Page 43 of Reckless Witch

He looks up from his desk and frowns. “Ciarah?”

I nod. “She’s gone.”

“Gone? What do you mean, gone?”

“Bertha found her bed empty.”

“So soon?” he whispers.

I release a breath at the stark fear in his eyes. Raith’s reaction, and his display during Leilah’s first day here, reveals the passionate heart that beats beneath that cold exterior.

“She’s not gone gone,” I say. “My guess is she’s headed to her grandmother’s.”

Raith blinks. Confusion flickers across his face, then is replaced by anger. “You’re sure?”

“I found an open window in the girls’ bathroom where she sneaked out.”

His mouth thins. “This is grounds for expulsion.”

I chuckle. “There’s not a chance of that and you know it. Besides, that’s what she wants.”

“I will take her over my knee,” he mutters.

“You might want to recall where that got you when we caught up with her down in Virginia.”

Emotion flickers in his eyes. Yes, he remembers.

He grabs his phone, dials, presses it to his ear, and says, “Ethan, get over here,” then hangs up.

One might say Raith is autocratic, but all vampires are. While Raith isn’t the average vampire, it is in his nature to expect obedience. Still, his species traits are enhanced when Ciarah is involved. Ethan knows that. We all know it. In truth, we’re all different when she’s involved.

I’m not looking forward to the dragon’s fire once Ciarah’s energy fills us, as it inevitably will. Already, his green eyes swirl with a little more fire than they have these last forty years. At least, I don’t have to worry about a sulking wolf and a vicious gargoyle. The thought doesn’t comfort as much as I would like. Life is easier without these four men in my life, but they are as much a part of me as is Ciarah.

Minutes later, Ethan enters. He takes one look at us and says, “Where is she?”

Raith shoves to his feet. “Her apartment.”

“Her grandmother’s,” I say.

Raith shakes his head. “She can’t find the potionary. Miriam’s spell makes the house invisible to her. She’s looking for that damn howling night pig.”

“The little fool doesn’t think we know she can’t find her grandmother’s home,” Ethan mutters. “She can’t get in.” He blows out a breath before Raith or I can reply. “Or, maybe she can. She pushed through the pain of my sigil and used magic on you, Raith.”

Ethan’s dragon magic isn’t weak. Pride swells in me. I wonder just how far she can push through Ethan’s magic before the sigil stops her. Knowing Leilah, we’ll soon find out.

Forty minutes later, we pull up to Miriam Crowe’s home and potionary.

“The lights are on,” Ethan says.

“Told you we should have skipped her apartment and come here first,” I say.

A crash sounds. Ethan and I are out of the car and up the front porch steps in an instant. With his blasted vampire speed, Raith is already through the door and standing in the foyer when we rush inside. At the base of the stairs stands the pig. Through the arched doorway to the right, Leilah stands amidst a half-destroyed room. She stares at us as if seeing a ghost.

I watch her closely. With all three of us in the same room, she’s sure to have some reaction. Ciarah has yet to remember us from any of her multiple lives, but she always has a reaction. Her reaction to Raith was to attempt to kick his arse. Same with Ethan. But then, Ethan did mark her with a sigil that compelled her arrival at The Academy.

The pig trots past us to Leilah, turns to face us and drops its butt onto the floor beside her foot.

“What the fuck happened?” Raith demands.