“I brought you dinner that doesn’t smell like someone’s Aunt Gladys made it,” called Eloise.
Flint’s eyes were closed and his arm was around Emma’s shoulder. And he hadn’t woken once.
“Also, if that little red car back there belongs to Emma, Pike is pulling it out of the ditch with his truck right now. I mean, of course I know it’s Emma’s. Her scent is all over it. Also, I know you told Reagan you wanted Penny here, but we’re going to take her out to the compound for a little while.”
His sister was still talking, but he’d stop listening. He was watching Emma wake up. And it was beautiful. First her eyelashes twitched, then she rubbed her nose and made a sour little face with the corners of her lips. Then she did a whole body stretch, and her eyelids cracked a little.
She smiled at him and then flinched a tiny amount. “You’re watching me? How long have you been awake?”
“Not long. My sister just got here, and she’s been talking to us from the kitchen.”
“Oh.”
“Morning, Emma. Or should I say good evening? Goddess, I always hated how Mom used to say that when we were teenagers. That and hop to it.”
“Eloise?” He couldn’t see his sister from how the bed was positioned, but it wasn’t a big cabin.
“Yup.” Cabinets were opening and closing.
“Thank you for the food, the dog, and tell Pike thanks for the car. But can you get the hell out of my cabin now?”
“Yes, little brother. Will do, once you tell me where the spare dog food is.”
“Next to the sink.”
A cabinet door opened and closed. “Bye Flint, bye Emma.”
“Bye,” Emma said with an emphasized laugh.
“Oh, and Flint?”
“Yes,” he growled. His sister needed to go.
“Don’t fudge this up. Emma’s a good one.”
“Goodbye Eloise.”
“Let’s go, Penny. I’ve got kids who want to play with you.” Penny jumped off the end of the bed. Some guard dog she was, anyway.
Emma’s phone dinged on the floor. Flint picked it up. Ten notifications from Daphne—one of Emma’s power of three. “Your phone’s going nuts.”
“My mother or Daphne? It doesn’t matter, they’re practically the same person.”
“Daphne. Do you want it?”
“Yes, but not really.”
Flint tossed it on the bed next to her. She read the messages, groaned, and covered her head with her pillow. He was going to have words with the other females in her life the next time he saw them.
“Smells like Eloise’s fried chicken,” he said, “which is fan-fucking-tastic. You want to eat in bed?”
“No.” She was tracing the edges of his grandmother’s quilt with her index finger. “Let’s sit at the table.”
They had to move three trays of cookies, two tubs of brownies, and some odd-looking pie.
“People certainly like you around here.”
Flint held back his smile. “We’re family. Pack. Even those in town who aren’t pack are my family.” Flint put two plates on the table and opened Eloise’s chicken, biscuits, green beans, and gravy. He made two identical plates and put one in front of Emma.
Her eyes bulged out of her head. “Wow, it does look good. But I can’t eat that much.”
“Give it a try. We were asleep for a long time and then on hospital food.” He put the plate in front of her and wrapped a spare blanket around her shoulders.
They ate in silence for a while until he just started to spill stories about his childhood. He told her about the time his cousin Duncan had chased him around for doing something stupid and they’d both ended up in an old gravel pit for two days. They’d been madder than two feral skunks when they had fallen into the pit, but on the second day they were thicker than thieves. Their older brothers pulled them out. They’d known where they were the whole time.
“What is this power of three thing you mentioned before?” When she’d brought it up the first time, he didn’t want to know about it. Power of three? Yeah, witchcraft knowledge he didn’t want. But now he wanted to understand more about the two females she called best friends.
“The three of us played together all the time. We did everything together. Every day. And it worked, even though our personalities are different. And our powers. My power is seer, Shiori’s is air, and Daphne’s is physical. Shiori’s mom and dad are super gifted witches, and their spellbook contained all kinds of complicated spells. We shouldn’t have tried it—we were far too young. So many bad things could have happened. But one night during a sleepover, we took the book to her clubhouse outside and we made the potion over a portable camping stove. We did the incarnation. And it worked.”
“And what does it do?”
“It binds us together forever, and instead of only having our birth gifts from the Goddess, I have Shiori’s and Emma’s as well.” She nodded. “Our coven was upset by it. The elders took it as a sign of greatness for the three of us. But then I grew up, and they all kind of, well, they just stopped thinking I would ever be anything but a giant joke.” Emma let out a sigh. “Shiori’s parents were so convinced that she was being better than herself, than them really, that she never wanted to use magic again. I mean, she did put hers in energy orbs for a long time.” Emma looked at the bookshelf behind the table. “She would use it for mundane things like her hair or scent removal.” Emma chuckled. “She got herself in deep trouble with that one. But our powers are one. Any witch can use a power of three spell to temporarily boost their power. We bound our powers forever.”
Flint nodded. He glanced at the wall. Damn. He didn’t like it, but he was going to have to do something about his powers. “Can you get rid of them for me?” He’d asked his mother, and she’d dismissed him. But if Emma had the power of three witches behind her, maybe she could.
Emma blinked at him like he was crazy.
“I’m being serious, Emma. Is there a way to get rid of my powers forever? I take that back. I know there is a way, but do you know how to do it? Would you do it for me?” He knew it was possible because an attack on his cousin Gunnar had robbed him of his powers and almost killed him. Worst vacation ever for Cousin Gunnar, while Gunnar’s brothers and Flint’s brother found their mates. “Can you help me?”
