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“What’s wrong?” I ask, as I follow her gaze to the branch of a tree behind me that’s barely taller than we are. There’s a backpack hanging from the branch. “Huh. I’m pretty sure that’s new.”
At least, it wasn’t here when we came out for our midnight run last week.
We move closer, and I cast another detection spell, this time just around the tree.
Nothing. No one’s hanging around here now.
But the bag can only mean someone was out here recently.
I reach up and yank the backpack down from the branch. It’s not a sports brand. It’s made of natural fabrics with a crocheted outer layer. Probably belongs to a female, which doesn’t really make me feel any better.
“Careful,” Amanda murmurs as I unclasp it.
“It’s okay. It’s not a trap,” I tell her, checking for active magic and detecting something that feels very minor inside. The bag belongs to a witch.
I know it before I open the flap and loosen the ties that are keeping the contents inside.
Most regular women don’t have any need to be out in the woods, and anyone coming out here is probably from the academy. That gives two options, really. Shifter, or witch, and my money’s on the latter.
I look inside, the glow of my enhanced vision bathing the contents in a golden light.
There’s nothing too startling inside. Charms. Clothes. Food.
The only item that might tell us who the witch is, is the item that tingles with minor magical energy.
It’s her personal spell book, or book of shadows.
I reach in for the book, a hardbound A5 notebook with a plain pink cover.
“Maybe you shouldn’t be touching that,” Amanda starts.
“Someone’s been out here. We need to know who.”
I pass her the bag as I attempt to open the book.
Like I suspected, the active magic on it is a lock.
It’s protected by a spell that makes it impossible to open.
I run through a few basic spells in an attempt to unlock it, but none of them work.
Letting out a soft sigh, I give up. Even if the witch, whoever she is, isn’t here right now, it seems likely that she’ll come back.Damn it to hell.
“What do you think happened?” Amanda asks.
“I don’t know, but it looks like tonight’s run is cancelled.”
Despite my biting disappointment, I’d rather keep my mate safe than risk running into a stranger who may or may not be friendly. I stuff the book back into the bag. It’s time we went home.
Chapter three
Amanda
PartofmewishesI hadn’t spotted the bag. No one’s out here, but the two of us. We could have had our usual night together and gone home without ever looking through a stranger’s things, trying to decide if they represent a threat to our pack, or our town. Something about it feels wrong, like we’re intruding on someone else’s life.
“We shouldn’t take this,” I tell him. “Whoever she is, she’ll come back looking for this, right?”
I have a bad feeling about the answer before I even look at Dante.
