Page 11 of Enchanted by the Gargoyle (The Crescent Coven #1)

Tamsin

“E zren!” I call upstairs to the apartment.

“Yeah?”

“Is Beryl up there with you?” I wait, listening to his heavy footfalls as he looks around the apartment. A few moments later, he calls back down, a tinge of anxiety in his voice.

“Tams, I can’t find her. Is she down there with you?”

“Shit. No, I was hoping she was up there. This is the third time she has disappeared this week! Let me call Sybil, maybe she’s seen her…

actually no. Let me just portal over there, really quick, can you handle the store for like, twenty minutes?

” Pulling out my phone, I send a quick courtesy text to Sybil.

Ezren comes down the steps, dressed in dark jeans that are still too tight, but I keep insisting these are his correct size for reasons , and a pastel lavender polo that shows off his chiseled chest and arms. Before I can start the portal, he scoops me into his arms, peppering my face with kisses.

“I’m so happy I’m living with you. You’re the best thing to ever happened to me.” His soft eyes always look at me as if I am the most precious, delicate thing in his life.

I grin back at him. “I’m really happy you moved in too.”

“You be safe out there, kay?” He fingers the rose gold amethyst necklace I wear as protection.

“I’m always careful.” I scoff, knowing full well I could hex someone into another plane of existence if I had to.

“Yeah, well, monsters are out there, lurking about.” His hand mimics a spider crawling up my arm.

I slap it away. “This is a town full of monsters. I’ll be fine , I promise, okay?”

“And if something happens to you?” He quirks an eyebrow at me.

“Then you can spank me later.” I wink.

He growls in my ear, sending shivers straight into my pants. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”

Laughing, I wriggle out of his grasp, starting the chant to open the portal.

A shower of yellow sparks opens a hole in the air the size of an apple that keeps growing enough for me to step through.

Looking back at Ezren, I blow him a kiss.

“Be back in a jiffy, okay?” He nods, catching my kiss as I step through, landing in Sybil’s front yard.

Her house is just two blocks behind the main street, but portalling is easier. Although I did promise myself more cardio, so I should have walked.

“Sybil!” I call out, striding up to her front door, knocking. Checking my phone, I see she got my text, but no reply. “Damn, where are you?” I knock again, this time rapping on the stained glass panel in the door. “Sybil?”

Standing there tapping my toes, thinking about the places where she might be, but maybe not hear my door, it dawns on me that she might be in her garden, which is set back from the house in the only patch of sun her yard gets.

Guess I’m going for a walk anyway . I start around back, unlatching the gate, and winding my way around broken watering cans, various gnomes, and muddy rainboots.

Just as I come around the corner of the house, I see Sybil, standing at the very back edge of her yard, staring into the dark forest, holding something small, grey, and fuzzy in her arms. Sighing with relief, I send a quick text to Ezren that I found Beryl.

“Sybil!” I call out.

She whirls around, holding a finger to her lips to shush me, her eyebrows knitted together, face tight.

The energy in the yard shifts, her shoulders tense and rounded.

Taking care with my steps, I make my way to her side.

Silently, she shifts Beryl into my arms, who is on alert, staring into the forest depths with wide eyes.

“She came with me through the portal when I left your store. I didn’t even realize it until I came out into the garden to gather some veggies for dinner, and she just popped out.

” Sybil mumbles to me under her breath, keeping her voice low.

“She kept leaping up at me, trying to get me to come back into the house.”

“You think she sees something in the forest?” I murmur back, realizing that all the hair on Beryl’s back is standing straight up, her tail floofed out to the max, a low growl coming from her throat.

In a burst of sparks, Beryl leaps from my arms, transforming into a sleek obsidian panther, emerald eyes glowing. With a roar that shakes the trees, she takes off sprinting into the forest.

“What. The. Fuck.” My jaw is comically open. I don’t have enough sense to get back inside Sybil’s house. We just stand there, in shock.

“I…thought she was just a cat?” Sybil is breathless, reaching for my hand to pull me back into the house.

“I guess not?” My phone buzzes in my pocket, Ezren texting me back that he is happy I found Beryl. A low growl escapes my throat as we cross into Sybil’s house, which is layered in protection spells.

“What?”

“I’m never gonna hear the end of this from Ezren. He told me to be safe being out and about, and now I have to tell him that our cat isn’t really a cat, and she ran into the woods chasing something .”

Sybil gives a snort, breaking into a cackle.

“It’s not funny!”

“It’s kind of funny. Come on. Let’s go have some tea and wait for her to come back. Maybe she talks too?”

“Goddess, I hope not, that cat has seen too much.”

Sybil stops, looking around her house, which has no less than five cats in various states of sleep. “You don’t think…” Her eyes narrow at them, raising an eyebrow in mock suspicion.

I shrug. “I don’t think there is any way to know around here. Welcome to Coldwater Springs!” I cackle, Sybil joining in, as we link arms and head into the kitchen.