Page 69 of Welcome to Blackbird Hollow
I click the walkie on. “Lucky’s roof. Let’s do a quick sweep to make sure folks are staying put, and meet there in an hour.”
The walkie static partially obscures Mona’s response as they cross out of the county and the coven’s enhanced reach. “—see you there. Keep the kids inside for the rest… Be safe.”
“Roger that,” I respond, filling the blanks in on my own.
Down on the street, Wanda steps off the dark front porch of the herbal shop. She stares at the place Willa disappeared, shaking her head.
“Come down with me,” I urge Alice. “I wanna know what thehelljust happened to Willa.”
She nods, slipping her hand into mine. I can’t deny that she looks happy, but there’s something jittery about her. Like all this has amped her up too much and she can’t quite stop moving. She follows me down the iron steps of the fire escape, Fern close behind, and when we get to the last step, I turn to help her down as Fern leaps past her.
Alice slides against me, her mouth meeting mine in the alleyway, hot and needy. Her heart thumps against my chest, and my hands slide under her sweater on instinct. I need to touch her. Need to know she’s still here, still safe. It still feels like we got off too easy. Like someone might steal her from me. Her skin’s a little damp, like she flushed hot during the Hunt’s ride through town. That doesn’t surprise me much. I got the same way.
The weight of her pushes me against the brick wall as she deepens the kiss, her tongue dancing with mine. She’s here, she wants this. She’s not going anywhere. Not tonight, anyway.
And then the walkie crackles, Caden’s voice coming over the speaker. “Where’d y’all get off to?”
I laugh against Alice’s mouth, and she giggles, pressing her forehead into mine. That laugh is better than the kiss, even—for my heart, anyway. It’s a breathless little sound, and then four little words slip out that send my emotions into the stratosphere. “I love it here.”
Fern thumps her big, furry butt down on both our feet, wedging herself between us, somehow leaning into us both. It’s a powerfully comfortable feeling having the two of them where I know they’re safe. I want to gather them both up, tuck them into my jacket so I know where they are at all times.
But that’s not how love works. I learned that when Fern was a pup, better than I ever learned with my siblings. Animals are good teachers. If I kept Fern too close, she got restless. When I let her run, let her do what her instincts told her to, make herown doggy choices, she always came back to me. Always wanted to come home because I showed her early on that I’d always be her safe place.
My sweet girl’s got a bit of that same spirit, I reckon. She needs to know how deeply she’s wanted—needed, even—but if I hold too tight, it’ll break her.
“I love you being here,” I murmur back, wondering if her declaration is the first step to telling me she loves me. Mine certainly is. I want to tell her so bad it practically aches in my chest.
I’ve always had a home with my siblings. We might have worked things out in an unconventional way, but when we left California, Fallon and I made a pact to do shit differently than my parents did. So this isn’t the family I never had; it’s more. An expansion of what Fallon and I built here in Blackbird Hollow with Caden.
This town has always been our soft landing. Our happily ever after, or so I thought. But with Alice in my arms, Fern sitting on my feet, the Hunt past us and leafer season almost over, time seems to have spun out into something else. Something more like whateverafteris like in the old tales. I never knew I wanted this so badly. After the shit I’ve messed up in the past, I assumed I’d given up on romance. But now…now I want it all with Alice.
And I wonder if I can have it.
The walkie crackles again. “Are you two getting it on in the alley?” Fallon asks, sounding scandalized. “I haven’t had a debriefing on Bang Zero yet. Slow down so I can catch up on the gruesome details of your sex life.”
I let out a string of curses my sister can’t possibly hear from across the street but will most definitely sense because we are just that close. I grin at Alice and roll my eyes a little as she shrugs, as though to let me know she finds Fallon’s complaintperfectly valid. Her arms tighten around me in a hug, though, and I can smell the fresh scent of her shampoo.
She smells like citrus and green things. She smells like she belongs in my bed on Sunday mornings, on the back porch in the evenings, and right beside me as long as I live. But much as I want to tell her that, I know this isn’t the right moment.
Under my hands, she shakes a little. The Hunt rattled her, as it should, and the night’s sure as shit not over. We’d all do well to stay wary. I press the button on my walkie. “Heading over to talk to Wanda.”
“On my way,” Fallon replies.
Cade says something in the background I can’t hear, but it sounds like he’s hungry. He’s always hungry these days. Part of the change.
Alice’s hand finds its way into mine, and we walk out of the alley with Fern, finding Wanda still staring at the spot where Willa got taken.
As we approach, the air changes. It’s colder the closer we get to Wanda. Feels like spirit activity, though that’s not my area of expertise. I kinda wish Barnes were down here so I could ask him.
But it’s not the temperature that sends fear skittering through me like a novice hedgerider. It’s Wanda’s eyes. They’ve gone milk-white and cloudy, like someone stirred a bit of Blackbird Hollow’s signature mists into her peepers.
The witch is standing stock-still in the street, her tan corduroy dress the only thing moving in the damp breeze that sends leaves shuddering toward us like rogue tumbleweeds. Her fingers are stretched toward the ground, like she’s searching for something.
Alice lets go of my hand, whispering, “Wanda, are you alright?”
My heart thumps hard several times. Then Wanda blinks, her eyes going back to their usual luminous brown. She nods as the air warms. “Yes. I wanted to find something out.”
“What?” Alice asks, her voice gentle.
