Gretchen was excited and scared when she looked up at Colson and saw his anger radiating off of him. “Colson,” Gretchen breathed out as she felt a shiver rush through her.

Colson’s eyes rolled as he sucked in the scent of his mate. He let out a growl as he took in the other scents surrounding his girl; stupid wolves. The one sitting next to Gretchen quickly pulled his arm away from her and threw his hands up in surrender. “We are sorry, man. We didn’t know that she was mated. We’ll go,” the man confessed as he and his friend hurried out of the booth and left.

Gretchen sat there, frozen with fear and desire, knowing this could go two ways. One, Colson could get really angry and be mad at her. Two, being his overprotective self, could sweep her into his arms and kiss her deeply. Gretchen was really hoping for the second way.

Colson sat across from Gretchen; he kept his eyes closed as he continued to reign in his temper. He knew this could go so many ways; all his instincts told him to be angry and possessive.

Gretchen continued to watch Colson, and her shoulders slowly dropped as she figured option two was no longer on the table.

***

Vita stepped out of the car and noticed something odd. A group of about twelve crows were hanging on a line; she looked in another direction and saw another group of twelve sitting on top of a building. Vita remembered reading something about twelve crows being called a “murder” in old English times. Vita hoped it wasn’t true as she walked into the cafe and went to where Gretchen and Colson sat.

“Gretchen! What are you doing out here?” Vita exclaimed when she got to the booth.

Gretchen was relieved to see the reinforcements that came with Colson. At least she wouldn’t have to deal with his temper alone.

“I was following Tabitha and Esha; when I got to the lobby, I realized I didn’t have my phone with me. I didn’t want to lose Tabitha and continued to follow her,” Gretchen confessed.

Marco’s temper fumed deep inside him. He still hadn’t heard anything from Tabitha and was beyond worried about her.

“Where is she?” Marco barked. He didn’t mean to have so much anger in his voice when he asked Gretchen where Tabitha was, but he needed to find his mate.

Colson growled at Marco.

Gretchen reached across the table to try to calm Colson down, but Colson pulled away from her touch. Gretchen’s heart wrenched as she felt the rejection hit her hard.

“Tabitha is across the street in that building. I figured this would be a good spot to sit and wait for her to come out,” Gretchen conveyed.

“You were foolish to come out here all by yourself. You should have waited, and we could have gone together as a group to look for Tabitha,” Colson spoke through gritted teeth.

Gretchen’s mouth dropped after listening to what Colson thought. Gretchen squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, “I’m not a fragile girl, who can’t take care of herself,” she said defensively. “In case you have forgotten, I’m a witch.”

“They were wolves, strong ones too. They backed off as quickly as they did because they could smell my Alpha scent,” he growled out.

Gretchen stood up from the table, “Colson, you might see me as some fragile girl that you need to protect at all times. I’m sorry for giving you that impression of me,” she said as she flung her hands around and whispered a spell that had Colson locked into the booth.

Colson could feel his anger grow. “Gretchen, let me out. Now!”

Deak stepped in between to ease the tension. “I think we all need to take a breath and step back. Gretchen, why don’t you undo Colson and then go pay the bill for your breakfast while I take Colson outside for some fresh air,” Deak suggested.

Gretchen broke the spell and turned away quickly, with Vita following behind her.

Deak hooked his arm under Colson’s and kept a tight hold on him. “Alright, let’s head outside and get some fresh air before you smother all of us with your Alpha scent.” He directed Colson out to the exit. The moment they were outside, Deak released Colson and stepped back.

Colson huffed as he paced back and forth, trying to calm his anger and frustration. He knew deep down that he was acting immature about this. Colson had heard Gretchen tell them she had a boyfriend. It’s not like she was flirting with them and trying to make him jealous. But that wasn’t stopping the thoughts and feelings he was experiencing at the moment. Gretchen was his girl, and Colson didn’t want anything or anyone messing that up.

Vita and Gretchen stepped out of the cafe a moment later. Gretchen stayed behind Vita; she wanted as much distance between her and Colson that she could get. Gretchen understood that he was protective of her, and yes, seeing him act like that brought tingles to her stomach. But lashing out at her was not cool. Gretchen realized she’d played the weak girl for too long and needed to stand up for herself.

“So, what are we going to do about Tabitha?” Gretchen asked. They all could hear the animosity in her voice.

Colson narrowed his eyes at her and let out a growl.

Gretchen didn’t want to give him the power that he was intimidating her and met his glare with one of her own.

Marco stepped between Colson and Gretchen, breaking their glaring contest, and suggested, “Why don’t you all head back to the hotel? I will stay here and keep tabs on my mate.”

“Are you sure we can stay with you?” Vita asked.

Marco shook his head and wanted to protest... when a bird dropped dead onto the sidewalk before them.

They all looked at each other with confused expressions. Marco leaned over and took a look at the bird. “It’s a crow,” he told them.

Another bird fell, and then another. The street was starting to fill up with dead crows.

“Everyone back up under the awning,” Deak ordered.

Colson moved over and pulled Gretchen into his arms. He didn’t care if this pissed her off or not; he would make sure he protected his mate from whatever this was.

Vita hung close to Deak as they watched the birds continue to fall from the sky. Nothing in the air was causing them to die. Vita thought about the rain from the other day; maybe this was about the omens, she thought to herself.

“Do you think it might have something to do with Merga?” Vita asked.

Deak shrugged as he looked up to see if there were any more birds.

“Maybe I should check in on Amanda and see if she’s found anything,” Vita volunteered.

“I think that’s a wise choice.”