by Reus, Katie
Her eyes heated at his words, gray going almost silver, and she set down her cup of coffee. “I like the second option better. But I’m not ready for…full-on sex.” She bit her bottom lip.
Willow let out a fussy sound as if she knew they were going to leave her.
“I don’t care,” he murmured. He just wanted intimate contact with her. Whatever she was offering, he wanted. He turned to a fussing Willow. “We won’t be long, I promise.”
“It’s weird that I’m pretty sure she understands us—and I’m also kind of disappointed that it won’t take long,” she murmured.
He let out a startled laugh at her words. Something told him he would never tire of this female. The longer he was around her, the more he realized he couldn’t imagine his life without her. He didn’t want to imagine his life without her.
Maybe this was the choice Thurman had been talking about. Well if it was, he chose Dallas.
Chapter 25
“I feel like you’re holding something back from me,” Dallas murmured as she drove down the quiet residential street with brightly colored one-story homes. Each house had a big wreath hanging on the front door, all in purples, green and gold, as if the whole neighborhood had coordinated it.
Today they’d opted to drive instead of walk because there were a few garden and food plots King wanted them to look at that were on the far side of the city. And they needed to take the ferry to get to one area. Rhys had offered to fly them, but the ferry was fine with her. Though it felt weird to be in a vehicle and she could tell that Rhys didn’t care for it at all. Probably because he could fly anywhere he so chose.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“This morning, when you told me about going to the house. I just feel like you’re holding something back from me.” She lifted a shoulder, wondering if she was being paranoid. It was her instinct, after all, to reject people first. She didn’t want to fall into old habits and do that to him with no cause. When she’d woken up alone this morning, all those past feelings of being rejected had swelled up, threatening to suffocate her.
“It’s nothing.” He turned away from her and glanced out the window.
On instinct she reached out and skated her fingers down his forearm. She loved touching him, loved the skin-to-skin contact. It made her feel even more connected to him. “Clearly it’s not nothing. Come on.”
“When I was at the house…” he said as he turned back to her. Then he grasped her hand and brought it to his mouth once, brushing his lips over her knuckles.
Spirals of awareness rolled through her at that brief, intimate touch. She really could get used to this, to him. And that was a terrifying thought. He’d be leaving soon, something she would do well to remember. It was taking all she had not to cut and run, to end things because she knew how they’d end anyway. Because that tiny little flicker of hope inside her refused to die. She didn’t want to run from Rhys. “And?” she prodded since he seemed to have lost his train of thought.
“There were a bunch of scents there. Random scents, the ones that King tracked down. Or tried to. I know King and his trackers are out there, and not to sound all arrogant but I have great olfactory senses. There was a darkness there, and this is going to sound messed up—and I swear I’m not trying to insult you—but it almost smelled like you a little bit. But…not you. I don’t know how to put it into better terms.”
At his words, ice chilled her veins, slicing and sharp, making it hard to draw in a breath.
Her mother.
Heart pounding, she slowed and paused, waiting to turn the car around as they pulled up to a stoplight. There was hardly any traffic now, or ever, lately. Even though the light was red, since no one was coming she flipped a U-turn.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m heading back to that place.” She didn’t need to say where. “If you scented someone like me it might be someone from my former coven.” That was the truth because it would be her mother. She’d already witnessed that he could smell familial connections among shifters, so it made sense that he could between her and her mother as well.
Nausea swirled inside her. If he was right, then her mother was in New Orleans. That knowledge was revolting. But if Catta was here, she had to be stopped sooner than later. Dallas couldn’t stick her head in the sand and do nothing.
“Why are we going back there?”
“I didn’t know that my former coven members were involved in whatever this is. But if they are…I may be able to track them.”
It was clear he wanted to ask how, but he simply nodded and pulled out his phone. “I’m texting King.”
She was glad he didn’t push her on how she could do this—she didn’t want to lie to him and wasn’t sure she could at this point. He’d scent it anyway, but just the thought of lying to him made all the muscles in her stomach ball up tight, made her anxiety spike.
She was quiet as he texted. Tension ratcheted up inside her, her shoulders tightening as she thought about what she had to do. “Look, I’m going to do a type of finding spell. I just need to know that you’re going to have my back.”
She could feel the same tense energy rolling off him in potent waves as he set his phone down. “How could you doubt that I would?”
Because you don’t know my secret.
Her fingers tightened around the wheel as she made a right-hand turn. “I don’t doubt you, I just…I’ll be a little weak after the spell. I’m going to need you to take care of me. Literally. I’m going to have to trust you to have my back if someone attacks me, because I won’t be able to defend myself.”
“This sounds dangerous. You’re not doing it,” he snapped out. “Nope. It’s not happening.” He was shaking his head, his jaw tight.
“Even if I can help you find Catta?” she asked bluntly.
He jerked in his seat. “I don’t understand. You can find her?”
“Maybe.” It would come at a great personal cost, making her weak and vulnerable—susceptible to any supernatural beings who wanted to hurt her. Hell, even humans if they wanted to.
She wouldn’t be able to tap into her powers for a while if she did this spell. And it would only work if Catta was in the area, if she was within a certain radius. She hadn’t thought her mother was here but if Rhys was right and he’d scented her back at that awful house, then… It was highly possible that she was.
“Not even if it finds her,” he finally said.
She wasn’t sure who was surprised more, her or him. She glanced at him. “Don’t lie to me.”
“I am not lying.” His words were whiplash sharp. “I’ll find her without you hurting yourself. I’ll find her on my own. I’ve been searching long enough and I’m not going to risk you hurting yourself over this.”
She couldn’t even put into words what that meant to her. Throat tight, she parked a few spots down from the house and got out of the car before he could protest.
“What the hell are you doing?” Rhys asked as he jumped in front of her on the sidewalk, completely blocking her.
She went to step around him but he moved again, holding his arms out so she still couldn’t pass. “Rhys!”
“I can do this all day. In fact, I can throw you over my shoulder and fly you back to the house. I’m not letting you do whatever this is. You will not hurt yourself!”
She placed a hand on his chest, touched by his concern but anxious to do this and get it over with. “It’s not going to kill me or anything. I’m just going to be really tired. Weak. And…I’m going to want to go home immediately after. My home. To sleep and be at peace, surrounded by my own things. I’ll rebound faster if I’m on my own land. The spell won’t hurt me though.”
“You swear it won’t kill you?” His jaw clenched tight as he stared down at her, a mix of riotous emotions in his eyes. Eyes that had gone pure dragon. Oh, his beast was not happy.
“I swear. If any of my former coven members are involved in this and they’re nearby I can track them. It’
ll just take a lot of power.” And she’d recently expended a lot when she’d ripped the magic dome down here, so she was tapping into her reserves again far too soon. It would be worth it, however, if it found Catta.
“King is meeting us here,” he finally said. “We’ll talk to him.”
“That means you have to actually move out of my way,” she murmured, dropping her hand.
He grabbed it and basically stalked down the sidewalk, holding her hand tight in his, as if he was afraid she’d bolt.
King was already waiting for them with a handful of wolves at the property when they stepped through the open gates.
She nodded once at the Alpha. “Have you had any luck finding the witches?”
King shook his head, his frustration clear.
“I might be able to find them. Or one of them. But if I do, it’s going to drain all of my energy and I’m not sticking around the city afterward. I’m going home. That part is not up for negotiation. I know you want me here going over different garden plots. And I’ll come back and do it in the future. But if I do this right now I’m going to need to go home almost immediately.” All of her healing teas, her house, and her land especially would help rejuvenate her. She’d injected so much love and energy into her own land over the last two decades that it would be a natural balm to all of her.
“You’re not a hostage here. If you want to go home, it’s fine. I appreciate all you’re doing and I still need more information from you, but finding who’s involved in these killings is a hell of a lot more important.”
She liked that he was putting the lives of humans and vampires above anything else. If she’d had a doubt about what kind of Alpha he was, she wouldn’t anymore. But she’d never doubted King to begin with. His natural aura radiated a rare kind of caring and kindness she didn’t often see in others. Something inside him needed to take care of others. It was woven into his DNA.
“Okay, then.” She took a deep breath and stepped back from them. When she pulled out a little pocketknife from her back pocket, Rhys frowned at her. “What—”
She sliced her palm open and he jerked forward, maybe to stop her, but she shook her head. She wasn’t going to get into the specifics right now, she was simply going to do this. She clenched her fist once and blood started dripping from her palm. So she bent down and shoved her hand straight into the dead grass and tainted soil.
She sucked in a sharp breath as she felt her mother’s power. Goddess, it had been Catta after all.
No, no, no.
She hated that she hadn’t picked up on Catta before. There had been no damn signature on all those dead bodies. But somehow that evil woman who had borne her was in the city. Killing people.
That stopped now.
Aware of Rhys hovering next to her and King a few feet in front of her, she stared out into the distance but she wasn’t actually seeing anything in front of her. Instead she was using all her energy to focus on her mother’s location and any coven members who might be with Catta.
A big room, maybe a basement, appeared in her vision, the details becoming crystal clear as did her mother’s beautiful face. Big green eyes that looked beguiling, innocent. Flame red hair the color of fire. She was an artist’s dream—and a walking, living nightmare.
She had a sharp athame in her hand, was smiling prettily down at the vampire who was baring fangs at her. Catta laughed lightly, the twinkling sound magical as she stroked the female’s face.
Dallas hated that about her, hated how beautiful she was.
Forcing herself to focus on the room, she mentally reversed course and looked around, trying to find the exit to the room. Because she was seeing Catta in real time. Looking at that beautiful, murderous face and cursing her existence wouldn’t do anything for anyone.
Dallas needed to get a damn location. So she started looking at the surroundings. They were in an empty room. Like maybe a garage converted to a game room. No windows, no closets, just an exit door. So she went through it, floating really, her spirit finding its way out until she was in another yard looking up at a smaller house this time.
One story instead of two. A fairly nondescript house. Gray brick, black shutters, a turquoise-colored door and wind chimes that looked an awful lot like bones hanging from the front porch. She drank in every detail, including…
Her gaze snagged on the actual numbers of the house. She could feel the spell fading and spectrally raced across the yard, needing to see the name of the street.
“Dallas.” Rhys’s voice came as if from a long distance. She could feel him touching her shoulders, holding her tight.
No. She ignored him, blocked out his presence, needing to stay right where she was. She scanned the street as she hurried down it, taking in everything she could, trying to remember every detail. There! She had it.
She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, found Rhys staring down at her, his dragon in his eyes as he pulled her to her feet and held her close. “You’re never doing that again,” he snarled, his big body trembling.
“Your eyes… They were glowing silver.” King was staring at her, but she had to blink a few times before his face came into focus.
Her eyes didn’t matter. Nothing did but finding Catta and the others. Saving those people. “I need a piece of paper and a pencil,” she managed weakly. “Now.”
He barked out an order and moments later, sitting on the dead grass, her hand already healed from the knife slice, she started drawing what she’d seen.
Though it was difficult to grip the pencil and her hand trembled, she managed to draw everything. She included the street sign, the numbers on the house, even the little flamingo-shaped potted plants and wind chime hanging on the front porch. “I think this is where they are,” she rasped out, her words stilted. “The witches are there. They’re holding humans and vampires. They’re alive. Some of them, anyway. I didn’t see all their faces. It was all a blur, but this is happening right now.”
She felt as if she’d been through a blender, as if she could sleep for two weeks straight. Invisible sandbags weighed down her eyelids but she forced herself to her feet, and thankfully Rhys helped her stand. He immediately wrapped his arm around her waist and held her against him, steadying her.
King looked at the paper, nodded once. “This is incredible. I know where this is. What can we do to help you?”
“Stop them,” she rasped out.
He nodded and stepped away from them but she held up a hand. “And take Rhys with you.” She knew she’d asked him to have her back, but she could go see Thurman and get enough healing tea to make it to her land by herself. And Rhys needed to be the one to kill Catta. “He deserves to—”
“I’m not leaving you. I promised—”
“I can have someone drive me back to the house. I can wait while you take care of this.” He had been hunting his sister’s killer for so long. “Catta is there!” Maybe he wasn’t getting that.
“I don’t give a shit about any of this. That’s not true, I do care.” He shot a sharp look at King. “Their leader, her name is Catta, and I want to see her head on a spike. She killed my sister and hundreds, maybe thousands of others. She needs to die.”
It was clear that King had questions, especially since he’d had no idea that Rhys had been in the city hunting someone. But the Alpha simply nodded. “Every single person involved in this will die today.” He turned to Dallas. “You’re sure they’re there now?”
“I believe so. When I do spells like that, everything I see is in real time. I recommend getting there as quickly as possible. I was careful about cloaking my presence but…they might have sensed me. Go.” She was weak. Too weak, and fading fast.
King nodded again, barked out more orders to his people, and then they took off at breakneck speed.
“We’ll swing by the mansion to grab your things and Willow, then I’m going to fly you back to your house,” Rhys told her. “But we leave now. I don’t want you flying on her. She’s still too w
obbly.”
She simply nodded.
“You’re being very acquiescent,” he said as he scooped her into his arms.
“I’m too tired to do anything else.”
“I have things to say but I’ll say them later. I think you lied about putting yourself in danger and I don’t like that. I don’t like that one bit,” he snapped out.
She closed her eyes as he hurried them back to the car. “I guess it’s a good thing you don’t make decisions for me.”
He made an angry sort of growling snarl but didn’t respond otherwise as he helped her into the passenger seat and strapped her in.
“Take me to the Magic Man,” she murmured without opening her eyes, leaning her head back against the headrest. “Before we get Willow.”
“No problem.” She felt the vehicle turn in a different direction. “Why now?”
“My energy is fading faster than I expected. He’ll have a healing tea that should help me recharge long enough until we get back to my place. It’ll give me a couple hours respite.”
“You can just sit in the car and I can grab it from him if you want.”
“That’s fine with me. He’ll know exactly what I need.” Her words trailed into a whisper as sleep threatened to pull her under.
But she forced herself to stay awake. She didn’t want to be unconscious and unprotected until she got back home.
Her land would protect her. And she had to believe that Rhys would too. She was counting on it.
Chapter 26
Rage and energy hummed through King as they approached the house Dallas had directed them to. It was just two blocks away from the original place he and his trackers had hunted them to before.
They’d lost the trail, obviously due to some kind of dispersing spell if he had to guess. There was a whole lot he didn’t know about witches, but one thing he did know: Dallas was an incredibly good and powerful one. She didn’t let on that she was powerful, however, which he found interesting. Though she hadn’t tried to hide her powers or anything.
