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Connor nodded. “Exactly. Now, borrow some of our energy and check the book again. Your sister was nearly as clever as you. If you think that book is where she would have left you a message, then I’m sure that’s where it is.”
I felt a renewed sense of hope. After drawing a small amount of energy through our bond, I used Radiant magic to heighten my senses. Now that I felt more refreshed, my sister’s last words echoed in my mind, “…remember what happens when the clock strikes twelve…” That inspired me to consult the Table of Contents and sure enough. One of the stories in this anthology was titled, “When the Clock Strikes Twelve.”
I flipped to that page in the book, only to be immediately awarded by seeing a heavy vellum envelope magically affixed to the first page of that story. “Aha!” I crowed in satisfaction and removed the envelope to wave it triumphantly.
All three of us immediately recognized it as a Radiant Order. The last one I’d ever receive from my sister.
God, that wassofreaking bittersweet. On the one hand, the only people who could directly issue me a Radiant Order now was my Grandmother, or a quorum of my peers in the Circle of Dawn and Dusk. But on the other, I would gladly spend the rest of my life letting Kayleigh etch her Spellbound orders onto my skin if it meant she werealive.Tears began slipping down my cheeks.
Connor strode across the room and gently tugged the book from my hands to set it back on the shelf. Then he wiped my tears away and gave me a half-hug—since Shea still had his arms wrapped around me. “Better to rip the Band-Aid off quickly, I always say.”
My breath rushed out as our eyes met, and the tenderness in his eyes reinforced that I’d made the right decision earlier. For better or worse, these wolves were going to bemine. Hell, in some ways—they already were.
Shea leaned his head toward my ear to nuzzle it softly before asking, “You need me to let you go so you can cast a Radiant Seal, Blondie?”
“No,” I replied softly. “I rather like how we’re standing right now.” Connor snickered, and I flashed a quick smile. “Having you both close to me seems to make it easier to use my abilities now that we’re bonded.”
“In that case,” Connor said with a smirk, “Allow me to make it even easier.”
He somehow managed to position his hip against mine without disrupting Shea’s hold on me. I rolled my eyes at him but secretly enjoyed his drawing even closer. Okay, not so secretly since they could bothfeelthrough our tethers how that made me feel.
“All right, here goes nothing.”
I cast a Radiant Seal blocking out us from all sight, sound, and magical eavesdropping, and then tore open the vellum envelope to remove a single sheet of paper. Tears welled again as the achingly familiar signature of my sister’s magic washed over me—another experience I’d never get to enjoy again—until recognizing my own aura as the spell’s intended recipient. Kayleigh’s elegant black handwriting began marching across the vellum paper, and the three of us read it intently.
“Big Sis, If you’re reading this message, then the worst has come to pass. Maddox and I are gone. Hopefully you are now bound to one or more of his cousins. I know we can depend on you to protect both St. Louis and our daughters.
“I wanted to share our suspicions earlier, but Maddox worried that the more who were aware, the greater chance it would slip to the wrong person. To be honest, I didn’t even trust Grandmother with the identity of our chief suspect. First because there’s bad blood between them that goes way back. I worried it might cloud her judgment, so I simply told her where I planned to leave this last Radiant Order for you. And second because of that suspect’s close ties to our own Pack. Specifically to the three wolves you’re most likely now tethered to.”
That had me frowning in confusion. I’d suspected she would say that their prime suspect would be Regina or her parents, who had given over the Kansas City Beaconship so they could serve in the Circle. Since she was presumably the one who’d abducted my nieces, it would have made more sense to hear their names mentioned. Or perhaps Samuel Rosen’s since he held so much animosity toward Grandmother and so many Spellbinders had been involved. Plus there was the fact his supposedly estranged daughter had conveniently transferred to St. Louis just before this assassination was carried out.
Hell, I wouldn’t have been surprised to read my grandmother’s name listed, after the accusation Miriam Rosen had shared with Shea and Connor.
But none of those names unfurled in my sister’s elegant handwriting.
“Don’t be too proud to request magical resources from Grandmother now that things have obviously gone to hell anyway. Maddox and I have reason to believe that the man who wants us dead is meeting this evening with the same group of Spellbinders we have an appointment with during tonight’s reception. I’ve left most of the proof we’ve gathered against him in a safe deposit box in the Pack’s bank. One that only you and all three of Maddox’s cousins will be able to access.
“Even then, you’re going to need more to prove he was the one behind all this. Until you get that proof, be careful. All four of you. And break it to Maddox’s cousins gently. I know they’re all especially fond of the man I believe wants to bring down our grandmother, no matter the cost. His name at birth was Patrick Alexander Kincaid, but the world now knows him as Alexander Donnelly.”
Or as the two wolves by my side and the third we’d sent to rescue our nieces called him, Uncle Alexander. Meaning the very man we’d trusted to help save those girls was the one who may very well have murdered their parents…
* * *
Shea
One last line swirled across the vellum clutched in Ava’s hands. “Prove who murdered Maddox and me, but more importantly save the girls—and yourselves.” Those words then peeled away from the paper and etched themselves into the skin of Ava, Connor, and me.
Presumably they would have written their way into Finn’s as well, had he been there.
Shock couldn’t begin to describe the emotion that flooded my veins when the name, “Alexander Donnelly” had scratched itself across the vellum paper in Ava’s now-shaking hand. Astonishment came a little closer to describing the initial feeling, and then searing, red-hot rage that made it hard to see or even think followed soon on its heels. How the fuck could a man we’d welcomed into our family, a man who had helped raise us during the time we spent with our mother’s Pack each year, betray us so heinously?
And how could we have been so blind as to trust him to protect our nieces when he was the man they’d been in the most danger from all along?
“Fuck!” I couldn’t help shouting. My arms dropped from Ava’s body, and I took several steps backward. Fury swept me along in its grip, and I wanted nothing more than to rip and tear something. Anything. Most preferably Alexander’s body limb from limb. But unfortunately that was nowhere nearby at the current moment.
No, he was likely now either leading Finn and everyone else on a wild goose chase so his conspirators could ensure the girls stayed out of our reach. Or, even worse, he was leading them straight into an ambush.
But no. Surely he wouldn’t hurtFinn. Allowing Maddox to be harmed was one thing, awful as it was. Maddox was related to the San Francisco Pack only by virtue of his blood ties to his uncle, our father. But Alexander had watched the three of us grow from small wolf pups to the men we were now. Surely he wouldn’t be able to bring himself to kill any ofus.
