That’s nice, I mused, the threat of their doctor with his needles keeping me quiet.

Pam swayed to a halt before two women. They didn’t look enough alike to be friends. The tallest was wearing a well-worn leather halter and classically torn jeans, and the other had on an inappropriate dress suit and heels. Visiting alphas, I guessed.

The four men around Jenks had lowered their weapons a smidge, and I sidled past. I was finding it easier to ignore the barrels pointed at me, though stress had me wound tighter than Ivy’s last blind date. “Jenks,” I said. “I want to turn you small.”

His worry melted into disbelief. “What the hell for?”

I grimaced, wishing the guards weren’t hearing this. “You can fly back to the mainland while it’s warm, get on a bus, go home, and forget I ever asked you to help me with this. I don’t know if I have enough ever-after spindled to invoke both spells, and I can’t let you risk being stuck like this if I—” I grimaced. “—if I get hurt,” I finished. “I don’t think Ceri can reverse the curse herself, so she’d have to twist a new one, and for that she’d need demon blood….” I wanted him to tell me I was being an ass and that he was with me to the end, but I had to offer.

His brow furrowed. “Are you done?” he said softly. I said nothing, and he leaned forward, putting his lips beside my ear. “You’re a dumbass witch,” he whispered, his words soft but intent, and I smiled. “If I could, I’d pix you for a week for even suggesting I up and leave you here. You’re going to unwind that ever-after in your head to Were. Then you’re going to pin that woman. And then we will get the hell off this island with Nick.

“I’m your backup,” he said, taking a flushed step backward. “Not a come-easy friend who flies away at the first sign of a problem. You need me, witch. You need me to carry Nick if he’s unconscious, hotwire the jeep to drive back to the beach, and steal a boat if he can’t swim. And Jax is fine,” he added. “He’s a grown pixy and can take care of himself. I made sure before we left that he knew the number to the church and could read Cincinnati off the bus schedule.”

The lines in his face eased, and a crafty glint replaced the hard anger in his eyes. “I don’t need to be small to get out of these cuffs.” He sent one eyebrow up, turning into a scallywag. “Five seconds, easy.”

The wash of relief flowing through me was distressingly short-lived. “But I’m not going to let her pin me,” I said. “I’m going to fight until I can’t anymore. If I die, you’re stuck like this.”

His smile widened. “Aw, you aren’t going to die,” he said mischievously.

“Why? Because you’re with me?”