Wiley perked up and wiggled in Baer’s lap to face them, excitement lighting his animated face. “Oh, my God! It was such a mess. The drive was so freaking long and boring. There are only so many hours I can play on my phone, and Baer was whining the entire time that Clay wouldn’t let him drive.”
“We wanted to get there in one piece,” Dane muttered.
“But we found the apartment, and it was totally trashed. This guy did not go without a fight.”
Gio’s stomach clenched and Calder’s fingers tightened on his. “Blood? Was he hurt?”
Clay shook his head. “Not that we saw. Hale probably was hurt, but we saw nothing to indicate that the injuries might be fatal.”
“I set up everything I needed for the seeking spell in the center of the living room,” Wiley continued.
“And he created a freaking tornado in the apartment!” Baer interrupted. From his expression, Gio honestly couldn’t tell if the man was horrified or proud of his mate.
Wiley winced. “Yeah…it was the first time I’d ever done that spell. It…it was messy.”
“A disaster,” Dane corrected.
“Wiley had to end the spell, clean up, and try a second time,” Clay said, picking up the tale. “But we managed to narrow down his current location to the Charleston area.”
Gio’s heart nearly stopped. Charleston was his hometown. He knew that city better than anyone else. Was this fate stepping in to give him a hand? Someone somewhere was trying to tell him that he needed to help the Weavers. Why else would he be put in their path?
“I’m from Charleston,” Gio blurted out. “I can help. I know that entire city. Do you know what part of Charleston he’s being held in?”
Wiley shook his head. “I think because of the distance, I couldn’t get an exact location. We need to go there next. I can cast the seeking spell again and get a better pinpoint on the Air Weaver.”
Grey grunted. “Makes sense. John was stuck here attacking us with the Girl Scouts. Putting Hale in Charleston means he has to travel only a short distance to meet up with his captive while keeping him close to us and the house.”
Clay nodded. “As much as I hate to leave Hale in the hands of the pestilents, we need to wait a day. Give Wiley time to recuperate before we head out again.” He then turned his attention to Gio, his expression ominous and his words weren’t any better. “It’ll give us a chance to deal with our newest problem.”
“Clay,” Lucien snarled, but the Earth Weaver ignored him to look at Grey.
“Why the hell didn’t you wipe his memory while you were working on the Girl Scouts?”
Grey groaned and rubbed his eyes. “Can you not put it that way? That sounds disgusting.”
“Grey,” Clay growled.
“Clay,” Grey said irritably before waving a hand at the three of them on the sofa. “Look at them.”
With a huff, Clay turned his gaze on all of them. For a second, his expression didn’t change from the grimace, but it slowly peeled away to an expression of shock and then amusement. He jerked his eyes to Grey. “Are you shitting me?”
“Nope.” Grey was now quite smug as he stretched out on the love seat, his feet crossed at the ankles.
“All of them?”
“Yep.”
“What?” Dane demanded, his gaze darting from Grey to the three of them and back again.
“Yeah, this is creepy. Grey and Clay are never in agreement about anything,” Baer said.
Wiley waved a hand in the air. “Translation for those of us who don’t have a weird brain-link with Grey.” Gio couldn’t agree more. Something was going on and while he was glad Clay didn’t look grim any longer, he wasn’t sure this was an improvement.
Grey extended his hand toward Lucien, Calder, and Gio with a flourish. “Soul mates.”
For several seconds, no one moved. No one breathed. Nothing. It was like a bomb had been set off in the center of the room, and no one quite knew how to react. Gio’s brain had completely locked up. Soul mates. They were soul mates? Excitement and horror surged through him in equal doses.
“What?” Calder finally gasped.
Grey’s smugness softened into something gentler. “Gio is linked to you both. That tangled thread I told you about has completely untangled with the addition of Gio. It wraps around all three of you. It’s quite beautiful, actually.”
Gio couldn’t help it. He looked at his waist, half expecting to see some loose thread linking him to Lucien and Calder, but there was nothing for him to see. “I don’t understand.”
“I can see soul mates,” Grey said. “They appear as a red satin ribbon as strong as steel that wraps around the two—or in your case three—mates.” He motioned to Baer and Wiley in the chair, and then Clay and Dane, who was perched on the arm of Clay’s chair. “They’ve all got a ribbon.” He motioned toward himself and Cort. “We’ve got it.”