Kacey stared through the glass of the door as the tall dark-haired woman smiled and giggled at the students in front of her. Elizabeth Cheffron appeared like any other elementary school teacher, excited to be in front of her students, lost in the gift of teaching. Too bad she was a dark witch helping her brother kidnap innocent children as well. How had Para-Force never put this together?"We need to get her out of there," Jess Barrigan said as he leaned back on the wall beside Kacey. "She definitely doesn't belong around children.""I just can't believe Elizabeth would do anything to hurt her students," Principal Ivy said as she stood beside Kacey, staring at the teacher in the classroom. "She's always filled in with such enthusiasm. Never a complaint at last-minute changes or whining about some of the rougher students."Probably because she spelled them to silence while she was in charge of the classroom, Kacey thought. She then turned to the principal. "Can you get her out of there?
Ezra stared down at the freshly turned earth. He killed men before, but never like this, never so out of control that his rage spurred him into a frenzy. This wasn't him. He sighed as he shoved his dirty hands into his pockets. He never should have allowed them to drag him out of his campsite."You know, I don't blame you," Dimitri said as he stood beside Ezra, leaning on a shovel. "Who knows what that man would have done to that little girl? You reacted to a dangerous situation in the heat of the moment. You helped save that girl. That's all that really matters at this point.""I think I went a little overboard," Ezra said, his gaze still fixed on the grave.Josh stood on his other side, his hands also wrapped around a shovel. He had joined them as soon as Colton and Liam made it back to the cabin. Ash remained with the little girl, playing dolls with her, and Nathan followed Josh to the cemetery. Lainie had called. They shoved the second kidnapper—a Darren Frisk—into an interrogation
Kacey knocked on Julian's door and then entered without waiting for permission. "We have Elizabeth cuffed in the conference room. Jess is watching her. She still isn't talking, though, outside of telling us it's too late."Julian glanced up from a report he was reading, staring at her with his dark eyes. "Unfortunate, but expected."Tyra poked her head through the open door. "Benny is back and says he needs to talk to you. He doesn't look pleased with whatever he discovered."Julian nodded once as he stood, shoving his desk chair back into the wall behind him with his sudden movement. "Let's go see what he discovered. Tell him to meet us in the conference room. Perhaps, his news will loosen Elizabeth's tongue. How much longer before the others make it to Bull Creek?" "They land in Orlando in about an hour, and then, it'll take another hour to reach Colton and Liam," Tyra replied.Julian nodded as he turned to Kacey. "Ask Milli to meet us in the conference room, please."Kacey felt ang
As they approached the cabin, Dimitri noticed Cody Wolfe, now in dry clothes, standing off to the side, arms over his chest as he leaned on a tall birch, talking into his cell phone. He glanced up at them, nodding at whatever he heard in the phone."Does anyone else think that man pops up a lot?" Nathan asked as they all came to a stop and stared at the shaggy-haired man. "He's like a bad coin that keeps surfacing when you're in front of a vending machine. Good for nothing.""Do you think him being at the lake and now outside the cabin means he's working for Hoyt?" Josh asked, his panther's hiss evident in his voice. "I'd be more than happy to go have a talk with him, if you know what I mean."Dimitri just shook his head. "No, I'll talk to him. See what he knows, if anything, or if he's just snooping for Bane. That man's been too quiet lately, and I don't like it." He turned to the others. "You guys go ahead and get inside, figure out what we need to do since it's obvious someone knows
Ezra sat in the cabin, staring at a battered teddy bear that was missing one eye and possessed a hole under its left arm. Josh had been right; Dimitri's idea was one of the wackiest he had seen. They spent the next thirty minutes with Erin putting her tiny hands on each doll and stuffed animal, asking each one of them to talk to her like her doll, Betsy, and then they took the toy into a back bedroom to see if Dimitri's idea would actually work.The biggest surprise was that the idea worked perfectly.Dimitri then sent each of the others off somewhere in Bull Creek with a couple of the dolls to hide them in various places, hopefully, weakening the locator spell, leaving the rest of the toys in a giant pile in the back bedroom, including the original doll, Betsy, which had the most of Erin's essence inside of it. He wanted them in the back bedroom, limiting Erin's reaction to whatever happened in the toys' presence. Colton then snuck Erin out of the cabin, taking her to Ash's home where
Colton stared out the window as Ash sat on the couch, little Erin close to her side. He couldn't believe the little girl had enough magical power to enchant so many dolls and stuffed animals with a part of herself, hopefully enough to throw off whatever locator spell Hoyt's sister placed on Erin. He was still unsure how the possessive magic Dimitri talked about worked, but he hoped it worked the way the alpha of Bull Creek thought it would. He hoped the pile of stuffed animals led Hoyt straight to the other cabin and away from Erin. The little girl needed this nightmare to be over. They all did.He could hear the older woman talking to the little girl behind him, doing her best to keep Erin calm in the midst of the chaos that became her life. Ash did a better job of it than either him or Liam did. Colton grinned. Of course, Liam entertained Erin well as a monkey. Colton chuckled as he shook his head. God, what a crazy-ass unit Para-Force was.A knot formed in his gut, anger twisting in
The bullet barely missed Ezra as he dove to the side out of the way. As soon as he saw the monkey fling himself through the open door, Ezra knew that gun would be an issue. He sat up from the ground, his hand going to the gunshot wound he suffered a few days ago when he threw himself in front of Lainie Everest to protect her from a crazed suitor. As he gritted his teeth, he growled, his bear bursting at the seams of his restraint, wanting out to destroy Hoyt. Glancing around, he watched as Hoyt grabbed Liam's neck, tossing the tiny monkey across the room as Josh struck Hoyt in the gut with the fireplace poker, doubling the man over. Ezra growled as he launched himself from the floor, diving over Hoyt and grabbing the man by the waist as he turned in on himself, pulling Hoyt backward into a reverse somersault. Both hit the floor hard, Ezra smashing up against the wall next to the front door.Two more men stormed through the front door, and Ezra heard the back door bust open as more of H
Milli walked into Julian's office, moving over to the empty chair in front of his desk, and helping herself to it. "They got the bastard," she said without preamble as Julian cocked an eyebrow at her. "Dent called. Our team arrived too late to help with Hoyt's arrest, but the people in Bull Creek took him and four of his goons down. Hoyt shot Ezra in the process, and Liam has a broken arm." She pressed her lips into a thin line as she took a deep breath. "Mason is dead. Colton and he got into a fight, and it didn't go well for Mason." She shook her head. "He got off easy as far as I'm concerned. He helped Hoyt kill families and sell children."Kacey appeared in the doorway, arms over her chest as she leaned on the doorframe as she listened in on the conversation. Benny stood behind her, hands shoved into his pockets as he stared into the office at Milli.Julian glanced at them briefly and then returned his attention to Milli. "Has Hoyt said where he sold the other children?" he asked.