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At least we now have a description of the basilisk.
Not sure how much good that’ll do us right now.She grimaced.Tell Monty to bring something home for tea. I’m not in the mood to cook.
Will do.
Her being left mine. I took a deep, somewhat shuddery breath and then met Aiden’s gaze. “You catch all that?”
He nodded. “At least we can put out a general warning about a large and aggressive black snake lurking around the outskirts of Castle Rock. The fewer people bushwalking at the moment, the better.”
Werewolves—Jaz aside—were likely to scoff at the prospect of a black snake being dangerous, but humans might at least take some notice. I glanced around as Jaz and Monty reappeared.
“Find anything?” Aiden asked.
“No further bodies,” Jaz replied. “And the scrub die-off stops at the channel.”
“It obviously has a liking for water,” Monty said. “How close will the channel get it to Castle Rock?”
“If it uses the Harcourt Channel—which flows into the Main Channel—it would be fairly easy to access Golden Point and the Campbell’s Creek pine plantation.”
“They run into Kalima Park, don’t they?” Monty asked.
Aiden nodded. “And both would provide a plenty of areas for even the biggest snake to hide.”
“Not to mention a good starting platform to go after its prey,” I muttered.
“That would depend on who our sorceress has decided to send it after.”
“Andifshe’s decided to send it after anything,” Jaz commented. “It could well be it was called here simply to cause chaos and keep us out of the sorceress’s hair.”
“Which is entirely possible if our sorceressishere for a little payback,” Monty said. “I can’t imagine either she or Maelle would welcome ranger interference if things get heated between them.”
“I can’t imagine they’d welcome our interference, either.” My voice was dry. “But I’ll go talk to Maelle—”
“Not alone,” Aiden said sharply.
“I’m perfectly safe with her, Aiden. She can’t magic me, and the wild magic will prevent her biting me. Besides, she simply won’t talk while you’re there.”
“She’s cooperated with us before.”
“This is different,” I said. “It’s personal—”
“It was personal last time,” he cut in.
“That involved the murder of her feeders. This is all about her past and the woman who turned her. She won’t share intimate details with you, Aiden.”
“I can second that,” Monty said. “They stopped me in my tracks when we talked to her yesterday. The only reason I knew what was happening was because Belle was cluing me in.”
Aiden stared at me for a second and then slowly, reluctantly, nodded. “Fine. But keep Belle online, just in case.”
“Always do when I’ve visiting a potential nasty.” I dragged out my phone and took a photo. “I’ll show her both victims and see if she knows either of them.”
He nodded again. “I’ll drop by for a report later this evening.”
The sexy gleam in his eyes suggested he intended to be doing far more than simply getting a report, and my hormones did a happy little dance at the prospect.
I nodded calmly, though it was pretty obvious that Jaz had caught the undercurrents and wasn’t buying said casualness, if the amusement evident in her expression was anything to go by. She kept her thoughts to herself, however. “Do you want me to escort you back to the car?”
And no doubt interrogate me on the way, I thought. I smiled and shook my head. “There’s nothing out there that can hurt me right now.”
