by C. D. Gorri
A warm breeze caressed her sweat-slicked skin, providing a welcome relief from the sauna of the French Quarter, and she gazed up at the massive statue of Andrew Jackson sitting atop a horse in the center of the Square.
A little girl squealed with delight as she ran by, her brother hot on her heels with a bubble gun, and Amber’s chest gave a squeeze. If they could make this plan work, she and Noah might bring their own children to the park one day. Wouldn’t it be something if they had twins?
She shook her head, chasing away the daydream, and dialed Emile’s number. When he answered, she inhaled deeply before speaking. “Hi, Emile. My name is Amber Mason, and I’m with the Crescent City Wolf Pack. I’m looking for a Hoodoo practitioner who might sell me some DUME oil, and I wondered if you might know of someone who could help.”
Silence hung heavy on the other end of the line, and it lasted so long she nearly thought the call had dropped.
“Did Odette tell you to call? What is she getting on about?” Irritation laced his voice.
Amber clutched the phone tighter. “No. No, she doesn’t know anything about this.”
“Well, I’m sure she can help you with whatever you need.”
“Wait! Please don’t hang up.” She paused, hoping against hope he was still on the line. When she heard a heavy sigh, she continued, “I’m in trouble, and no one in my pack can find out about it. Please, I just need the name of a Hoodoo practitioner, and then I’ll leave you alone.”
“DUME oil isn’t to be played with.”
“Believe me, if it wasn’t a life-or-death situation, I wouldn’t mess with it. I’ll be careful.” Her knee bounced, shaking the bench, so she rested her hand on her thigh to still her fidgeting. What would her packmates say if they knew what she was up to? Most likely that she’d gone insane. The shifters would want to attack the Grunch, using brute force to vanquish them, despite the fact they’d tried and failed already.
Yes, Amber’s plan was dangerous, but far less so than anything the “men in charge” would come up with. A full-frontal attack against who-knew-how-many Grunch would result in too many casualties. Destroying the Thropynite was the best course of action, even if she had to break a few laws to accomplish it.
“You didn’t get this information from me.” Emile gave her a name and address, which she scribbled onto the back of a business card.
“Thank you. If you happen to speak to Odette…”
“I won’t. Good day.” The line went dead.
“Well, okay then.” She rose to her feet and typed the address into her phone. “Jeez, that’s in Algiers. He didn’t know a Hoodoo man in the Quarter?” At least she didn’t have to trek into the swamp to find him.
She headed to her house and climbed into her Mazda, turning the AC on full blast before pulling onto the road. Traffic was light over the Crescent City Connection Bridge, the muddy Mississippi stretching out beneath her, and her pulse thrummed as she exited onto General De Gaulle Drive. Her hands went slick with sweat, and she wiped her palms on her jeans at a traffic light.
Was she insane for doing this? Her entire life, she’d stood in the shadow of her brother. A second-born in the alpha line didn’t get much attention when her power was passive. Any time she ran into trouble, Luke took care of it. He was a good brother and a good alpha, but damn it, it was her turn to shine. Noah and Nylah were her best friends, and she should be the one to save them.
She had a duty to the pack, and Noah was the only man who could help her fulfill it. She had to make him her mate. Besides, it wasn’t like Luke or the others never broke any laws for their mates. Amber would do what had to be done. End of story.
“This can’t be right.” She stopped in the parking lot of a convenience store and checked the address Emile gave her. “The Hoodoo man sells his spells out of a Stop-N-Save?” She killed the engine and climbed out of the car, clutching her purse strap on her shoulder as she entered the store.
Three rows of shelves stood in the center of the space, and refrigerated cases lined two of the walls. A cashier stood behind a plexiglass-encased checkout counter, and as Amber cast her gaze in his direction, he didn’t look up from his phone. To the eye, the shop looked like any other convenience store.
Her nose told a different story. While her olfactory senses weren’t nearly as powerful as a shifter’s, she did have a good sense of smell. The sharp scent of ginger mingled with the sweet aroma of calamus root…not your typical Stop-N-Save bouquet.
She spotted a set of black beaded curtains hanging in a doorway at the back of the shop. The cashier still hadn’t acknowledged her presence, so she moseyed back, pretending to look at the candies on the shelf as she moved.
After wiping her clammy hands on her pants once more, she pulled the curtain aside and stepped through the doorway. A shelf with jars of herbs and bottles of who-knew-what stood to her right, and a mobile made of animal bones hung in the center of the room.
“Hello?” Her voice sounded tiny, so she cleared her throat and tried again. “Hello? I’m looking for Papa Fortune.” Now she sounded like the confident woman she was.
She reached a hand toward a jar containing a clear liquid and what looked like a body part—was that a human ear?—but she stopped before she could touch it. The last thing she needed was to accidentally curse herself.
“Is anyone here?” She walked deeper into the room.
A set of dried animal hides hung from a line attached to the back wall. She recognized the furs of raccoon, nutria, rabbit, and opossum, but there were a few she couldn’t place. Beneath the hides, the poor creatures’ severed feet dangled like ornaments.
“What do you need, child?” An old man with weathered skin and milky eyes shuffled through another door. He stopped in front of her and held out his hands, palms up, before making a come-here gesture with his fingers.
Amber placed her hands on top of his, and he clutched them, his grip incredibly strong for someone his age. She tried to pull away, but he held on tighter, closing his eyes and nodding. His magic vibrated on her skin, sharp and strong. When he finally released her, she fought the urge to wipe her hands on her pants.
“I don’t get many werewolf visitors.” He hobbled behind a wooden counter and slid onto a stool. “What can I do for you?”
She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, glancing at the dead animals. Thankfully, he hadn’t displayed any wolf hides. “I need a tincture of wolfsbane-infused DUME oil.”
His eyes widened briefly. “What do you need it for?”
“I’d rather not say.”
“No, I guess you wouldn’t.” He crossed his arms. “DUME oil ain’t cheap, child. Powerful magic always has a high price.”
“How much?” She had a healthy savings account she could dip into. She’d spend it all if she had to. Anything to help her friends.
His laugh turned into a wet cough, and she curled her lip, leaning away as he hacked. “Money can’t buy DUME oil.” He coughed again like he was hacking up something nasty.
She stepped back and gave him the side-eye. It figured he’d require something other than cash. “What do you want then?”
“Nothing you have, but you know someone who has it.”
Amber tensed, and her nails cut into her palms as she clenched her fists. They were running out of time. This guy needed to stop the cryptic bullshit and tell her what he wanted.
“Name your price,” she hissed through clenched teeth.
Evil sparked in his cloudy brown eyes, his smile looking more like a grimace. “Shifter blood.” He raised his brows and leaned back against the wall, watching her as he awaited her reaction.
All the blood drained from Amber’s head and pooled in her stomach, churning in a nauseating swirl of defeat. Not only was it against pack law for shifters to give their blood to anyone, but it was a crime punishable by death. “You know that’s impossible.”
“Do I? If you need the DUME oil that bad, you’ll pay the price.” He slid off his stoo
l and shuffled toward his shelves, all but dismissing her.
Shifter blood was powerful, and it had the potential to be used in all sorts of black magic spells. Spells that should never be cast. There was no way in hell any of the shifters in her pack would willingly donate their blood because the consequences would be worse than losing Nylah to the Grunch. A practitioner could rain death and destruction on the entire city with a few drops.
Papa Fortune didn’t seem like a man who would be easy to fool, but she had to try something. “If I bring you the blood, you’ll give me the oil?”
He laughed and then cleared his throat. “Oh no. You bring the shifter to me. One shifter. Don’t bring no more. Once I see him shift, we’ll do a bloodletting, and then you can have the oil.”
“Is there any other way?” she asked.
“That’s my price. Take it or leave it, but I doubt you’ll find anybody else willing to give a werewolf DUME oil.”
Amber turned on her heel and stalked out of the store. They were out of options. The only way to defeat the Grunch would be to bring in the entire pack, and if they did that, she’d never see Noah or Nylah again.
She climbed into her car and clutched the steering wheel in a death grip, squeezing until her knuckles turned white. Even if she could find a shifter willing to give her blood, she could never let a Hoodoo man get his hands on it.
They were screwed.
Chapter Eighteen
Alrick glared at the she-wolf as she slept in her prison, and he contemplated his next move. His loneliness had allowed her to live for this long, but his agitation with her insubordination was beginning to outweigh his need for company.
As he watched her eyes move back and forth beneath her lids, he realized somewhere deep inside him, a tiny bud of hope had bloomed. She knew what he was. She could look at his disfigured form and not laugh…not cower in fear.
Against his will, his humanity had leaked toward the surface, his human heart somehow making room for this magical being, this insult to nature.
A growl rumbled in his chest, his anger seething like poison, seeping into the cracks and dissolving the unwelcome emotion that had tried to blossom. He was a fool to allow such unfounded hope to invade his psyche, like he’d been a fool to believe his witch could love such an abomination as himself.
He was designed to kill. When the Sect recruited him, he’d vowed to give up all relationships with anyone but his kind. These damned emotions were nothing more than a burden. A weakness he’d given in to twice. What would his brothers think if they awoke now? They’d probably tear him limb from limb for bringing another female into their realm, and he would deserve it.
He narrowed his eyes as she rolled onto her side. How dare she entrance him? He had the power to glean all the information he’d tried to coax from her lips with a simple piercing of her skull, yet she’d convinced him to let her live, in spite of her defiance.
With a grunt, he passed through the prison wall and wrapped his talons around her throat. Her lids flew open when he squeezed, and as he lifted her from the bed, she scratched at his hands, her feet flailing in the air.
“Please.” Her voice was a wisp of air from her lips, but he was finished showing the she-wolf mercy.
He swung his arm, releasing his grip and hurling her against the wall. Her head hit the invisible surface with a satisfying thwack, and she slid to the floor, landing in a heap. She groaned, and he kicked her. The sound of her ribs snapping didn’t give him nearly enough pleasure.
It was time for the she-wolf to die, but first, he’d make her suffer. He would kill every member of her pack one by one, and he would start with her brother. Forget the cover of darkness. The entire city would soon cower at the sight of him.
*.*.*.*
Noah bit into an alligator sausage hot dog and gazed out over Frenchman Street as a five-piece band played a jazzy tune for the tourists milling about in the summer heat. Cade sat across from him at their wooden table on the second-floor gallery, silently sipping his soda as he mulled over what Noah had said.
A dollop of the crawfish étouffée topping plopped onto Noah’s plate as he finished the last bite, and he scooped it up with his finger, savoring the last bit of what could be his final meal.
“Damn, man. That’s heavy,” Cade finally said. “I’m down for a clandestine operation, but are you sure you don’t want to get the pack involved? These guys have ripped out the hearts of seven people now, and we don’t know how many we’ll be up against.”
“Rescuing Nylah will be for nothing if she’s thrown in the pit for the rest of her life.”
Cade took a bite of his Polish sausage and chewed slowly, swallowing before he spoke, “We’ll both be joining her if this goes south.”
A woman screamed, drawing their attention to the street below, where a bachelorette party was getting an early start. One of the women had tripped over the curb, breaking her stiletto and landing flat on her ass. Her friends hauled her up, and she pulled a pair of flip-flops from her purse before slipping them on and continuing down the sidewalk.
“Six months ago, our only worry would have been which woman in that group we’d be taking home,” Cade said. “Now we could be facing jail time, or worse.”
“We’ll have to make sure we don’t screw it up. I can hold the bastard. I’ve done it before.”
“True, but he still got away.”
“Because I let go. I thought y’all had it under control, but I’ll hold on to the end this time. You and Nylah can take them out while I hold them still.”
Cade blew out a slow breath and lowered his gaze.
“She’s alive. I can feel she is, and Amber can too.” His chest warmed at the mention of her name. “We can do this.”
His friend nodded. “I’m in.”
After clearing their table, they made their way downstairs and out onto Frenchman Street. Jazz music drifted out from the clubs as they strolled to the intersection and hung a right, away from the busy area.
“When is this going down?” Cade asked.
Noah followed him across the street, into the shade of the massive oak trees lining the neutral ground dividing the road. “As soon as possible. Amber’s getting the potion to destroy the Thropynite, so as soon as I hear from her, we’ll head out to Grunch Road.”
“Are you sure that’s where the pocket dimension is?”
“The energy felt different when we scouted the area before. It was heavy, like something was disturbing the natural flow. I didn’t know what I was looking for at the time, but now that I do, it makes sense.”
“Sounds like a plan.” A mischievous grin lighted on Cade’s lips. “Do you want to go for an afternoon hunt while you wait for your woman?”
Noah huffed. “I’m not allowed to shift without an alpha present.”
He raised his brows. “You’re also not allowed to hunt demons or see Amber, both of which you’re about to do.”
Noah stopped walking and squinted, looking more inward than at anything in front of him. “True.”
“It’ll be good to get some practice in…just in case you can’t hold them with your magic. If the Grunch are as badass as the legends say, we’ll need all the wolfpower we can get.”
He shouldn’t. He was already skating on thin ice with both the pack and the national congress. One slip-up, and he could face life in the pit…or worse. He gazed up at the cloudless sky, letting the sun warm his face. Screw it. That was exactly where he’d be headed if their plan didn’t work. Why be cautious now? “I’ll drive.”
They rode in silence on the ten-mile drive to the hunting grounds, which was fine with Noah. Cade was right; he did need to practice shifting without an alpha around before they took on the Grunch. That didn’t mean he wasn’t scared shitless, though. Who knew what his wolf would do with no form of authority to guide him. He was about to find out.
He parked behind a tree alongside the road, and they trekked deep into the swampy area before shifting. His wolf came to the
surface without hesitation, as usual. Turning from man to beast never was his problem. He expected his wolf to challenge Cade like he had the alpha, but instead, he hunted alongside his friend like their wolves were old pals.
For a moment, he let go of all his worries, and just let his wolf run. He didn’t try to exert dominance over the beast, didn’t concern himself with whether or not he’d be able to return to his human form. He simply enjoyed the ride, and damn, was it exhilarating.
Until the faintest hint of sulfur and rotting garbage reached his senses. Cade skidded to a stop, his nose in the air, and Noah hoped to Hades his wolf’s inborn instinct to hunt demons would kick in. Lucky for him, his beast stopped too, a ridge of fur standing on end down the middle of his back. A fiend was near.
A branch broke to their right, and Noah’s wolf swung his head in the direction of the disturbance. Cade growled, flattening his ears against his head, the sound making Noah’s skin prick. They stood side by side, crouching low as the demon emerged from the trees.
Noah’s growl intensified. This was no ordinary demon; it was the same gargoyle-like fiend the pack had attacked before.
“Where is the she-wolf’s brother?” He lifted his head and sniffed the air. “I can smell his presence.”
The fiend did have Nylah. Noah reached out to his wolf, trying to regain control so he could face the Grunch, but the animal refused to relent.
Cade cut his eyes toward Noah, appearing to speak with his thoughts, but Noah’s lack of connection to his beast made it impossible for the man to understand. Whatever Cade was planning, his wolf didn’t care.
He lunged, snapping his jaws at the creature and sinking his teeth into a patch of soft flesh on its side. The demon roared and grabbed Noah by the scruff of his neck before hurling him into the bayou.
Muddy water engulfed him. He tried again to shift to his human form, but the shock made his wolf hold on tighter. He paddled, breaking the surface and then swimming toward the bank.