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My sister clung to Bram, who looked like he wanted to commit murder, his dark eyes going between Mags and searching the room, but there was no one to direct his rage at, not yet, and I felt that down to my soul.

“It’s going to be okay,” I said to Mags, but I had no idea if that was true. What the fuck was going on?

She nodded, trembling, probably going into shock.

I didn’t understand this. This wasn’t part of my task. It had nothing to do with the malevolent souls in Roxburgh. The mother didn’t mess with a Keeper’s family or their coven. I couldn’t see how this was connected at all.

A few minutes later, Cora rushed in, carrying a bag, and cried out in alarm. Brody was right behind her, his arm around Iris, who was still seriously shaken.

“Back up,” Cora said, all business, and got down on the floor. “I need to see the damage.”

She tried to shoo Bram away, but he wasn’t having it. In the end, I stood and got out of her way. I watched on as she cleaned and sewed up the worst of the cuts, using one of her healers’ spells to numb the pain, then Bram carried Mags to the kitchen and laid her down on the chaise by the window so Cora could treat the rest.

“Thank the goddess you were here,” Cora said.

Iris’s eyes grew huge. “We could have lost her.” Exactly what I’d been thinking. “I was out with Brody and you were at the funeral,” she said to me. “Else, Mom, and Roe are out for the day. None of us were supposed to be here, only Mags and Bram. Whoever did this must have known we’d all be away. They wanted her here without any of us to stop it.”

Iris was right.

And I didn’t know what to do. I was the one they looked to when things turned to shit, and I had no answers. I’d been so caught up in what happened to Ren, so deep in my own misery, then distracted by Warrick, I’d forgotten about the unexplainable pain I’d felt in that woods and I’d left them all vulnerable.

“We need to make sure no one else is at risk.” I gripped the back of a chair, watching Cora sew a slice down Magnolia’s arm. “I’m pretty sure I am. Something happened in the woods last night…well, a couple of things actually.”

“What? What happened?” Iris asked, pulling away from Brody.

“Ren was with me…he followed me out there. I had him in a salt circle, and he wasn’t supposed to leave it. Then Edric, the possessed hound, came at me, and before I could get in my own circle, I felt stabbing pains in my legs. I’m pretty sure Mags isn’t the only one who has a hex doll with her name on it. They were just a little subtler about it in my case.”

“Christ, Willow,” Cora said. “You could have been killed.”

“Is Iris safe?” Brody said, tugging her in closer to him again.

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “We’ll do the same ritual we did on Mags to the rest of us, then Else can make something extra to protect us, to stop it from happening again.”

“And Ren?” Mags asked, trying to sit up. “What happened to Ren?”

I turned to her, my heart lodged in my throat. “He was possessed. He attacked me and ran away. Warrick and I searched for him most of the night. There was no trace of him.”

“No,” she whispered and gripped Bram’s arm when he immediately moved closer to her. Ren was their friend as well, their family. This hurt them too.

Bram aimed his dark eyes my way. “Can I help?” he said in his incredibly deep and rough voice. “I can search the woods?”

He could fly above the forest, covering ground faster. “Yeah, that’d be really good. Thanks, Bram.”

He dipped his chin.

“Why aren’t you still out there looking for him?” Mags said, voice filled with fear and accusation.

My heart had never felt so heavy. “We tried, there was no sign…”

“If something happened to Bram, nothing would stop me from searching for him. He’s your familiar, he’s supposed to be your best friend.”

“Mags,” Iris said.

“No,” Mags said, hands shaking. “Why are you like this, Wills? You’re so damn distant, so cold, you never let us in. You never let him in. Do you even care?”

“Magnolia,” Iris said more sharply.

She was hurting, in shock after what happened, I got that, but her words cut me down the middle. I was actively not thinking about what might be happening to Ren right then. My heart couldn’t take it. It felt like someone had torn it to shreds. “His scent changed when he was possessed, tracking him has been extremely hard, Mags. Warrick has some of his brothers looking for him, their tracking skills are unsurpassed. I assure you, I’m looking for him.”