changed.”
“But you can’t blame a man for trying. Shall we go?”
He spun around and headed for the door without waiting for a response. I glanced at Belle; she simply rolled her eyes and then followed him out.
“You know,” Aiden mused, “those two—”
“I wouldn’t finish the rest of that sentence if I were you.” I grabbed my keys from under the counter. “Not if you value your life.”
“I’d say Belle doesn’t scare me, but we all know that’s not true. Besides, I’ve seen her punch. She has a mean right hook.”
“You were out to it at the time, so technically you didn’t see anything.” I locked the front door and then fell into step beside him. Belle and Monty were already climbing into the back of his truck.
“Yes, but I did see the result. He’d have needed dental surgery.”
Only he never made it to a dental surgeon, let alone trial, simply because he’d chosen the wrong vampire to cross swords with.
We climbed into the front of his truck and made our way back to Greenhill. It was just after five by the time we arrived. Mac was the only ranger on duty—maybe Aiden figured the presence of two witches negated the need for an extra ranger.
