CHARLOTTE’S P.O.V
We all sat in silence while Greg sketched. Logan made tea for me while we waited. Adamaris muttered something about how chivalry is dead since Logan didn’t make one for her too. This led Logan to mutter about how witches should get their own mates to do things for them.
They kept on trading back and forth quips between themselves until Greg muttered something about how he was close to stabbing his ears with his pencil. I giggled and they both shot me looks as if I had betrayed them.
A little over half an hour later, Greg was done with the sketch and when I saw it, I was taken aback by how life like it looked. He got every single feature of her perfectly, from the slight crookedness of her nose to the fullness of her lips and even down to the meanness of her smirk.
After staring at it for a while, I passed it on to Adamaris. She took one look at it and cursed.
“Do you know her?” I asked and she nodded.
“She used to be in my coven,” she said slowly as she folded the drawing into neat squares, “her name is Esmeralda.”
“You know her name?” I couldn’t stop the surprise that snuck into my voice.
“Everyone knows her name,” she scoffed, “It is greatly frowned upon to practice black magic in my coven. She was discovered and disgraced in the worst way possible for a witch- her name was revealed and her powers were supposed to be taken away.”
“You said supposed to be,” it was Logan who spoke, “What happened?”
“We underestimated how deep she had gone into black magic. Knowing her name didn’t help us, she already had a lot more weapons in her arsenal. She destroyed our coven and ran away; no one has heard from her since. Our leaders have tried to hunt her down for years but she has been in hiding, nothing could lure her out. Not threats to her family- nothing.”
“This talisman has to be important to her for her to risk coming out of hiding for it. We have to find it before she does.” She finished.
“She knows where it is.” I said softly and they all turned to me, “She told me that she knows where it is but according to the deal she had with Hunter; she couldn’t take it unless she did everything in her power to break my bond.”
At my words, Logan laced his fingers with mine and squeezed softly.
“I don’t understand why she didn’t break the bond.” Adamaris cut through the silence, “You were in her grasp.”
“She tried but then she found out about the baby; she couldn’t risk her magic destroying her, so she stopped.”
The room went silent after that. No one seemed to know what to say or do, but I know we were all thinking the same thing; ‘We need to find that talisman before she does.’
“Charlotte,” I turned to Adamaris, “Can you try to remember anything at all that Hunter may have told you to hint towards where the talisman is?”
I shook my head, “I can’t, I’m sorry. I don’t think he would have wanted to tell me anyway. He is a very selfish and controlling person. He wouldn’t want someone else to have an edge or an advantage over him.”
“She’s right,” Greg added, “Knowing him, he would have kept the talisman so close to him so that no one else had a chance of finding it.”
They continued talking but I couldn’t help but mull over Greg’s words; ‘so close to him’. Where would Hunter have kept it? It would have been in the cabin where he could keep a close eye on it. Could it be possible?
“What are you thinking?” Logan’s voice snapped me out of my reverie, “You look like you just made a huge discovery.”
“What if the talisman was close to Hunter?”
“Of course it was,” he said, “You and Greg just said that.”
“No, you don’t understand,” I implored, “What if it was close to him all the time; like within reach at all times.”
They looked confused and I was ready to growl in frustration until Greg spoke up.
“That would not be totally out of character for him,” he mused, “I think you’re on to something Charlie.”
“What are you talking about?” it was Adamaris who interrupted this time.
“I think Greg had the talisman on him,” I explained, “It would make sense why she said she knew where it was because it was with him at all times. It would also be perfectly within reason to say that he was paranoid enough to not want to leave it lying around.”
“That’s not a bad theory,” she said after a beat.
I turned to Logan, “What did you do with Hunter’s clothes?”
“Buried him in it,” he shrugged, “What else would I do with them?”
“We need them dug up.” He raised a brow at me as if to say ‘who is going to do that?’. “If the talisman was with him then it is buried six feet underground.”
“His grave isn’t that deep.” I shot Logan a hard look, “I’ll get some people to dig it up and check. But what if it isn’t there?”
“Then it’s back to the drawing board, I guess.” I shrugged, “But it’s worth the risk.”
It seemed that everything was settled. Adamaris and Greg stood up to leave when Logan’s phone rang. He answered it while I walked the others to the door.
I was about to shut the door when Logan stopped me. I looked to him in confusion as he handed me a hoodie.
“It’s cold outside,” he said as way of explanation but I only got more confused so he added, “Aubrey and Evan are awake; they’re asking to see us.”
***********************
We met with them in a private conference room in the pack house. If I’m being honest, I didn’t even know that it existed. It is on the second floor, there aren’t any offices in use around it and the room is sound proof so it gives the needed privacy.
Logan and I got there first, and I sat in one of the black cushioned chairs while he stood behind me and softly kneaded my shoulders.
We didn’t have to wait long before Aubrey and Evan made their way in. I didn’t exactly count but I’m sure it didn’t take up to two full minutes. Evan was still in his outfit from earlier but Aubrey had changed, she was wearing a pair of black sweatpants two sizes too big and a huge black hoodie. As she got closer, I realized that they belonged to Evan because of the smell.
“You look better,” I said to Aubrey in an attempt to break the ice and she cracked a small smile, “I hope you were able to rest well.”
“I was, thank you,” she paused to glance up at her mate.
They seemed to have a short conversation with their eyes and then before I could think, she had me pulled into a hug.
“Thank you,” she whispered, “He slept like a baby; I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am. Thank you so much.”
“I didn’t do anything; it was all her.” I wouldn’t dare take credit for what Adamaris has done; she is the real hero here, not me. “And it was the least I could do after everything that I caused.”
“You still did it,” she pulled away, “That is what matters. And I am forever grateful to you for it.”
She walked back to her mate’s side and he put a hand at the small of her back then turned to Logan and I and gave us a curt nod.
“Thank you,” he said simply.
I’m getting used to the fact that Evan is a man of few words. He only talks when he needs to, and even then, he says only what is necessary.
“Kaden is still asleep,” Aubrey began, “He’s probably catching up on a month’s worth of sleep. We were wondering if we could stay the weekend. It was my idea obviously; and you’ll barely even know we’re here. Kaden is too weak to travel and I’m still not steady on my feet yet either.”
I turned to Logan and he gave a little shrug, so subtle that I’m sure they wouldn’t have noticed it. His answer was clear: ‘if you’re cool with it, then so am I.’
I turned back to Aubrey and gave her a smile, “You’re welcome to stay however long you want to.”
She let out a sigh of relief and pulled me into one hug before Evan pulled her away while whispering about how she needs to sleep.
I watched them with a smile and didn’t even realize when Logan came to stand next to me; he had a disapproving look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” I asked suddenly feeling like I had made a bad decision, “Did you want me to tell them they couldn’t stay? I didn’t know, I thought-,”
“Why didn’t you tell me that you’re not steady on your feet yet.” I looked at him in confusion and he sighed, “Aubrey said she wasn’t steady on her feet yet. I’m going to take a good guess and say that you aren’t either.”
“I’m fine,” I tried to brush it off, “Really; I just want this whole thing over so that we can stop looking over our shoulders every damn second.”
He scoffed as he led me out of the conference room. “You should have told me; this could have waited until later.”
“Logan,” I kept my voice soft, “I’m fine; everything is fine. It’s not a big deal.”
“You need to start worrying about yourself Charlotte.”
“Okay, I will. I’m sorry,” I sighed, “Can we just go home so you can hold me?”
I was barely done with my sentence when I felt a tiny body collide with mine. I looked down and saw a mop of curly black hair and a toothy smile,
“Hey Amy,” I couldn’t help the smile that grew on my face as I lifted her onto my hip, “I haven’t seen you in ages.”
She gave me a toothy smile as she made a noise of content deep in the back of her throat. I turned to Samantha who looked tired but otherwise happy to see me.
“Hey,” she gave me a small nod in response, “You look exhausted.”
“Having a kid does that to you,” she joked, “You should try it sometime.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
She laughed softly before turning her attention to Amy, “Come on, you have to say bye to Charlie.”
Amy’s lips puckered up as her eyes welled up with unshed tears- oh shit, “No,” she moaned, “I want cha wee.”
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered to Sam but she waved me off.
It took a lot of coaxing and a few tears but we finally extracted Amelia from my hands. She wasn’t pleased about it at all but at least she didn’t throw a tantrum.
Samantha left soon after so Amy wouldn’t change her mind, and I was left watching them leave. I didn’t know I was staring until Logan placed a soft hand on my shoulder.
“Come on,” he whispered, “We have to get you into bed.”