“Do what?” He placed the dart gun back into his belt. “Save all of our asses?”
“Cut him off mid-sentence,” I said. “It sounded like he was going to tell us why the demons are after me. But you cut him off before he could finish!”
“We’ll figure out what the demons want with you,” Noah said. “Just not at the risk of your safety.”
“I’m at risk while we’re demon hunting no matter what.” I held his gaze, refusing to back down. “I seriously can’t believe you did that.”
“I won’t apologize for saving your life.” Given his stern expression, I knew he meant it. He was one of the most stubborn people I’d ever met—beside myself, of course.
“Can we finish this conversation later?” Sage asked, looking back and forth between the two of us in irritation. “Because we need to get out of here. We only have five minutes until Azazel reappears.”
She didn’t have to say it twice.
Without another word, the three of us hurried back toward the hotel, wanting to put as much distance between us and that alley as possible.
Raven
We didn’t make it far before someone grabbed me out of nowhere and threw me into a brick wall.
I closed my eyes, bracing for impact.
Nothing happened.
When I opened my eyes, I was standing in a low-lit, dingy bar. A semi-circle of about twenty-five people surrounded me, all of them glaring at me as if I’d done something to seriously piss them off.
The person who had grabbed me—a woman in her thirties—was holding onto both of my wrists and had secured a handcuff around one of them. I glanced to the side and saw Noah, who was also being held down.
Sage wasn’t far behind. She and another one of the strong strangers materialized straight through the wall, like the bricks were made of nothing.
Both she and Noah were also cuffed.
“Rougarou,” Sage muttered, glancing around at the people in the room. “Crap.”
Noah tried to fight the person—the rougarou—restraining him. But two more of them—the two biggest guys in the room—quickly put a stop to that.
The three of us were hurled into three chairs around a table, our wrists cuffed to the legs of the table. Noah and Sage pulled as hard as they could against the cuff, but nothing happened.
“You can’t escape.” A woman a little younger than my mom stepped out from the center of the crowd, and everyone parted to let her through. She had long brown hair, startling gray eyes, and walked with the confidence of a warrior queen from ancient times. “The tables are bolted deep into the ground, and the cuffs are charmed with dark magic to resist even the strongest supernaturals and to prevent you from shifting.”
That didn’t stop Noah from mustering up all his strength and giving the cuff another tug.
Like the woman promised, nothing happened.
“What do you want from us?” Sage asked calmly, staring her down. “Are you working for the same people as the coyotes?”
The woman didn’t reply. Instead, she approached us and pulled each of our cloaking rings off our fingers. She started with Sage, then moved onto Noah, then to me. Of course, when she got to me she didn’t find a ring, since I was still depending on the potion. I wouldn’t have my ring until tomorrow—if we were free from these rougarou by tomorrow.
“She’s human,” the woman who brought me through the wall spoke up. “She didn’t have the strength of a supernatural.”
The lady who had taken Noah and Sage’s rings lifted her eyebrows in surprise. “A human?” she asked, staring at me with a mix of amazement and disdain. “What’s a human doing traveling with two wolf shifters?”
Apparently, my current traveling situation could always be counted on to baffle supernaturals.
“Why did you drag us in here?” I answered her question with one of my own. “What do you want with us?”
Noah glared at me, clearly wanting me to shut up. But I couldn’t help asking questions. We’d done nothing to these supernaturals. In fact, we’d helped them by vanquishing a demon that had been hunting in their city.
They should have been thanking us—not imprisoning us.
The woman placed the two cloaking rings on her fingers. Noah’s was so large that it only fit around her thumb. Then she turned to face Sage. “You know exactly why you’re here,” she said with a knowing smile. “Don’t you, Sage Montgomery?”
“The coyotes didn’t tell me what they wanted with me,” Sage replied with her chin held high. “So no—I don’t know why we’re here.”
The woman narrowed her eyes at Sage. “Don’t play me for a fool,” she said. “The alpha of the rougarou pack deserves more respect than that.”
So, this woman was the alpha. I wouldn’t have guessed it—there were lots of men in the pack who looked physically stronger than she was—but I liked it. Girl power for the win.
She also had yet to attack. I hoped it was a sign that she might be willing to hear us out instead of trying to kill us like the coyotes had done.
“Montgomery pack members aren’t allowed on our land,” she continued. “We know what each and every member of your pack looks like. The moment we caught word that unknown wolf shifters were at the Voodoo Queen’s store, I sent scouts to investigate. Imagine my surprise when I learned that Sage Montgomery herself was here.” The tips of her fingers shifted into wolf form, so she could show off her deadly claws. “I should kill you on the spot.”
“Don’t,” Sage said quickly. “We don’t want any trouble. There was a demon in New Orleans, and my hunting partner and I came to vanquish him. We’d just finished before you found us and brought us here. We were heading back to our hotel, and were planning on leaving tomorrow. I swear it.”
The alpha retracted her claws and stared down at Sage. For a moment I thought she was going to say okay and let us go… but there was no way it would be that easy.
“A demon?” She twisted the stolen cloaking rings around her fingers. “I heard rumors that demons escaped from a Hell Gate a few months ago, but I’ve yet to see one myself.”
“It’s not a rumor,” Noah said. “It’s true. We helped all the supernaturals of New Orleans by vanquishing the demon that was here. We don’t want any trouble with your pack. Let us go, and we’ll be out of here by midnight tomorrow.”
“Why wait until tomorrow?” she asked. “If we let you live—and that’s a serious if—you’ll be expected to leave the moment you’re released from our bar.”
“Tomorrow by midnight,” Sage bargained. “I’ll make a blood oath that we won’t harm anyone in your pack for the duration of this visit.”
I couldn’t help noticing her wording—she specified that she wouldn’t harm them only for the duration of this visit. Smart. If another time arose when we needed to fight against the rougarou, Sage wouldn’t be bound by the oath she’d propositioned tonight, since it had a time limit.
“A blood oath with a Montgomery wolf.” The alpha chuckled. “What a day this is turning into.”
“So you’ll do it?” Sage asked.
The alpha stood perfectly still and held Sage’s gaze. Sage looked up at her for only a few seconds before lowering her eyes.
Time with the shifters allowed me to understand what was going on—Sage was showing submission to the rougarou alpha. I could tell by the way that Sage’s jaw tensed that it pained her to submit so easily. But I understood why she was doing it. It was the best way to ensure our safety and to increase the chance of the rougarou setting us free.
“I’ll consider it,” the alpha replied. “Only after you tell me the truth about this so-called ‘demon hunt’ you’re on.”
Noah was quick to jump in. “The mission was given to me by the Earth Angel Annika herself,” he said. “She commanded me to—”
“Not yet.” The alpha raised a hand to cut him off. From the way her gray eyes glimmered, I could tell she had a trick up her sleeve. “How am I supposed to believe any of you without you dri
nking a truth potion first?”
Raven
“Great idea.” Sage sat straighter, relief crossing her face. “I have some truth potion back at the hotel where we’re staying. Let me get it, I’ll bring it right back, and then I’ll drink it and set this all straight.”
The alpha burst into melodious laughter. “How gullible do you think I am?” she asked once she’d gotten control of herself. “First of all, we’ll be using truth potion that I’ve purchased. Secondly, if I let you out of here, you’ll run away and never look back.”
“That’s not true.” Sage held her chin higher. “I’d never leave my friends behind.”
“I’m not stupid enough to trust a Montgomery,” she replied. “Especially one so eager to take truth potion. Which leaves one of the two of you…” She glanced between Noah and me, as if deciding between us.
Noah focused on the wall straight ahead. His eyes were hard—I could tell he hated the mere thought of drinking truth potion. He was the most private person I knew. I had no idea what secrets he was keeping, but I knew that the last thing he wanted was to be forced to expose them in front of an entire pack of strangers.
I was going to have to be the one to drink the truth potion. Which was fine by me, since I wasn’t hiding any big supernatural secrets from the rougarou. Once they heard the truth, I was positive that they’d let us go.
Problem was—if I volunteered, the alpha would likely choose Noah just to spite us all. And if I asked her not to pick me, she’d probably pick me just because I didn’t want to be chosen.
Noah needed to volunteer. Because if he seemed eager to take the truth potion—like Sage had—the alpha would default to me. We’d reverse psychology the rougarou alpha without her realizing what we were doing.
Except I had no way of communicating the idea with Noah without the rougarou hearing my plan.
If my mom were in this situation, she’d tell me to will the universe to do what I wanted. She’d tell me to think about what I wanted and manifest it into happening. Because she literally believed that people could manifest “gifts” from the universe into coming true if they wanted it badly enough.
I’d always thought it was crazy-talk. But right now, I had nothing to lose.
So I took a deep breath, preparing myself. The first thing my mom would tell me to do was to get rid of my doubt that manifesting could work. Apparently, if I doubted manifestation worked, I was asking the universe to prove it didn’t work. So I needed to trust in it myself. I needed to let go of my disbelief.
The idea of manifestation had always seemed so ridiculous to me that I wasn’t sure I could let go of my doubt.
Then again, I used to think that witches, shifters, spells, potions, demons, angels, and everything else in the supernatural world didn’t exist, either.
Why should manifesting be any different?
The rougarou alpha was studying Noah and me, like she was close to making a decision. I needed to hurry up and manifest my will into happening.
Volunteer, I thought, staring straight at Noah and trying to will him—and the universe—to listen to my pleas. If you volunteer, she’ll choose me. I know you don’t want to be forced to spill your secrets in front of all these people. So volunteer. Be eager about it like Sage was. Volunteer, volunteer, volunteer… I repeated it, trying to will Noah to know what I desired.
It felt silly, and I was beginning to think I was being delusional in thinking this could work.
Until Noah straightened, looked the alpha straight in the eye, and laughed. “Why do you even need to think about this?” he asked. “You’re seriously having trouble choosing between me—a shifter—and a human?” He spoke the name of my race like humans were worthless and puffed out his chest in pride. “This is my demon hunt. I’ll take the truth potion, we can get all of this straightened out, and you can send us on our way. It’ll be easy. Just choose me.”
“Thank you for making my decision for me.” The alpha was calm as she spoke, and she zeroed in on me. “The one who will be taking the truth potion is the human.”
Raven
The alpha sent one of her minions to fetch the truth potion from behind the bar. Apparently, they kept a stock of different potions back there.
I tried to meet Noah’s gaze so I could let him know he’d done the right thing, but he was refusing to look at me.
Maybe I’d read him wrong? Maybe he really had wanted to take the truth potion?
Honestly, that was more likely than him having volunteered because I’d somehow “manifested” him into understanding my plan.
“You’ve got this,” Sage said to me, and I focused on her, glad to find her looking at me like she believed in me. “Just tell the truth. Not like you’ll have an option. But really—the truth will set us free. Literally, in this case.”
I didn’t know how she had it in her to joke at a time like this, but I smiled, grateful for the encouragement.
A tall rougarou man returned with a vial of light blue potion and handed it to the alpha. I still didn’t know the alpha’s name, but I doubted formal introductions were going to happen until she decided she could trust us or not.
She pulled a chair up right in front of me and situated herself in it. “What do you know about truth potion, human?” she asked.
“My name is Raven.” I didn’t care what prejudices the supernaturals had against humans—I was a person, and I deserved to be called by my name. “And I know that after someone drinks truth potion, they’ll be magically bound to tell the truth as they know it.”
The last bit was the most important part—the truth potion could only get people to tell the truth as they knew it. If I didn’t know the answer to a question, I wouldn’t be able to answer it truthfully, no matter how strong the potion was. Also, if what I believed to be the truth was actually incorrect, I’d still answer with the truth as I believed it to be.
“Very good, Raven,” the alpha said. She wasn’t being warm and fuzzy, but at least she was acknowledging my name. “Either your companions taught you well, or you knew about the supernatural world before meeting them. I suppose we’ll find out soon, won’t we?”
I didn’t have time to reply before she uncapped the vial, reached forward, and emptied the light blue liquid down my throat.
Raven
The truth potion tasted fruity and sweet, like the light blue shaved ice I used to love eating at fairs.
A few seconds later, I felt calm and relaxed. On one level, I knew this was because I’d just consumed truth potion. But the rougarou around me no longer looked threatening. All of the tension I’d felt since being pulled through the brick wall and into their supernatural bar disappeared.
I still didn’t like that I was handcuffed to a chair, but I understood why they’d done it. They didn’t want to risk us attacking them.
Noah and Sage were strong shifters—the rougarou were right to be afraid.
But once they knew the truth about why we were here, they’d unlock the handcuffs and let us go. Maybe they’d even support our hunt. After all, the demons were our common enemy. We should be teaming up—not abducting each other from the street and handcuffing each other to tables.
My head and body felt fuzzy, like I was an onlooker to our current situation instead of a part of it. But I’d do what needed to be done and tell the rougarou everything I knew.
I wouldn’t let Noah and Sage down.
“The potion has taken hold,” the alpha said. Her voice was warm and sweet, like a nurturing mother. I must have imagined the harshness from before. “Now, Raven, please tell me. How did you end up traveling with these two shifters chained beside you?”
I told her the exact same, true story that I’d told the Voodoo Queen at her shop, starting from the night of my twenty-first birthday. The alpha occasionally asked additional questions to push me to continue, and I answered truthfully without fail. Eventually, I ended up where we were right now, with the three of us handcuffed in the middle of her bar.
“Sage and I are friends,” I said, since that answer was easy. “Noah and I…” I stopped, suddenly stuck on how to answer. What were Noah and I?
I couldn’t answer with the truth because I didn’t know the answer. In fact, I’d wanted to ask Noah the same question all night. Because after that kiss, I had no idea where the two of us stood.
My cheeks heated, and I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. How was I supposed to be honest about my feelings for him when I wasn’t sure what those feelings were myself?
I couldn’t. So I’d have to settle with the bare facts.
“Noah took me on this mission because Rosella recommended he do so, and he seemed to trust Rosella,” I said. “Our relationship is complicated. We don’t get along most of the time, but when it comes down to it, I know he’s doing everything he can to keep me safe. I trust him with my life.”
It was the truth, and I meant every word of it.
“Interesting.” The alpha didn’t let a single reaction slip through her expression. “So the three of you didn’t come here with an intent to harm the rougarou?”
“We never wanted to harm you,” I said. “We don’t want to harm you. All we wanted to do was slay the demon. Now we just need to finish up our business with the Voodoo Queen tomorrow evening, and get out of here.”
“What more business do you have with the Voodoo Queen?” she asked.
“Tomorrow evening we’re picking up a cloaking ring she’s making for me.” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could contemplate if the rougarou alpha should know the exact details of our appointment. “Then she’ll do a tracking spell to find another demon for us to hunt, and we’ll head off to whatever city she sends us to.”
The Angel Hunt Page 7