Blood of the Wolf: The Crown (Mackenzie Grey Book 11) by Karina Espinosa (best ebook reader under 100 .txt) 📕

Inside, the store looked roughly the same as the last time I was there a couple years ago. Shelves and racks crammed to bursting with potions, tonics, and remedies for your everyday needs, plus a spell here and there for everything else. Jars lined the wall behind the register with unfamiliar herbs, and a middle-aged woman stood behind the counter with reddish brown hair, big doe eyes, and a heart-shaped mouth. Just like Scarlet. They could be twins.

Her eyes widened when she saw me. “Mackenzie!” she shouted as she came around the counter with her arms spread wide. “It’s about time ye came to see me, lass!”

Cosima enveloped me in a hug and I embraced her just as tightly. “It’s great to see you, Cosima. You look well.”

She pulled back and sized me up and down. “Ye don look so bad yerself!” she laughed.

“How’s Scarlet doing?” I asked, getting the formalities out of the way.

Cosima beamed at the mention of her daughter. “She’s thriving at the Academy, but she was beside herself when she couldn’t make it to your mating ceremony.” She frowned.

I waved her off. “No worries. School comes first. Scarlet needs to become the best witch in history,” I smirked.

“Aye.” Cosima smiled brightly. “She’s so talented, ye ken. She can go anywhere after graduation, to any coven.”

I twisted my mouth to the side. “Maybe I should recruit her before anyone snatches her up.”

Cosima brightened. “That would be lovely!” She straightened and refocused on me. “Anyway, Mackenzie, what brings ye to my shop?”

“I’m sure you’re no stranger to the rumors …” I sighed and ran my hands through my hair in frustration.

“Aye, I heard what happened.” Her face fell. “May the goddess be with them.”

Goddess? You know what, I wasn’t even going to touch that. To each their own.

“Our enemy is extremely powerful, Cosima; someone we can’t easily defeat,” I said. “I need your help.”

She jerked back in surprise. “Me? What could I possibly do to help?”

“You’re a powerful witch. You must know some way to keep someone out of your mind,” I urged.

I’d given this a lot of thought. Could Abaddon really control the air, or was he just controlling their minds into thinking they couldn’t breathe? The latter was my guess. Could a thought kill you? I didn’t know. Maybe it could.

“Mind control?” Cosima reiterated. “Hm … that’s a tough one. I don think I’ve ever dealt with that before.”

“Can you think of anything? A spell, a protection ward, anything?”

“What about yer tattoo?” Cosima asked, pointing to my hip where a Celtic triquetra tattoo was located. “The one that protects ye from malicious magic?”

I sighed. “It didn’t work.” When Bash, William, and I were in Caledonian Forest, Abaddon was able to make me see what wasn’t there, which meant my tattoo didn’t work against whatever kind of magic Abaddon had.

“I don know, lass. This isn’t something I can come up with on the spot. Can ye give me some time to think on it and see what I come up with?” Cosima asked.

Time wasn’t on our side, but I nodded anyway. It wasn’t fair of me to rush her and demand an answer right away. If she didn’t know, she didn’t know. I couldn’t pull an answer out of thin air.

“Please try to be quick, Cosima. This is dire,” I said, trying to convey just how serious the situation was.

“Of course, lass. I’ll get on it right away.”

We made it back to the castle in record time and without anyone noticing we’d left in the first place, which was what I wanted. I didn’t want to worry anyone, but this was something I needed to ask Cosima if she could do. If we could protect the village from Abaddon, we would be one step ahead of the game.

Liam led me to the royal wing where I walked straight to my bedroom and found Bash knocked out asleep. I quietly closed the door and kicked off my shoes before heading to the closet to change into something more comfortable. When I emerged, I went to crawl into bed for an afternoon nap when one of Bash’s eyes opened.

“Hey,” he grumbled, opening his eyes. “You just coming in?”

“Yeah,” I whispered. “I’m a little tired, so I thought I’d rest a bit.”

“You shouldn’t be on your feet so much,” Bash mumbled.

I smiled and ran my fingers through his soft, midnight black hair. “It’s not so bad. Once I get bigger, I’m sure I’ll complain, but for now, I don’t even have a pooch. So don’t worry so much.”

Bash placed a hand over my abdomen, and his hand felt warm to the touch. “I can’t believe this … I’ve wanted it for so long, but never thought it was possible,” he murmured sleepily. His ocean blue eyes never strayed away from my stomach.

“Neither did I,” I whispered sadly.

Bash removed his hand and sat up. “I’m going to visit Angus tomorrow. Hopefully he’ll come out to see me.”

“You are?” I frowned. “Why?”

He sighed. “Because while I’m happy, I’m also angry. This wasn’t your choice.”

I grinned at him and reached for his hand. “Thank you. But don’t start a war,” I relented. “We have enough enemies right now. We don’t need another one.”

“We can’t just let him off the hook, Mackenzie,” Bash growled.

I shook my head. “We won’t. But everything in due time, as you say,” I smirked. “Besides, I’d like to go with you to visit Angus. Now that we have more information, maybe he’ll spill a bit more on what he knows.”

“He’s going to want something in return,” Bash warned. “We can’t bargain with the fae. Not again.”

“No. Not again,” I agreed. “Either they share it voluntarily or we don’t get it at all.”

“Okay … I don’t know how I feel about bringing you into the forest again so soon after—”

I cut him off. “We’ll be fine.”

Bash rolled his eyes. “Fenrir won’t stop coming to the castle to see you. He’s desperate for you to work with Ophelia.”

I sighed.