Page 56 of Blood and Trouble

“She told me to leave you both, that no one’s ever been able to outrun her. She always gets what she wants.”

“Who?” Lycan took a step closer.

“Who do you think?” I trembled and clenched my fists to stop the shaking. “She’s here. She’s been here. And when she touched me…”

“She touched you?” Ava touched my arm as a musky wave of anger poured off her.

“She did something to my head, to my body. She held me frozen while she delivered her threat.” Like death. Like a demon. Like a banshee howling in the middle of the night. “We’re not just dealing with vampires, Lycan. She has a witch. She’s working magic.”

“Forgive the intrusion,” said an attendant from beside us. “If you’ll please make your way to your seats. Dinner will be served shortly.”

“Go,” I said, nodding toward the banquet room. “I’ll keep looking for her.”

“I’m not leaving you like this,” Lycan whispered, stepping closer. I ignored the heat in my chest at the simple gesture. He meant nothing by it.

“You don’t have a choice,” I bit out. “Go. Do what we came here to do.”

“If she got to you, she can get to any of us,” Lycan argued. “Who’s to say she won’t go after Ava next?”

She could barely hold me for the two minutes she had me under. And if she wanted Ava, she would have gone after her. So why hadn’t she? She could have used that spell to walk Ava out of here with us none the wiser. Maybe she couldn’t get close enough with Lycan hovering. Maybe she thought me the easier target. Maybe she couldn’t hold the spell for longer than a few minutes.

Leave the girl, and you can have the wolf. Stay, and she’ll make you watch.

I stuffed down the horrible visions she’d planted in my head. I’d seen some fucked-up shit in my life, but this…this terrified me. If Evelyn had a witch capable of getting into a shifter’s head, how many more were standing in the room right now?

“No, you’re right,” I said. “We need to go. Now.”

“We can’t run out on the king of Denmark,” Ava murmured.

“I’m not putting your safety above some stupid diplomatic dinner,” Lycan hissed.

Ava twisted her mouth into a thin line, seeming at odds with herself.

“Okay, fine,” she said. “I’ll send my apologies and say I got sick.”

I brought my wrist to my mouth and pressed the mic. “Prepare the limo. We’re headed your way.”

“You got it, boss,” Locust said.

Lycan put his hand on Ava’s lower back to guide her ahead of him, and I squashed the callous heat that built in my gut at the sight, focusing on our surroundings as I followed them through the palace. Just as we left the reception room and passed by the gardens, I caught a glimpse of a redhead out of the corner of my eye. At first, I kept moving, but my wolf howled and forced me to look again.

When I did, her features morphed and shifted in a blur, almost like I’d walked through an invisible force field. And there she was…Evelyn Vane…talking to the crown prince of Denmark like they were old friends. The prince laughed and leaned closer to whisper something in her ear, but Evelyn’s attention shifted to me.

Her crimson eyes glowed, almost otherworldly in their wrongness, and the foul decay of rotting flesh hit me in the face like a punch, nearly knocking me off my feet. I froze like I’d run into a wall face-first.

She met my gaze, tilted her head to the side, and waved her fingers in a taunting greeting.

“Shit,” I murmured, debating what to do. I had to get Lycan and Ava out of here, but this was an opportunity. I could engage. I could stalk up to her and demand to know what the hell she was doing, maybe rip her heart out in the process.

“Fuck,” Lycan said from next to me. The prince followed Evelyn’s line of sight to us, scowling and whispering to the vampire.

“We need to move,” I said. “Now.”

“She’ll follow us,” Ava said.

The witch’s threat confirmed that. We couldn’t go back to the hotel. We couldn’t go to a different one. If she got to us here, she’d get to us anywhere.

“Let’s go,” Lycan said.