While Amelia was in the bathroom, her mother asked me about myself. My little minx burst out and dragged her mother to that guest room before I could get more than a couple sentences out, shutting the door while I was mid-sentence, shooting me yet another dirty look. Stan chuckled as he passed me bedding for the couch, slapping my back good-naturedly.
As I’m getting ready to crash, I hear Riley’s and Lincoln’s voices down in the stairwell, so I jog downstairs and meet them outside.
“Congrats, brother,” Linc throws his tree trunk arms around me and lifts me a couple inches off the ground. “So fuckin’ pleased for ya.”
Riley has a grin for me, too. “She’s beautiful, man. Full of piss ‘n vinegar, too, from what I hear. She’ll certainly make life interesting.”
“She sure will,” I say, a smile plastered across my face.
“Guess we’ll all drop like flies now,” Linc adds, slapping my back. “Better get the rest of the wild out now before it happens.”
Riley’s energy changes and Linc and I feel it.
“Fuck. Sorry, man, I didn’t think,” Lincoln mutters.
In typical Riley fashion, he reassures Linc. “I’m good man.” He taps Linc’s hand with affection. “I’m happy for Mase. Happy for Ty. I’ll be happy for every one of you when you find it. Don’t you shitheads try to hide your happiness from me, you hear?”
“I hear,” Linc says gruffly, lifting his palms up.
“Can’t wait to see you shacked up, too, Linc. Serious,” Rye adds.
“I know,” Lincoln replies, but he’s gone somber.
“Good you ‘n Ty can be in the same room, Mase. Today’s a good day,” Riley adds.
“Yeah.” I blow out a breath. One less worry for me.
“Ivy’s gonna be fine. Mase here is paired up, and Mase and Ty didn’t rip one another’s throats apart. How did that go? When you got here?” Riley asks. “No issues?”
I lean against the building, suddenly feeling bone-tired. “He’s all about his mate. As he should be. He was stressed about her, didn’t give a shit about anything else. He was cool with me, though. Completely.”
“I’m sure it helped knowing you’ve got your woman now,” Linc puts in.
“I’m sure it did. Sure helped me,” I say. “I feel completely myself again.”
“Now we can put our pack together. Now we’ll be whole,” Lincoln says with light in his eyes.
“Definitely,” Riley agrees.
But both Linc and I can feel that there’s a piece of Riley Savage missing. A big one.
And I’ve always had empathy for it. Been worried about Rye for a long time. But now, after finding my own mate, I appreciate it on a deeper level. Deeper than Lincoln can appreciate, I’m sure. Because I have what all alphas want. I have it, it’s mine, and after having it for just a little more than a day I already know I’d do everything in my power to protect it.
And looking at one of my closest friends, someone who is a brother to me and who has always been here for me, I wish I could fix this for him. Help him heal. Bring her back. Pay a witch like my mate’s aunt did to fix this so he can fall for someone else and forget what he lost. Something.
“Amelia wants it undone,” I tell them, watching their expressions drop. “She’s talkin’ about finding the witch that her aunt paid to set this in motion so it can be undone.”
“Shit,” Linc mutters. “Time?”
“Yeah,” I mutter. “It’s early yet. And honestly, I’ve been chewing on it and feel like I need to know if it’s on the up ‘n up. So I’ll know if it’s an option.” And make sure it’s an option she never has the ability to exercise.
Riley speaks. “I’ve already been thinkin’ on this since Ivy told us about the witchcraft. Ty said Cornelius used to go to a fortune teller in The Hollow.” Riley leans against the wall beside me. “So, I looked and though it’s now a drycleaner, it’s managed by a property management company owned by someone with the last name Young. The Young Coven aren’t local, the last surviving local Young witch died not long ago, lived quiet just the other side of Drowsy Hollow.”
“Lyrica Young,” Linc says. “Had occasion to meet her a few times for tracking gigs before we took over the council.”
“Yeah?” Riley inquires. “Interesting. A friend of mine in The Hollow tells me her relatives have been around at least a couple times in the last couple months and though we all know they had to wade in on shit to do with that murder spree last year, Grey’s father got ahold of me this morning and two of those coven members are gonna meet me after hours at the drycleaners tomorrow based on the request he put in after the dance. We’ll find out what we can about this spell. Figured you’d wanna come, Mase. Though I know with the fresh mating you might wanna give it a miss, so I already have Greyson coming with me. You wanna join us Linc?”