A few of Leo’s family members shifted to their bear forms and moved forward to stand with Jesse and Katrin. Leo barely fought back his own shift. Need a voice to solve this, he told his bear.
“We have the Witches Council’s approval,” Travis said again, voice cracking as he backed up. “I did the scrying and have seen the little beasts. They aren’t even witches.”
Fuck being sensible. Leo growled and pushed to the front of the crowd, Burkhart behind him. “This is your last chance to get the fuck out of here. Litha scryings are sacred. Even I know that. That you did one without our permission is against the rules. Isn’t it, Myrtle?”
“Yep,” Myrtle said, a wicked smile on her face. “I’m the only one they’ve given permission to, dick breath. You fucked up.”
“Our rules are none of your concern, bear,” Travis said, eyes narrowing.
The ground rumbled beneath the two groups, and Leo fought to keep his footing, his heart beating fast. Earthquake? Here?
A deep voice boomed from behind Leo. “Enough.”
Leo turned. His grandpa and another man threaded through the crowd of bears. The man with Ronald looked ancient, but Leo could feel the power coming from him.
“Councilmen Blackwood,” Travis said, mouth hanging open. “What are you doing here?”
The older man frowned and held up the bottle of beer he carried. “I came to celebrate young Somerset and his mate’s first child. I was invited here for the scrying. I certainly don’t recall the Council giving you any sort of support in harassing your son. In fact, we were rather disgusted by your bigotry.” He stared at one of the men beside Travis. “You work for Councilman Winters, don’t you?”
The man gave Blackwood a tentative nod. “My mentor is offering his personal support to Thorton and his wife. I’ve been ordered to see that Somerset Thorton doesn’t give birth after mating a beast.”
More of Leo’s relatives shifted. Burkhart’s hands on his shoulders steadied Leo enough to not shift and maul the disgusting man threatening his mate.
“As different as each species is, we are one people,” Blackwood said, eyes hard. “You dare to impose your own ignorant bigotry on a young witch you’ve callously disowned? Over my smoldering corpse.”
Movement at the edge of the woods caught his eye, and Leo turned when someone screamed his name. Sonny and Thorwald came from the woods at a run.
Sonny raced toward him, standing out in his rainbow-colored tennis shoes, denim overall shorts, and bright t-shirt. A baby rabbit shifter rode in the front pocket of the overalls. Aaron’s daughter looked completely unconcerned about whatever was terrifying Sonny.
Sonny almost tripped but caught himself, making Leo growl. “Leo, save us!”
His nerves on edge, Leo shifted, his clothes shredding around him as he roared and ran to his mate.
Sonny threw an arm around Leo’s neck and buried his face in Leo’s fur. “Janine brought us to a fucking gnome village, Leo. There were thousands of them. We’re lucky we escaped with our lives.”
“I didn’t know he could run that fast.” Thorwald sounded shocked. He stood panting behind Sonny. “I’m sorry, Leo. I tried to keep him away.”
More people came from the wooded walking path—Janine, Aaron, and several gnomes, and they didn’t exactly look like they were about to murder one another.
“You were right, Janine. The poor dear is petrified,” a familiar gnome said.
Leo waved a paw at Maddel. The older gnome was a nice woman who happened to be one of his grandma’s best friends. She was only about six inches tall and walked beside Flufflepuff, hand stroking along the cat’s side.
“There weren’t thousands of gnomes, Sonny,” Aaron said, face red from laughing as he stumbled behind Janine. “There were like forty or something. They tried to give you a cake.”
Hmm, cake?
Sonny glared at him. “You’re thinking about that cake, aren’t you?”
Leo shook his head.
Wendy wiggled her nose and reached out to sniff Leo’s ear.
Maddel patted Sonny’s shoe. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. You’ll get to know us and see that we’re not bad at all.”
“Unhand my Sonny, gnome.” Myrtle stomped over.
Hester chuckled as she followed her sister. “Please tell me you’re not still mad about that gnome that kicked your ass when you were six. You deserved it, Myrtle.”
“Gnomes are more dangerous than they look,” Myrtle said, scowling. She pulled Sonny into her arms. “Who is she?”
Maddel nodded and introduced herself. “I see we’ll need more than cake here.”
Leo nuzzled Sonny’s face and his mate sighed. “No, Maddel. I’m sorry I ran screaming. I should know that Janine wouldn’t be friends with a murderous monster.”
Myrtle snorted. “How much do we really know about Janine?”
Leo’s grandma frowned and waved toward the two groups. “Why does it look like there’s about to be a war on my front lawn?”
Sonny finally seemed to notice his parents, and the color drained from his face. “What are they doing here?”
Myrtle turned Sonny and pushed him into Janine’s arms. “You hold him a moment. I have some witches to hex.”
Leo growled and walked beside her as the two groups faced off.
Blackwood watched him with a smile. “Your love for you mate is obvious, Leo. Thank you for letting me attend this scrying.” He turned to the gathered witches. “Now, I would like to get back to my beer, and Ronald here challenged me to a game of checkers. We don’t have time for party crashers.” He held his hands out to Myrtle and Hester. “Would you two lovely witches help me?”
Hester took one of his hands and Myrtle the other. The three witches closed their eyes, and Leo’s fur stood on end as Blackwood’s powerful aura grew stronger. He couldn’t see the magic surrounding the three witches, but he could feel it.
He could also see the results.
The earth beneath Sonny’s parents and their allies rumbled and moved, reshaping into a large hand. Cynthia and a few of the others screamed as they fell down, but Travis and many of the others tossed spells toward the earthen hand, though it did no good.
The hand picked the witches up and closed into a fist before moving and cutting a path across his grandparents’ yard, dirt churning beneath it. Grandma isn’t going to like that.
When it reached the very edge of the driveway, the fist stopped and the dirt shifted again, changing into a hardened earth box with breathing holes.
Leo could barely hear the witches inside, screaming and tossing spells toward their prison.
Blackwood’s eyes opened. “There. That will keep them in place until the proper authorities arrive to take them away. At the very least, they were trespassing, but we heard Travis and Cynthia’s threats.”
Myrtle scowled and let go of his hand. “Should have turned the fuckers into crickets and let the chickens have them.”
Hester’s eyes narrowed. “Agreed.”
Blackwood gave the two sisters an amused look. “Sometimes, making a public example of them does more good. Do you think Somerset and his bear are the only interspecies mates that need the public support of the Witches Council?”