“So, I assume you’re some kind of bigwig here? I mean, you have a special table, after all.”
Pen gasped, but Sloane looked unperturbed by my question. “We’re The Elites,” she said. “The highest-ranking unit of witches with the most revenant dispatches in Grimswood history.”
“I’m sure that’s impressive shit, but I have no idea what any of that means. Care to elaborate?”
She leaned forward, her arms braced on the table, and looked deep into my eyes. My stomach did a weird flip.
“It’s so much more fun if I show you,” she purred.
Pen let out a squeak. “Sloane, with all due respect, this is the anchor. You can’t just take—”
Sloane whipped her head round to pin Pen with a glare. “I can’t what?” She tipped her head to the side. “I can’t show the woman who’s about to give up her freedom, her right to fuck and procreate, why she has to do it? I can’t show her first-hand a fraction of the danger she’s protecting us from by making this huge sacrifice?”
Pen looked thrown. “But the danger…”
“She’ll be with me,” Sloane said. “Under my protection.”
Pen snapped her mouth closed and nodded. “Of course.”
“So, Cora…” Sloane said. “Do you want to come on patrol with us tonight?” She sat back and shrugged. “You don’t have to. I understand if you’re too scared.”
She swung from advocating for me to taunting me. Who was this woman? I kinda wanted to find out, and I also kinda wanted her to know I wasn’t a sit-on-my-ass-and-do-nothing kind of chick, but like she’d said a moment ago, that shit was better when it was shown.
I took a sip of my tea and looked thoughtful. “And you’ll be there to protect me?” I gave her a wide-eyed look.
She frowned slightly, then nodded. “Of course.”
“In that case, I’d love to.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Cora!” Wren barreled into me outside the dining hall.
“Hey, buddy, where have you been?”
“Exploring with Dottie,” he said. “Then I made a friend. Her name is Jules. She’s making scones in the kitchens. Can I help?”
“Wren, you don’t need my permission, remember?”
He nodded as if to say, yeah, yeah. “But can I?”
“Sure.”
He scrambled up my leg and wrapped his arms around my neck to give me a hug before hopping down and scampering away.
“He thinks you’re his master,” Bramble said.
“I know. I just don’t understand why.”
Pen looked down at my boots. “It’s quite a trek. We should get you some more comfortable shoes.”
“Whoa. Do not underestimate my boots. These are uber comfortable. Trust me, I’ll be fine.”
Pen didn’t look too convinced, but she didn’t argue. “We’ll take the main track as far as we can, and—”
A phone trilled.
She reached into her back pocket and retrieved her cell phone, then checked the caller ID. “Excuse me.” She walked off to answer it.
Speaking of cell phones. “Bramble, did you get me a phone?”
She winced. “Haven’t had a chance to get into town yet.”
I put my hands on my hips. “In that case, unless you want Fee and the Reapers descending on Grimswood, I suggest you get me to a phone now.”
“Here, you can use mine.” Pen held out her mobile. “Your friends need to know you’re okay.”
“Thanks.” I dialed Fee, and she answered almost straight away.
“Cora?”
“Yeah, babe, it’s me. Look, I don’t have a phone yet, but I’ll check in again as soon as I do.”
“What’s going on there? Are you okay?” She sounded worried.
It was my turn to walk off with the phone. “I’m gonna do this anchor thing.”
Silence greeted me.
“Fee?”
“I’ve been trying to find out about it,” she said. “No one knows anything about how that coven works. It’s all shady and hush-hush. Cor, I’m worried.”
“I know you are, but I’m fine. This anchor thing is legit, and I have to do it.”
“Oh, fuck. Please don’t say it…”
“Fate of the world, babe.”
She groaned. “I’m coming down. I’ll get cover for the Reaper’s duties, and I’ll—”
“No.” There was a snap to my tone that I instantly regretted.
Fee’s silence was saturated with hurt.
Fuck, I hated hurting her feelings. The woman was all heart… And me, I could be harsh without realizing it. “I’m sorry, babe. I didn’t mean to snap. I just… I’ve got this.”
“I just want to be there for you,” she said. “Like you’ve always been there for me.”
“I know. But this is something I need to do solo. I promise you, if I need back up, I’ll call.”
“Okay. Okay. Just…call and check in soon, okay?”
“Promise.”
I hung up and handed the phone back to Pen. “Thanks again.”
“No problem. I won’t be able to take you to the cabin, though. I just got a call from work. I need to get to the office.”
“Office?”
She gave me a sheepish look. “Orientations isn’t a paying gig, you know. And no magic means I’m not much use around here. I have my own business.” She pulled a business card from her pocket and handed it to me. “Come by some time.”
Penelope’s
Fashion with passion
“Nice.”
“I got this,” Bramble said. “We’ll check in later.”
“Be careful tonight,” Pen said. “With Sloane and The Elites.” She looked worried. “Anna won’t like this, but I can see where Sloane is coming from. Stick with her, and you’ll be fine.”
A thought occurred to me. “What about the slau?”
Bramble answered. “The Patrol witches have wards etched into their skin to hide them from the slau. If you’re with them, you’ll be fine.” She pulled a dagger from the sheath at her waist. “Besides, you have me. Slau and pixies don’t mix.”
“Hmmm,” Pen said. “Just be careful.”
She left us, clipping away in her sensible heels.
I turned to Bramble. “You can put that away now.”
She tucked the knife into its holster. “We need to get you weaponed up.”
“I have Trixie in my boot.”
“Honey, if you’re going on patrol with The Elites, then I’m gonna make damn sure you have more than a tiny blade at your disposal, but we best get you to Charlotte first. She’ll be waiting.”
“Lead the way.”
* * *
“What did you make of Pen?” Bramble asked as we trudged down the woodland path.
Birds chirped and the world was filled with the ambient sound of life.
“She seems nice.”
“I feel bad for her, you know?” Bramble toyed with the bracelet on her wrist. Silver and shiny with oval etchings that looked like amber eyes cut into it. “Don’t blame her for being prickly sometimes.”
“Because she has no magic?”
“Yeah, especially because of who her grandmother is. It ain’t easy for her. I can tell ya that.”
“Do you guys…hang out?”
“Pfft. Hardly. I may have grown up here, but I ain’t one of them, and they make sure to remind me of that whenever they get the chance.” She stooped to pick up a twig and carried on walking while slapping her thigh with it. “Fitting in ain’t been easy.”
“Then why stay?”
She shook her head then gave me a sly smile. “Why’d you stay in Necro so long, hmmm?”
I’d stayed for Fee. “Okay, I get it. You stay for Charlotte.”
“She needs me.” She touched the bracelet again. “She gave me this a week ago, a piece from her private collection. She told me that no matter what happened after the new anchor took over, there’d always be a home for me with her.” She sighed.
“She’s going to need me even more afterward…”
“What do you mean?”
She waved a hand. “Charlotte will explain it.”
She was giving her life to Charlotte because she loved her and felt beholden to her. It was no way to live. She needed to find herself. Find her purpose.
“I used to think Fee needed me. Then I realized she had enough people around her to keep her safe and bring her happiness, that I could leave and find my own path if I wanted to.”
“And here you are, about to stick a lock on your vagina.”
I snort-laughed. “There’s nothing wrong with a dildo.” I winked at her. “And I’m sure there’s nothing in the rules that says I can’t have foreplay with a guy.”
“Ooo, looking for loopholes already. I love it.”
“Always. So, tell me about Charlotte. How come she doesn’t live at the mansion?”
“She’s where she belongs, with her wolf mates,” Bramble said.
I was confused. “They live together?”
“That’s right.”
“I thought there was no sex allowed?”
“I didn’t say they were banging. Love and intimacy aren’t all about sex. The bond between an anchor and her mates is… It’s something else. Pure and—”
A sharp crack cut through the air, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention. The world was suddenly absolutely silent.
“Something’s here.” Bramble drew her daggers.
“I thought this land was warded?”
“It is.”
I dipped and drew Trixie from my boot.
“I’d be ready with some of that magical mojo if I were you,” Bramble said.
“It would help a shit ton if I knew what we were dealing with.”
A low keening filled the air. It swelled and grew louder, pressing in on us.
“Fuck, cover your ears now!” Bramble pressed her fists to her head, daggers pointing up like lethal ears.
I blocked out the wail with my hands, but even muted, it filtered through to gnaw at my mind like a rat on a dismembered finger.
I turned to Bramble. “What is it?”
She shook her head and squeezed her eyes closed. “Banshee. Run.”
Banshee? What? Another fae creature? I broke into a run, hands still pressed to my head, hot on Bramble’s trail as she cut down the path.
But the keening grew louder, making my head swim. My knees went rubbery and buckled. I hit the ground, hands shooting out to brace myself, and the full force of that keen sliced through me, squeezing the breath from my lungs and making my eyes bug.
Hands grasped at me, trying to lift me, but the force of gravity was a tangible weight holding me down.
“Cora! Cora, get up!”
Bramble’s cries were a distant thing as the world fogged and grayed. I tried to raise my hands to cover my ears, but my limbs were leaden weights.
“Fecking hell.”
Boots cut across my vision. Bramble’s boots.
A war cry was followed by a wail. She was fighting something.
A gray shape lunged at her, but the world around it was warped and foggy. I caught sight of a hood, white eyes, and a dark, yawning maw that seemed to vibrate.
Bramble slashed at it, silver blades winking in the sunlight. She made contact, and the thing reared back, but another took its place. How many were there?
Fucking hell. I needed to get up, I needed to—
“Take off the amulet, Cora.” Jasper’s ethereal face appeared beside mine. “Take it off.”
But I was immobile, words stuck in my throat.
“Dammit, woman. I’m no use like this.”
He stood and the temperature dropped, then Bramble hit the ground in front of me.
Fuck. He’d siphoned off her.
The keening was in my head now, a part of me, tunneling into me. I was barely aware of Jasper as he attacked the creatures, moving so fast he was a blur. Invisible power pushed them back, forcing them away from him and from us.
He rushed toward me and tore me off the ground, breaking gravity’s grip.
“I’ve got you,” he said. “I’ve got—"
“Motherfucker!” Bramble leaped to her feet, and I slipped through Jasper’s arms. Literally.
Jasper made a sound of exasperation, his face contorting with impotent rage then he vanished.
He left me? The fucker just left me! My eyes pricked and grew hot. What the fuck? Why did I expect anything less? Gah. I needed to move.
Bramble stumbled back so she was abreast of me, body in a crouch, daggers at the ready.
The keening was part of me now, but Bramble resisted.
She stood over me, blood pouring from her nose and ears. “Fuck you. You don’t get to have her. Not today.”
The banshees surrounded us with vibrating dark maws that echoed the sound of death, that sucked at my soul and scraped at my mind.
Rage unfurled and whiplashed in my chest, only to be beaten back by the weight the keening was pushing onto me. A flame flickered inside me, wanting to be free, wanting to burn, but held at bay.
The fucking amulet.
The fucking thing was going to get me killed.
“It’s going to be okay!” Bramble shouted over the wails. “I won’t let them hurt you.”
The sweet, delusional thing. I wanted to hug the prickly bitch, but it was unlikely that would happen because the banshees were almost on us, the darkness in their mouths swelling like live things, pushing outward, toward us.
The air popped three times, and silver fire burned my vision.
The banshee keening cut off, sudden and sharp, then the world was filled with gray dust. It rained down to kiss my cheeks and sting my senses with a metallic scent.
My body was my own again. I braced my palms on the ground and pushed, but my limbs were weak as noodles.
“Shit.” Bramble reached for me, blinking crimson from her eyes. She swayed, but someone caught her. One of the witches from the big girls’ table.
The Elites were here.
“I got you,” the witch said.
“Cora…” Bramble reached for me.
“I’m okay…” My voice was a whisper. “I’m okay.” I flopped onto my back and stared up into piercing blue eyes. “Sloane…”
Sloane crouched and peered at me. “Hello, cupcake. Do you often take a nap in the woods?”
I offered her a weak grin. “It’s just how I roll.”
“They shouldn’t be here,” Bramble gasped. “How can they be…”
I turned my head to find her unconscious and held up by two of The Elite witches.
“Oh, fuck. Bramble.” I tried to sit up, but the world spun.
“Easy.” Sloane pressed me back down. “She’ll be fine, and so will you once you’ve recharged.” She hauled me to my feet easily and swung me up into her arms. “Let’s get you to the cabin.”
We set off at a fast clip. She carried me easily, as if I weighed nothing, which was blatantly not true because the scales didn’t lie.
“Relax, cupcake,” Sloane said. “You’re safe now. Those fuckers won’t attack with us about. They don’t like iron bombs.”
I dropped my head to her shoulder, inhaling the fruity scent of whatever body wash she used.
“They were going to kill us.”
“Yeah.”
“They would have if you guys hadn’t come along.” The realization I’d almost died was a stab in my chest. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” she said. “Thank your malevolent friend. He dropped several witches in an attempt to get a message to us. Anna’s having a meltdown. She didn’t think he could siphon from us.”
Jasper… “He told you we were in trouble?”
Her mouth lifted in a wry smile. “His exact words were if she dies, you all fucking die.” She glanced down at me. “I dunno, cupcake, I was kinda expecting someone a little less give-a-fuck.”
He hadn’t left me. He’d gone for help. To
save me… No. To save himself. “He needs me alive. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“Maybe. I don’t know him like you do, but I know that look on his face. It was the look of a man about to have his heart crushed.”
Jasper? No. I couldn’t see it. But he’d saved my life. Again. And this amulet had put me in danger again.
Something needed to change.
Fast.
Chapter Fourteen
The cabin was a three-story house with a log cabin attached to it—probably where the name, the cabin, came from. I was back on my feet by the time we got there, not that being carried by Sloane wasn’t an experience, but being carried when I could walk didn’t feel right.
“You recovered fast,” she said.
“Yeah, I tend to do that.”
The area around the cabin was cleared out to make a front yard with a fire pit, barbeque, and outdoor seating. Sloane led the way onto the wraparound porch to the main house and knocked on the door.
Behind me, Bramble let out a groan.
“Here she is,” the witch carrying her said. “Wakey, wakey, sleeping pixie.”
Bramble cracked open an eye crusted with blood and looked at the witch. “Ah, Brie, I knew you had a soft spot for me.”
Brie rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s get you cleaned up, eh?”
“I can walk,” Bramble said.
Brie set her down.
Bramble’s gaze fixed on me. Her elfin face was smeared with dried blood. She would have died to protect me out there. She could have run, but she hadn’t.
“Well, that was fun, huh?” She gave me a weak smile.
A rush of emotion coursed through me, relief and something else, warm and fuzzy. I bridged the distance between us and pulled her into a tight hug.
“You fucking saved my ass out there, you crazy bitch.”
Bramble was stiff for a long moment, then she relaxed against me and hugged me back.
“Yeah… Yeah, I kinda did, didn’t I?”
The door opened as Bramble and I broke out of the hug.
A large man with reddish-brown hair and pale blue eyes like Leif’s greeted us. He smiled warmly at Sloane, and then his gaze tracked to me and Bramble, and his smile dropped.
Witch Unexpected: The Thirteenth Sign Book 1 Page 11
