Witch Hunt

by Layla Nash

Evershaw didn’t even wait for the truck to stop moving before he flung his door open and leapt out, barreling through a half-open door and denting the steel with his shoulder as he ran into it. The pack followed protocol and conducted the sweep efficiently and professionally, but he barely noticed. Deirdre. He needed to find Deirdre.

  He pushed away a rising sense of panic. Something wasn’t right. The wolf clawed at his control and Evershaw felt himself slipping into the wolf as he raced down the hall to his suite. Deirdre. He just needed to see her. Then whatever it was that felt wrong would be fixed.

  He passed Henry without a word and stormed into his rooms, the guest room, everywhere. He checked the closets, under the sinks, ripped the tub out of the floor to make sure she couldn’t have gotten stuck there. And she wasn’t there. She wasn’t there.

  He roared and ripped at his hair. “Where is she?”

  Henry and Todd skidded into the room, the younger man white-faced, and stared around at the mess Evershaw made. Henry stuttered and practically turned in a circle as he looked for the witch. “She didn’t leave. I didn’t see her leave. I’ve been here every second. I saw her walk in with my own eyes.”

  Evershaw returned to the bathroom and sneezed, homing in on the sink and a circle near the shower that stank with an unnatural haze. Magic. It had to be magic. She’d done magic to get out of there without being seen, but why? He growled and turned. “She’s in trouble. Something isn’t right. Find her.”

  Todd’s mouth opened but he wasn’t going to fight; Evershaw could see it in his cousin’s eyes. He didn’t have time for a fucking argument, and neither did Deirdre. So he said it louder, so no one would mistake the order. “Find her.”

  Chapter 62

  Deirdre

  I definitely wasn’t destined for a career in subterfuge or spying, that was for damn sure. Even knowing I was invisible wasn’t enough to keep my heart from racing as I crept out of the suite and then through the semi-familiar halls to a door that led outside. It felt like an eternity until I was out on the street, then another eternity until I was a couple of blocks away and could drop the don’t-see-me disguise that protected me from prying eyes.

  Even though I hustled to get to my house, it still took half an hour and Palmer beat me there. His eyebrows arched when he saw me on foot, and he stood up from where he’d been sitting on the porch steps. “What happened to your car?”

  “Long story,” I said, offering a smile even though I didn’t really feel it. He might have been the person who hexed Miles, so I’d only be friendly enough to get the information I wanted. “Sorry I kept you waiting.”

  “I don’t mind,” he said. He patted the railing of the porch where the paint curled up in long strips. “I haven’t been here in a while. Do you need help painting? I just got a new ladder.”

  For some reason, the offer made me tense. I didn’t want him anywhere near my house. I didn’t want him touching my house or laying any sort of claim on it, even through free labor. Which didn’t make any sense at all, except in my gut. My instincts told me to run. But the business card in my pocket said we had more to talk about. So I forced the words out with another sheepish shrug, working my keys into the stubborn lock on the front door. “I’m still negotiating with the neighbor kid to see if he can do it for me. But thanks for the offer.”

  Palmer shoved his hands in his pockets after hiking the strap of his messenger bag up higher on his shoulder. “You should learn to accept help, Deirdre. You don’t have to do everything on your own.”

  I put my shoulder into the door, trying to wedge it open, since we hardly ever used it and the wood stuck. It creaked and moved just a touch. At least I could channel my irritation with Palmer into the next shove, which freed the damn door. “You sound like my aunt.”

  “She’s right about some things,” he said mildly.

  I held the door open for him to follow me into the house, then shut it just enough for the door to stick in the jamb. I didn’t want him wandering through my backyard and seeing my garden or the back door, so it was better that I keep him in the front of the house. I kicked my shoes off and gestured at one of the chairs in the more formal, rarely-used front room. “What’s up?”

  He didn’t sit, instead looking around with a touch of tension in his shoulders, though he let his bag rest on the floor. “You don’t want to talk in the living room?”

  “This is good,” I said. I took my grandmother’s favorite chair, still comfortable though it was worn thin in places and Cricket had occasionally tested his teeth against the wooden leg.

  Palmer’s hand tapped against his leg, then he tilted his head at the kitchen. “Do you mind if I get a glass of water or something to drink?”

  Something about the way he said it made me think he’d expected me to offer him something first, and the fact that I hadn’t offended him, though he knew I wasn’t much of a hostess. It wasn’t like it was a date or anything and I needed to impress him. I clenched my jaw and steeled myself to be a little less hostile. “Sure.”

  He nodded and wandered into the kitchen, taking his bag with him, and rattled around in there for a second, looking for a glass. He turned on the tap and I bit back an exasperated sigh. Holy Mother. I couldn’t interrogate him on what he’d done if he insisted on fussing over small things.

  It seemed like forever until he returned, carrying the half-full glass, then took the chair I’d pointed out. “Thanks. I’ve had a tickle in my throat, so hopefully this’ll get rid of it.”

  I nodded, absently rubbing the back of my wrist and a very small bruise from where Miles held on to me tightly during one particularly wild part of the night. “So what was my aunt saying?”

  “Hmmm,” Palmer said. He watched me closely and tapped his fingers on his thigh.

  “Apparently she got a call from the animal that showed up at the florist. He thought you worked a curse on him and wanted to know whether she knew anything about it.”

  I blinked, then started laughing. “That’s bullshit. I didn’t work any curses on him.”

  Palmer shrugged. “That’s what she said. She called everyone to see whether they knew about it, but no one else did. It seemed like you two were... close, when we were at the florist, but I wanted to make sure you wanted to be close. That he wasn’t forcing you into anything.”

  “He’s not, believe me,” I said. I could gloss over the whole kidnapping thing; that was between Miles and me, and none of Palmer’s business. “Whatever we are isn’t any of my aunt’s business.” Or anyone else’s, I added in my head. Including him.

  Especially him.

  The other witch frowned but nodded, like he didn’t really believe me but knew I wasn’t going to change my story. He studied his hands and the glass of water for a long moment before glancing back up at me. “Have you given any thought to my proposal from the other night? About moving in with me?”

  “No,” I said. When he didn’t react, I cleared my throat. “I mean, no I’m not going to move in with you, not no I haven’t thought about it. I’m fine on my own and I want to distance myself from the coven for now. I appreciate the gesture, but I’m staying here.”

  He shook his head, radiating disappointment. Before he could go on, I pulled the business card out of my pocket and carefully put it on the table in front of him. “I found this among Miles’s things. How did he get it?”

  Palmer went still, watching the card as though it was a dangerous spider rather than a simple piece of paper, and let the silence stretch for some time before he spoke. “That? I gave it to him outside the florist, after you’d gone, in case he had any issues with magic come up.”

  “What kind of issues with magic did you think he’d run into?” I folded my arms over my chest, absolutely certain he’d cursed Miles. His demeanor screamed guilt.

  It looked like he’d reach for the card, but he stopped a few inches away, his fingers hovering over it. “Well, they had need of us before, so I thought—”

  “They had need of m
e before,” I said. “I was the one who helped them, I’m the one they owe. None of the rest of the coven bothered to help.”

  “Deirdre, that’s not fair and you know it.” His tone shifted into the lecturing professor that I hated so much, and my fingers dug into the fabric of Granny’s armchair. Palmer shook his head woefully, once more disappointed in my misperceptions. “We simply didn’t have the experience or knowledge necessary for that kind of spell, and it wasn’t prudent to assume we could successfully cast it without practice. The Betwixt is a dangerous place to cast magic in and through, and there wasn’t any real reason to take the risk.”

  “I did it,” I said. “I found the spell and figured it out. That is why I’m leaving the coven.”

  “The coven needs you, Deirdre,” he said. “You can’t leave.”

  “No one is giving me a reason to stay,” I said. I leaned my elbows on my knees, wishing I could growl like the shifters could, and let some of my irritation shine through. “And when I finally find something—someone—interesting, you hex him.”

  Palmer almost dropped the glass of water. “No one—”

  “You did, Palmer, I know you did.” I pointed at the business card. “That’s yours. It’s your work. Why did you hex him? He never did anything to you. Were you also the one who poisoned him, who gave that awful pack outside the city the poison?”

  A muscle in his temple jumped and ticked as he stared at me, then he folded both hands around the glass. “He distracted you. Is distracting you. And we need you to focus on the coven. His kind don’t understand us, Deirdre. He might seem exciting and interesting now, but we should not mix with the animals. He was just using you. You didn’t see it, so I made sure he wouldn’t be a long-term issue.”

  I wanted to throw something at the smug bastard. “That’s not your call, Palmer. You don’t know anything about him, and you have zero input to my life. Zero. I’d like you to leave now, and do not ever contact me again. If you try anything against Miles, it’ll come back to you times three—and I’ll be the one delivering it to your door.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Deirdre,” he snapped. “You’re not going to shack up with that animal. He’s beneath you. You’re going to move your ass into my house, like you should have done months ago, and we’re going to take the coven over from your aunt. Stop messing around.”

  “Get out,” I said. I lurched to my feet and pointed at the door. “You’re not welcome here. He’ll kill you if he finds out you were here and threatened me like this.”

  “Of course he will,” Palmer said. “Because he’s an animal. But he’s not here now, is he, Deirdre?”

  The icy demeanor made me pause just a second, because it was very unlike Palmer and the question carried a bit of threat to it. I scowled at him and didn’t back down. “Get out, Palmer.”

  He made as if to rise, then jerked the glass of water up and at me, splashing me full in the face. I sucked in a breath to scream at him about juvenile bullshit but the familiar spark of magic jolted through me when the water hit, then my face and neck and everything else went numb and I sank to the floor, staring at him. He’d put something in the water. I couldn’t move, could hardly breathe.

  Palmer crouched next to me, pushing my shoulder so I rolled onto my back, and smiled faintly as he studied me. “Your aunt said you’d never agree to be with me, and I fear she was right. Luckily there are ways to convince you.”

  I started to scream, to demand he undo whatever he’d done, but he gestured and the magic zinged again and everything went dark.

  Chapter 63

  Deirdre

  I woke up with a start, dragged out of whatever kind of sleep I’d been in, and stared around me. The room smelled slightly musty, like a basement, and had unfinished walls. Beams ran overhead, and the floor under my feet was smooth concrete. My toes curled away from the cold.

  I was seated in a chair with a straight back and severe arms, my wrists tied tightly and my ankles bound to the legs. My chest still ached from struggling to breathe through the paralysis of Palmer’s spell.

  He was nowhere to be seen, regardless of how I craned my neck, and when I managed to hush the desperate gasps of my breathing, I didn’t hear anyone else stir around me. I closed my eyes and focused on calming my heartbeat and collecting my thoughts. Panic wouldn’t help me. Clear purpose, clear thoughts.

  My first instinct was to burn the rope away so I could escape, but the second I pulled power into a fire spell, lightning jolted through me and almost knocked the chair over. I cursed, wrenching at where my hands were bound, but all that did was tear my skin. Tears burned my eyes but I bit them back. I couldn’t panic. I really couldn’t panic.

  Maybe if I played along, Palmer would fall for it. There was no telling what was in the water he threw in my face—it could have been just a knock-out spell, or something else combined with it. A love spell or compulsion hex or anything. It certainly hadn’t affected my feelings for Palmer, because I definitely still intended to beat the shit out of him the next time I saw him. Which I hoped was never.

  I rocked the chair a bit, since it wasn’t bolted to the floor, and tested whether I could stand with my legs bound. I managed to lurch forward, still bent over in the chair, and hobbled closer to where I thought the stairs might be. My thighs ached and my back throbbed, but I gritted my teeth and pushed to get the hell out of there.

  A door opened and closed, and just as I reached the first step, Palmer appeared. His eyebrows arched when he saw me, but a smile crossed his face as if I’d entertained him. “Deirdre. What on earth are you doing?”

  “Going for a stroll. How about you be a dear and release me?” I tried not to sound as pissed off as I was. I could still take refuge in the ice queen facade even without magic, so long as I could cling to my mantra. I am Deirdre, Maureen’s daughter. I am the heart of magic. I have the power of the world before me, ready to be used. I am stronger than the circumstances that confront me. I have the love and guidance of my mother and her mother and all their mothers before us.

  Palmer tsked and guided me back to where the chair had been originally, in the center of the room, then went over to a long table covered in bags, boxes, and piles of herbs. “Relax and this will be so much easier.”

  “What do you think you’re doing?”

  He sighed. “Deirdre, you’re the inheritor of a significant amount of power and even more knowledge, distilled down through generations of witches. Your aunt shouldn’t be leading that coven—you should.”

  “I don’t want to. I don’t want anything to do with—”

  “That’s because your mother didn’t instruct you correctly,” he said. He started lighting candles around the room, creating a circle, and my throat started to close. Holy Mother help me from whatever kind of magic he was about to do, since I couldn’t even defend myself. “You should have been ambitious enough to get rid of your aunt last year, before she ever had a chance to control the coven. And yet you didn’t. And every time there’s been an opportunity to lead, you’ve ignored it. So I’m doing this for you. You’ll thank me when we’ve got a powerful coven behind us and can control more of this city. We’ll finally be able to get rid of those animals, deal with the fae riffraff and other creatures, and take our place at the top of the food chain.”

  Swallowing a few times helped clear away the knot of panic, but my voice came out rusty all the same. “Look, Palmer, I don’t know what you’ve heard or what you think you know, but the shifters won’t—”

  “Animals,” he snapped, glancing back at me. “They’re animals through and through, Deirdre. Calling them something else only confuses the issue.”

  I clenched my jaw and wished I’d never sounded like him, even though I knew I’d thought the same about shifters. “There are a lot more of them than you think, and they are far more powerful than any coven would be able to fight. It would be prudent to reconsider and maybe establish a truce. There’s no reason—”

  “They’re easy en
ough to get rid of,” he said, waving his hand in dismissal. “A little poison and venom, maybe a hex or two, and it’s all taken care of.”

  “Except not really,” I said. “Since Miles is still alive.”

  “For now.” Palmer frowned as he made another circle around me, waving burning sage as he went. “Because you intervened. It took some time to find that other group of animals and convince that stupid bitch to go along with starting up another conflict. Don’t think I’ve forgotten about your role in ruining all that. They can kill each other off, then we can finish off the survivors when they’re weak. It won’t take much.”

  The thought of him igniting an inter-pack war made my blood run cold. “You’re crazy. You’re going to get innocent men, women, and children killed for nothing.”

  “Not innocent,” he said. Palmer put some incense in a burner and lit it, still not looking at me. “Just animals. It’s like putting out rat poison or mouse traps.”

  “Let me go,” I said, struggling to stay calm. “I don’t know what you think you’re going to do, but it’s not going to work. The ErlKing marked me; he can find me. I’ve already asked him to intervene, and Miles will be on his way, and—”

  “They don’t know where you are,” he said. He managed to sound cheerful despite the fanatical look in his eyes. “And neither do you. So how are you going to give them directions?”

  “I’m Miles’s soulmate,” I said. “He can find me anywhere. We’re connected.”

  And I knew in my heart that I hoped it was true. That they weren’t joking about the fate and soulmate and forever and ever thing. Because I wanted Miles to find me. I wanted him to burst through that door and down the stairs and then tear away the ropes so I could be free. I tried to take a deep breath but hiccupped instead as my vision blurred. I wanted Miles there with me. I needed him.

  When I blinked my vision clear and the tears ran warm down my cheeks, Palmer stared at me in abject horror. “You can’t possibly be crying for him.”