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I can smell the lingering odor of the demons. The vegetation seems to be holding onto it. There are no answers for what happened after. I’ve never seen a demon behave in the way they did that night, and neither had my hunters.

Even shifting and examining the area with my heightened senses leaves me questioning everything.

I leave and go north, toward the collection of covens that dot the mountain towns in Wyoming, Montana, the Dakotas. We’ve long since kept track of them, the same way they know where we live. It keeps them alive.

Well, it usually does. Today, I don’t care.

I interrogate the first witch I come across, but her power fails before she can tell me anything. Then another.

For two days, I’ve leave a trail of bodies in my wake.

Every minute that passes without a resolution increases the tension in my body. I’m almost too aware of Jessamine’s timeline.

And yet, no one knows the daughter. They can’t tell me anything—not her name, her age, her powers. I have her scent and blood and the desire to hunt her down. I’ve become obsessed with it.

It’s madness, but something tells me she’s the key.

It doesn’t help that my wolf is just as eager—but I suspect it’s for an entirely different reason. He just hasn’t revealed it to me, yet.

Who is this mystery witch. With the power to evade all the local covens’ knowledge? Perhaps that was her mother’s doing. The Seer kept her daughter tucked away for one reason or another, and I’m determined to uncover it.

It takes another day and a half to get to North Dakota, thanks to my roundabout route. I stop only to rest for a few hours and hunt, satiating the gnawing hunger in my belly. I ride through a quiet town, and my wolf stirs. Part of me wants to just park and shift, but something keeps me from doing that.

Instinct.

The smell of magic rides on top of the air. I look around the town square, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. There’s a coven in this town, lurking in the shadows. But it’s subtle. I appreciate how much they’ve concealed themselves. They’re more fearful of wolves. Or perhaps they’ve just been awaiting my arrival.

I climb off the bike and follow the pull of magic into a diner.

Inside, the singed smell doubles. A woman with white hair lifts her head at my entry, her deep-blue eyes piercing into mine without flinching. She’s sitting alone at a booth, and she doesn’t seem surprised to see me.

I’d bet my life that she’s a Seer. But one who still willingly meets me, instead of collecting her coven and fleeing into the mountains. Or anywhere out of my path of blood…

Things just got interesting.

I slide onto the bench opposite her.

“You’re looking for the girl,” she says without preamble. Her voice sounds ancient. Her skin is smooth, except for a few feathered wrinkles around her eyes. The depth in her gaze betrays her age.

She puts her hands up, as if to placate me. She has an amulet around her neck, but nothing adorns her fingers or wrists.

The fact that I’m sitting here at all, instead of dragging her out by her hair, is its own mystery. I suspect that she knows exactly who I am and who I want to find.

“Did word of what happened to those who didn’t answer my questions spread?” I question.

She shakes her head slightly. “I doubt anyone you’ve talked to had run across her. But we have. We hosted her in our home for less than an hour, and she left shortly after. She wasn’t welcome here.”

I raise my eyebrows. I haven’t heard of witches turning on another.

“Is it standard witch practice to cast out one of your own?”

A waitress comes by with a mug of coffee. She sets it down in front of me and darts away. Her heart is pounding far too fast for normal. I eye her retreating form, but I brush off her fear. This type of small town exists around a coven. It happens sometimes. Magic, even for those who don’t know of its existence, can get used to the feel of it. When it’s calm. When it’s scared.

And as a predator, I elicit a reaction from the coven, which in turn affects the humans.

As demonstrated by them rejecting the witch I seek.

“Best coffee in town. That’s why I picked this place.” She lifts her mug to her mouth and takes a sip. “She wasn’t welcome here because of you.”