"We should try to help him." Brianna finally answers our questions. "If he is a part of the spell the magic will not let him go until it isplete. If the spell is what harmed him he might be stuck until we can undo it. Your risk is being drawn in. Clearly Marietta and I can touch the barrier, I do not know what will happen to any of you if our suspicions are correct and his wolf''s blood is what is powering the spell."


    Ben reaches out a hand to his friend. "Stay back, I don''t want you anywhere near this thing."


    "Awe, thank you for that vote of confidence, but I think we are all good." Jason takes another step forward and Ben is so fast I blink and he has let go of my hand and is standing to his full height in front of Jason. No one in our group breathes with the tension floating around us.


    "Don''t f*cking touch that thing. You are mated to a witch, dumbass. This kid was a half-breed. You are thest person going anywhere near it until we know it''s safe.”


    "You think I am going to let you go anywhere near it either? You and your mate just pulled your heads out of your asses. Get out of my way. Your mate can at least stand to look at you, be in the same room without being terrified."


    Jason pushes past Ben. Ben grabs his wrist and they are full on grappling on the ground. I hear grunts and groans, neither trying to hurt the other, but they are both clearly working out some pent up frustration.


    I look up and Marietta winks at me and tilts her head toward the barrier. I tilt my head to Jax and Dev. "Please don''t let them kill each other."


    "If you get hurt, I will pull them apart and send their raging asses in your direction. Don''t die." Jax snarks back at me, but they both assume positions to intervene if it gets too heated.


    I walk with the witches. Marietta leans in, "Nice distraction tactic."


    "I have no idea what you are talking about." I smile at her. "They did that all by themselves."


    We both reach up at the same time.


    I can feel the static buzz of the


    magic. I have felt it a few times when I walk through the kitchen or out in@ne of the back court yards of the packhouse. I mouth 1, 2, and on three we both grab his leg, and nothing happens. "That was, anticlimactic." I announce to the group, but no one is rushing to help us either. All of our points are good ones. We don''t know what about this kid made him special or viable for the barrier. I extend my ws and cut his legs free first then his arms. He flops in a heap over


    Marietta and my shoulders.


    Ben and Jason hurry to help now that they figured out arguing made them useless.


    "Now we need to figure out how big this barrier is and what it might be concealing." Brianna says, turning to walk back to the cars Copyright Qu 2025 Miss L Writes and Ember Mantel Productions


    "Jason. You Jax and Dev circle the barrier, see if you can scent it all the


    way around; now that you know what you are looking for. Don''t do the whole perimeter, I want a full team for that, but get an idea so we can map it outter. He turns to Marietta and Brianna. Are the wo of you able to take the second truck back with this boy to get him to the healers?" They both nod. "Walt, front seat. We need to talk." With that, he and Jason take the body to the trunk of the witches SUV and load him in as gently as possible.