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“Because if it’s important to Little Mama, it’s important to me. That being said, what she views to be important is a wide net. Lycans, for example,” he waved his hand behind him, “are fine and dandy, but if I had my druthers, I wouldn’t get involved in their drama or shenanigans. Yet here I am. Right in the middle of it, because she is uncontrolled in her generosity.” He tightened his fingers around the steering wheel. “And her obstinance. And her inability to listen to sage advice or follow rules. And her complete and utter inability to take ‘no’ as an answer. And therefore, I will be forced into these creature-features and otherworldly embroglios until the end of creation.” He was now squeezing the steering wheel so hard I could almost hear the leather scream.
Okay, so he’s not smiling creepily. He’s pissed, and this is his grimace. Should have known; I’m probably wearing one of those myself.
“All you modern girls are like that,” he added, waving his hand at me. “Completely unhinged. Like you—all you had to do was siton your behind, put your feet up, have a cold tea, and let the men figure things out. But no. It seems like there is a type of woman that goes looking for fights and drama wherever they go, and you and Wendy are cast from that mold.”
I opened my mouth and closed it. “Look, I was minding my own business?—”
“That was your story onFriday,” he said, putting up a finger. “But the way I understand it, you and that little gal we left back there were doing spell work by Saturday. Putting your little noses in things where they didn’t belong and sticking your thumb in the eye of forces you didn’t understand. Just because you don’t believe it, doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Just because you’re lackadaisical about the things you do and the choices you make doesn’t mean the affects are gonna be.”
The car finally pulled to a stop in front of Little Mama’s store.
It seemed impossible that we were here already, but here we were. We weren’t in the car forty minutes! “How’d we do that drive this fast?”
He winked at me and came around to my side of the car. He was strolling, because apparently he was no longer in a rush. He had gotten to where he wanted to be. He opened the door and gave me his hand as if unable to break from his role as a Southern Gentleman. “Because, darlin’, being a demon’s got its perks, and you better believe I use every single one of ‘em as often as I can.”
He opened the door of the shop, the bell making a familiar tinkling noise. The scent of incense spilled out, carrying with it a heady mix of fragrances you could only find in a shop run like this one—sage, jasmine, myrrh, and frankincense. It did its job, if its job were to make the air feel like it was infused with magic.
I fucking hated magic right now. I really fucking hated that it was real.
I glared at the colorful voodoo dolls, mysterious potions in ornate bottles, and intricately carved talismans glistening under the dim lighting in the window. I stepped inside the shop with a loud sigh before clutching the book to my chest.
“Head down that way, Kaci. Yourmatesare in the back of the shop,” Samael commanded with a point toward a couple of carved double doors that were normally locked, and I made a face back at him when he wasn’t looking. I may be a little insane, but at least I had a thriving sense of self-preservation. I grunted with frustration as I headed towards the back room, but Little Mama rushed out from the doors as if she had been waiting for me, which come to think of it, she probably was.
She was covered in powdered sugar, which would seem peculiar if it was anyone else, but knowing her even a little bit, it kind of fit.
“Bonjour,cher!” she called out in a thick Cajun accent. “We’ve been expectin’ you. Now,allon. Your wolves be in the back.”
“They’re not mine!” I exclaimed, and she chuckled under her breath.
“Cher, y’know, you can’t fight dat mate bond,” she said, her voice carrying the weight of generations of wisdom even though she was only twenty fucking years old. “It’s like messin’ with fate itself, and that don’t make no sense to try.”
I crossed my arms, stubbornness coursing through me. “Well, I plan to try anyway.”
She laughed softly, and the sound was melodic and gay, like she was in the middle of putting together a fucking tea party. “Oh,cher, you got fire in ya heart, but dat bond, it’s like the currents of the Mississippi River. Powerful, unrelenting, and it’s gon’ take ya wherever it wants.”
“But I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t choose any of it!” I whined as I let out a frustrated sigh, feeling like I was swimming against the unrelenting tide she was illustrating. It was exhausting.
Little Mama approached me, her hand resting gently on my shoulder. “Cher, sometimes, fate don’t ask for our permission. It just be.”
The back-room door creaked open, and Caelum and Ry trudged out, both of them looking utterly exhausted and worse for wear. They looked like they had been put through the ringer, yet somehow, they were both still supernaturally gorgeous, even if their faces were etched with fatigue. Caelum pressed a hand over his chest and took a deep breath, looking like he was still in a little pain.
“What happened to you two?” I asked, raising a brow.
Neither of them answered, they just glared at me like their misery was my fault.
“You had one job, Beau. One fucking job,” Caelum growled, looking right over my head and at the main door of the shop, where Beau stood, fingering some necklaces.
He straightened when addressed, but he seemed to know he was in some shit. “But…” Beau protested. His voice was meek, and his shoulders bowed in submission.
“I don’t want to hear it. You’re on shit duty pretty much forever,” Caelum replied firmly.
“I made him bring me,” I blurted out, not sure why I was defending him and throwing myself under the bus for a man that may or may not currently be obsessed with my sister.
“We know,” Ry muttered, and he glared at me in the same way that Caelum had glared at me right before he’d turned my ass a brilliant shade of welted red. I pressed my thighs together nervously, but I did my best to hide it.
“Don’t worry. I plan to deal with you too,” Caelum threatened.
“You mean ‘we’ plan to deal with her,” Ry corrected, and Caelum lifted a single brow in surprise.
