Not Your Ex's Hexes (Supernatural Singles, #2)(3)
“Supernova aside…” Rose steered the conversation away from Vi’s Magic and received a grateful look from her sister. “We’re on Long Island for Goddess’s sake. We can still be seen.”
Harper cocked an auburn eyebrow. “Are we in Manhattan?”
“No.”
“Brooklyn?”
“No.”
“Queens?” At Rose’s pursed lips, Harper waved an I-told-you-so finger in front of her nose. “Exactly my point. If we’re not in one of the boroughs, we’re in the middle of nowhere. They probably don’t even have a decent pleasure club out here.”
All eyes temporarily flickered to the succubus demon.
“What? How much do you want to bet? I’ll search it right now.”
With a heavy sigh, Vi flicked off the lights. “If Lincoln’s Jeep comes out of this night with so much as a scratch, I’m blaming all of you. And not to mention I’ll never forgive you all for making me be the voice of reason. I don’t like it. I don’t like it one bit.”
“You’re the light of Linc’s world,” Rose said, reminding her sister about her fiancé. “He wouldn’t give a damn about the car … just that you’re okay.”
A smile flirted on her triplet’s lips as she thought about her True Mate, the Alpha of the North American Pack. Rose’s heart ached with the knowledge that they’d come so damn close to missing their second chance at happily ever after. If anyone deserved to find their soul mate, it was Violet.
And Violet couldn’t have asked for a better one than the gorgeous wolf shifter. Seeing their eyes light up when they were together was almost enough to make a witch contemplate giving dating another try.
Almost … but not quite. For now, Mr. Wiggles would do. She’d just buy batteries at the nearby wholesale warehouse.
A half-mile down the gravel lane and made to look even more sinister by the glowing moon backdrop, a looming barn came into view.
Vi slowed the Jeep to a tentative stop. “If Freddy, Jason, or Michael Myers pop up from behind a hay bale or something it’s every witch—or succubus—for herself.”
Olive pushed her glasses higher up on her nose as she peered out the window. “This place has definitely seen better days.”
Rose agreed. The building and surrounding structures would make the perfect horror movie backdrop. “All the more reason to get those horses out of here. Who has the sugar cubes?”
“I do.” The youngest Maxwell triplet pulled a bag from her hoodie. “Let’s hope they’re sugar addicts like me.”
“Does everyone remember their job?”
Rose received three nods in answer.
“Then let’s do this.”
They all slid out of the Jeep as quietly as possible, Olive’s door closing louder than the others with an audible thud. She grimaced. “Sorry.”
Vi scanned their surroundings warily. “This triplet personality switch thing we’re doing is throwing me off. I’m the Bad Idea triplet, Olive is the Brilliant Brain…”
“Thank you.” Olive smiled with a proud nod.
“And you”—Vi drilled a look at Rose—“you’re the—”
“Boring one?” Rose asked, only half-teasing.
“I was about to say the levelheaded one. Not that I’m not up for a little midnight mayhem—Goddess knows I’m a bit overdue—but this is the kind of thing you’re usually talking me out of.”
Vi wasn’t wrong and Rose didn’t have an enlightening reason for the triplet-switch except Vi wasn’t the only sister out of sorts. Not that she begrudged her sister for coming into her Magic and taking her rightful place as the next Prima Apparent, but until six months ago that had been Rose’s future.
Hell, it had been her entire life.
While Olly and Vi had attended summer camps designed for outdoor fun, Rose had been stuck in a room with their grandma learning how to deescalate feuds between grumpy shifters and volatile vampires, and not tick off the witch covens in the process.
Now that Rose had a little extra time on her hands, she was … lost … and had evidently taken Vi’s former position as the Bad Idea triplet. Except this this wasn’t a bad idea. They’d load those two sweet mares into the trailer and get them the help they needed.
Harper got behind the steering wheel and flashed them a thumbs-up. “Go get it done, witches. I’ll be right here waiting to make a clean getaway.”
Rose and her sisters walked as quietly as possible to the dilapidated barn. The only sound other than their breathing was the distant traffic and the soft huffs of the animals inside.
With Olive shining her phone flashlight on the door’s rusted slide-latch, Rose yanked on the lock, unsurprised when it didn’t budge. She tried again, giving it a little more oomph. It moved an inch before sticking. “Damn it…”
“Remind me why this has to be a magicless operation?” Vi asked.
“Because unless these animals have been around Magic before, they could have a bad reaction to it. Getting a hoof to the head isn’t on my list of things to do.”
“See, I didn’t know that.” Vi shot her a pointed look. “Which is why I need a wing-witch with this whole Prima thing. Honestly, how long once I get the title do you think it’ll be until I offend someone by calling them by the wrong name? It’s not only a huge faux pas in the bedroom, you know?”