Wild and Free (The Three #3)(155)

He looked to Jian-Li.

The second she saw his eyes on her, she wiped the concern from her expression and gave him a small smile he knew she didn’t feel.

He returned it.

“Sorry, son,” Hook said from close, and Abel turned in that direction just as the man patted him on the arm.

“We’ll try some other things,” Aurora offered.

“That’d be good,” Abel replied, not sure he meant it. His brother wanted to stay hidden? He’d done a brilliant job with that for maybe centuries. Abel wasn’t sure he was real fired up to make him stop. Still, he finished with, “Thanks.”

She tipped her head to the side and grinned at him.

“Fuck, that was some crazy shit. Need bourbon,” Moose grumbled. “Like, immediately.”

That, Abel agreed with.

Delilah pulled away, letting him go. “I’ll go get it.”

“I’ll help,” Aurora said.

“Don’t forget the nuts,” Ruby called as they made their way to the door.

They took off and Abel moved to Jian-Li. He sat on the arm of her chair, bent deep, and touched his lips to the top of her hair.

When he lifted up, she tilted her head back to catch his eyes.

“I’m good,” he said quietly.

She studied him.

Then she reached out, grabbed his hand, and gave it a squeeze.

“Our luck will turn,” she promised.

He squeezed her hand back, hoping she was right.





Chapter Twenty-Two


Visitors

Delilah



I crouched my body low to avoid a karate chop from Wei, dropped into a squat, swung out my leg, and caught him at the ankles.

He went down to his ass.

The first time I took him out.

I jumped up, throwing my arms up in the air, shouted, “Woo hoo!” and immediately was tackled in the back by Xun. I fell to my stomach with an “Oof!” and then was incapacitated with a knee between my shoulder blades and one arm twisted back, my wrist imprisoned in his fist.

It was two days after Aurora and her witch sisters had tried to help Abel locate his brother. Leah and I were out with the guys, learning self-defense (and then some).

Sonia was with the wolves since she was one and asked Callum if she could start to train with them so she had both human and wolf defense at her disposal.

Leah had sat everything out the last couple of days, but I’d talked her into starting up again because she needed to take her mind off things. She’d understandably been moping. Although two of her cousins had been rescued, one had been killed and another was still captive, still….she couldn’t mope forever. There was a world that needed to be saved.

The good news about this was that we’d had no word other concubines had been harmed. The bad news was that there were still tons of them whose whereabouts were unknown.

So now, at the compound, we were back to business as usual.

Xun let me go and I rolled to my back to see him extending a hand to me.

I took it as he said, “Don’t ever let your guard down.”

He pulled me to my feet and I grinned at him. “I still took Wei out.”

“You did.” Wei got close. “You’re learning fast.”

I turned my grin to him.

“Aside from the part where you were flat on your face with your arm twisted around your back, that was awesome,” Leah decreed, hitting our huddle with her hand up in high five position.

I didn’t leave her hanging.

“Incoming,” Wei muttered.

I looked to him to see his eyes aimed over his shoulder, so I looked in that direction and saw Moose lumbering toward us in an ungainly jog, something which put me on edge for two reasons. First, because Moose didn’t jog so his news had to be big. And second, because Moose didn’t jog and I didn’t want him to have a heart attack.

“Yo!” he called through a wheeze when he got close. “Poncho’s back.”

Thank God. It was good news.

I clapped my hands and shouted, “Yay!”

Moose halted when he got to us, took in a deep breath, and shared, “Got the bruja.”

“Say what?” Xun asked.

“He brought his aunt. The bruja. A witch,” Moose explained.

“Cool,” I whispered. Abel had told me what Poncho was up to, including all the “tests” he had to go through to win her trust to the cause.

He’d obviously won it.

I hoped.

“Another witch,” Wei sighed.

“Is she with us?” I asked Moose. “You know, on our side?”

“Don’t reckon he’d bring her ass here if she wasn’t.”

That was a good point.

“Chen went off to get your man. Poncho wants you both at the house,” Moose went on.

“Right, I’m off,” I said.

“Coming with. Not gonna miss this shit,” Xun stated, moving with me.

Moose moved with me too.

“You could continue to kick my ass, but I think I’d rather meet a bruja.” I heard Leah say to Wei, and Wei must have agreed because I felt them joining us.

We hit the steps to the front the house, and as we did, we saw Abel, Callum, Sonia, Chen, and the rest in the not-too-distant distance so I stopped to wait for them.