by Aileen Erin
I had no idea she’d left her bags. Stupid. I really should’ve been taking better care of her. “That wasn’t what I was talking about, but you shouldn’t be embarrassed about that. I’m sorry that I didn’t realize sooner. We’ll get you some more clothes.”
Claudia sighed. “We were planning on going to the mall, but there hasn’t been time. Lucas needs some, too. We showed up in Costa Rica with what we had on us, and that was that.”
“You should’ve said something. I’m sure I have clothes that will work for now. And I’m sure Dastien has stuff Lucas can wear until we get the rest sorted.” Even if we left soon, we could hit a store to get them what they needed. “And how’s Beth? I haven’t seen her since you got back.”
“She’s not doing well.” Claudia’s voice cracked. “She won’t leave her bed. Sh—she still had family there. Her sister and brother-in-law. And they had two kids.”
“Shit. I didn’t know. I’m so sorry. I would’ve…” I wasn’t sure what I could’ve done differently. But something…
“You didn’t know. Beth begged them to come with us, but they wouldn’t leave. They didn’t want to uproot the kids. I’m not sure what to do for her, except give her a little more time. She’s not eating much, and…” Claudia’s bottom lip wavered. “I just don’t know what to do to make it better for her. For anyone.” A tear slipped free, and she wiped it away. “It’s all a huge mess.”
God. ‘Huge mess’ didn’t even begin to cover it. “Did Shane have family there?” He’d seemed okay in spite of everything, but he could’ve easily been hiding it. I didn’t know him well enough to get a solid read on him.
She blew out a breath. “His parents were in a car wreck a couple years ago. He’s an only child. He had some cousins and an aunt and uncle, but they weren’t very close.”
“Hey,” Dastien said. “Sorry to interrupt, but Mr. Dawson wants us in the conference room in five. I texted the others.”
“Okay.” Even if I’d already spent more time than I wanted to in there. “Did you hear the clothing situation?”
“Yup. We’ve actually got a storage room filled with supplies for guests—clothes, toothbrushes, toiletries… I’m sorry. I should’ve offered. I wasn’t thinking.”
Lucas stood up. “Not to worry. I’m not fussy.” That was the first time he’d spoken since he’d gotten here.
“We’ll get you sorted after the meeting,” Dastien said. “They might not be the best clothes ever, but they’ll be enough to get you by until we have time for shopping.”
I reached to take the book, but hesitated. I’d seen all I needed, and I’d spent more than enough of my life thinking about Luciana’s craft room. “You mind taking that with us?”
Claudia picked the book from the ground, and held the disgusting thing at arm’s length. “No problem.”
When we got to the conference room, the gang was already there. Adrian and Shane sat on the opposite side of the table. Raphael sat next to Shane. The three of them were laughing about something. It was good to see Raphael laugh. He was always so serious. Especially after everything.
Next to them, Cosette and Chris sat side by side, whispering, their heads tilted toward each other. When had they gotten so close? I leaned in, trying to listen just a little, but then I noticed Cosette’s hand. She was wearing a glove.
On her sword hand. The one with the blackened fingertips.
She caught me looking and lifted her brows. That one motion shouldn’t be so expressive, but I caught her loud and clear. Don’t even think about asking. I was still going to—because I wanted to make sure she wasn’t hurt—but it could wait until there weren’t as many people around.
Meredith and Donovan sat at the end of the table, talking with Mr. Dawson. They paused their conversation as Dastien shut the door behind us.
Claudia set the book on the table with a thud.
“What’s going on,” Mr. Dawson said. “Did you find something?”
“Claudia did,” I said.
“Well, I found Luciana’s book of ley lines, but Teresa had the vision.”
“So you know what’s going to happen?” Meredith asked.
I wished. “Not that kind of vision. I saw Luciana flipping through the book. We think she’s heading to New Mexico. It would be awesome if we could find her before she does anything else terrible.”
“A sneak attack,” Chris said as he steepled his fingers. “I’m liking the sound of that.”
“Me too.” Cosette’s eyes flashed with bloodlust. “Let’s see her fight for her life for a change.”
“If this gets bad, you might need the pack with you,” Mr. Dawson said. “We can’t all up and leave now, though. There’s too much going on.”
“We’ll have two Alphas—including myself—and some of these young wolves are pretty alpha, too. Not to mention a fey and a handful of witches,” Lucas said. “It’s a solid group. We can get there, scout things out, and then call you if we don’t think we can handle the situation. New Mexico can’t be a long flight from here.”
Donovan shook his head. “Couple hours at most. I’ve got my plane here and—”
“You have a plane?” I asked before I could stop myself.
Meredith slapped his arm. “Yeah. You have a plane?”
The conference phone rang, and Mr. Dawson leaned to hit the button. “Yes?”
“You need to turn on the TV. The news…” Mrs. Kilburn—Mr. Dawson’s secretary—said. “It’s not good.”
Someone clicked on the screen.
The anchor was narrating from off-camera, but I couldn’t pay attention to what she was saying. My chest tightened as I watched the image.
There was a little girl on screen. Toddler. Her hair was in tight ringlets and she wore a red and white gingham dress.
She was also tied to a chair. She cried and screamed while eight too-big-to-be-normal wolves circled, lashed out at her with their long claws. A Cazador wearing the usual all-black pants and shirt was asking her questions. There was no sound, but from the movement of his lips and the pause before the wolves moved into action, it was obvious what was going on.
A ringing sounded in my ears.
“Shit. That’s Kaden,” Dastien said.
“Yes,” Mr. Dawson half-growled the word. “A group of Cazadores found a demon. They were able to capture it, and proceeded to question it. They found it odd how easy it was to catch, having watched the previous footage, but they thought questioning it before killing it would be helpful in the hunt for Luciana.” He gripped the chair in front of him so hard that it cracked. “I agreed at the time, but now I know. We were set up. The camera… It’s placed a little too well.”
It looked like the werewolves were torturing a child. A beautiful little girl.
We came off as complete monsters. The worst of the worst. Because if there was one thing everyone could agree on, it was that only a true monster would hurt the innocent.
Then the girl looked straight at the camera for an instant—a blink-and-you-miss-it moment. Her eyes were glowing bright red. If I hadn’t been watching for it, waiting to see her eyes, I would’ve missed it, too.
This was bad. Beyond bad.
“As you can see, the wolves are not what they appeared.” The image froze on a wolf ripping the dress with its claws. A male anchor filled the screen. His hair perfectly coiffed. “According to Teresa McCaide, werewolves are totally in control when in wolf form. Yet here they are, torturing a child. The public is calling for the police to bring the wolves to justice. The mayor of—”
I groaned as Mr. Dawson hit mute. If I hadn’t seen the demon that looked like me last night, I wouldn’t have known they could look so human. I would’ve thought the Weres were torturing a child, too.
We had to get off campus. Before the cops came. Before the camera crews. Hell, before the mob with their pitchforks…
“If you’re leaving, do it fast,” Mr. Dawson said. “This is going to get ugly.”
“Are you sure?�
� I asked. Leaving now felt even worse than before. The pack would have to be extremely lucky to avoid a riot.
“There are more wolves coming in to help,” Donovan said. “They should be here tomorrow at the latest, but I agree. We should be gone in the next hour.”
Donovan’s words set us in motion. We hurried to get ready. Claudia and I grabbed our supplies from the lab, with a few extra ingredients in case one of us got hurt. We needed to be prepared.
Once that was done, I hustled to my room to pack a duffel. I grabbed my cellphone and charger from my nightstand. It seemed like only minutes had passed, but it was already time to go.
Whose car are we taking to the airport? I asked Dastien.
The Cazadores’ SUVs are biggest. We’ll need two. I’m heading that way.
The SUVs came loaded with supplies we might need, which was good because I was terrified we were forgetting something important. I made it to the parking lot and opened the back of the closest car. By the time I finished, the rest of the group was running down the walkway.
Yelling carried from the gates, much louder than before. People banged on the wrought iron, and anxiety gripped my heart. We weren’t the bad guys here, but we sure as hell looked like the bad guys.
I honked the horn at the rest of our group. The faster we got out of here, the better.
Meredith, Donovan, Chris, Cosette, and Dastien threw their stuff in the back, and climbed in. Lucas, Claudia, Raphael, Shane, and Adrian got into the other car.
“We ready? Seat belts buckled?”
A chorus of yeses and yeahs sounded, and I threw the car in reverse. As soon as the gates opened, people swarmed. It was a slow crawl out as people waved hateful signs at us and screamed their faces red. Talking about how evil we were. How we should die. Burn in Hell. The noise was deafening.
I kept steady pressure on the gas. Their options were to move or get run over. I didn’t really care which at this point. We had bigger things to worry about.
Demons to kill.
I thought about calling my FBI friends, but I was sure Mr. Dawson would be in touch. Hopefully they’d take our side in all this madness.
A girl could hope.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I texted my parents to tell them what was going on before we got on the plane. They were worried—hell, I was worried—but they trusted me to do what I thought was necessary. And this was definitely necessary. They swore they were moving to a hotel, and would stay safe.
If I hadn’t been so keyed up, I probably would’ve enjoyed the plane ride. It was a small jet, and it was really nice. The big leather chairs felt more like fancy recliners than airplane seats. A stewardess made sure we had everything we needed during the flight. It was a short trip over to New Mexico, but I spent most of the time talking strategy with Claudia. We weren’t sure how long her spell could keep demon blood from burning the wolves, and that was a huge concern. It was okay last time, but all in all, the fight hadn’t lasted very long. Ten minutes, max. The Weres needed to be able to fight for as long as it took.
But even as we debated whether the Weres should go furry or use weapons like Cosette, I was hopeful. For the first time in a long time, maybe even since I got to Texas, it was as if something was finally in my control. We’d spent so much time reacting—fighting when we had to, but waiting around for fights to start, that this felt like progress.
Donovan had two rental SUVs waiting for us when we landed, each with three rows of seats. I drove one car. Dastien, Chris, Meredith, Donovan, and Cosette were with me. Lucas followed behind with Claudia, Raphael, Adrian, and Shane.
We circled Santa Fe, trying to find a place to stay. Since I’d been on the news, and most of the others had been on the grainy cop cam footage, we didn’t want to stay away anywhere too nice, but some of the Weres had high standards when it came to security. Someone had a reason we couldn’t stay at every hotel and motel we’d passed so far. Too many people. Not enough people. Too accessible. Not accessible enough. Too many cameras…
After just the little bit of driving, it was obvious that a lot of the houses and buildings looked the same—dark tan adobe buildings. Maybe it would get old after a while, but for now it was charming. My favorite part was the busy plaza that the city was built around. It had perfectly even brick streets. Squat adobe buildings surrounded it, all the same shade of tan. People wandered from store to store. A group of Native Americans was selling art and jewelry on the sidewalk.
The sun was setting, and at some point the Weres were going to have to agree on a place to stay.
“There,” Dastien pointed. “What about that one?”
“It’s great. We’re staying there,” I said, cutting off any arguments. We were ten minutes from the central plaza. Just far enough that it wasn’t super touristy. I pulled into the parking lot and stopped, checking out the place. “It looks a little too nice. Don’t you think?”
He gave me one of his Gallic shrugs. “It looks decent to me.”
I gave him my best you’re-such-a-snob look. “Not everyone in the world has a castle to call home.”
“I do,” Donovan said.
What was with these werewolves? “Well, you’re pretty damned old, right?”
“Aye.”
“So, I guess that makes sense?”
Donovan muttered a comeback, but I ignored him. I was ready to stop moving for a little while.
“Raphael, you should get the rooms,” Dastien said. “You weren’t on the tape.”
Raphael opened the door and hopped out. “Four rooms? Or more?”
“Four should do it,” Donovan said.
After a minute, I undid my seatbelt and glanced at the backseat through the rearview mirror. “Everyone doing okay?”
“Yeah,” Meredith said.
Someone knocked on my window, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.
The woman had jet black hair, and her eyes were dark as night. It wasn’t her features that freaked me out, but the way she was looking at me. Her eyes narrowed like she was filled with hate. “I know why you’re here.”
She flicked her hand and a spell crashed into the car, lifting it on two tires for a second, before it crashed back down.
“Everyone okay?” Dastien yelled.
“Yeah,” Meredith said from the backseat.
I stared at the lady. Witch. She was a fucking witch. But her magic felt different. It wasn’t oily. Or greasy. It didn’t have that tinge of evil that Luciana’s had.
“She’s not evil,” I said.
Maybe not, but she’s still attacking us. I’m getting out. You stay put.
What? No. We’re both getting out of the car.
How the hell had she found us?
I moved to open the door, but the lady waggled her finger and my window shattered. I huddled my head in my hands as glass rained down. Pin pricks of pain spread across my skin as the shards cut.
Dastien’s anger and fear for me filled the bond. Are you okay?
Yeah, I said. Just a few cuts. I’ll be okay.
“Shit. She locked us in,” Chris said as he jiggled his door handle. “Careful. I’m going to break the window.”
“Wait a second.” The witch started mouthing another spell, but I had my own. “Unlock,” I said, adding a little power from Dastien to amp up the words as I opened my door.
She hadn’t been expecting that, and was standing way too close. The door hit her, knocking her back so hard she tumbled across the pavement.
Careful! Dastien shouted. Wait for me.
The slam of feet hitting the ground filled the night as we rushed to surround her. The wolves were growling, tempers on edge. The brujos had their hands out, ready to deflect or cast a spell at any moment.
Dastien growled as he moved to my side. She lifted her hand to start another spell.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” I held up my hands, letting my wolf surface enough to grow some impressive claws.
Dastien hadn’t stopped his snarl
ing and his eyes glowed amber.
The witch froze as she turned in a circle, finally noticing how grossly out numbered she was.
Good. Now we could actually figure out what her problem was. “I know your magic isn’t evil like Luciana’s, so I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume this is some kind of misunderstanding. Is there something I can help you with?” I said in my best fuck-off tone. The glass cuts had already healed, leaving only little splatters of blood on my arms. I suppressed the urge to wipe them on my jeans.
“You attacked the Texas Coven.”
Was she freaking kidding with this?
“Blessed be, sister.” Claudia moved to stand between the pissed-off witch and me. “I’m Claudia de Santos of the Texas Coven, and this pack has done nothing but give us safe haven. Why are you attacking?”
She stumbled back and nearly bumped into Adrian. “Luciana came to us two days ago. Terrified. Asking for sanctuary. We saw what was left of the compound. These monsters—” She motioned toward me and Dastien. “—killed everyone and burned it to the ground. We couldn’t turn her away in her time of need.” The woman lifted her chin high in the air, pretending she wasn’t afraid of us, but her hands shook. The sickly sweet scent of fear permeated the air. “If you’re siding with them, then you’re a traitor to all covens.”
Oh my God. I so didn’t have the time or energy for this traitor BS. The lady needed a reality check, and fast.
“Andromeda spread the word among the covens.” Cosette stepped forward. Her skin glowed in the night, and her hair looked like it was made of spun gold. She had to have dropped some kind of glamour or magic. “Luciana alone was responsible for the deaths in Texas.”
“You’re faerie.” The witch’s eyes widened at Cosette. “The one from the Denver coven…?”
“If you know who I am, then you know better than to come after my friends.” Cosette loomed over the woman, still glowing. “Now help me understand why you’d ignore the warning of my coven leader.”