Page 98 of Dark Surrender

“It’s Jasper, for strength. You’re gonna need it. Dark is gonna lose his mind when you show up with me. A word to the wise, don’t back down or let him talk you out of going.”

“You think he will?” I ask.

“He’s gonna be pissed.”

“Do you think this is a bad choice?” I ask, wanting to know if she thinks I’m making a big mistake, given I just moved here and everything is so fresh.

Kali side-eyes me. “Real talk?”

“Always.”

“I think you’re as right for this job, if it’s what I think it is, as I am.”

I rear my head back in surprise. “That’s…”

“The truth,” she fills in. “We may not know each other well. Yet anyhow. But I know a bit of your story, and I know mine.” Kali notches her chin at the crocheted purse on the floor next to my feet. “Reach in there, pull out that little baggy at the bottom, and tell me what’s in it.”

Following her instructions, I lift a small plastic zip-lock bag from the messy confines and inspect the crushed stems and roots. “This is wolfsbane, isn’t it?”

“Yep. And that is why we are gonna be good friends.” She flashes me a wide, friendly smile.

“How did you know…”

“Your plants. The datura, specifically. Nobody randomly chooses to grow those.”

“You’re observant.” Dee doesn’t even know about the unique plants I grow.

Kali snickers. “So are you.”

Hiding my smile, I hum. I’m observant when I need to be on my game, which has been most of my life. In the books I’ve read, they call it survival mode. I call it life.

“Have you used it?” she asks, referring to my plant, which is part of the nightshade family. Jimsonweed is what it’s better known as.

Not comfortable sharing that part of myself with anyone beyond Dee, I hum a noncommittal response and shrug. Even if Kali means well, I do not know her. Not really.

As children, we might not have gone to school, but we had books. Our visits to the local library were once a month, and always such a treat. Sitting in the corner of our bedroom, I curled up and read book after book. Dad forbade us from reading fiction. So I learned about growing, canning, and all the things we needed to survive. That’s where my love of plants blossomed. Pun intended.

Not prying any further, Kali turns on some music until we pull off the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and ease into a small space between trees to conceal her truck. A few spaces down, there’s a van, and beyond that, a motorcycle tucked away from the road.

When she gets out, I follow her to a clearing where smoke billows from a firepit and a well-worn cabin, much smaller than the one I grew up in, sits along the edge.

Five tall, broad-backed men in leather vests stand around the fire, chatting. But as a twig snaps under Kali’s foot, everyone turns at once, and Dark’s face goes from neutral to downright grim when he spots me.

Hugging my arms around my middle, I shrink into myself.

Kali goes to Sunshine as I keep to the outskirts, not wanting to intrude. I’m an outsider here. Not one of them. That much is apparent from their welcoming exchanges with Kali and the wary gazes they set on me.

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

With her arms wrapped around her man, Kali announces, “Iris is gonna work with us on this. She’s perfect for the job.” Her eyes meet mine, and she winks before mouthing. Breathe.

In through my nose, I inhale an entire lungful of air and grip the crystal I forgot I still had in my fist.

Kali’s encouraging smile has me straightening my backbone, so when Dark finally approaches me with an air of being pissed off, I don’t cower. I channel the woman I’ve been all my life, the one who’s run jobs for her father and sister and is damn good at it.

I don’t fight Dark when he grips my upper arm and drags me into the forest, away from the others. He releases me against a tree, and then he’s there, caging me in, a whole foot taller, breathing heavy, eyes blazing.

“What. The. Fuck?” he hisses, tattooed arms flexing on either side of me, his palms flat on the massive tree.