“Why a skiff? Wouldn’t a river boat be faster?” Landry asks.
“Because we’re trying to get close without detection. Beast? Esmerelda and Tabatha will need to do some kind of masking spell so that we’re not seen or heard,” Mav states.
“I’ll go let them know,” I reply, standing from the lounge area to walk up to where the two women sit, engrossed in their planning. “Esme?” I call out, not wanting to startle either of them thirty thousand feet in the air and cause them to react magically.
“What’s going on? Is something wrong?” she questions.
“No, but Mav feels you two will need to employ a masking spell so that the bad guys don’t hear or see us coming. Is that possible?” I ask.
The woman I know is Tabatha makes a raspberry sound but nods. “That’s one of the first spells I learned. What about you, Esmerelda?” she inquires, looking at my mate.
“Yes, my granny was my mentor and that was the very first spell she taught me.” I watch her start to laugh as a memory obviously hits her. “The funniest one was when I masked the local school because it had snowed but the administrator wouldn’t close it. I wanted my friends home so we could play. Imagine the principal’s surprise and shock when he pulled into the parking lot only to see no building where the Friday before, an elementary school stood!”
Peals of laughter ring out from both women, Esme as she thinks of the expression that the principal undoubtedly wore, Tabatha as she envisions the chaos that likely ensued. “So what ended up happening?” Tabatha finally asks once she’s regained control of herself.
“Well, he called the superintendent and told him what was going on, then he yelled for a bit until finally, they decided to cancel school for a few days.”
“How did you know what happened?” I question, my curiosity aroused.
“Oh, I was there but also masked. Granny wanted me to see what happened.” She shrugs. “Regardless, we had more snow fall which cancelled school for the week, so I unmasked the school two days later. So much fun.”
“Okay, since you ladies have this under control, I’m going back to the others.”
“Thank you, sugar bear.” My lip tilts upward as I nod. She continues, “You reminded me that I’ve got plenty of power, but with Tabatha beside me, we’re going to come out the victor.”
“Any time, Esme. I’ve got you,” I reply. Once I’m back with the others, I state, “They’ll take care of it when we’re on the ground.”
“What was so funny?” Connelly asks.
I relay the story Esme told which soon has the others laughing so hard, some are wiping away tears. “That is so fucking cool!” Landry states. “Can you imagine the parents who were there dropping off their kids?” That sends us all into more laughter, something I think we needed to break the tension we’re all feeling. Especially Mav as it’s his sister who is in the clutches of an apparent madman based on all we’ve uncovered about one Ennis Boatwright.
He’s a sick, twisted motherfucker, one who needs to be annihilated. Even before he got involved in this perverted scheme to harm shifters, he’s always been cruel to those around him and was banned from the streak he belonged to at an early age. Since tigers are relatively social, that drove him underground. Idly I wonder if he was responsible for the rash of hunters who destroyed several shifter encampments then decide that since they were tigers, he most likely had a hand in it which is another mark against his black soul.
“What are we doing with him if we manage to capture him?” Connelly asks.
“I’d like to skin him alive, inch by inch,” Maverick growls out. “With my claws.”
“But we won’t as much as we’d like to,” Paxton asserts. “No, we’ll turn him in to the shifter council to face their judgment. Although, I’m hoping they’ll realize that for him, there can be no rehabilitation. He’s done too much to too many, so I think he’ll have a death sentence placed on him.”
“Hopefully they carry it out quickly,” Landry replies. “Someone like him doesn’t deserve to continue breathing. We all have the right to live, and it breaks my heart that he’s been responsible for the death of so many. I may not have been a shifter my whole life, but knowing now that I’ve been protected by them, um, us? Yeah, I want him stopped.”
“Bloodthirsty little panther, aren’t you?” her mate, Paxton inquires, a grin on his face.
“Absolutely. Those he’s hurt had families too. Not only that, but do you really think humans would take it well if they found out there were those among them that could shift into an animal? I know if I were still human, it would freak me the fuck out.”
The rest of the flight goes off without a hitch. Once we land and disembark, the humidity slaps us all in the face. I see my mate stumble slightly, so I quickly spin my fingers in his direction to put a cooling spell on him. Ice is likely in the same condition, but I can’t reach him through our link. Still, I pull Tabatha aside and let her know that we have to try. While the men load our bags into two SUVs that are being driven by the people Colton said would meet us, she and I go off to the side.
“Cooling winds prevail, give Ice a gale. Let him relax and know, his family is here to save him from the foe. So mote it be,” we chant. When I sense that our spell is in place, I step toward Beast. “Sugar bear? I just put the same spell on Ice with Tabatha’s help that I used on you,
