I watch Alaric and Emily talk privately from a far. I can't help but notice my body getting hotter and my fists clenching.
"Anne, Alaric is being an idiot. I don't think anything is happening between them. You're his mate. It would physically hurt him to hurt you," Chris tries to assure me.
"I don't believe that one bit. Look at them. She even has a cute nickname for him. Lykos, she calls him," I say low so Alaric won't hear me with his stupid werewolf ears.
"Maybe calm down a little, Anne. I can see purple flames in your eyes," Don says. I send him a glare.
"I'm supposed to just ignore seeing them all close and hugging and smiling," I ask him harshly. He doesn't answer.
"Anne, I think he's just trying to make you jealous. You should ignore what he's doing. It'll irritate him and he'll stop," Jaisley says.
"Why should she have to ignore it? Why can't he understand that this isn't ok," Cassandra asks.
Before she can get her answers, the door bell rings.
"And that must be Emily's cousin," my dad announces.
We all stand around as Emily opens the door for her cousin. Well.... Two cousins?
Two very identical looking men walk through the door. They're about the same height as Alaric, but share some facial features with Emily. One brunette smiles while the other stays serious.
"Let's get down to business, shall we," the one smiling says. He seems to be every energetic and out there, while his other half stays silent and observant.
Emily silently rolls her eyes playfully at her energetic cousin.
"Well everyone, these are my cousins, MJ and Vinney." MJ, the energetic one, bows in recognition while Vinney just nods his head.
"Vinney's mute, so you won't be hearing much from him," MJ says jokingly and serious at the same time. It earns him a punch in the arm from Vinney. "We were told you guys needed some help."
"We sure do," Kora says.
The two brothers walk around and shakes everyone's hand. I shake Vinney's hand first and he moves on, but when MJ comes to shake my hand, he stops for a dramatic moment.
"My my. What a gorgeous view," he says, which catches me by surprise. He bends down to drop a kiss on the knuckles of my hand.
I look behind him to see Alaric fuming. I can't help but get some satisfaction from observing him in boiling anger.
"Thank you," I tell MJ and he moves to greet the next person.
"We should get started," Cassey says after MJ and Vinney are done greeting everyone.
"Who are we using as our transporter," MJ asks.
"Chris," Emily answers. Chris looks nervous and shuffles around. MJ motions for Chris to take a seat on one of the chairs.
"What will I have to do? How does this even work," Chris asks. I watch as Vinney pulls out a red crystal from his bag.
"Vinney is going to place this red crystal in your hand, you'll close your eyes and think about how you felt when you were being controlled by Sybil. It'll rebuild a distant connection of some sort and we'll be able to track her down that way."
MJ says everything with an encouraging smile, but it only seems to make Chris feel worse.
"You can't do this," Don asks Chris in a soft tone. I can see tears start to prick at the edges of her eyes. She shakes her head silently.
"I'll do it," Don says, still keeping his eyes trained on Chris. She gets off the chair and gives Don a hug before he takes her spot on the chair.
"We should get moving. No time left to lose," Alaric points out. I hold back the urge to glare at him because he's standing next to Emily.
I can see the stupid grin on his face as he notices my jealousy.
"Could you please help me out darling," I hear MJ ask from right in front of me.
I watch Alaric's eyes train on MJ. His reaction is quite funny. I observe as his eyes flicker between dark and hazel brown. My smile almost turns sinister.
"Gladly."
He hands me a bunch of tiny needles. It looks like a million of them in this one pile.
"These are acupuncture needles. I need you to go around Don and place them into his legs and chest. I'll do the same thing to his arms, back, and shoulders," MJ instructs me, gathering his own pile of acupuncture needles.
Don takes off his shirt. Luckily for me he's wearing shorts. I go near his leg and I feel him flinch as I'm about to put the first needle in.
"Are you scared of a little needle, Don," I ask in a mocking manner. He looks around at his audience and lets out a nervous chuckle.
"Of course not." I stick the first one in and I watch him squeeze his eyes shut. He opens them back up when he doesn't feel anything.
"It doesn't hurt. Relax," MJ tells him. Don allows us to continue on without hesitation and a couple minutes later, his entire body apart from his face and his privates are covered in little needles.
He's sitting up straight with his back against the chair and his hands are held out in mid air.
"How do you feel," Chris asks.
"Numb and paralyzed," Don says, only really able to move his face.
"Good. That means it's working. The needles are laced with a kind of tranquilizer," MJ informs us.
Vinney brings the red crystal forward and places it into Don's open hands.
"Close your eyes and focus on how you felt when you were under Sybil's spell."
Don follows MJ's orders and closes his eyes. I can tell he doesn't want to do this just like Chris, but he does it because he knows it's the only way.
I know how reluctant he must be to go down the rabbit hole because of everything Chris told me about their experience with Sybil.
"I can't focus," he says with his eyes still closed.
"Don, just steady your breathing and focus on my voice," Chris says.
Don opens his eyes momentarily to meet his eyes with Chris'.
She nods her head at him and it's like they're having a conversation without everyone else being able to hear.