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Her body fit against his perfectly, and his hands always seemed to find her curves, and he didn’t think either one of them minded.

“Alana,” he whispered against her mouth. “Why do you think I’m right? Tell me.” He needed to hear her voice. He had to know that he wasn’t the only one standing on the edge.

“I think you’re right because of that.”

He turned to see what she was pointing at.

There, on one of the shelves, was a small and thin red candle. Its flame moved to the invisible wind. He frowned, sure it hadn’t been lit when he walked in. He would’ve noticed.

“What does a candle have to do with us?” he asked, still holding on to her.

“It has everything to do with us.”

Cohen listened intently as Alana told him about the spell her family had cast. She avoided his gaze as she spoke, but he was pleased that she didn’t move away from him. In fact, she even stepped closer to his body, the grip of her hands tightening as she spoke.

He didn’t want to have a negative reaction to what she was sharing, but it was hard to temper his anger. How could someone choose to put a spell on their child? It seemed very backward to him.

“It lit up last night when we …” Alana blushed. “You know.”

“And you didn’t light it when you came in?”

She shook her head, and before she went on, he knew what she was going to say. “It must have turned itself on when you walked in.”

“Does that mean it’s safe to assume that we’re mates? Matches?” Cohen didn’t want to ask the question because, once again, he was scared of her answer. It was his fear of heartbreak and loss that made him ask the question.

His wolf made other thoughts run through his head.Of course, it’s safe to assume that. I still have no clue if it’s true. What did your buddies do again?

Cohen took a deep breath. It was way too soon for what Mason, Parker, and Jack had done.

It didn’t matter if it was true.

“Do you think we should talk to Mrs. Francis about all of this?” Alana chewed her lip. “Maybe she will have information that we don’t have.”

“Maybe,” he agreed. “But I think that first things first, we need to find that spell. How can I help, Alana?”

“I don’t know what you can do. I need to go through all of those books and find a love spell that has a red candle as part of the instructions.”

“I can look.”

Alana laughed softly. “You have no way of knowing this, but nearly every single love spell asks for a red candle.”

He snorted. “Of course. Where do you want me to start?” He pointed toward the bookshelves ... the ones that were still tucked into the library, not the ones she had so obviously been looking through. “I’ll put aside any book with a love spell.”

“That sounds like a plan.” She nodded, her heart fluttering for him.

They worked in silence, starting at opposite ends of the library. Hours ticked by with no progress, but the pile of books Cohen put aside grew much bigger. When Alana and Cohen met in the very middle, she decided it would be more useful if she started flipping through the books he had set aside.

One by one, each book was returned to the shelves.

“That was all of them,” Cohen sighed. “Did you find it?”

Alana shook her head. “No. I didn’t.” She crossed her arms and glared at the amassed books. “I have no clue where the spell could come from if it’s not from here.”

“Are there any other spots it could be?”

She considered this for a moment. “If they cast this spell on me without my knowledge, they might have hidden the book somewhere. It definitely sounds like something they would have done if they felt they had to protect me.”

Cohen smiled sadly. “You were all very close, huh?”