“Thank you, baby.” He gave her a soft kiss before looking over her shoulder and catching a scowling Lindsey’s dark gaze. “Don’t you give me grief either.”
“Definitely not,” Boone agreed. “I want to go back to what happened with Stormy and Astra. I don’t understand how they were on the property. I thought Jackie and the other members of the coven made it so she couldn’t cross the creek.”
“Jackie is a witch, too?” Lindsey looked befuddled. “That is so weird ... although it kind of makes sense. I just don’t get it, though. Suddenly up is down and left is right. Just tell me that giant spiders aren’t real. I won’t be able to live in a world with giant mutant spiders.”
“I’m right there with you,” Hannah offered as she retrieved Cooper’s food and handed it to him. “Dig in. I’ll be over in a second.”
“You cooked mine first?” For some reason, that made him go soft all over. “That’s really sweet. You shouldn’t have done that, though. You had the bigger adventure. You need your food more than I need mine.”
“And I will have it in exactly two minutes. It’s not as if I cured cancer or anything.”
“Still, you can cuddle with the hairless rat later if you want.” He frowned before he finished the sentence. “Yup, I definitely heard it that time.”
Hannah chuckled as Cooper shuffled to the table.
“I don’t know what to do about Astra and Stormy,” Cooper volunteered. “From what Hannah told me, it sounds like Stormy is more dangerous than Astra ... and Astra knows it.” He related the story to the others, leaving nothing out, and by the time he was finished, Hannah was joining him at the table.
“Wait, she didn’t have the dog and yet she pretended she did?” Boone found he was more bothered by that than anything else. “What kind of sicko uses a dog as leverage?”
“I’m more interested in the fact that she really seemed to think I would just hand over the deed to Casper Creek for Jinx,” Hannah noted. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I would’ve fought her to the death to save Jinx. I wouldn’t ever give her Casper Creek, though. Now that I know the sort of magic that’s contained here, there’s no way I would risk someone like her or Astra getting their hands on it.”
“Abigail was very specific,” Cooper supplied. “She set up a line of succession that completely cut Astra out of ever being able to lay claim to the property. You should probably do the same.”
Hannah was caught off guard. “Do you expect me to die soon or something?”
The notion chilled Cooper’s blood until it was practically ice. “No, I don’t ever expect you to die. That’s not what I was saying at all. If you set up a line of succession that can never be breached by Astra or anyone else, you’ll make less of an enticing target. They won’t want some random person coming in and risk being cut off from the property because someone decides to build a mega-mansion up here ... or some expensive condos or something. That’s the last thing either of them would want.”
“I hadn’t considered that.” Thoughtful, Hannah tugged on her ear. “What would I have to do to make sure Casper Creek is safe?”
“You need to pick an heir and stipulate the land can never be given or sold with the express purpose of development. I mean, it’s more technical than that but that’s the basic gist of it.”
“Okay.” Hannah bobbed her head. “I’ll get on that early next week. We don’t want Astra killing me and then magically sliding in and taking over Abigail’s property.”
Cooper leaned closer, his hand moving to the back of her neck and rubbing lightly. “You’re not going to die,” he whispered. “You’re going to be around a really long time. I promise. This just makes you less of a target.”
“You’re right.” She flashed a genuine smile. “I was caught off guard by what you said. You don’t have to worry. I’m not planning on dying or anything.”
“That would be great.” He gave her a quick kiss and then turned back to his dinner, frowning at the wistful look on Lindsey’s face as she watched him dote on his girlfriend. “Can you please not do that? It makes me distinctly uncomfortable.”
“Me, too,” Boone intoned. “Whenever she looks at you like that, all I want to do is press a cheese grater to your face and go to town making a pizza.”
Tyler choked on a fry, coughing hard as Boone absently thumped him on the back.
“Let’s go back to talking about Astra and Stormy,” Cooper said brightly. “I have no idea what they were doing out here. I have no idea what their plans are. The story about the battling sisters forming the nexus makes me think that’s what they want. In fact, I think that’s what she’s always wanted. She thinks she can tap into the nexus and drain it.”
“That much power would destroy her,” Hannah noted. “It’s too much for anybody to absorb.”
“She obviously doesn’t believe that. It doesn’t matter, though. We’re not going to let her get her hands on the nexus. I’ll call Jackie before bed and tell her what happened. Hopefully she and Danielle will be able to fix the wards tomorrow so we don’t have to worry about Stormy and Astra sneaking around on the property.”
“And what if they can’t fix the wards?” Hannah asked.
Cooper held her gaze for a long time and then shrugged. “I guess we’ll have to play it by ear. I just don’t know. We’ll figure it out, though. We always do.”
Because she had faith in him — more than anybody she’d ever
