Page 59 of Warrior Witch
“My sister has the same powers as me!” Kylen crowed, scooping Lindsay into a hug.
“Sister?!” Addie shrieked, flowers forgotten for the moment. My nature witch took a half step toward her, rubbing the back of his neck in an endearingly nervous way.
“Ahh… yeah. So, you see. Ranto—Oof!” Kylen cut off mid explanation as he struggled to catch ninety-two pounds of flying teenager.
“I have a family!” Addie grinned over her shoulder at me from the koala grip she had on her brother.
I smiled indulgently at her but couldn’t help pointing out, “You’ve always had a family. Now you just have a few more.”
Her breathing hitched, and I pretended not to notice as she surreptitiously wiped her face on Kylen’s shirt.
“We’ll talk about this later,” I mouthed at him.
He shot me a sheepish smile as she hopped out of his arms and walked toward my biker, who stood at the edge of the action, seemingly unsure what to do.
“Hey, Bruin, guess what! Now I can tie you up in vines, too.” Addie called, earning a wince from him and a hearty chorus of No from the rest of us.
“We still have an hour to wait, and some of these bastards are starting to stir.” Ranto wasn’t paying attention to the proceedings as he directed Hendrix to check on each of the unconscious bikers. He swiped a hand down his face, looking tired, yet determined, but something in his statement caught my attention.
“What are we waiting for?”
I hadn’t known about Ranto’s job as a PI, but the lack of surprise on Kylen’s face told me it was old news to him. He explained how he’d been privately contracted to assist a task force in the takedown of the Grim Hearts MC chapter that happened to be littering the highway at present, and how he’d put out the call for reinforcements the second we caught wind of their attack.
Bruin snorted, eyeing Ranto closely, but only received an enigmatic grin in return. I understood his worry. The only reason Ranto could have been on the case he described and end up following me was because of him. I reached out and took his hand, waiting for him to make eye contact.
“Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it together.”
He grunted, but his fingers tightened in a return squeeze.
“Well, it won’t be worth much if they all take off before the task force gets here,” Ranto groused.
We needed time. And for the assholes to stay asleep.
Or sedated.
“Kylen!” I shouted, wincing as the sound echoed in the quiet air. “Your plant.”
Understanding washed over his face, and with a quick look at Addie, they both took off toward the motel.
“I really hope that plant of his doesn’t accidentally kill them all,” Bruin muttered.
I glanced at him, trying to read his tone. He said he was sure of his allegiances, but there was a line in the sand that seemed to include a level of mortality on both sides.
“We don’t want to get stuck with a murder charge because of experimental medicine,” he clarified, taking in my worried expression.
I coughed a laugh and elbowed him. He responded by hooking an arm around my neck and planting a kiss on my head. Sweet bastard. Not that I’d ever tell him that.
“Get off me, asshole. We need to keep your butt buddies asleep until they get to jail.” There was no heat behind my words, and he chucked me on the chin before wandering off to help with the damage assessment.
In a surprisingly short amount of time, Kylen and Addie returned, the latter bouncing around her new brother like an excitable puppy, her mouth running a mile a minute while he held a jar like it was explosive. Maybe it was. I glanced toward Lindsay, silently encouraging him to distract our excitable ward so Kylen could save our asses.
“I’m so excited to see how this goes,” he muttered, crouching beside the nearest biker, who was twitching like he was coming around.
Kylen sprinkled a small amount of the powder into his nostrils, and the movement ceased immediately.
“Harlow, can you monitor his pulse? I’ll get the ones who are stirring now, but I want to make sure it’s safe before I use it on the rest of them.”
I opened my mouth to reply but was interrupted by the blessed sound of sirens. Pressing two fingers beneath the meaty biker’s jaw, I found his pulse beat strong and steady, then nodded to Kylen as he worked his way around to a few of the more conscious-looking men.