before all of the misery and uncertainty coalesced around me, and the magic dropped away and left me with nothing to hold me up. My knees wobbled and I couldn’t stand and I fell forward into nothingness.
Chapter 34
Henry
It took a while to get the whole story out of Ophelia. Henry practically vibrated with worry, hovering over her as Deirdre talked the other witch through the phone call. The short of it was that the bastard sorcerer had Silas somewhere, he was probably torturing the wolf, and he’d want something in trade, and that something was probably Ophelia.
The moment she whispered that Rocko wouldn’t give up until he had her back, Henry nearly shot through the roof. “No. Never. Not going to happen.”
Evershaw gave him a dirty look. “Obviously, wolf. Control yourself.”
Ophelia covered her face, miserable as she hunched over and tried to make herself as small as possible. “It’s my fault this happened.”
“Yes,” Evershaw said.
Henry snarled, lurching over to stand chest-to-chest with the alpha. “Don’t you—”
Evershaw scowled and knocked him back a step. “I told you to control yourself, damn it. It’s her fault; it would be stupid to deny it. That doesn’t mean it’s her problem to solve, asshole. This is a pack matter. The sorcerer doesn’t know what he’s done. He was here for Ophelia and thought he could intimidate her, but he’s made an obvious error. So sit down and get your shit together. I don’t need you overreacting and making things more difficult.”
The wolf didn’t like it but the man could listen. Henry still growled, though, as he wedged himself into the armchair where Ophelia sat, and eventually maneuvered so she was in his lap.
Deirdre rolled her eyes, muttering something about “typical wolf,” then turned her attention back to the street map she’d rolled out on the coffee table. “He said an empty lot half a mile north of here. And we have two hours to plan. Plenty of time.”
Ophelia stared at her. “What?”
“These idiots can achieve a lot in two hours,” the other witch said, jerking her thumb in his and Evershaw’s direction. “Even behaving like cavemen. So. You and I are going to dig into some spell books and figure out the best magical way to fuck this guy up, and our two meatheads are going to call up our allies for more... kinetic options.”
“Kinetic options?” Ophelia said, her eyebrows raised. At least she wasn’t crying anymore. Henry couldn’t stand it when she cried.
“We bite him,” Evershaw said. “A lot. Tear him apart. I’m assuming sorcerers can’t survive having their throats ripped out, right?”
Ophelia turned a little green. “I honestly don’t know.”
Which totally flummoxed Evershaw, since it probably hadn’t occurred to the alpha that anyone could survive that sort of thing. The alpha said, “Huh,” and looked at his mate. “Could he survive something like that?”
“How the fuck am I supposed to know?” Deirdre pushed to her feet and rolled up the map, handing it to her mate. “I haven’t dealt with sorcerers before. We’ll find out, though, won’t we? Maybe I’ll write a paper on it when we’re done: Can Sorcery Protect One From Vengeful Shifters?”
Henry didn’t know if she was joking or not, since the witch had a fairly dark sense of humor. Evershaw clearly couldn’t tell either, because he watched the dark-haired woman warily.
Deirdre didn’t give them any clues, and only gestured for Ophelia to stand. “Come on. We have work to do. Hike up your grown-witch pants and let’s get some vengeance.”
Henry eyed her, ready to intervene if Ophelia reacted badly, and finally released his hold on Ophelia’s waist when she stood. He braced her, though, and squeezed her side to assure her he was still there. “You haven’t eaten. You should eat.”
“Then bring her food,” Deirdre said. “We can eat as we work. Now. Miles, perhaps the bears would like to participate in the fun?”
“I’ll call Smith,” the alpha said. “He’s probably dealt with sorcerers before, and—”
“Leave him out of this,” Deirdre said, her voice cold enough that shivers slid down Henry’s spine. She really didn’t like the mysterious fae who’d trapped her into helping Evershaw. “I don’t want him anywhere near Ophelia or this magic.”
Evershaw bristled a touch, reacting to being ordered around in front of his pack, but spoke through clenched teeth with remarkable composure. “I’ll call who I want, witch. If he can defeat the sorcerer, then it’s worth the exposure.”
She glared, and for a long, tense moment, there was a dangerous standoff in the living