11. Kirsten

"I wish you didn't have to leave," I said to Tinsley as we stood on the porch.

She shifted her small suitcase from one hand to the other. "I must get back to the store, but I promise I'll come back again next weekend."

"Who'll help me learn, though?" I hated the plaintiveness in my voice, like a child who didn't get what they wanted for Christmas.

Tinsley put her suitcase case down and placed her hands on my shoulders. "At this point, I don't think you need any help. You're getting stronger every day. You know what you're doing now. Trust the magic."

I blew out a breath and tucked my hair behind my ear. "Easier said than done."

"Either way, I'll be here to help you. I'm only a phone call away."

"You're right," I said, giving her a quick hug. "Thanks for all your help. I'm not sure where I'd be without you."

Tinsley pinched my cheek softly. "Kiddo, you'd be just fine. I have no doubt."

That strangely old-fashioned gesture reminded me that Tinsley, however young she looked, was old enough to be my grandmother.

She picked up her bag and headed down the steps. Before she got to her car, Tank came speed-walking from around the side of the house. From the look on his face, he'd probably spent the last ten or fifteen minutes working up the courage to say something to her.

"Hey, uh, Tinsley?"

"Yes, Hank?" So far, Tinsley was the only person who addressed him by his proper name and not his nickname. If she was surprised by his appearance, her face didn't show it.

Tank fidgeted with his hands and barely made eye contact with Tinsley. "I was maybe wondering if… well, what I wanted to say was, uh, perhaps…" He stopped short, then cleared his throat and said in one quick rush, "Would you maybe want to go on a date with me?"

Tinsley eyed him speculatively. I shuffled behind one of the porch posts, suddenly feeling like I was intruding on a private moment.

"I was wondering when you'd ask. I'd love to." Tinsley grinned at him, and Tank's face broke into a relieved smile.

"Really?" he said. "I wasn't sure if you even knew who I was."

"Oh, I noticed you." Her gaze traveled suggestively over his body, and Tank's cheeks grew red.

"Looks like our pack may end up with two witches."

I spun to see Jace inching his way out of the front door to join me. In the driveway, Tinsley and Tank had their phones out and were exchanging numbers. Tank put her suitcase in her car for her. He gave her what I could only describe as the world's most awkward hug, but Tinsley laughed good-naturedly and waved at us.

"See you next weekend," she said as she got into the driver seat.

We watched her drive away, Tank staring at her taillights until she was out of sight.

"I think I want to do some more training today," I said.

"I'm out!" Tank shouted, waving his hands in the air. "Nope. Not me. No way."

Jace laughed at him. "Well, you're in luck. I plan on hanging out here all day. You're off guard duty today."

Tank threw his head back and hooted at the sky. "Hell, yeah. I've had about five hours of sleep over the last three days. I'm gonna crash so hard. See you guys later."

He shifted and bounded off down the driveway.

"Speaking of guard duty," I said, "how's Kyro doing? I haven't seen him since the attack."

Jace's smile faded a bit. "He's fully recovered, but I doubt he'll be working security any time soon. That attack really messed him up. It was even worse when he found out it was kids who did it. He took it even harder than Tank did."

"I hope he's not beating himself up over it."

"It's tough. He's throwing himself into his training, trying to get better. Wants to ensure that the next time it happens, he's better prepared. Which is what you need to do," he added, eyeing me. "Didn't you say you wanted to train?"

"Okay, let's do it," I said, clapping my hands together enthusiastically.

"Hang on now. I don't want to get my ass blasted anymore. Give me a second."

After vanishing inside, he returned a few minutes later, his arms laden with cans and bottles he'd foraged out of the kitchen trash.

"What's that for?"

Jace looked down at the items and shrugged. "Target practice."

Ten minutes later, Jace had the bottles, cans, and cartons sitting in various areas around the backyard—on an old stump, wedged in a tree branch, sitting on a fence post, and more.

It didn't go well. My success the day before had me thinking this would be easy, but none of the spells I fired off were making contact. My lightning spells had blasted furrows in the yard, a wind spell had knocked over a small sapling, and the earth spell had missed an old can of soup by a solid three feet.

"Dammit," I hissed. "What's going on? I did so well yesterday."

"That was at close distance," Jace reminded me. "It's a bit different far away. Same as with a gun or bow and arrow. The farther away something is, the more difficult it is."

"But I hit you the other day," I said, and shame burned through me. I'd been so mad at him then.

"You did," he said, nodding. "But I think you did that out of frustration rather than concentration. You were too angry to think, and that helped."

"Not thinking helped?"

"Yeah. You were too pissed off at my dumb ass to overanalyze what you were doing. You went with your gut, and bang, you got me." He stepped up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. "Stay focused, but calm."

My magic thrummed and sang at his chest. My focus narrowed, and all excess thoughts vanished.

"Try again," he whispered, his breath warm on my ear.

I raised my hands and did as he asked. My spells aimed true, knocking over each item in turn. Not a single miss.

"Holy shit!" I cried out.

Laughing, Jace spun me around. "See? I told you that you could do it!"

The pride in his eyes melted my heart. He really had believed I could do it. He never doubted me for a minute. Before he could say more, I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him.

"Wow," he said when I pulled away. "What was that for?"

"I don't know. Just you being you, I guess."

"If that's the case, then I will continue being me."

"You better."

"Do you want me to set them back up again? Keep working on it?"

As much as I wanted to, Tinsley's words kept coming back. I needed to work on this slowly. No need to exhaust myself again if I didn't have to.

"Let's take a little break," I said. "Get something to eat."

"Yes, ma'am."

Jace led me in through the back door, and before we even had time to open the fridge, a knock came at the front door.

"Who is it?" Jace called.

"Us," Waylan's familiar voice called out. "You locked the damn door, Jace."

He strode over to the foyer. "Well, yeah. A crazy asshole is trying to kidnap my mate."

He unlocked and opened the door. Waylan and Langston both stepped in. From the looks on their faces, I knew they had bad news. Jace must have seen it, too.

"What's happened?" he asked as we all convened in the kitchen.

"Stephanie called."

"Really?" Jace looked completely surprised. "I'll be honest, I really didn't have a lot of faith in her. What did she say?"

"She's frantic, Jace," Waylan said, taking a seat at a barstool. "She said Eren is still raging and pissed about Kirsten escaping, and Morgan getting away sent him into a blaze. She sounded like she was afraid for her life. Whispering, on the verge of tears. It's bad, man."

"Did she say what Eren wants?" I asked.

"A witch," Langston said. "He's still desperate for a witch. Apparently, it takes too long to turn the wolves feral. After turning them, he still needs to train them to obey his commands. He wants a witch to make a spell to make the work happen faster."

"Yeah, but that still doesn't tell us anything," Jace said. "Why is he doing this?"

Waylan and Langston exchanged a look. "He wants Crestwood," Waylan said. "So, our hunch was right He wants to expand his territory. Steph said he's been obsessing over expansion for a while. The people she's spoken to say he's been trying to figure out how to do it for years. He wants a witch, he wants our land and our pack as well as an army of ferals. He plans on using every wolf he can. Even children."

Jace's face paled. "He's a fucking psychopath."

"We knew that already," Waylan said. "Worse still, I'm not sure Ivy's idea about a full-frontal assault will work. Eren's amped up his security since Morgan escaped. No one is allowed in or out of Scottsdale. Not even humans. They stopped a church bus yesterday and forced them to turn around. Bunch of Baptists got lost on the way to some conference. They're lucky as hell Eren didn't slaughter them all.

"That's probably the extent of the info we'll get from Steph," Waylan continued. "The last thing she said is that Eren has sequestered everyone in their homes—including her. As of now, the kids are still with their parents, but who knows how long that will last. Eren may decide it's better to keep them together."

"If we're going to save those kids, we have to move fast," Langston said. "We can do it, I know we can, but…" He sighed, glancing at me. "It's going to take a hell of a lot of stealth, as many hands as we can spare, and probably some magic."

"I'll do whatever you need," I said without hesitation. The thought of what Eren would do to those children was more than I could bear.

Jace's face clouded with anger and worry. He eyed me, and I thought he was going to try and talk me out of it, but he eventually gave me a slow nod. As much as he wanted me safe, he remembered how terrified and broken Morgan had been. We couldn't allow that to happen to anyone else, no matter what.

Jace let out a long, slow sigh. "What's your plan, Langston?"

"We use Stephanie. Sounds like she has a pretty good grasp on the situation, and she knows which houses the kids are in. She can make contact and let them know we plan on extracting their children. We'll have her only focus on the children who've undergone their first shift. Any younger than that will be of no use to Eren for now."

Waylan nodded his agreement. "We give her forty-eight hours to organize it, then we take in our extraction team, pull the kids out, and move. All under the cover of darkness."

"What's my role?" I asked.

"Cover," Langston said. "If this works as planned, you won't need to do anything. If not, you can provide cover as we retreat with your spells."

"If you're doing this," Jace added, "you run if things go bad. Do you understand me?"

I wasn't a coward, could barely stomach the thought of running while others were left behind, but I knew I would risk getting captured by Eren again. Reluctantly, I agreed.

"Fair enough," I said.

"Make the call to Stephanie," Jace said to Waylan. "Forty-eight hours. Not a moment more."

Two days. Not a lot of time. Hopefully, we could pull it off. Regardless, I was determined to help in whatever way I could.