When they were mostly done, he finally asked the question he’d been wanting to. “So what is the plan?”
Jenna was just finishing her burger. “In a nutshell, I’ve set up a meeting with Sola back at the circle, where I hope I’ll be able to convince her to reopen the trap for the wraith. I need him to show up. Of course, I’ll be doing all this while pretending that I know nothing about Ingvar being possessed by Sola. And while that’s going on, Bridget and Birdie are going to find wherever Sola’s been staying and see if they can work things from that end.”
“Work things? What does that mean?”
Jenna swallowed the bite she’d been chewing. “The way Alice explained it to me, Sola’s spirit might be possessing Ingvar’s physical form, but Sola still has a physical form, too, and that body has to be somewhere.”
Birdie used a fry to punctuate her words. “Bridget and I are going to find that body and take it into custody. At the same time, we’re going to try to neutralize whatever magic she’s using to control Ingvar.”
Titus frowned. “Where are you going to look? There have to be hundreds of places she could be staying. And how are you going to neutralize the magic?”
“Well,” Birdie said, “I used my computer superpowers to narrow down the possibilities of where she might be staying, and Deputy Cruz and I eliminated a few of them this afternoon, which means we’ve only two final places to check. Bridget and I will track her down, don’t you worry. As for the neutralizing, Alice gave us something for that.”
“And the part about you taking someone into custody?” Titus looked at his brother. “Don’t tell me.”
Hank sighed. “Yes, I deputized Birdie. But I am also sending Deputy Lafitte with them.”
Titus wiped his hands on a paper napkin from Howler’s. “Remy’s a good guy. And you can’t go wrong with a vampire as backup.” But he wasn’t sure he liked how that left the odds. “That means it’s just me, Hank, and Jenna in the woods?”
“Not exactly,” Jenna said with a smile. “I called in some backup of my own.”
The doorbell rang with the most perfect timing ever. Titus started to get up, but Jenna stopped him. “I got it.”
She answered the door, opening it wide. “You guys all know Tessa, my sister, and Pandora Williams, witch extraordinaire and rock star Realtor.”
Tessa and Pandora waved to the gang.
The gang waved back.
Titus nodded. Both women were dressed in black, hair up in ponytails and looking very much like they were ready to throw down. “That’s some good backup right there.”
“They’ve already been briefed.” Jenna smiled, but there was a little reserve there. Probably because she was feeling the seriousness of what they were about to attempt. “They know their parts.”
“Excellent.” Titus pushed back from the table. “Peach cobbler is going to have to wait for the victory celebration. I say we do this now.”
Jenna checked the time. “We have an hour yet before I’m supposed to meet Sola, but we can definitely head out there and get into position.”
Birdie stood. “You all go. Bridget and I will do a quick cleanup, then we’ll swing by the department, pick up Remy, and get started on our search. According to what Alice told us, we can’t do anything until we know Sola’s actively engaged in possessing Ingvar’s body, so as soon as she reaches Jenna and the circle, we’ll be good to go.”
Pandora raised her hand. “That’s one of my jobs. Keeping Birdie and Bridget in the loop on our end of things.”
Titus nodded at Jenna. “You really do have this all worked out.”
“We do,” Jenna said. “Still lots that could go wrong, but I think we’ve got most of that covered. I hope.”
He hooked a thumb toward the bedroom. “I’ll get my boots on, and I’m ready. Jenna, could I see you for a sec?”
“Sure.” She walked with him to the bedroom.
He opened the door and went in, motioning for her to do the same.
When she’d entered, he closed the door. He had to tell her how he felt now, before things blew up. “Look, before we head out there, I want you to know that when the spell is lifted later tonight, I don’t expect my feelings for you to be any different. I want us to still be us. I want us to be a couple. We’re good together. I see no reason to change that just because we aren’t magically bonded anymore.”
She smiled and gave him a little nod. “Me too.”
He exhaled. “Yes?”
“Yes.”
He grinned. “I love you, you know.”
She smiled. “I know.” Then she laughed for a second before her expression went back to a serious, but happy, smile. “I love you too. And it scares me more than anything we’re about to do, but I figure we’re in this together, right? Just the way we have been.”
“That’s right,” he said. “And I’m not going to let you get hurt.” He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her, a solid, full-on promise of a kiss. He held her there for a long moment until he knew he had to let her go.
Her arms stayed wrapped around him. “I’m not going to let you get hurt either.”
“Good,” he said. “Now let’s go kick some wraith ass.”
The plan was that, to Sola, Jenna would appear as if she were alone in the woods, desperate to meet her friend and find out how things had gone so wrong with the trap to catch the wraith.
Except none of that was true. Well, maybe the desperate part.
Jenna knew exactly what had gone wrong with the trap.
She also wasn’t alone. Titus, Hank, and Tessa were on the outcropping of rock
