I grabbed the grocery bag I’d tossed in the fridge earlier. “I won’t be home for dinner tonight,” I said to Gran as I closed the fridge. “I’m eating with a friend.”

“A friend? What friend?” Suspicion laced Gran’s words.

“Yeah. Who is this friend, Mina?” Gracie asked. She sounded as though she knew more than she was letting on.

I pursed my lips together. They both knew who, but neither were going to let me go without saying his name.

“Eli,” I muttered.

Gracie wiggled her eyebrows at the mention of his name. “That’s who I thought you were eating with tonight.” She shifted her attention to Gran. “She’s cooking dinner for him. That’s what the stuff she bought is for.”

“How do you know?” I hadn’t mentioned anything to her. Heck, I hadn’t said a word to anyone about our plans tonight.

“I know things.” Gracie folded her arms across her chest as a smug look stretched across her face.

“Yeah, right.” Eli must’ve told his brothers we were hanging out tonight.

I wasn’t sure how this made me feel.

“Cooper told me,” Gracie confessed. “Eli and Cooper were supposed to do something tonight, but Eli canceled because he said you were coming over to cook for him.” A stupid grin curved the corners of her lips. She obviously thought there was more to the night than dinner.

There wasn’t.

“You’re spending the night with Eli, then?” Gran asked. Amusement twisted through her words.

“What? No! I never said anything about spending the night with him. I’m making him dinner. Nothing more,” I corrected her. My hands grew clammy and my face too warm.

“Sounds like a date,” Gran insisted with a grin.

“It’s not.”

“If you want to spend the night with him, you’d be allowed,” Gran said as though she hadn’t heard me.

My fingernails bit into the palms of my hands. “I don’t want to spend the night with him, Gran.”

“All I’m saying is, if you want to, you can.”

“Oh, I’m sure she wants to.” Gracie snickered.

“You two are impossible.” I swiped the bread I’d bought earlier off the counter and started toward the front door. “I’m not spending the night with him. I’m cooking him dinner as payment for what he did for me the other day.”

“And what might that be?” Gran asked.

I paused and glanced back at her. She stood in the kitchen, prepping whatever meal she’d intended to cook tonight for us all. “My car wouldn’t start so he jumped it. It was clear the charge wouldn’t last, so he offered to give me a ride to where I was going. He bought me a battery, fixed a couple of things on my car, and changed my oil. The deal was, I owe him dinner in exchange. Nothing more. Nothing less.” I twisted the knob on the front door and stepped outside into the humid air. Gran said something, but I was done with the conversation. It had me feeling uncomfortable in my own skin. Mainly because I’d had such a great time with Alec last night. Guilt was threatening to overtake me. I attempted to shake it off as I cut through the thick air and headed straight for Eli’s trailer, carrying the groceries for his grilled cheese and tomato soup.

For once, the Bell sisters weren’t on their porch. Today’s high temperature must have been too much. It was sweltering out. My cell said it was ninety-seven earlier. While I thought the heat had begun to taper off, it was still so humid out it was almost hard to breathe. My tank top stuck to me and the backs of my knees began to sweat as I walked. I picked up my pace, eager to be out of the sizzling sun.

A low humming grabbed my attention as I reached Eli’s trailer. An AC unit stuck out the living room window. It looked brand-new. There were no dents in it, and it wasn’t covered in pollen and dirt from years of use like the hunk of junk that hung in our living room window. A wide grin sprang onto my face at the promise of actual chilled air. I almost forgot to knock. I caught myself before I twisted the knob to let myself in and rapped my knuckles against the door instead.

Footsteps sounded from inside. The instant the door opened cold air washed over me, making it easy to breathe again. I closed my eyes, basking in the sensation of goose bumps erupting across my skin from the contrast of temperatures I was feeling. Cold on my front, heat on my behind.

“Hey. Come on in,” Eli said as a breath of amusement escaped him. I opened my eyes, knowing I looked crazy but not caring. The cool air felt too good. “I see you’re already enjoying my new luxury.”

I hurried inside and Eli closed the door behind me, sealing in the icy air. “Oh yeah. I can’t believe how humid it is out there today.”

“I know. Figured this would come in handy more than a couch.”

I stepped into the kitchen and placed my bags on the countertop. “Priorities.”

“Exactly. Sometimes you have to choose which level of comfort you’re ready to sacrifice in order to gain another. In this case, I’m fine sitting on the floor if it means I get to beat the heat wave.”

“Did you get one for every room or just in here?” I asked as I pulled my groceries from the bag and set them out on the counter.

“Every room. Well, not the bathroom, but I didn’t think it mattered.” He crossed into the kitchen.

“That’s awesome. I wish Gran would get one for me and Gracie’s room. It’s hot and stuffy in there at night.”

“Yeah, I can’t stand being hot when I’m trying to sleep.”

“Me either. That’s why I put a box fan in the window and crank it to high. Sometimes it helps. Sometimes it doesn’t.” I crumbled the plastic grocery bag up and tossed it in the trash. “So, do you have a pot for the soup and a pan for me to cook the grilled cheeses in?”

Eli maneuvered around me to retrieve what I’d asked for from a cabinet. His masculine scent wafted to my nose, causing my nerve endings to catch fire with want. I took a step back, putting distance between us. He didn’t seem to notice. When he came up holding a pot and pan, I took them and shifted to face the stove.

“How did everything go last night?” Eli asked.

It was a question I’d been expecting, but not one I cared to answer. Talking about Alec with Eli seemed wrong. On more than one level.

I bypassed thoughts of Alec and the kiss we’d shared in the lake while trying to focus on things that pertained to Glenn’s disappearance or anything that could be pack related.

“Eh.” I shrugged.

“What’s that mean?”

Had Tate not filled him in on things? “I wasn’t able to get any new information on Shane and his brothers.”

“Nothing?”

I shook my head. “No. And before you say anything, let me let me tell you why. I hoped I’d be able to get Becca talking again, but Ridley was there. Becca and I didn’t have a chance to chitchat like normal.”

At the mention of Ridley, I remembered the weird things she’d said to me.

“By the way, do you know anything about the Caraways?” I asked.

“What do you mean? I know they’re witches. The oldest witch family in Mirror Lake, actually,” he said as he watched me get out a stick of butter and begin rubbing it along the hot pan.

“I know that much. Ridley is new, though. She moved here a few months ago. I’m not sure she has the same magic as the others. Do you know anything about her? I know your dad keeps in close contact with the Caraways.”

“He keeps close contact with all supernaturals in town,” Eli corrected.

“Right.” Why did I get the feeling Eli was hinting at there being more supernaturals here than what I’d grown up knowing about? Were there more than the witches living in Mirror Lake?

The Montevallo vampires didn’t live here at the moment, they moved often to keep suspicion in regards to their never aging at bay, and the Caraway witches didn’t allow any other vampires to reside in Mirror Lake besides them. Any who tried were driven out by us. It was part of the deal we had going with the Caraway witches. They cloaked our ritual grounds so humans and others wouldn’t be able to harm us or witness our ceremonies. In return, we were to keep vampires who weren’t a part of the Montevallo vampire family away. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure why the witches wanted vampires banned from Mirror Lake, but I’d heard once it was because some held the power to compel witches to do their bidding, and the Caraway witches didn’t want to be controlled. I understood. I wouldn’t want a bloodsucker to control me either.

“Does your dad know anything about Ridley?” I bypassed the questions forming in my head about what other supernaturals might be living in my town and went directly to what I wanted to know more about—what powers did Ridley Caraway have?

“She has magic, if that’s what you’re asking,” Eli said. “It’s not as powerful as the others, though. Not yet, anyway. She’s a Caraway witch, but her bloodline was passed to her through her father. If it had come from a female born Caraway, she’d be much stronger. Her father was Rowena’s sister. Why?”

“She said some strange things to me last night.” I laid two slices of bread in the pan with the melted butter, allowing them to soak in some of the butter and toast before placing two slices of cheese on one. A good grilled cheese was made with two slices and loads of butter. That was the secret.

“What did she say to you?” Concern flared through his words. It had me looking away from the sandwich I was cooking to meet his stare.

“Nothing bad. Just something about how she could feel tragedy in the air when we were in the woods.”

“Okay.” Eli leaned against the counter beside me and folded his arms across his solid chest. Electricity pulsed to life across my skin nearest him. “I mean, that is where Glenn was abducted. We know from the blood and signs of struggle he wasn’t taken willingly. He’d been injured. Tragedy in the air might describe that section of woods well.”

“I guess.” I tried to ignore what he was making me feel and added more butter to the pan I was cooking his sandwich in. “The way she looked when she said it left an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach, though.”

“Understandable.” He started to say something else but paused when he saw me gearing up to say something more. “What? She said something else?”

“She warned me I should be careful.”

“Of what?”

I shrugged and then tried to cram two more slices of bread into the tiny pan. “She said she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what I needed to be careful of, but she’d feel bad if something happened to me and she didn’t warn me. There was something about last night that gave her a bad feeling.” I thought about adding how she’d said it after we had all been drinking and went for a swim in the lake but decided to keep that to myself. Knowing I’d been drinking while in Shane’s presence wasn’t going to sit well with Eli.

A sigh escaped him. His warm breath floated over the side of my face as he leaned closer to me. “I wasn’t going to say anything about this because I didn’t want you to be afraid, but somebody was in the woods last night and it wasn’t just Tate and Violet.”

A shiver slipped along my spine. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, somebody tranquilized Tate. Shot him in the ass actually.” A smirk twisted Eli’s lips as he ran a hand through his dark hair.

“Is he okay?” Thickness built in the back of my throat.

I knew someone had been watching me. When we were swimming in the lake, I’d felt someone’s eyes. Stupidly, I’d thought it was Tate. Now that I knew it hadn’t been him but someone else, my skin crawled.

Eli nodded. “Yeah, he’s okay. A little groggy and dizzy this morning, but after a couple hours, it should wear off.”

“Do you think it was Shane’s brothers?” I asked as I flipped our grilled cheeses over again.

“I do. I don’t think they were after Tate either,” Eli insisted. His voice had turned cold, causing fear to clench my gut. I had a feeling I knew what he’d say next. “I think they were after you, Mina.”

All the breath left my lungs. I shifted to face the stove, not wanting him to see the panic I was feeling reflected on my face. My eyes unfocused as I thought back to the sensation of someone watching me multiple times during the night and Ridley’s warning. “Do you think that’s what Ridley was trying to tell me? That Shane’s brothers were in the woods, waiting for an opportunity to abduct me?”

“It seems likely.” Fury rippled from him. It pressed against me, heating my skin.

I left the stove and placed as much distance between Eli and me as his small kitchen would allow while I searched for a can opener. A rusted one in the last drawer was all I found. Eli grabbed the can of soup before I could, and pulled the tab up on the top I hadn’t noticed. It popped open and he handed it to me. The scent of tomatoes and basil wafted to my nose. It was a familiar scent. One that should bring me comfort but didn’t.

Suddenly, I wasn’t hungry.

I dumped the soup into the heated pot. The more I thought about Tate being tranquilized, the more I wondered why I was still here. Why hadn’t they taken me once he was out of the way?

“After they took out Tate, why didn’t they come for me? I mean, if getting me was the plan all along, then leaving me behind doesn’t make sense.” As I said this, all I could think about was how Shane had been nice and too happy all night. Almost as though he’d been celebrating something…like me being abducted.

What an ass.

“I don’t know. That’s the one part I don’t understand.” Eli smoothed a hand along his jawline. The scratchy sound of his stubble found its way to my ears. “Maybe the tranquilizer was meant for you, but when they spotted Tate, they felt forced to use it on him instead. Could be you never gave them a good time to take you without it.”

I reached for a couple of paper plates from the cabinet near the stove and pulled the sandwiches off the heat.

“Maybe,” I whispered. “Or it could’ve been because I didn’t get as hammered as everyone else and neither did Ridley.”

“Hammered? You were drinking?” The edge to his words sent my stomach somersaulting.

“Shane brought a cooler of beer with him. We were all drinking. I didn’t have as much as everyone else, but the guys got smashed. Becca too. Ridley and I were the only ones who didn’t get shit-faced.” I found two Styrofoam bowls next to the paper plates and spooned the warm soup into them. “Even though Tate was in the woods, I was still worried something might happen, especially after Ridley’s warning, so I didn’t drink much.”

“You got drunk. In the woods. At night. With Shane in your presence.” He accentuated his words as though I were a small child being scolded.

I folded my arms across my chest and held his gaze. “No, I didn’t get drunk. Tipsy, sort of. It went away after I saw Violet in the woods, though. I was sober most of the night.”

Shit, Violet. I’d forgotten all about her.

“Doesn’t matter if you were sober. My point is, you drank alcohol in the woods with Shane after everything you know.”

“I think it does matter. Not being hammered like everyone else was what saved my ass.”

“How did it save you?” Eli growled.

“They probably thought I’d get drunk and fall asleep. I’m sure the tranquilizer was so I’d stay asleep during transport to wherever they planned to take me. Seeing Tate in the woods botched their plan. They were forced to use it on him instead, and since I wasn’t as drunk as they’d hoped, they were forced to leave me. So, yeah. Not being hammered saved me.”

Eli didn’t speak for a while. Neither of us did. My mind had circled back through the night, and all I could think about was Violet.

“What happened to Violet? Did Tate make sure she went home?” I asked.

“No.” Eli shook his head. “He never got to say anything to her. He didn’t even know she was in the woods last night when I talked to him earlier.”

“Didn’t you send him a message letting him know that she was?”

“I did, but he was in wolf form while watching you. He didn’t get my message until this morning.”

“So, he never made sure she got out of the woods safely?”

Eli’s eyes lifted to lock with mine. The same level of concern I felt was reflected in them. “No. He didn’t.”

My heart kick-started inside my chest. “What if she never made it back? What if they decided instead of taking me, they’d take her? Maybe it had nothing to do with me not being drunk enough. Maybe they spotted her. A young, female wolf. Alone. They’d already taken out Tate. What if they took her, Eli?”

Deep down, I already knew the answer to my question. It caused the blood in my veins to run cold.

Violet had been abducted in my place.