B y the time we arrived at our cabin for the night and picked up our key from an envelope under the welcome mat, we were all dead on our feet.

Even though I napped a good chunk of the trip in Logan’s sweater, I was more than ready to get the fuck out of the car.

Road trips were only fun when you could get out and play tourist along the way, but we needed time to get our shit together, which meant as few stops as possible.

It was hovering around four in the morning when we finally got inside. I hauled in the bags while Caden salted every doorway and windowsill.

All I wanted was to collapse face-first onto the bed, drag Logan as close as I could get her, and pass out until at least noon. We stayed awake long enough to brush our teeth and change into pajamas.

“Cuddle sleep?” Logan asked, the words melting into a yawn she hastily covered.

Caden nodded and I thanked the gods for whatever was making him so chill.

Logan crawled up the middle of the king bed and wriggled under the blankets.

We slipped in on each side and settled into much the same position as last night, with her leg slung over Caden and me pressed against her back.

I snuggled in, nudging her hair away so I could breathe her in, tucking my face against the back of her neck.

Fucking bliss .

I woke gods only knew how many hours later and blinked into the blazing sunlight.

I buried my face deeper against Logan with a groan and pulled the blankets over our heads.

The smell of fresh coffee wasn’t enough to lure me out of my current location, but it did wake up Logan.

She rolled over and into my arms with a contented hum, eyes still closed as sleepy fingers brushed my cheek.

Her forehead touched mine and I held my breath, every nerve singing.

She slid her fingers down, hooking under my chin to lift my face to hers.

A soft sigh parted her lips a second before she pressed them to mine.

I sank into her, weaving my hand into her hair, savoring her perfect mouth. She was sweet and warm. I didn’t even care about the morning breath; I wanted to dive deeper, roll over and press her into the mattress, feel the suppleness of her body yielding to mine...

“Are you two getting up?” Caden asked from the main room.

Logan jerked away, eyes wide. She sat up sharply, not looking at me. “Yep. Be right there.”

I rolled onto my back as she slipped out of bed. Well, fuck. She probably forgot I was here and thought she was kissing Caden.

Okay, I could deal with this. I knew how to smooth things over.

I shifted into my small form and followed Logan out. They both turned to me and I paused, wondering if she’d said something to him. I slid closer, winding around her ankles as she sat down at the little kitchen table. She leaned down automatically and stroked my fur.

Caden picked me up by my scruff. Why did you kiss her?

If you think I’m capable of not kissing her back when she reaches for me, then you’re overestimating my self-control. I wriggled in his grasp until he set me on the floor.

Caden sighed and crossed his arms, staring at me with some weird mix of emotions I couldn’t quite parse. After a few tense moments, he just asked, “Are you having coffee?”

I hopped up into Logan’s lap. In a bit.

He watched her stroke my ears. The world fell away as my eyes slid shut and she triggered my purrs and happy feet. Gods. Fucking magic fingers, I swear. I had no idea how long she pet me. It was hard to tell the passage of time in that delirious, gloriously blissed-out state.

When she finally stopped, I flopped against her chest and waited for the world to regain balance. I looked up at her. Sorry I kissed you. I got too excited.

She laughed and kissed the top of my head. “It’s okay. That’ll teach me for skipping over opening my eyes first.”

I stood and rubbed my cheek against hers.

“Doesn’t count as an apology if you immediately start scent marking her,” said Caden as he set a cup of coffee on the table for me.

Logan scooped me up and patted my hip. “Go get dressed so we can go into town.”

I scampered off to do that and wash up. We took turns in the bathroom, and soon enough we were on our way into Portland for breakfast and their massive bookstore.

I’d never been in one so big before. It was like a labyrinth.

We wandered our way through and found the occult section, settling in.

Figuring that old books were probably the most helpful to start with, we each picked one off the shelves and skimmed through.

Mine turned out to be useless, so I prowled through the stacks to find something more helpful, passing them to Caden and Logan, and returning their used ones.

Logan’s phone pinged and she pulled it out of her pocket. “Oh, hey, Melinda says we can meet her between five and seven tonight at the shop. I guess when we’re done here, we can head over?”

“Perfect.” Caden squeezed her knee and went back to his skimming.

“I think I found a bit of something,” Logan said, looking up from a book of demonology spread in her lap.

“I dunno if it’s the same thing but it talks about a beast of shadows called forth by a witch.

Apparently if its witch dies or cuts it off, they lose their fuel source and basically go rabid to hunt magic sources. ”

“Sounds like a general direction, at least,” said Caden. “There are shifters all over the place, though. Why is it hunting us ?”

“Maybe you’re from some super-secret royal shifter bloodline that’s extra magical?” Logan suggested.

I snorted. “If we were, I'd be pissed over all the money and power we’ve missed out on. Do we know if it’s still following us? Maybe we finally shook it.”

“I can try asking the trees. Not sure if they’d be able to tell, but it can’t hurt.”

We dug through a dozen or so more books before Logan leaned against the shelf with a groan. “My eyeballs are crossing.”

“Do we want to buy the one possibly useful book and grab some drive-thru before going to Hood River?” Caden asked.

“Fuck yeah!” I grinned. “I’m starving.”

We tidied up the mess we’d made and purchased the thick demonology book before heading out. We grabbed some cheap burgers and ate them on the way. It was a solid hour drive to Hood River from the bookstore.

The metaphysical shop we were searching for was basically a hole in the wall—small and cramped, with stock up to the ceiling. It smelled like incense, but about six different kinds at once, and made my nose twitch.

A middle-aged woman with thick, dark hair and bejeweled glasses lifted her head as we all came inside. “Logan.”

It was weird that she said the name as a statement rather than a question.

“Yep.” Logan waved and took the lead on our group.

“I’m Melinda.” The woman held out her hand. “Come here, sweetness. Tell me everything.”

Logan spilled out everything that had happened. Melinda’s eyes gleamed as she absorbed the story, and the hair on my arms stood on end.

“Who were your parents?” Melinda held up her hand and a thick leather-bound book zipped into her hand, hovering as she flipped it open.

“Um, Matthew and Lorelei Murphy. They adopted me when I was born.”

“Hmm.” Melinda waved her hand over the book and the pages whipped frantically. “Do you have information on your birth parents?”

“No. My birth mother wanted everything to be closed and I was supposed to get information when I turned eighteen, but apparently all the records were destroyed before then.”

“Come sit by me. I have to show you something.”

Logan extracted herself from Caden and me to sit next to Melinda. The witch looped an arm around Logan and our girl jolted with a hiss, but Melinda wrapped her other hand around Logan’s wrist, her eyes going all glowy and weird.

My first instinct was to rocket off the couch and tackle Melinda, but the air was thick as molasses as I tried to reach for Logan, every movement fighting me. The harder I pushed, the stronger the force keeping me back.

Caden looked pissed as hell, fighting against whatever mojo Melinda had going on. Logan’s eyes were screwed shut, her body straining to pull away.

“Stop hurting her!”

Hush, little panther .

I shook my head, hating the feeling of Melinda in my mind.

Caden slipped into a half form, tail whipping behind him, claws digging into the invisible barrier, his growl vibrating the air around me. “Let. Her. Go.”

Melinda laughed in my head. Logan struggled, but it was easy to see her strength was fading fast. We kept pushing against Melinda’s magic, and when my fingertips finally reached Logan, her skin buzzed like a bug zapper and I flinched away.

“What the fuck?” I snapped.

Don’t worry, panthers. She’s not being hurt. Melinda turned those freaky eyes on me.

I didn’t like this bitch one bit.

Caden growled, his eyes flashing yellow as he hurled himself against the magic.

Melinda yanked Logan closer and took an audible whiff. “Mmm, you’re quite the treasure box, aren’t you?”

Caden clapped a hand down on Melinda’s arm and grit his teeth.

I bet she felt even shittier to touch. I sucked in a breath and wrapped my arms around Logan’s waist, whipping us both away from Melinda.

Holy fuck did she burn. It felt like I’d been stuck with a dozen cattle prods but as soon as I detached the two of them Logan sagged against me, instantly bursting into tears and clinging desperately to me.

Caden pressed against her back a second later, turning to face Melinda.

“Explain yourself,” Caden hissed at the woman.

“What in the sweet holy fuck was that?” I held Logan, hands dancing over her torso to reassure myself she was still in one piece.

Melinda looked dazed, maybe even a bit high. She floated around the shop, gathering up herbs and stones, ignoring us completely.

“Hey!” I snapped.

She finally looked over. “I had to unlock some boxes. There’re more layers still. Whoever locked her down was thorough.”

“Locked her—what?”