53-Ben


    ra didn''t utter a word as I slid into the driver''s seat of the SUV. I had expected the witches to insist on walking through the woods, hoping to track down the magic that was being wielded against us, but instead, their focus was fixed on the locations where bodies had been discovered—ces we needed to investigate first. So, we drove on in silence. I told myself the witches were simply absorbing their surroundings, concentrating deeply, but the atmosphere inside the vehicle was thick with unspoken tension. It didn''t feel aimed at either ra or me specifically, yet it was as if they already sensed what awaited us the sights, sounds, scents, and even the emotions we would encounter once we arrived.


    I caught ra''s subtle nce; she''d noticed it too. The witches seemed tomunicate without words, almost telepathically, much like how Jeremiah and I linked minds through our wolves. I found myself curious about the nature of their connection. Perhaps it was the close bond between the three of them. Jeremiah and I had often understood each other without speaking, and it made me wonder how the witches managed it. Speaking of Jeremiah, I realized I should call and check on him and the pups. It still felt surreal that my best friend was a father now—almost as unbelievable as Kennedy stepping into her role as Luna and bonding with a wolf while still human.


    My thoughts were interrupted when Brianna''s voice cut through the quiet. She didn''t shout—her tone was low and captivating, almost hypnotic-but it was enough for me to m on the brakes as if she had yelled. "There,” she said, pointing between ra and me toward a cluster of trees visible through the windshield.


    I nced at ra, but all I saw were ordinary trees. This wasn''t a ce I


    remembered from when I first arrived. Still, I knew the witches had been struggling


    with this for a long time-long before Jeremiah and Alpha James had gotten


    involved. Maybe they''d discovered a body here as well.


    "Nothing I recognize. Do you see something we don''t?" ra asked Brianna, her eyes fixed on the spot Brianna indicated.


    Brianna answered with a question of her own. "Where is this on your map?"


    ra took a slow, deep breath, her Alpha instincts battling with her hunger for answers. She hated being ignored, and I fought back a smirk at the familiar stubbornness. "It''s just shy of halfway between our northern border and the waterfront on the western edge of our territory. Red Fangnds begin about a mile that way," she said, gesturing west. "Our pack patrols cover the neutral zone in between."


    Brianna exchanged a brief, meaningful look with Marietta, which I caught out of the corner of my eye in the rearview mirror. Without a word, they both climbed out of the vehicle, and ra followed closely behind before I could even ask what was happening. I hurried to pull the SUV over and park. Jax and Dev did the same, and we plunged into the dense underbrush, pushing through thick branches until we found the three women gathered tightly around something on the ground.


    A sharp, acrid smell hung in the air, and I could feel the weight of something heavy pressing down around us, but I couldn''t see what they were focused on.


    "What is that?" I asked the guys, but they just shrugged, seemingly as clueless as I was. The women didn''t even acknowledge me. When I tried to step closer, an invisible barrier stopped me cold. It was like ra, Marietta, and Brianna were trapped inside a ss dome. What the hell was going on? I raised my fist to knock, forcing myself to stay calm. I didn''t know these witches well, but neither my wolf nor I sensed any immediate danger from them. ra wasn''t alone in there, but maybe she was only inside because she was with them. Maybe they were the key to getting her out—and every part of me ached to have her free, right now.


    I knocked again, harder this time, but still no response.


    "What the hell is happening?" Jax asked, his voice thick with concern, mirroring my


    own unease.


    "No clue," I admitted. "We were heading to the first ce a victim was found when Brianna suddenly pointed here, jumped out, and the three of them took off without a word. Now I can''t get through whatever this is." I pressed my palm against the invisible wall, pushing gently. "She''s not alone, but I don''t like that none of us is in there with her." I muttered the words, unsure if they could hear me.


    Jax and Dev tried pushing against the barrier too, and from the way their hands curved, it was clear the barrier formed a dome around the three women. The three of us circled the strange enclosure, watching the women inside. They were all clustered over something I still couldn''t see, their movements so small and deliberate that if I wasn''t paying close attention, they might have seemed frozen in ce.