Page 7 of Magic and Muffins

“I’ll need the book and map,” Miles said.

“Why?” Vena asked. “Cross just told you more than what was in the book. What are you going to do with those stories? Are you going to search for the portals? We lost our grandparents because of this, Miles. I can’t lose you or our parents, too.”

“Vena, I owe the dwarves answers. I can’t give them back their prince, but I can give them the truth about why he died and our family’s involvement in everything. And that starts with figuring out what our grandparents were doing.

“I’m not going to follow in their footsteps. We already have access to more information than they had. Which is even more reason we’re responsible for figuring out what happened.”

Vena and I exchanged a weighted glance. I could see her worry mirrored my own. However, Miles was right. Not just about the dwarves deserving an explanation, though.

Now that we understood what was at stake, we owed it to everyone to stop Orphia since we knew what she wanted. We couldn’t hide from the problem. Despite the blow Shepard and his people delivered to her army of vampires, I knew Orphia wouldn’t give up. Since the book was obviously tied to the portals she wanted to open, investigating it and why Vena’s grandparents were looking into it was a good starting place.

Vena must have had the same thought because she huffed an annoyed sigh. “Do you promise not to act on anything you find?”

“I promise not to go anywhere. You know me. I’m a researcher, not a hunter.”

“You’ll find the book and map in your grandfather’s desk,” Cross said.

“I already searched it,” Miles said.

“Not the secret compartment. It’s a clever design,” Cross said. “I will text you how to open it.”

Miles disconnected after a final promise not to act on anything he might uncover.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard him like that,” Vena said. “It makes me worried.”

Anchor hugged her close to his side. “He’s processing his guilt and grief. Let him work through it. He gave his word, and we’ll look out for him.”

Vena frowned but didn’t say anything.

Cross’ phone pinged with a message. Since I was sitting on him, I read it with him.

Shepard: Everly’s phone tracker says she’s at the new place, but no one’s here. Where is she?

Cross kissed my cheek and sent a reply.

Cross: Open the door off the living room.

The door opened a second later, and Shepard, the Alpha of all werewolves, walked in, closing the door behind him.

His dark blonde hair brushed the collar of the t-shirt that fit snuggly on his shoulders and chest, revealing his drool-worthy physique. While Cross was athletically muscled like a swimmer, Shepard was a solid powerhouse.

But it wasn’t his muscles that I noticed just then. It was the exhaustion that gave his beautiful light grey eyes an almost haunted look.

He plucked me off Cross’ lap and sat down with me in the other chair, snuggling me close.

Cross raised a brow. “Sharing is caring, I suppose.”

Shepard softly growled in response. Cross chuckled.

“I suspect you’re here for more than Everly, though. How are things going with Hugh and the human authorities?”

“They’re relieved we killed as many vampires as we did, but they’re presently informing the families of the deceased that their loved ones had been turned into vampires and are now dead. It’s a mess, and people are angry."

I tipped my head to look up at Shepard.

“At you?”

“No. They’re just angry they lost people they loved.”

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