“Yep.” Maverick threw the mage a look that promised pain later.
“Oh.” I tried not to care but failed miserably. The thought of being linked to yet another murder made me deeply uncomfortable. I wasn’t a criminal. Or murderous. Just a witch who liked pancakes and silly human movies.
“Little mate, it’s not your fault,” my bear said, reading my mind. “The humans tried to kill you. If I’d been there, my bear would have torn them limb from limb, so at least we were spared a bloodbath. Not that electrocuting a human is much better in terms of destroying the evidence.”
“All done,” Zane announced when he blinked into sight, his shoulders covered in snow and his hands black.Black?I tried to sit up again and was promptly pulled into Maverick’s arms.
“Why are your hands black?” I asked the incubus.
“From burning the corpses.”
“Clean up so we can get going.” Zane nodded and disappeared into the bathroom while I tried not to vomit over the pink patchwork bedspread.
Another day. Another car ride.
This time, Kai rode shotgun while I sat sandwiched between Zane and the grumpy mage with Kenji on my lap. He’d fallen asleep the minute we left town.
My memories from last night still hadn’t returned, and I wondered whether Alaric had messed with them, perhaps to hide something mean he’d said or done. From what I could recall, he’d been unhappy about Maverick leaving me with him while he went to deal with a feral shifter.
“Why did the human shoot me?” I asked eventually. That was the part that made no sense. The weather had cleared early thismorning and the mountain pass remained open for now. All being well, we’d cross the summit in the next hour.
“She realized you were a witch and panicked.”
I frowned. “How? Did my magic go haywire again?” Most humans couldn’t tell the difference between magicals and humans unless they used magic or shifted. That was why many humans didn’t trust us. They hated that some magicals deliberately concealed their true nature.
Social media called it cloaking or stealthing, and there were loads of videos and posts about humans getting stealthed by horny shifters on a full moon and then waking up to find a wolf in their bed.
“Yeah. Your magic exploded.”
“But why? It never does that unless someone upsets or threatens me.”
Alaric shrugged. “The human said some shit.”
“The mage probably upset you,” Zane said. “He has form for that.”
If only I could remember.
“He’s not the only one,” I replied while stroking Kenji’s soft fur.
When we pulled up outside a rustic cabin, I blinked in surprise. Was this Maverick’s place?
“It belongs to a friend,” my bear said while I stood shivering in the frigid wind blowing down the mountain. Thick snow had begun to fall once again, and if it carried on like this, we’d be snowed in for sure.
Kai stood knee-deep in the snow, wearing nothing but a tee and some jeans, his jacket in one hand and a bag in the other.Snow clung to his braids and dusted his shoulders. He’d been quiet for most of the trip, but I’d caught him watching me a few times.
“Are you not cold?”
He half smiled. “No. I don’t really feel the cold. If I did, I’d struggle to survive underwater in the ocean.”
Ugh, I was so stupid at times. I knew this.
“You look cold, though. Here, have my jacket.” He wrapped his coat around me. It smelled of brine and frost. Fresh and intoxicating.
Alaric rolled his eyes at Kai’s chivalrous display and stomped off toward the cabin. Kai saw my shoulders slump and frowned.
“He does care, even if he refuses to admit it,” he told me.
“Really? I’m having a hard time believing that.” Kenji did his usual trick of rolling in the snow before shaking ice crystals from his thick coat. I watched as he trotted over to the deck and peed on a support post.
