Chapter 24

Ranto

"So, explain the plant thing to me again?" The buzzing in my veins felt almost as perfect as slipping the little ILY to Harlow after a mind-blowing orgasm. Ok, fine. So I hadn't said I love you specifically, but the sentiment was the same.

"I've literally been talking about it since the moment we met," Kylen groused.

Instead of pointing out the fact I'd spent ninety percent of the last week napping while he blathered, I focused on pushing small pulses of electricity through my fingertips.

"Look! Sparkler fireworks!" I grinned at the small crackles of electricity that bounced through the air at eye level.

"Ugh. Show off." Addie scowled from her slumped position against one of my many napping trees. When I sent her a questioning look, she rolled her eyes. "You've had powers—out of nowhere, BTW—for, like, five seconds, and you can do neat tricks with it. It's sus, dude."

"Sus?" I asked Kylen, who just shrugged.

"I don't speak teenage girl. Do you actually want to know about the plant?"

Not really, but I was good at solving mysteries. Maybe if he found his miracle cure, we could get on a roll and solve this curse thing, too. My gut told me he was right about us being here for a reason, because fate existed—fuck you very much, Hendrix—but I couldn't figure out the how of it all.

"Sure. Tell me while I try to make sheet lightning between my hands."

I brought my palms together and visualized the electric barriers that every sci-fi movie made in the last ten years used to demonstrate containment and imagined weaving a web stretching between each hand.

"It's a member of the nightshade family that is reported to grow in areas that have been exposed to high levels of magical disaster. What we know of the area makes it a good candidate for the conditions necessary for the growth."

I cursed as the energy snapped back and scorched my pinkie finger.

"But what does it look like? Smell like? Do you know what you're looking for exactly? Or just hoping you'll accidentally knock yourself out, wake up and be all Eureka !"

"Sure. This guy gets powers, and I'm stuck in dud witch land," Addie muttered.

"Jealous?" I asked, sending the tiniest spark to zap her grumpy butt.

She squeaked, harrumphed, and continued to gripe about her poor luck while I tuned her out to focus on Kylen.

"It only blooms under the light of the moon, or when threatened, to spread its pollen, which is the source of the sedative effect we're hoping to harness from the plant. Plant identification is difficult because many who have tried to find it have succumbed to the effects long before they could reach the bloom, but they did report a strong scent of candy floss and blue cheese on the breeze before losing consciousness. During the day, it looks like any other plant bulb except that its roots are blue."

"Candy floss and blue cheese sounds disgusting." Addie stood and stretched, ambling over to where Kylen kneeled. She dropped down beside him, and I zoned out, staring at their matching dirty blonde hair with unfocused eyes as I worked through the scent profile Kylen had described. I had smelled that before.

"Let's go for a walk," I said, offering a hand to pull Addie to her feet before doing the same for Kylen.

"Okay…?"

It was a decent walk into the woods, and I had a moment's hesitation.

"Actually, Addie. It's a bit far. Can you go hang with Harlow for a while?" My mate would kill me if anything happened to her chosen sister. I grabbed the girl's shoulders and gently pushed her in the direction of the town.

"But what if she's boning one of the others?"

Jealousy flared in my gut before I pushed it down again. My mate was a powerful witch who needed several mates. Just because I didn't like to share didn't mean I wouldn't. Plus, sharing her with Hendrix had been crazy hot. Maybe if I could solve all the mysteries, we could do it again.

"Then find Lindsay."

She made a rude noise but stomped uphill toward the town, her back ramrod straight and attitude pouring off her in waves so potent it was almost a form of power all on its own. Teenagers were scary.

Meeting Kylen's curious eyes, I nodded in the direction we needed to head and led the way.

We walked in silence for the first half hour, Kylen stopping periodically to inspect different leaves and shrubs. When he leaned close to one covered in small white flowers, I cringed, hoping it wasn't one of the ones I'd pissed on in my other form.

"So… Addie," I said, hoping to start up a conversation that didn't include my urine.

"She's a spitfire, isn't she?"

I hummed. That wasn't quite what I was talking about, but I wasn't sure how, or if, I should follow through on the thought forming in my mind.

Apparently, my brain-to-mouth filter had taken a vacation because, with very little finesse, the next words toppled out of my mouth. "She's your family. Biologically."

"What the actual fuck, dude? What are you talking about?"

How did he not understand it? He was the nature guy, for fuck's sake, and I'd made it as clear as I could.

"She's biologically related to you," I said, hoping that by saying it at half the speed, he'd have twice the understanding.

Kylen scowled at me. "You already said that. How could you possibly know that?"

He grabbed my arm, pulling me to a stop on the path. Did he want to find this plant, or not? I could be playing with electricity right now if it weren't for him. When he folded his arms, feet firmly planted and a single eyebrow almost in his hairline, I decided to spell it out for him so we could get moving again.

"You share a ridiculous number of genetic markers in your facial features and bone structure. Including the attached earlobes, single nostril flare when you're both angry, and dimples. You smell the same. You have the same hair and eye color. Not similar. The. Same. Also, and most definitive, I can taste the same genetic markers in your blood."

"When did you taste our blood?!"

"Keep your voice down. This isn't a question of who stole samples of whose blood while they slept to prove a point. This is about family. Long-lost family. It's like a lifetime movie!" I held my arms above my head, grinning widely in hopes he'd pick up on how exciting this moment should be for him.

Instead of cheering at my genius, he pinched the bridge of his nose like he had a headache.

"You know what? This isn't the time to deal with this." He pinned me with a hard look and pointed his finger in my face. "Do not bring this up with Addie yet. We'll deal with it after we've figured out how to break Harlow's curse. Okay?"

I shrugged. It was no skin off my nose what he did with the information. My motivation behind puzzling out the connection was a hunch that itched under my skin until I needed to prove myself right.

I loved solving mysteries, which was why I had the best job ever.

Considering Kylen got really quiet after my big reveal, I was glad the place we needed to go wasn't that far away. The trees began to feel familiar as I pictured following Harlow through the woods, her panic an acidic tang in the air. I'd been distracted by a scent on… I looked ahead and found the rock that had taken my attention the first time here and beside it…

"Oh, hell yeah. I thought I lost this." My puppy pack was under a creeping vine beside the rock. Inside was a change of clothes, a couple of snacks, and my cell phone. "Damn. It's dead. Think anyone has a charger back at the motel?"

Kylen watched me, eyes wide in bewilderment. Shit, that was right. Stinky plant. I closed my eyes, picturing the scene. Harlow over there, punk ass wolf on top of her, absorbing her magic. The wind shifted from the northwest to the south, and the smell came from…

"There!" I pointed to a grayish green pod that stuck out of a sheet of moss wedged under a boulder.

Kylen took a step forward, then another, before falling to his knees and digging in the dirt like a man possessed. He sifted through the earth until a spot of blue appeared.

"It's… Holy shit. You found it." Kylen's face was so pale, it made me glad he was already sitting so he wouldn't fall over.

"That's it, then?" I asked, opening an emergency Twinkie.

He surged to his feet, grasped me by the shoulders, and pressed his lips hard against mine. My first reaction was to protect my treat, but when it became obvious this was gratitude, not food theft, I waited him out. He pulled back and glanced over his shoulder at his prize.

"I know we're going to be sharing a mate and all that, but I don't swing that way. You might be better off talking to Bruin," I said through a mouthful of Twinkie.

He winked, color slowly returning to his face. "Don't worry. I've got that covered."

I barked a laugh as he turned his attention to claiming his prize before we walked back to town in companionable silence.

***

We returned to the motel in good spirits while the sun was still in the sky, for a change, so that Kylen could pot his new plant pet to study. Harlow sat with him, watching him with interest as he worked.

"I don't totally get it, but it's cute the way he gets so excited!"

Lindsay and Addie stretched out on the queen bed and turned on some reality television show, while Bruin sat in a corner, pretending to bitch about the choice while conveniently commentating on the characters by name. Hendrix had gone to stretch his wings while I curled up beside the bed and let Addie stroke my head absently. Human or dog, I defy anyone to say they don't like having their head stroked.

A noise outside heralded Hendrix's return, but the quick open and close of the next room's door set me on alert. I slid out from beneath Addie's hand, then slipped through to the adjoining room with Harlow.

"We have a problem," Hendrix said, pulling the curtains closed. "There is a whole pack of bikers headed this way. I couldn't make out the club on their cuts, but there's only one group I know you have beef with."

The three of us glanced at the wall to next door, while Kylen paused in his work, spinning in the chair to face us.

"We need to bring everyone in on this," Hendrix said. "Especially if Bruin's the one who called them in."

Harlow shook her head. "He wouldn't, and it'd be better to keep him out of the way. Let the club think he isn't involved. What I need is for you to keep Addie safe while I deal with this. Promise me."

Movement in the doorway caught my attention, but when I glanced over, there was nothing but the blonde tips of someone's hair disappearing back into the other room.

I stayed quiet with Kylen while Hendrix and Harlow went back and forth for a few minutes on the best course of action. Basically, Hendrix was being reasonable, and my mate acted like she had a death wish. Not that I was biased at all. We had no way of knowing the power these bikers were packing, but Harlow was adamant.

"I've dealt with them before, and I can do it again." She spoke through gritted teeth, trying to keep her voice low so as not to alert the other room of the situation. "Seriously, Hendrix, you better back off, or I swear I'll fry your balls so bad they'll twitch any time you so much as think the word electricity."

Despite my newfound electrical abilities, even I wouldn't have tried her on that one. As she disappeared through the door, the three of us shared a helpless look. No one in the other room would be happy with us letting her walk out.

Her wishes were clear. Keep Addie safe. But that didn't mean we couldn't still help.

"Does anyone have a charger? My phone is dead," I said.

Hendrix looked at me like I was crazy. "Is now really the time?"

"Absolutely." I grinned. "I need to make a call."