Rathe studied me for one long uncomfortable moment. I said nothing but held his gaze. All the anger I had tried to deny tonight about his being so entranced by my sister simmered there in my gaze, and I knew it. When I said nothing more, he went to the passenger side and climbed inside without attempting anymore small talk.

With one last wave from Heath, the headlights lit up the night and they drove away.

“Poor guy has been in love with you for so damn long it’s like a habit, and the new one, Rathe, well, he knows you’re attracted to him and that the Leanne thing pissed you off. I think he regrets it,” Duely said matter-of-factly.

Frowning, confused by Duely’s rambling sentence, I stared at him instead of the departing Jeep. “What?”

Duely lifted a singular eyebrow. “Heath is in love with you. He was the last time I saw him, and the first time I met him, and you have to fucking know that. Rathe knows you think he’s hot because, let’s be honest he’s gorgeous, and he regrets upsetting you with entertaining the slut we know as evil sister number two.”

There was so much messed up with all he said, and I didn’t have time to consider that insanity. Duely often read too much into situations and people. I was used to it. I chose to ignore all of his words.

“There was a man out here tonight,” I said instead. “When I came out here to get away, he was in the shadows on the other side of the gazebo. He couldn’t come any further. There was a protection that affected only him. He wasn’t just a man. He had to be a caster. A dark one. A really dark one.”

Duely didn’t say anything right away. He looked around and frowned as if he were confused. Nothing seemed to ring a bell.

“What were you coming out here to check on?” I asked wondering now if his mother had sent him to see if things were safe. The spell in place was too strong and dark for my sisters to have cast it alone. My mother and aunt had to know something. Which would make them want the place scanned for danger.

“I was going to get a fucking doobie from my car and take the edge off,” he said with a shrug. “I don’t feel a protection spell of any kind around this place,” he added.

I wasn’t surprised. For something so powerful it was very well hidden. Subtle seemed too weak of a word to describe it but somehow it was.

“I didn’t either at first,” I explained. “But the man couldn’t cross it. He was amused by it and… and then he just vanished, teleported. Right in front of my eyes.”