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“I’ve been tending to the magic to make sure it holds ever since my grandmother and mother passed. But the spell knows I am not the original caster, so it’s starting to behave strangely. That’s my best guess, but a guess is all it is, though it is an educated one.”

Cohen shook his head. “I’m sorry, but did you just say that the magicbehaves? How can it behave? It’s not real.”

Alana’s eyes darkened. “Of course, it’s real.”

He clicked his tongue. “No, no. That’s not what I mean. Obviously, the magic is real if it’s blocking the mate sense, which is supposed to be this big thing that nothing can mess with. I don’t even want to know how powerful you are if you can mess with it.”

“I’m not as powerful as my Nana, and that’s part of the problem. I don’t have the same magic as her. My strengths are different than hers. The magic recognizes that it is a different witch based on that alone,” Alana continued.

Cohen nodded like he could keep up, but this was all too much. Thankfully, Alana stopped talking.

In fact, for a long moment, everyone was quiet. Either they were giving Cohen the time to process all of this, or no one wanted to be the first to break the silence.

“Bro,” Mason started, stepping forward. “You gotta say something, man. You’re sitting there looking like the big bad wolf who is about to huff and puff us all away.”

“Mason,” Lila chided. “Don’t tease your brother right now. It’s just really not the time for that.”

“Oh, no, by all means. Tease him all you want,” Mrs. Francis said. “He deserves it for thinking that we had a choice.”

“I don’t think I would have made the same choice,” Cohen said. “But probably because I don’t know about magic.”

“Neither did we, but Helena was a resident, and she wanted a safe place for her daughter and granddaughter after everything they went through.”

Cohen’s eyes immediately cut toward Alana, hoping he would instantaneously know what she had experienced. That didn’t work, obviously, but he hated not knowing. Not only because he didn’t like the idea that others knew more about her than he did, but Cohen had a feeling. He had a terrible feeling that when he discovered this piece of Alana’s past, he would want to seek revenge on her behalf.

He shook his head and cleared his throat. He wanted to ask her right then what she had gone there, but, of course, he couldn’t. There was no reason for him to know. Not really. It had no bearing on the earthquake, did it?

It has a bearing on us,his wolf’s comment shocking him. Cohen didn’t have the chance to ask for clarification because Alana said, “Now that the magic is slipping for real, we need to decide if we find someone to reset it or if we let it die out. But the thing is, I have no idea what that looks like. As the spell dies, it might cause more anomalies than the power and grid going down.”

“No more earthquakes,” Cohen said. “There can be no more earthquakes.”

“Well, that means resetting the spell,” Alana replied after clicking her tongue. He didn’t miss the way she wrung her fingers together, though. She was nervous and scared she wouldn’t be up to the task.

“But I can’t recast the spell. I don’t have enough power to do that. I would need a whole lot more magic to protect the town now that it’s gotten bigger and more populated.”

“We need to do something,” Mrs. Francis said. “A lot of shifters settle here because it numbs the mating sense.”

“You knew?” Cohen’s whisper was rough and sad. The betrayal in his heart was pretty damn obvious in his tone.

Mrs. Francis waved him forward with a crook of her bony, wrinkly hand. He went forward because she was an elder and because he would always have a special place in his heart for Mrs. Francis. “I am sorry, my dear boy. I should’ve told you sooner, but you were still so sad about your loss when we met. I knew that you’d benefit from a position in Half Moon Key. I figured the spell would keep you safe.”

“Holy shit, Mrs. Francis,” Jack shouted. “You wanted me to move here because you knew that the spell would keep me safe from Sage.” Jack had been through his own series of trouble a little while ago, and his history with Half Moon Key was a whole lot clearer now.

The elder blushed and waved him off. “Of course, I wanted the spell to protect you. You’re a special boy, Jack. You, too, Cohen. That’s why I wanted you here. I didn’t think you would be open to being with your mate even if you did meet her. I didn’t think you would miss it too much. I should’ve told you about this. I am sorry.”

“It’s all right,” Cohen replied, and he found he meant it too. He didn’t want to be angry with the most beloved citizen in town. Besides, her motives were pure, and her intentions were good. How could he be angry?

Well, you know what this means?His wolf asked.It means there is a chance that Alana is our mate, but the spell has shielded us from it.

“It would explain a lot.” It was only when every eye in the room blinked at him in confusion that Cohen realized he had spoken out loud. “The spell breaking, I mean,” he blurted, happy to be quick-thinking. “Everything that’s been happening in town makes sense,” he clarified, happy that each second put distance between him and his wolf’s thoughts. “The magic isn’t as strong, so trouble has found the town. That’s how all of our misadventures have been happening.”

“So you see why you need the spell now?” Mrs. Francis asked. “How are we supposed to keep our people safe if we can’t stop bad people from coming into the town?”

“That’s a very good question,” Alana nodded along with Mrs. Francis.

Cohen said, “We use good old police work.” Parker chuckled, “We’re a bunch of shifters.”

“Well, now we are, yes,” Frank said. “We’re all old now. We needed younger blood to settle in the town. Take over. You bunch are gonna breathe new life into Half Moon Key.”