The Werewolf Dates The Deputy - Kristen Painter Page 0,84
get through with the spell removal, who knows what time it’ll be? Just crash at my place this evening. You’ll have plenty of time in the morning to pack up. Plus, we could hit the hot tub one last time.”
“That would be nice. I might have to get one for my house.” She smiled. “Okay. I’ll stay.”
He pulled into the drive to Elenora’s estate a few minutes later, feeling much better about the evening. Cars filled the large circular drive on both sides. The coven was definitely in session. That was good. It was all good. And yet he had some trepidation about the removal of the love spell. What would that do to them? Would it take them back to square one, like an emotional reset? Or would they still be crazy about each other?
He found it hard to believe they wouldn’t be. They were pretty perfect for each other. But the chance that things would go back to how they’d been…that bothered him. There was nothing he could do but hope for the best.
He found a spot, parked, and glanced at Jenna. She seemed lost in thought. “Hey. You okay?”
She looked at him and nodded. “We’re still going to like each other, right? I’m okay if we aren’t in love. That takes time, and it’ll come back if it’s meant to be, but I’m worried we’re going to go back to square one, and I don’t want that.”
He laughed. “I just had that same thought. I think the fact that we’re both thinking about it is a good sign.”
“So what do you think will happen?”
“Getting rid of the spell isn’t going to erase the last few days. Everything we’ve been through, everything we’ve learned and come to appreciate about each other, that’s all still going to be there.”
“Right.” She smiled. “Which means we’ll still like each other.”
“That’s what I think.” They might even still love each other, but he wasn’t going to push it. What happened happened. And they’d recover from it, because he wasn’t about to give up on something this good. “Come on. Let’s go get untethered.”
The door opened as they walked up, and Pandora greeted them. “Hey, good timing. We’re pretty much ready to start.”
Jenna bit her lip. “How’s Ingvar?”
“That’s what we’re about to start, the separation. One of our members, Kelly, is a nurse, and she checked Ingvar’s vitals, just to see how she’s doing, and discovered she’s pretty dehydrated, so Kelly started her on an IV.”
“Oh. Okay.” Jenna growled softly. “I hate this. I hate what Sola’s done to her.”
Titus took Jenna’s hand, and she gripped his, hard. “She’s going to be okay.”
Jenna seemed to steel herself. “How did she get so dehydrated?”
Pandora’s eyes held all kinds of sympathy. “The truth is, Sola wasn’t taking very good care of the body she was inhabiting. If your friend makes it through this, she’s in for a long recovery.”
“If?” Jenna lifted her chin. “Ingvar is one of the strongest women I know. She’s going to get through this.”
Pandora nodded. “Of course she is. I should have said when. Come on, we’re all gathered in Alice’s practice.”
They followed Pandora back to the room they’d visited when they’d given blood for tests.
It looked a little different now. The rug was gone. So was all the other furniture, except for the large worktable Titus had made. It had been moved to the center of the room and the top cleared off. Now Ingvar and Sola lay side by side on its surface. Ingvar looked paler than normal and lay very still. An IV had been hung from a coatrack beside her.
Sola’s hands and feet were in restraints, and there was duct tape over her mouth. She looked like she was trying to cast spells with her eyes. Her deep auburn curls were a tangled mess around her bitter face. She looked like she’d been pretty once, but Titus wondered if giving herself to the dark side was to blame for that no longer being true. Something had cast an undeniable ugliness over her.
Jenna grimaced. “Duct tape, huh?”
Alice stood at the head of the table. “Yes. We can’t have her casting counterspells in the midst of our work.”
Jenna pursed her lips. “No, we can’t.”
A circle of what looked like salt and silver surrounded the table. Beeswax candles sat at even intervals, their flames flickering and sending the warm scent of honey into the air.
Runes just like Titus had seen on the trees in the circle marked the four directions.