“You’re here early,” Cooper noted. “We didn’t expect you for at least another hour.”
Boone was disheveled, his hair sticking up in odd places. His skin was pale and his expression was riddled with unhappiness. “Lindsey is gone.”
Cooper blinked several times in rapid succession. “I don’t understand.”
“She’s gone,” Boone barked. “She left in the middle of the night, determined to find Angel and keep her away from the evil witches, and only left me a note.”
“What?” Bewildered, Cooper glanced at Hannah as she joined the men. “Why would she do that?”
“Because she wants to drive me crazy. It doesn’t matter now. All I know is that she’s out here and we have to find her.”
“Of course we’ll find her,” Hannah soothed. “We won’t let anything happen to her. You have to tell us everything, though. We need to know what we’re dealing with. After that, we’ll start searching. She can’t have gone far.”
At least Hannah hoped that was true. If Lindsey had somehow stumbled into the same trouble as Angel, though, all bets were off.
17
Seventeen
Tyler met everybody in the saloon thanks to a terse text from Cooper. He’d obviously just woken up because his hair was a mess and the lines from his pillow remained on his face.
“What’s going on?”
“Lindsey,” Hannah replied as she moved behind the bar and filled a glass with water. She hadn’t even bothered to brush her teeth, only going so far as to pull her hair back in a ponytail and throw on jeans, a shirt, and tennis shoes.
“What about her?”
“She took off,” Cooper replied. “Apparently she’s decided to look for Angel herself.”
“What?” Tyler’s face was awash with confusion. “Why would she do that?”
“Because she wants to kill me,” Boone muttered. He looked stricken, as if he’d aged ten years over the course of several hours. “She snuck out in the middle of the night and left a note that she was coming here to look for Angel. She didn’t want the bad witches to get her.”
“What bad witches?”
“Probably Stormy and Astra,” Cooper said. “She heard us talking when we got back last night. I’m guessing she assumes that they’re the ones responsible for taking Angel.”
“Maybe they are,” Boone argued. “Maybe they’ve been able to get on the property this whole time.”
“I don’t know that I believe that,” Hannah hedged. “I’ve run into Astra hanging by the creek numerous times. That’s the boundary. If she could cross, why stay over there?”
“I don’t know. Maybe she didn’t want you to know she had access to the property.”
“Maybe.” Hannah chewed on her bottom lip and shifted her attention to Cooper. “What do you think?”
“I don’t know.” Cooper’s mind was a minefield, hard to pick through and prone to dangerous explosions. “If she could cross over before this, I have to believe somebody would’ve seen her. The barrier is what makes sense to me. It somehow messed with the wards. I’m guessing Astra has been testing the wards for weeks. It was only yesterday that she got the result she was looking for.”
“Why come out here, though?” Boone challenged. “What did she hope to accomplish by coming out here in the middle of a storm?”
“That I can’t answer.” Cooper refused to panic. “If we find her, we can ask her. Lindsey has to be our priority, though.”
“Speaking of that, shouldn’t you have men out here?” Tyler queried. “I mean ... the more bodies the better, right?”
“I considered it, but I’m afraid,” Boone admitted. “What if Stormy or Astra have her and to get her back Hannah has to use her magic? My men can’t be around for that.
“If I thought she was really up here just wandering around and looking, I would totally call them,” he continued. “What if she’s not, though? What if we need magic? What if ....?” He didn’t finish the question. He couldn’t.
“We’ll find her,” Hannah promised, crossing over to him. “We’ll find her and make sure she’s okay. I promise.”
Cooper watched them embrace, his heart pinching. Promising Boone they would find Lindsey was risky business. For all they knew, Lindsey was already gone. Still, Boone was like an older brother to him. He adored the man, relied on him for emotional support. He would do whatever it took to make sure Hannah’s promise came true.
“We’ll definitely find her,” he said. “We need to come up with a plan, though.” He inclined his head toward the map on the wall. “There are four of us. We need to split up and cover as much ground as possible.” He hesitated and then focused on Hannah. “Can you search on your own? I don’t particularly want to be separated from you, but we need to be quick.”
“I’ll be absolutely fine,” Hannah promised him. “Did you call Jackie and Danielle?”
“I did and they’re on their way. I think we should start searching right away, though. They can join in when they get here.” He held her gaze for an extended beat and then pushed forward. “I think you need to keep Jinx locked inside the saloon.”
As if understanding every word, Jinx jerked up his head and made a low growling sound.
“So much for the truce,” Cooper muttered. “It’s best if you stay here, buddy. If you go out there, you can be used as a weapon against Hannah. You don’t want that, do you?”
Baffled, Boone furrowed his brow. “Why are you reasoning with a dog?”
“Because we have a new understanding,” Cooper replied simply. “It’s safer for everyone if Jinx is here. I know he might be able to sniff her out, but he also might be hurt in the process. He might become a distraction. Does everybody agree?”
Tyler nodded. “I’ll take him upstairs. That way he’ll blame me instead of you if he gets angry.”
“Shut the bedroom closet,” Hannah suggested. “He might try to crap on Cooper’s shoes as punishment and nobody wants to
