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If word got out that a witch with flame resided in Callum, so be it. If her sisters showed up, so be it. Even if Kade Drengr showed up on these shores, so be it. As long as she protected Tessa, this town, these people, nothing else mattered.

“It’s all right, Cyrus,” she finally said. She turned back to Aaron. “I’m a witch, and I have far more of a chance in that forest than any of you with rusty pitchforks.”

Aaron’s nostrils flared. “You think some spell or magic will protect you in the Gray Wood? Witches have tried and failed.”

Evelyn’s breath hitched, but not from Aaron’s snide dismissal. A single word he’d used pushed the air from her lungs. Spell. Clarity snapped into place, all of it clicking piece by piece. She grabbed Cyrus’s forearm for balance, unable to withstand the realization.

“It’s for a spell,” she whispered, but her words sounded like war drums.

Cyrus’s eyes darted over her face, grabbing her shoulder to keep her steady. “What do you mean?”

Evelyn backed away, starting to pace in front of him, a sickening feeling setting into the pit of her stomach. “We may not know how the vampyrs were created, but every story included witches’—”

“Bones,” Cyrus finished for her.

“Exactly,” Evelyn said. “A witch’s bones were involved, used somehow like items are used in a spell. We’ve been wondering why. Why the body parts? What if the body parts are for a spell, too?”

“A spell requires magic, and vampyrs don’t have magic,” Cyrus said with a frustrated shake of his head.

“But faeries do,” Evelyn whispered.

Cyrus stilled, searching her face. His mouth opened and closed, and finally he cursed.

Faeries possessed a special, ancient power, wild and untamed. It wasn’t magic gifted from the Sun Goddess or Moon God. It wasn’t dark magic, but it wasn’t good either. As Mrs. Byrne had said, it held trickery and mischief.

“If it is a spell, what is it for?” Cyrus asked.

Evelyn shook her head. “I don’t know, but whatever it is, we can’t let it happen. We have to save Tessa.”

Cyrus nodded.

Evelyn gripped on to her role as protector. Her flame came to the forefront, her resolve hardening to a solid purpose. Save Tessa before sundown. Protect everyone in Callum.

And stop whatever plan for a spell the vampyr had.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Kade

There’s something I need to tell you. I’m no huntsman. I’m Kade Drengr.

Kade devised a speech in his mind, ran over the words as they traveled through the farmlands to the Gray Wood. The speech would emphasize the fact that Evelyn could trust him, she did not need to fear him, and that they had to call for aid.

With the threat of a looming spell at play, the time had come to tell the witches and werewolves of the west. Evelyn’s own confession back at the Byrne farm had given him hope that he could come clean, too.

Bleu galloped over the waves of grass, and Kade counted to ten, readying to tell her. Then Evelyn turned. She sat ahead of him, relaxed into his chest, and tucked between his thighs as they traveled. Her gray eyes snared him. Trust shone in them, bright and dazzling, and moons, he couldn’t fracture that trust.

“If you think for one moment I’m not going into that forest with you, Huntsman,” she said with a shake of her head, “you’re mad.”

Kade couldn’t help but smile because he had thought of that. Not because he thought she couldn’t take care of herself or help, but because if he went in alone, he could possibly shift into his werewolf. Considering they were up against an entire tribe of faeries, his werewolf would come in handy.

Yet, he knew Evelyn would argue, and he hadn’t wanted to lie and say he doubted her, which presented the perfect time to reveal who he was.

Please don’t be angry, but I’m a werewolf.

She wouldn’t run. She wanted to save Tessa. They needed her flame and his wolf in this fight—stars above, he knew it. If there was any time she might appreciate who he was, it would be now.

“Fine,” Kade finally said, “I won’t ask you to stay behind, but I will point out that you are a young woman like the other victims.”