Wining Celeste (Book 4) Jacobs Broken Mercenaries

chapter 16

Grayson

She’s rattled, and the fact amps up my anger at the soon-to-be-dead bloodsucker who dared to touch her. Celeste is silent the whole ride over to the burned down warehouse. I already miss her playful side.
“Finally!” Lucifer groans. I sneer. It’s an automated reaction to his voice. If left up to me, he’d be dead, but he’s Jolene’s father, and what hurts her hurts all of us. The degenerate has to live.
“How does it feel to have your plan, blow up in your face? Witch!”
“Watch it! You’re talking to my mate!” I growl, flashing my growing teeth at Lucifer in warning. 
Lucifer rolls his eyes, muttering “lucky” sarcastically. The jokes on him, I am lucky. I won’t be soon... the moon is nearly full. This morning was just the start. I slipped, lost focus for a few minutes. With how wound tight she is, I don’t suppose she’s the rough and tumble type. I doubt she could handle the animalistic taking wolves’ demand at that time of the month. Worse, so for an unclaimed mate. She may be an infamous witch, but she’s still human, still vulnerable.
“Where is Jolene?” Lucifer’s question takes me out of my daze.
“Sorry she didn’t want to come. She’s working,” Jacob tells him.
So that’s why he picked her. She must have asked him. I watch Celeste break lines made up of some sort of powder on both exits and then around the cell lucifer occupies. The room silences as she stands in front of lucifer. 
“Abracadabra, I free you.”
As soon as her last word is uttered, Lucifer disappears. Celeste makes a sound of distress and leans against the bars. I hurry to her and clasp her elbow.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
When she doesn’t immediately answer me, I grab her face, looking into her eyes.
“Knock it off! I’m fine.”
She smacks my hands away, standing up on her own.
“Better than fine, actually. The spell I placed must have morphed. The magnitude of power I just got back was substantial.”
Is that even possible?
“What do you mean?” Jacob asks, coming to stand beside me. She shakes her head and shrugs her shoulders.
“I don’t even know what that means, but essentially; when I did the spell, his power was significant... when I reversed it, I got back tenfold. He’s somehow grown his power while sitting in this cell without breaking my hold. Unless he could have during that shift and never tried, but I doubt that.”
I still don’t get it. By the look on Jacob’s face, neither does he.
“How could he do that?” Jacob asks.
“That’s the part I can’t figure out. I’d start by finding out where he went and just ask him.”
I chuckle at her obvious advice.
“Or you could pay an exhausted witch a lucrative amount to do a location spell.”
A full-blown laugh erupts from my chest and continues when I get a glimpse of Jacob’s raised brows. Ever the opportunist, well, never go broke. 
“it’s not a bad idea.” I suggest. Jacob nods with a faux forlorn sigh as he pulls out his wallet. Jacob is loaded. We all are pretty well off thanks to his old money and connections that go further back than my existence.
They settle on five hundred, and she begins to clear the floor, pulling items out of her duffle. Once she has a map, candle, and pendant, she sits cross-legged on the floor. Celeste mumbles a few words repetitively and holds the pendant over our location. Several uneventful minutes pass. Celeste groans and passes the money back to Jacob.
“What is it?” Amanda asks
“I can’t get a location, which means-”
“he’s not on earth.” I finish for her.
“Exactly.” she says, with a breathtaking smile aimed my way.
Jacob passes the money back to her.
“The information is still valuable. Keep it.” 
She smiles, thanking him and stuffing the money into her duffle. 
“Grayson, keep her safe and stay in touch with Estevan. Amanda, feel like exploring?”
Amanda stands pin straight and salutes.
“Anytime, boss.”
I laugh. They make quite the pair. Jacob, the reserved soldier and Amanda, the aloof jokester. They’re definitely going to have a day. Me? I finally have Celeste all to myself, and I’m suddenly nervous and excited all at once.
“Can you give me a ride to the house? I’ve got a lot of work to do.”
And... there goes the excitement. What could she possibly have to do that’s so pressing? With a nod, I follow her outside.