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Chapter Six
Jack
Calling Claire and including her in the investigation was my way of keeping my eye on her. If I didn’t call her and let her know, she’d find out through other channels, and then she’d be off investigating on her own. If she did that, I wouldn’t be able to watch over her. Protect her. Keep her safe. Was it overbearing? Sure. But I needed to know she was safe. It was the only way I could keep my sanity intact.
What there was left of it, anyway.
Claire wasn’t impulsive, but she had a bit of tunnel vision. Especially when it came to the possibility of finding the man who had eluded her that day eight years ago. I knew she lived with the nightmare of those men dead on the floor. I also knew that she couldn’t sleep comfortably knowing the other man was still possibly out there. That he could snatch another witch.
Or possibly even her.
I knew she had nightmares about that night and about that man. I knew because the nightmares woke me all the way across town in my cabin. And it always took everything within me to keep me contained in my bedroom. To keep me from getting in my car, speeding over there, and telling her everything would be alright.
The only thing I could hope for is that one day we’d find a way to reverse the drug’s effect. That would allow her to find her true mate, some unworthy bastard that I would hate for the rest of my life. Someone who she would never regret having around to protect her from those nightmares and the things that caused them. Until then, I would sit in misery waiting for that day to come.
Right now, I had to keep her as safe as possible. And the only way I could do that was by keeping her by my side during times like this.
I felt her arrive before I heard the crunch of tires on gravel. Despite everything, anytime she came near, there was a feeling of urgency and excitement that wanted to take over my body. Squaring my shoulders, I turned and watched as she parked, climbed out of the car, and walked toward me. Each step, each jiggle of her breasts always made my breath catch. I schooled my features. I liked to think I’d gotten better about that over the years.
As Claire approached, I felt the trepidation wafting off her. The heat lodge was a small resort where witches in heat went to have their heats tended to by a rotation of trusted warlocks who, if rumor served, were damned good at what they did. The lodge, ran by a witch by the name of Anna Kirby, kept several warlocks on call to help the witches who came to the lodge in need of assistance. Witches who came to the lodge knew that the warlocks there were protected against both magical and human STDs. The warlocks were also well trained in what was needed to see a witch through her heat.
“Who’s the witch?” Claire asked, trying to mask her discomfort at being with me in such a predicament. As we spoke, there were no doubt witches and warlocks locked together inside one of the many cabins that were strategically placed around the extensive property. Despite the less than stellar situation that was unfolding with the missing witch, trying to interrupt the heats of those witches and usher them off-premises would be a cruel and unusual punishment. Interrupting a heat in progress would be painful for the witch in question. And if a warlock was already knotted inside the witch, there was no telling how long that connection would stay in place.
And Claire and I were walking right into that.
“Darla Randall,” I answered, turning from Claire and walking toward the main lodge. The main lodge was a larger cabin that greeted guests before they proceeded to the smaller cabins where the witches were seen through their heats. Anna both lived and worked from the cabin, seeing witches to their cabins and taking reservations for planned heats for those witches who were adept at scheduling heats with planned suppression spells and potions.
I’d continued along the path that led to the main lodge for several more feet when I realized Claire was no longer following behind. I stopped, turning to see her watching me, mouth agape.
“Darla Randall is only fifteen years old,” Claire said. Watching the play of emotions on her face, I wanted nothing more than to go to her, take her in my arms, and take her away from all of this. I could see the memories ghosting across her features. When they’d taken Claire, she’d only been sixteen.
“Her mom owns the hair salon downtown,” Claire continued, looking at something invisible over my shoulder. “My Mom used to take me there when I was a kid. When she would get her hair fixed. I know her mom. Maggie goes to school with her, I’m sure.”
Against my better judgment, I took a few steps closer to Claire. The urge to reach out and smooth away that crease that had formed between her brows was nearly overwhelming.
“We’ll find her,” I said, hoping that I sounded convincing. “It hasn’t been that long since they took her. But we’ve got to find out what we can.”
Claire nodded, but I could see the doubt clouding her features.
“It’s good that you’re here with me when I question Anna. You can act as a buffer. It won’t seem like it’s warlock against witch.”
Claire righted herself within the situation and stepped up beside me, passing me and walking on toward the main lodge.
* * *
Anna waslikely in her fifties in human years, but she looked as if she were in her early 20s. As far as anyone knew, she’d never found her mate. Usually, anyone who was in her presence would describe her as bouncy and bubbly. She loved doing what she did, helping witches find comfort and safety during their heats. In my time in Mystic Springs, I hadn’t been around the witch that often. Each time I had, she’d worn a wide smile, as if there was a great big joke happening and only she knew the punchline.
Now, that smile was completely gone. If anything spoke to the seriousness of the situation we were facing, it was that lack of a smile. The magic that normally surrounded the witch was dull. Next to me, I knew that Claire sensed it, too. Claire had been in Mystic Springs less time than I had, by nature of her being younger, but she knew most of the people in town simply because she worked for the paper.
Anna leaned against the frame of the door that led into a little lobby area. Inside, there were a couple of warlocks who were sitting on the sofas, no doubt waiting for the next witch to surface. When that witch arrived, their bodies would react. It wasn’t unheard of for more than one warlock to attend a needy witch when she came into the lodge.
Before we left, I’d have to question those warlocks as well, but it was doubtful they could lead me to anything that would be helpful. Whoever had taken Darla was long gone by now. The one thing I could hope for was some sort of information that might help me in a search.
“I knew Darla, and I knew her family,” Anna said. She shuffled restlessly against the doorframe. “She gave me a sob story about finding her bond mate. The boy with her looked pretty damn young. They looked like a young couple in love. And idiot that I was, their story completely took me in.”
She looked up at me, silently begging me to understand. And sadly, I did. She’d been tasked with offering refuge to a young witch or sending her out somewhere she would likely be even less safe.
“But why even bring her here?” Anna asked, more to herself than either me or Claire.
