Page 64 of My Unbearable Mate

“She hasn’t aged a day since we were kids.”

“Is there any other significance to those names?” Barrett asked. “If the Lynwoods are dead, maybe someone is using their names to get your attention.”

“Oh, he’s good,” Clover said. “We didn’t think of that.”

“It’s possible,” I said. “Did Alba leave any contact information?”

Barrett grinned. “She said you’d know where to find her.”

Chapter

Twenty-Eight

The Clock is Ticking

Clover

“She wants us to go back to the spot where you found me.”

Both bears looked at me. Barrett was a sleeker and more aerodynamic version of Bellamy. More polished. But still all bear. His energy commanded authority.

Feeling people’s energy like it was a tangible thing would take some getting used to, but I was excited by this new ability. I might not be able to fight like these guys, but this gave me a way to help.

Being a bear’s secret weapon felt totally badass.

Barrett raised a brow. “How do you see this shaking out? We got to make sure we’re prepared.”

He’d never met me without my magic, and it was wild to think that every new person I met would think of me as magical. A healer.

I closed my eyes, hoping the answer would come to me. Barrett and Bellamy were willing to offer back up—muscle and moon only knew what else. They needed the best possible information I could give them. It was my responsibility to keep them safe.

“Magic can only communicate with magic,” I said, chuckling to myself. “To think minutes ago I was so frustrated with Alba for giving us a riddle, just like Nana always does. That’s why she didn’t give you any information. This is a test.”

“You told me they considered you more valuable than the talisman that your nana wants us to find,” Bellamy added. “There’s no fucking way we’re sending you out to the middle of the forest alone.”

I grabbed his T-shirt and pulled him toward me. “You have magic too. And I’m not going anywhere without you.”

His lips parted. “You’re the one with the power.”

“But you activate it. I think that’s why they wanted to keep us apart. You were the missing ingredient. That the two of us together are greater than the sum of our parts. Once we figure out what to do with it?—”

“That’s what everyone’s afraid of,” Barrett finished my sentence.

Bellamy pulled my hands away from his shirt and kissed them both before pacing across the office. I could feel his bear much more than I could feel mine.

Was she ever coming back?

Patience, she said. I know it’s not your thing, but sometimes you have to trust everything happens for a reason.

Great. Now she was speaking in riddles too.

“Here’s the plan,” Bellamy said. “We head back to the forest, outfitted with surveillance. Cameras, microphones. Infrared that can pick up frequencies we can’t detect.”

“You mean ghosts?”

“Could be, but I was thinking magical energy. They should each have their own vibration.”

“Should we be tested before we go, so we know how the magic registers on the machines?” I suggested.

---