by Jessie Lane
While the seemingly awkward woman thanked Gage profusely for saving her, she also tightened her grip on Gage’s arms until her fingertips were white from the pressure she was exerting. Her small, sharp fingernails dug just deep enough to break his skin.
Gage, being the hulking dumb mountain that he was, failed to notice what the psychic was doing and continued to listen to her prattle on about how strong he was.
Chloe rolled her eyes as her sister’s mate soaked up the words and puffed his chest out like he was king of the jungle standing over a kill. It never ceased to amaze her how stupid men were when being fawned over by a woman. Apparently, men of the supernatural origin were no exception.
Gage steered Rainbow Sky to her chair, and Chloe watched the woman loosely ball the hand with Gage’s blood under her nails as if she were trying to keep from smearing the red matter anywhere else. The psychic then asked Gage to have a seat next to Elena so they could continue.
Once Gage was seated, Rainbow Sky placed the seven candles in a circle. Then, going back to her bookcase, she came back with small pieces of white paper with red markings on them and placed those papers underneath the candles. It was as if she were setting up for some ritual instead of doing a standard palm reading.
What exactly was this woman up to?
Without a doubt, Chloe knew after watching the woman purposely obtain Gage’s blood that the she was up to something. As her rather crude, little sister Elena liked to say, “If it smells like shit and looks like shit, then it’s probably shit.” Unfortunately, Chloe didn’t know enough about the supernatural world yet to spew any kind of accusations, so all she could do was sit back and wait for the psychic’s next move.
Reaching over to light the white candles she had placed around the table, Rainbow Sky sat down and asked Elena to close her eyes and concentrate on what it was she desired to learn the most today.
Gage laid his arm along the back of Elena’s chair and wrapped his hand around her shoulder, giving Elena his support as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
While Elena focused her attention internally, Gage’s gaze was glued to his mate. And the look that Chloe saw him give her sister made her breath catch a little in her chest.
His eyes were so filled with warmth, love, and even a spark of amusement toward Elena that Chloe couldn’t help feeling a little jealous. She might come off as a man-hater to the rest of the world, but deep down inside, a small part of her wondered if she could have her own love story. The problem was, she had become so jaded that she was starting to think there wasn’t a man on the planet who could fulfill all her requirements.
The demon could, her conscience whispered.
At that thought, Chloe rolled her eyes. Yeah, right. Kent had been phenomenal in bed, but that didn’t mean he was suited for monogamy. He was probably talking to some other woman now; his night with her already forgotten.
What did a girl have to do to find a good man? It wasn’t as if she was asking for much. Just a drop-dead gorgeous beefcake who had a decent job, paid his own damn bills, was not a total slob, did not live in his mother’s basement, and would spend all his time worshipping the ground Chloe walked on. It also wouldn’t hurt if he liked to buy her Manolos on a regular basis, but she knew better than to hope for too much. Hell, she couldn’t find a guy who would talk to her face and not her breasts, so why on earth did she think there would be a man out there who would treat her like a human being instead of a living, breathing inflatable sex doll?
Small, shifty movement from the other side of the table caught Chloe’s attention, bringing her out of her thoughts. Instead of turning her head to investigate what was going on, she shifted her eyes over to the psychic and did her best to watch the woman without Rainbow Sky realizing it.
The frizzy-haired con woman was speaking softly, almost lyrically, instructing Elena to center all her thoughts on what she wanted to know. Her head was tilted back, her eyes closed, and she was rocking slowly side to side, as if she were trying to see into the great unknown or some bullshit.
Those weren’t the movements that interested Chloe, though.
No, what she was worried about was what the woman was doing with her hands underneath the table. Chloe could see Rainbow Sky’s arms flexing and moving subtly, as if she were rubbing them together. Perhaps to spread the little bit of Gage’s blood on her palms?
She briefly remembered reading some of her aunts’ notes about how some witches practiced blood magic, using the life-giving substance to do all sorts of things from small spells to apocalyptic type plagues back in the Middle Ages.
Was this wannabe psychic a dark witch who practiced those things? And if she was, what the hell was she up to now with Gage’s blood?
Chloe was contemplating what she should do when Rainbow Sky broke the quiet.
“Please, give me your hand, Elena.”
Elena opened her eyes, looking sort of sleepy and dazed, and slid her hand across the table toward Rainbow’s waiting one. The psychic held her hand, palm down against the table, presumably to keep the rest of the room from seeing what she guessed would probably be small smears of Gage’s blood on her palms.
Chloe watched her sister’s movements like a hawk, not trusting whatever it was the frumpled mess of a con artist was up to. And it was because she was watching that conniving bitch that she saw the glint of a needle as Rainbow shifted her hand out to grab Elena’s.
Not waiting to see what the supposed psychic would do, Chloe jumped forward and tackled Rainbow out of her chair before the woman could grab Elena’s hand.
Gage roared in surprise at the sudden action, but he didn’t stop Chloe.
As she fell to the ground on top of the struggling woman, she felt a sharp prick in her palm.
Shrieking in disbelief, Chloe reached out and grabbed the woman’s frizzy hair and pulled the supposed psychic’s head back. “You stabbed me, bitch!” Then Chloe punched her in the eye with all of her might, breaking a nail in the process.
Rainbow Sky screeched, “With a sewing needle, you crazy idiot! Get off me! What are you doing!”
Faster than the blink of an eye, Chloe was pulled from her quarry and looking at the rippling muscles of Gage’s back through his T-shirt. He had Rainbow Sky pinned to the wall farthest away from his mate with a hand around her neck. His free hand was planted in Chloe’s belly, keeping her from reaching the scheming psychic again. She didn’t know why her brother-in-law was keeping her from getting her hands on the woman. She only wanted to beat the snot out of the sneaky little shit who had broken one of her precious nails.
Pushing her backward without removing his grip on the woman in front of him, Gage snarled, “Go check on Elena for me.”
While Chloe didn’t normally answer to orders, especially from men, she didn’t think twice about doing what she had been told this time. Her sister was more important than slapping the psychic silly.
Turning back to the table, she found Elena still sitting in the chair, looking blank-faced and completely zoned out.
Walking across the room, Chloe bent over until her face was at the same level as her sister’s before bringing her hand up in front of Elena’s face and snapping them repeatedly. The only response she got was a slow blink.
Turning her head back in the direction of the psychic, she yelled, “What the hell did you do to my sister?”
Gage tightened his grip on the psychic’s throat until she was gasping for air. One could tell the moment Rainbow realized she was truly in trouble because her eyes widened in terror and she used both of her hands to claw at the punishing grip locked around her throat.
Chloe watched as Rainbow’s face started to turn blue from lack of oxygen and winced, yet she felt no sympathy for the woman. Whoever or whatever she was, she had done something to Elena, putting her in some sort of trance, and that was unforgivable. Still, if Gage killed the woman, they would never know what had been done to Elena, who was still sitting there with a dazed look on her face.<
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Chloe walked over to Gage and put her hand on his back. “Loosen your grip so she can breathe.”
The tiger-shifter leaned into the psychic’s face, flashing his canines, and growled, “What did you do to my mate?”
Chloe watched as Gage’s fingers flexed just enough for the other woman to take a breath, and then she spoke in hoarse voice, “Cooperation spell.”
Gage growled again as he shook Rainbow Sky a little. “Why would you do that?”
“Not just a psychic,” the woman squeaked back.
That answer was not a surprise to Chloe, but it caused Gage to roar so loudly that the sound nearly burst her eardrums.
Running out of patience, Chloe laid it all out there to the psychic.
“Listen, lady, I don’t know who you are, but I’m pretty sure you’re a blood witch. What I want to know now is: what you were up to, comprendé?”
Gage snarled in the woman’s face again, before Chloe continued.
“And I suggest you tell us in a hurry before this big guy really gets pissed off.”
“Isn’t he pissed off now?” the witch whispered.
Chloe cocked an impertinent eyebrow at the other woman. “Do you still have all your limbs attached to your body?”
Throwing her hands up in the air in a surrender motion, Rainbow Sky fervently whispered, “Please don’t kill me. Please, please.”
Gage bared his teeth at the woman, only inches from her face, and she flinched in return.
“She’s right! She’s right! I’m a blood witch, but I promise I wasn’t trying to hurt your mate.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, Chloe glared menacingly at the woman. “If you weren’t trying to hurt her, then why the deception? Why not just tell us you are a blood witch to begin with?”
Not giving the witch a chance to respond, Gage tightened his grip on Rainbow Sky’s throat and answered for her. “Because blood witches are rare and highly disliked among our kind for their practices. If word got out to the wrong people who she really is, they would kill her.”
“Please,” the witch pleaded. “Please don’t say anything. I swear I wasn’t out to hurt you or your mate. I was only trying to get the answers she was looking for. I swear to you, if you let me go, I’ll disappear, and you never have to see me again.”
“Why the trance then, witch, if you weren’t going to hurt us?” Gage snarled in the woman’s face.
“Only to make her less aware that I was about to prick her finger. If you let me go, I can prove to you that I meant no harm!”
Chloe put a hand on Gage’s arm. “Perhaps we should test her. Let her prove that what she speaks is true. Elena is the one who wants to know. We can’t leave without something”
It took the tiger-shifter long minutes to slowly loosen his hold on the witch, but he eventually let her go. His claws were still out, though, ready to claw the woman to death if she so much as moved the wrong way toward his mate.
Chloe walked over to where her sister was still sitting, half-dazed now, and used the sewing needle she had taken off the witch to prick one of Elena’s fingers. When a small amount of blood welled up, Chloe held Elena’s hand up to the witch.
“Tell her what she wants to know about the babies. But I swear to God, if you so much as blink the wrong way, I’ll have her mate rip your throat out.”
Rainbow Sky, if that was even her real name, slowly walked over to the chair that was lying on its side and picked it up. The witch was visibly shaking, yet trying to hold her own, something Chloe could respect.
After setting the chair on its feet, she sat and held her hand out beneath Elena’s. Her palm was smeared with Gage’s blood, just as Chloe had suspected before.
“Place a drop of her blood in my palm.”
Chloe turned Elena’s hand over and squeezed her finger until a drop welled up then dripped down onto the witch’s palm to mix with her mate’s dried blood.
Elena, who was quickly coming out of her trance, looked at Chloe in question. “What the hell is going on here?”
The witch ignored the question now that she had what she needed and started to chant under her breath. Flicking both of her hands up in the air, the seven candles flamed to life, causing Chloe to jump a little in shock. That didn’t mean she moved from her sister’s side. No, she was there to protect Elena, and no one was going to get to her pregnant sister.
Still chanting words Chloe couldn’t understand, possibly old Latin words, the witch moved her hands from side to side over the candle flames, making the fire dance to her directions. Then singular lights detached from the candles and floated to their sister candles across the table. Chloe had never seen anything like it and was mesmerized by the sight.
She heard Elena gasp and Gage growl, but nobody tried to stop Rainbow Sky from whatever she was doing.
The witch said a few more words under her breath, and the small spots of detached light moved again, this time to the center of the table, creating a combined big ball of light directly in front of the witch. Rainbow Sky was leaning forward, focus intent on that light, as if it had the answers to the world inside of it. And perhaps it did for her, because suddenly she said in a distant, detached voice, “I see you in the future with two babies alive and well. However, you carry three now.” And just like that, one blood witch inadvertently dropped a bomb on Chloe’s family.
Gage roared in denial.
Elena immediately started sobbing.
And Chloe was left standing there, wondering how she was going to protect her sister from the inevitable future of losing one of her unborn children.
Damn, but the day had gone to hell in a handbasket quickly. And she hadn’t even gotten the chance to ask the psychic about Lulu or Delta. Now wasn’t the time. They needed to get Elena back to their aunts’ house so they could all deal with what was to come.
Chapter
15
Kent
After a night of passion like he had never experienced before in his life, Kent rolled over in his bed … to find it empty.
Chloe had left him, without even saying goodbye, and that pissed him the fuck off. Next time he had the vixen in his bed, he would tie her to it. Maybe that way, when he woke up, she would still be there.
Angry, he jumped out of bed, still naked, and grabbed his cell phone off the nightstand. He was going to get the Amazon on the phone and find out why she had left him like he was some one-night stand best left forgotten.
Her phone rang until it went to voicemail, so he hung up and dialed it again. He didn’t want to leave a fucking message. He wanted to talk to the woman who was driving him crazy!
After the fourth ring, a somber-voiced Chloe finally picked up. “Hello?”
Not bothering with niceties, because he obviously wasn’t feeling all that nice, Kent snapped, “Where the hell are you? Because I can tell you where you’re not. And that’s my bed!”
She heaved a small sigh. “Now’s not a good time, Kent.”
Shaking his head, Kent cut her off, “You’re wrong. Now is the perfect time for you to tell me where you are and why you’re not here with me. How could you just leave like that? Didn’t last night mean anything to you?” And just like that, it hit him. “Holy shit, I sound like a needy chick. See what you’ve done to me, Amazon? You’ve reduced me to being fucking clingy! Now get your ass back to my house so we can talk about this.”
“I can’t come over right now. I told you it’s not a good time,” she replied, still sounding sad.
The hairs on Kent’s neck started to stand up in warning. That didn’t sound like his perky, snarky Amazon. Something was wrong.
In a gentler tone, Kent tried again. “Don’t leave things like this, Chloe. Whatever it is, we can work it out. Just come back so we can talk about it.” God, Kent hated to beg, but he wasn’t so sure he wouldn’t grovel if it meant he could sort shit out with the Amazon.
“Kent, my sister was just told by a witch pretending to be a psychic that she’s going to l
ose one of the children she’s carrying. That means I need to be here with her, not with you. So, you’re just going to have to wait until I have the time and mental capacity to deal with everything that’s you. Until then, check to make sure you still have your dick and balls; it sounds like you might have lost your man card.”
When the line went dead, Kent hung his head in shame. Not because he was acting like a clingy, psycho one-night stand, but because, in a sense, he felt like he had just failed Chloe. She had tried to tell him now wasn’t a good time to talk, and he hadn’t listened. Now she was pissed at him on top of being stressed out and emotional over what Elena was going through.
He needed to make this right if he was going to prove to Chloe that she wasn’t just another notch on his bed post. Therefore, he needed to nut up or shut up. That was why it was a good thing his head was still hanging in a position that he could see his cock and balls were still well-attached to the rest of his body. Because, once a guy had his manhood questioned, you really needed to check that sort of thing.
Kent then went about taking a shower and getting dressed. He had one thing on his mind, and that was apologizing to Chloe.
Half an hour later, he was pulling up in front of Chloe’s aunts’ house. Parking his car in their driveway, Kent walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell.
Immediately, there was yelling from the inside. He heard about three different female voices screaming, “I got it, I got it!” before the door was ripped open by Elena.
Upon seeing Kent, she frowned. “What are you doing here?”
“May I speak with Chloe please?”
“Are you here to arrest her?” Elena asked snottily.
Kent held back his snort. “No. I would just like to speak to her for a moment.”
Elena cocked an eyebrow and kept going. “Do you have a warrant?”
This time, Kent rolled his eyes. “I’m not here in any official police capacity. So now, can I please see Chloe?”
The Amazon looked him over from head to toe then gave him a halfhearted watery smile. “She left you high and dry, didn’t she? I knew she was doing you!”