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One brow shot up as I waited. Venom stared at me for some time, as if he was trying to gauge how pissed I was going to be.
“Kalashnik paid a member of the Bloody Scorpions to nab Kira.”
“What? Why? Couldn’t he have sent one of his own men to get her?” The Bloody Scorpions were the worst of the worst. You name it, they were into it. Everything from meth and heroin to human trafficking. Seriously fucked-up shit. It was also the club in which my biological father had been a member. If he was still alive like my grandmother believed, then he likely still was. But why would he be here now?
“Maybe. We think it’s because there was more to the deal. You need to be careful. Something tells me it’s no coincidence that they’re involved. Top it off with all the times you’ve sensed you’re being watched, and I don’t fucking like it. Anyway, the assholes in the slaughterhouse aren’t going anywhere, but I wanted you to know we don’t have much time. De Luca expects you to uphold your end of the bargain.”
“Don’t worry. Tell him we have them. Send him proof if you need to. But tell him I get my time first. Then I’ll do as he wants. Facet was already on the Ivan situation. Most of his money is about to be liquidated.” I gave an evil grin at the thought of the New York City bratva leader being destitute and unable to pay his minions. It was a toss-up as to whether the better revenge was killing him or having him face his crew without any money.
“Raptor filled me in on everything that went down in Chicago. Are you sure your head’s in the right place to deal with all this?” He studied me intently, waiting for my reaction.
Inhaling a slow, deep breath, I took my time exhaling. “I’ve got this. Anything else?”
For a few seconds he steadily held my gaze. “No.”
Getting up, I paused. “Thanks for allowing me to handle this my way.” He nodded, and I left.
Ghost caught me in the hall. “Brother, I’m sorry.”
“Stop. I already told you, it wasn’t your fault.”
“If I’d gotten to him quicker—”
“No. We can’t control everything, nor can we manipulate everything the way we want it. We can only do our best—and that’s what we did. You had no way of knowing it was Ivan you needed to go after instead of Kalashnik. Thankfully, Angel was there.”
“I know, but she still hasn’t woken up.” His brow furrowed, and he looked away.
“I believe she’s going to be okay,” I reassured him.
“Do you?” His eyes flashed back to mine, almost in challenge.
“I do.”
Our gazes held for a moment, then he dropped his and nodded. My hand gripped his shoulder firmly, then I released him and continued on.
As I passed my room, I made a quick detour. Closing my door, I stepped inside, opened the closet, and pushed the few clothes from the middle to the sides. Kneeling down, I said a quick prayer, lit my sage and herb mixture, and picked up mygris grisbag. Holding a hand over my worn cards, I prayed to decide which to use.
I left the cards.
After untying the worn leather tie, I prayed again. Several times, I pulled an item from the bag and set it on the worn piece of red flannel. Studying them, I selected a few of them, returning the remaining to my bag and setting it to the side.
My fingers trailed over the various objects that sat on the small upper shelf, and I selected several small stones—two smooth, one rough. They went on the flannel cloth as well.
Next, I grabbed my bones from the scarred wooden bowl on the shelf and threw them. Scrying was a more challenging method, but I seemed to get more accurate answers when I did it. Selecting several that called to me, I arranged them and waited. Then I took the remainder, threw them again, selected more, and repeated the process. Finally, I scooped up the bones left on the table, raised them, then dropped them to the table.
Stopping to read them, I chanted low and breathed in the smoke. Then I returned them all to the soft bag and cleared my head as I rewrapped mygris grisbag.
Taking a strip of leather, I wrapped the flannel around the items that had been selected and secured it. As I chanted under my breath, I waved the small red pouch over the smoke. When I was done, I tucked them both in my pocket and extinguished the sage.
Once I knew everything was safe, I returned the closet to the way it was, and closed the doors.
Then I returned to Kira.
The blood had run, and Doc was putting everything away. Angel sat in a chair at the foot of the bed with his head bowed. Slipping past them, I pulled the other chair up next to her and tucked the red cloth pouch into the soft curl of her hand.
Holding it against her skin, I bowed my head and prayed. Never ceasing, I chanted the prayer my grandmother had taught me as a young boy.
I had no idea how long I’d been there before I fell asleep, my head lying on the bed next to her still, but thankfully warm, hand.
