She shook her head at the idiots in front of her. Did they not see her holding a big ass shotgun? Did they think she was afraid to use it? “Take one more step, and you’ll be sorry. I’m not about to let a bunch of redneck bears destroy everything my family built for some lame-ass revenge.”
“How did you …” Gavin asked.
“You’ve got your magic. I’ve got my own. Now, back the fuck up before I give you a wound you won’t heal from.”
“All right! All right! Send that bear you got running your bar out, and we’ll be on our way,” Gavin demanded.
“You, fools. The bar is closed tonight. He’s off. Now, get the fuck out of here. Last warning.” Makayla lowered the gun and pulled the trigger. “Like I said, get the fuck off my property.” She flipped open the double barrel and sent the shells flying before quickly slamming two more into place and cocking the gun once more.
“Crazy ass bitch,” Gavin shouted as he danced out of the way of her warning shot.
“You’re damn right, I am.”
She watched as the men reluctantly mounted their motorcycles and sped out of the parking lot. Once she heard the engines rumbling away from town, she yanked her cell phone from her pocket and called her friend Cole.
“Hey, Kayla. What’s up?” Cole asked.
“I just had a visit from some bad news bears trying to firebomb the hotel. They wanted Nick,” she said.
“How long ago did they leave?” he asked.
“Not even a minute ago. They headed west, out of town.”
“Thanks. I’m on it,” Cole said, disconnecting the call.
ChapterTwenty-Three
“The magical alarms have been going off at the café,” Maggie said as Cole ended his call with Makayla.
“Do you have any video surveillance?”
“Of course we do.” She pulled up the cameras on her iPad and handed it to Cole.
“Are these the same guys that tried to attack you, Nick?” Cole asked, showing him the footage from Wicked Brew Café.
“Yep. That’s them. That one right there is Gavin, the leader. The one who wanted me to submit.” Nick pointed to the tallest of the men in the frame.
“You’re sure?” Cole asked.
“Yep. Hell, you can still see the swipe across his face that hasn’t healed all the way yet.”
“Yeah, there’s definitely something wrong with him if that hasn’t healed.” Cole flicked through the videos and still images. “Looks like they were trying to start shit at the café and the hotel tonight. You were right about them wanting revenge.”
“So, what do we do? Raid their compound?” Gina asked. That was the last thing she wanted to do. In fact, she would love to see it all burn to the ground. That way, no one could ever commit any of the horrors.
“No. That’s too risky. We can’t take that kind of chance. I have no idea how many bears he has control over. We need to set up some sort of trap,” Cole said.
“Fight them where we have the upper hand,” Clint suggested.
“Exactly. And we need to do it soon. The more time that goes by, the more damage they are going to try to inflict on the town, and I can’t have that,” Cole said.
“Agreed. So what do you suggest?” Gina asked.
“Can you put up a magical barrier to trap them in a certain location? Maybe, say, a field or something like that? Once they are there, they can’t escape?” Cole asked.
“Yeah, I know how to do that. It’s a pretty simple containment spell,” Annie replied. “I will need help from Clara and Maggie to make it strong enough to hold several full-grown bears, though.”
“Will that be enough?” Cole asked.