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Fuck!
My luck meter had run out.
It was Madame Juana. Her flawless skin glistened in the moonlight as her gaze caught mine, an eerie confidence glimmering from their depths. Her long, colored dreads caught the light just so. She was really quite beautiful, or so I would have thought if she wasn’t on a mission to bleed me dry like a fucking vampire.
At least she didn’t sparkle. Or make a face like I smelled bad. Small miracles, I guess.
“I think I’ve overstayed my welcome,” I said flatly. I looked around for my chair leg and kicked myself for forgetting to grab the knife from the guy upstairs before I jumped out the window.
Without any warning, her hand shot out like a viper. In a heartbeat, she tore my Mardi Gras necklace from my throat, and the colorful beads scattered in all directions, their vibrant hues flickering briefly in the dim light.
“You’re not going to need that anymore. It would be entirely inconvenient for me if your blood couldn’t be collected from this pretty little vessel,” she grinned.
Understanding glimmered over me. The man’s knifeshouldhave cut me, but it hadn’t.
That was why I’d won the battle against a man far bigger than me. He’d let that take his focus, and I’d taken advantage of that.
“I really should be going now,” I exclaimed with a sheepish grin, sidestepping and putting a little bit of distance between us in the process. Her returning smile had a malicious air to it, and I swallowed hard.
My escape had been going swimmingly up until now, I mean, except for almost falling to my death and having a group of rogue wolves break my fall…
It was par for the course, really. I shouldn’t expect anything less than shit fucking rotten luck.
With a swift and unnerving grace, Madame Juana reached out and seized my hand, her grip firm and unyielding. It was then that I noticed that she held a bone knife in her hand. With quick and decisive precision, she sliced open my palm. The pain was searing, but it was the shock of the act that left me frozen in place.
She took advantage of that and reached into her pocket, removing a small vial, and quickly pressing it beneath my bleeding palm. My blood dripped into the glass container, which quickly filled up before she topped it off with a cork and let go of my hand.
I stared down at my palm in disbelief, watching the blood swell and begin to clot, and then turned my glare back at her.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Fly, little bird,” she whispered, and I took a step back.
“Why?” I asked, looking around. Maybe the rest of the pack was waiting to off me in the woods now that they had what theywanted, or maybe there was some sort of other terrible creature ready to pounce as soon as I took off.
“The cards didn’t say that we fight tonight, so I guess we don’t,” she said smoothly. It felt like something Wendy would say, so I had a feeling that all witches had a screw lose. “I’ll be seeing you soon enough.” She smirked, her eyes glinting with malignant intent.
I wasn’t about to kick a gift horse in the mouth.
I was fucking out of here.
CHAPTER 24
Caelum
I don’t know how I knew, maybe it was instinctual, but my mate was in trouble. It was as if her fear was swelling inside my soul, bursting outward and taking over my every waking sense. We needed to find her, and fast.
Ry and I had gone hunting for the rogue pack once again. We had been doing that every day after our grueling work schedule, but we hadn’t gotten very far when my phone rang, and a terrified Wendy was on the other line.
“Caelum,cher, y’need to listen good. Kaci’s in deep trouble. She’s been taken by Madame Juana and the alpha of the rogue pack, Bruce. Rog wasn’t enough to stop the whole pack. He got stomped; I’m here with Ombre and Silas at my place. We’re trying to put him back together.”
My heart seized at the mention of Kaci’s name, and my instincts roared to life. I could hear the fear in Wendy’s voice, and it mirrored the turmoil within me.
Kaci was in danger, and there was no time to waste.
“Where are they, Wendy?” I demanded, gritting my teeth as Ry stiffened beside me.
“What the fuck is going on? Is it Kaci?” he asked. I nodded and his entire expression twisted with concern. “Is she okay?”
Wendy’s voice trembled as she tried to provide the best information she had. “I’m not entirely sure,cher. You picked up, so that’s a good sign. Means she ain’t dead yet. Now, I don’t have much to go on. Ombre said dat Juana smelt like she came from somewhere in the bayou near Barataria Bay, deep in the swamps, but the specifics, I can’t say. You’ll have to search, listen for any clues.”
