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The slam of feet hitting the ground filled the night as we rushed to surround her. The wolves were growling, tempers on edge. The brujos had their hands out, ready to deflect or cast a spell at any moment.
Dastien growled as he moved to my side. She lifted her hand to start another spell.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” I held up my hands, letting my wolf surface enough to grow some impressive claws.
Dastien hadn’t stopped his snarl
ing and his eyes glowed amber.
The witch froze as she turned in a circle, finally noticing how grossly out numbered she was.
Good. Now we could actually figure out what her problem was. “I know your magic isn’t evil like Luciana’s, so I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume this is some kind of misunderstanding. Is there something I can help you with?” I said in my best fuck-off tone. The glass cuts had already healed, leaving only little splatters of blood on my arms. I suppressed the urge to wipe them on my jeans.
“You attacked the Texas Coven.”
Was she freaking kidding with this?
“Blessed be, sister.” Claudia moved to stand between the pissed-off witch and me. “I’m Claudia de Santos of the Texas Coven, and this pack has done nothing but give us safe haven. Why are you attacking?”
She stumbled back and nearly bumped into Adrian. “Luciana came to us two days ago. Terrified. Asking for sanctuary. We saw what was left of the compound. These monsters—” She motioned toward me and Dastien. “—killed everyone and burned it to the ground. We couldn’t turn her away in her time of need.” The woman lifted her chin high in the air, pretending she wasn’t afraid of us, but her hands shook. The sickly sweet scent of fear permeated the air. “If you’re siding with them, then you’re a traitor to all covens.”
Oh my God. I so didn’t have the time or energy for this traitor BS. The lady needed a reality check, and fast.
“Andromeda spread the word among the covens.” Cosette stepped forward. Her skin glowed in the night, and her hair looked like it was made of spun gold. She had to have dropped some kind of glamour or magic. “Luciana alone was responsible for the deaths in Texas.”
“You’re faerie.” The witch’s eyes widened at Cosette. “The one from the Denver coven…?”
“If you know who I am, then you know better than to come after my friends.” Cosette loomed over the woman, still glowing. “Now help me understand why you’d ignore the warning of my coven leader.”
“There was no word from Andromeda.” She shrank a little under Cosette’s energy, but managed to shoot the rest of us a glare. “We’ve been on a retreat. We heard word from Luciana. She was waiting for us when we returned to our compound.”
Cosette muttered something fey, but I didn’t care who had and hadn’t been warned. All I cared was whether this lady could point us to Luciana. And how we were going to keep her from reporting that she’d found us.
A flash of movement from the hotel entrance caught my eye. Raphael exited the hotel lobby, and jogged toward us. The witch’s back was to him, and he started motioning for a spell, but I shook my head.
The witch held her hands out to Claudia. “Why are you with them? How could you betray your coven?”
Raphael reached the circle, and stepped between Adrian and Shane. “You shouldn’t listen to Luciana,” he said, and the witch spun to face him. “She drained the entire coven for the power to raise demons. She killed everyone. The only reason we’re alive is because we broke our blood oath to her and—”
She scoffed. “No coven leader has demanded a blood oath in centuries.”
“Luciana did,” Claudia said. “She made every coven member pledge to her in blood.”
“She couldn’t…” A look of confusion crossed her face, and I knew we had an in. This lady knew where Luciana was. If we could get her to trust us, she could tell us.
“She did. She used the blood oath to murder our friends and families, sucking them dry of their magic. The wolves have only ever tried to help.” Claudia sighed. “Please. Tell us where she is.”
“I—I can’t. Not until I talk to the rest of my coven.”
No. “If you go back there and confront her, she’ll kill you all.”
She stared straight ahead as she thought, not looking at anything. “I’ll call them. They’ll meet me at our sanctuary. We can come to an agreement there. Make contact with Andromeda. If everything is as you say, then—” She let out a slow shaky breath. Her eyes were glassy as she looked at me. “I’m sorry. If you had no part in this, then I apologize.”
“That’s okay. But please. Tell me—”
“No. I have to be sure. She came to us for protection. Before I break my word, and give her to the wolves that have been hunting her, I have to make sure I’m doing this for the right reason.”
I hated this, but she seemed decent enough. She wanted to do the right thing, and that was all anyone could really ask for.
