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This time the drive was ridiculously short. I only had to call out a change in direction five more times before magic refused to respond further. “They should be here!”
Whereverherewas.
I opened my eyes and looked outside, only for my mouth to drop open when I recognized the ornate front gate of Donnelly Manor just a few dozen feet away. My gaze flashed over to Connor and then Shea, who looked just as surprised as I felt.
“Wait a minute. Why the hell would their abductors bring them backhere?”
Connor held up a hand. “Wait a minute. What if we’ve had this wrong? We nowknowAlexander’s been lying his ass off. What if Regina, Marie, and Chester never turned traitor at all?”
That had my mouth widening a little further, but then I caught his meaning. “You think they figured out Alexander was a threat and slipped away in the chaos earlier? And that they brought the girls here?”
Shea reached over to open his door. “Only one way to be sure.”
The chauffeur made a scandalized noise from the front. “Sir, no need to walk from here. I can drive us straight to the front door.”
Shea shook his head. “I’d rather you continue circling around the neighborhood for the next few minutes. That’ll make it easier for us to slip in the side entrance unnoticed. We’ll call when it’s safe for you to return.”
Sudden inspiration struck and I cast a Radiant Seal around our group before we started piling out of the limo. Connor and I slipped out behind Shea, and the guardians quickly fell in around us. The two Spellbinders placed themselves behind to watch our backs. That both reassured and unnerved me. Even if it turned out we had three less traitors to worry about, that didn’t mean more weren’t lurking in the wings.
That ensured no one could see or hear us as we made our way to the small side gate on the western expanse of the estate. We were about halfway there when I felt a huge surge of Radiant energy arcing overhead, originating frombehindthe Manor. Arrowing straight toward where the limo was now passing the front gate.
“Oh shit!” I cursed. “The driver!”
No sooner did those words escape my lips and most of our party turn to watch the limo than an explosion radiated outward from the vehicle. Concussive sound split the quiet evening air and pillars of fire engulfed the limo. Far too quickly for the driver to escape.
“Who the fuck did that?” Connor demanded furiously, placing his body between mine and the limo.
Shea more accurately guessed where the true danger lay and stepped between me and the rear of the Manor, from where whatever caster—or group of casters—had flung that deadly spell. He quirked a brow at me. “Regina?”
I hesitated. “She’s certainly powerful enough to cast that type of spell. But why would she save the girls from Alexander only to turn around and try to assassinate us?”
“I damned well wouldn’t, and you should freakingknowthat, Ava Sheridan,” came a familiar angry voice from just outside my Radiant Seal.
Our heads swiveled quickly in that direction, only to see a whole lot of nothing. Which begged two questions: How had Regina heardmywords when I’d cast the Radiant Seal to keep our noises from escaping it? And wherewasshe?
“Look up here,” Regina’s voice instructed.
I complied, only to see the girls’ tree house on the other side of the fence. The tree house stood well within the radius of the Radiant Seal I’d cast, and she was a powerful Beacon. No wonder she’d heard what I said—and vice versa.
Connor shook his head. “Am I imagining things, or is that treetalkingto us?”
I pointed higher up in the branches. “Not the tree—someone inside the treehouse.”
“Ah,” he replied with a grin. “That makes alotmore sense.”
“Come on,” I said impatiently, leading the way to the nearby gate.
Normally I would have used more mundane methods to access it—namely the handy dandy key card in my wallet. Given the commotion now spilling out from the front of the house as Pack guardians and human police officers investigating the earlier crime scene responded to the explosion, however, I just used magic to bypass all that. No need to alert anyone in the security room to our presence. Not until we figured out what the hell was going on.
Several of our guardians darted through the gate after it slid open at my command. Shea and Connor moved through after me, and I closed the gate once the Spellbinders and last few guardians slipped past. As a group, we moved to the tree house. I stared up the ladder and wondered whether Regina was going to make me climb up even though she knew I preferred walls or windows between high places and my body.
But then my best friend popped out of the large, whimsical house my sister and her husband had personally helped Pack builders construct just a year ago. She shimmied down the ladder and then glanced around our group warily. Most likely because all of the guardians—and both Spellbinders—were regarding her with extreme suspicion.
Shea, Connor, and I felt that suspicion as well. We just hid it better.
The two wolves next to me stiffened when I stepped forward, but I shot them each a warning look. Taking sensible precautions was one thing; I wasn’t going to live trapped in proverbial bubble wrap.
My gaze swung back to Regina, and I couldn’t help but smile. She looked the same as when we’d taken our last girls’ trip at Lake of the Ozarks just the month before. Hair dyed a vibrant—and unnatural—shade of green, piercing brown eyes that never missed much, curvaceous body clothed in practical but expensive designer jeans, a low-cut black top, and a black leather jacket not too different from my own. Although her knee-high black boots hadmuchhigher heels than mine.
