For the first time, Franklin noticed what she was wearing and smiled to himself, wondering what Asia’s first impression had been when she met his hippy granny. If you looked up eccentric, Franklin was sure you’d find Celeste’s picture. Arguing with his beloved grandmother was pointless, so it was time to change the direction of their conversation. Hopefully, Cam would be able to smooth things over enough with Asia, she would at least talk to him when he finally made his way back to Texas.
“The rest of the team will be here in a few minutes.” It would be so much easier to make plans if people arrived in more traditional ways, but magicals disliked traveling by car, and they considered airports an unnecessary hassle. Astral travel was preferred, with trains a distant second. Personally, Franklin didn’t mind cars for local travel, and he’d flown with Asia a few times, but without her to keep him company, he would use magic to return to Texas as soon as possible.
“If your mind wanders like this while we’re trying to break the spell, we’ll all go up in smoke and not the fun kind of smoke, either. God, I loved that movie.”
“What movie? I swear you’re worse than a kid watching television until the witching hour.” It was an old argument, one they’d had so often, it was oddly comforting to fall into the familiar routine.
“Up in Smoke. Great movie. Those two guys were a hoot. It was a crazy time in the world. The U.S. was being torn apart by so many things. It always amused me how the young people thought they discovered something those native to the land had been using for hundreds of years.”
“That’s true, but the hippies you were so fond of, used it for an entirely different purpose. There was nothing medicinal about their wacky tobacky. And spiritual enlightenment? Please. They enjoyed the trips but didn’t care anything about getting in touch with their God-self.” He shook his head, chuckling as he remembered watching the movie. Franklin hadn’t spent a lot of time in the U.S. during the tumultuous sixties, he’d been searching for the other half of his soul. Little did he know, she hadn’t even been born yet.
Chapter Ten
Israel stood in the shadows, stunned by what he was seeing. The walls around him started to shimmer as the ground beneath his feet shook.
“I’ve felt earthquakes all over the world, but that felt different—ominous, like a forewarning of some kind.” Cam had spoken so softly, Israel was barely able to make out the words. The former agent might not be a magical, but he was damned intuitive, and his vast experience made him more observant than anyone Israel knew.
“The magic is more powerful than I’d imagined. According to Franklin, the original dark spell was designed to grow more powerful on each anniversary of its incantation. When you consider how long the magic has been building, it’s a small wonder the damned walls are still standing.”
Cam moved so fast, Israel hadn’t seen more than a blur before his friend had the young housemaid pinned against the wall. Israel couldn’t hear what his friend whispered, but her knees sagged. Cam steadied her with one hand wrapped firmly around her upper arm. She’s armed. How did she get past your people with a fucking gun?
“She’s a magical, Cam—obviously more talented than given credit. Let’s move this around the corner.” Israel knew why Franklin brought her back onto the staff and what she’d been promised for her loyalty and silence. “Roslyn Laurent has an interesting story—we’ll discuss it later. For now, I’d like to know why she felt the need to intrude.” When she didn’t answer immediately, Israel saw Cam’s fingers twitch with the need to force a response.
“Eden—the lawyer. She is upstairs raising seven kinds of hell because some of the figurines are missing. She’s tearing the place apart. The woman is a fucking lunatic. She even searched my room—like there’s room in that glorified closet to hide anything.” She stomped her foot in frustration. “She shredded my clothes. I stole her gun when she wasn’t looking. Crazy people shouldn’t have guns and she is a psycho, I tell you. Two floors of devastation. You’d have to call in one of those disaster-repair crews to clean it up by hand, and Franklin made me promise to not use magic while I’m here—unless it’s in self-defense.” She lifted her chin defiantly before adding, “I’m not cleaning up her mess.”
Israel had to bite the inside of his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. If Roslyn couldn’t use magic to repair Eden’s damage, she wasn’t going to clean up after her—hell, he didn’t blame her. As a brother, he appreciated the young woman’s moxie. She’d rather risk her safety than the council’s wrath. She’d happily thrown the lawyer under the bus, but she wasn’t going to dignify Eden’s childish behavior by cleaning up the mess.
“Understood.” With nine siblings, he remembered how resentful they been when forced to clean up one another’s messes.
“How did you get down here?” Cam’s question seemed to surprise her—Roslyn seemed to have forgotten Barnes was there. One of the things Israel liked about Cam was his ability to blend into the background. It was a damned impressive skill, given all the man needed to do was walk into Dark Desires, and silence descended like a bayou fog.
His lovely wife once referred to him as the world’s greatest distraction, citing an incident at her hospital where a young patient’s parents had delayed their son’s treatment with their antics. Showing up unexpectantly, Cam had only needed one word to silence their bickering. Cam had laughed as he’d interrupted CeCe’s story to explain his devoted submissive had been the only one who hadn’t frozen in her tracks at his command to “Stop.”
Anyone seeing Cameron and Cecelia Barnes together held no doubt about the depth of their love and respect for each other. Kent and Kyle West’s relationship with their wildcard wife and sub, Tobi, was another example of kink done right. Israel wondered if he would ever find his own mate. Considering the extended average lifespan of a shifter, he was a young man, but seeing his siblings settling down and starting their families made him long for something similar.
Refocusing his wandering attention on the defiant woman standing in front of him, Israel tried to tune in to her thoughts but kept coming up short. He wasn’t convinced she was deliberately blocking him, but he hadn’t been briefed on her specific skills. How had she gotten into the subterranean chamber?
“I asked you a question, little witch. Answer. Now.” Everything about Cameron Barnes shifted between one heartbeat and the next. Master Cam was back in full force. Roslyn’s gaze dropped to her feet, the submissive gesture impossible to misread. Interesting.
“There is another entrance. One none of the other staff knew existed. I followed Petra Quan. I was sitting on the patio when she slipped out the French doors of the dining room. She suffered from cataracts but was too frightened to have the surgery to correct them, so she didn’t see well at night. Sitting in the shadows, I knew she hadn’t seen me.” Israel watched as she drew a small circle in the dust covering the stone floor with the toe of her white running shoes.
“The rest of the story, little witch. Now.”
“I followed her to the greenhouse, but she’d locked the door, preventing me from entering. It was the only building on the estate I’d never seen her husband enter. Later, as I watched the interaction between them, I wondered if I’d misjudged their relationship… I’d always assumed he was the one running things, but there was something very odd about the two of them.”