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“Sometimes there are side effects of mind magic,” she said. “The drug they gave you knocked you out more than I realized. I had to go a little deeper than I like.”
“You what?” I jumped to my feet, and the female rose to hers. She was tiny, like a child compared to me, but her eyes gave her away. While there wasn’t a single blemish or wrinkle on her face, her eyes were ancient. Like she’d lived hundreds of lives.
I took a step back as the realization hit me. “You’re a witch.” My best friend was a witch, and I’d watched her cause Owen pain, but she’d never used her magic on me.
Then her words seemed to unravel, the meaning coming through clearly. She’d been in my head with her magic. It was a rare gift among witches and something we’d been taught to fear. If the witch using the power went even slightly too far, they could go from reading your thoughts to turning your brain to goo.
“Why the fuck were you in my head?” I spat. “This whole thing is insane. If you’re trying to get secrets of the Copper Pack, you’ve got the wrong girl.”
“Your mind confirmed that, for sure,” she said. “All I found was regret and daddy issues.”
My brows lifted, and my eyes widened. It was one thing to know you had issues; it was another to hear that from a complete stranger who’d been digging through your head. “We all have our problems.”
“True enough.”
“So let me go home,” I said.
She shook her head. “Can’t.”
“Um, can. Now.” I tightened my jaw, then added a resigned, “Please.”
The witch cocked her head to the side. “Why are you in such a rush to get back to that place? You weren’t happy.”
“Happiness is a myth for children. Nobody’s ever actually happy,” I said.
“That’s dark. And that’s coming from me,” she said.
I threw my hands in the air in frustration. “I don’t even know who you are! I don’t even know where we are. Please, just take me home.”
“Told you, we can’t.”
“We?” The group of males flashed through my mind. “Who are you people?”
“You’re in the Lost Pack,” she said casually.
“Now I know you’re fucking with me.” The Lost Pack was a bedtime story. They didn’t exist. There were twenty-one active packs hidden away in North America. We used magic to stay off human radar and kept very careful tabs on one another. Every twenty-years, the packs met for a summit of sorts to vote for a high council and make sure all the packs were still playing by the rules. The last one had been when I was very young so I’d never met another shifter pack. Not that my dad would bring me to such an event, anyway.
“You don’t have to believe me, but it’s true,” she said.
“That makes no sense. Even if there is a Lost Pack, why would they kidnap me and bring me here?” The stories about the Lost Pack were clear about their dislike of outsiders. Nobody new came into the pack and nobody left. They were supposed to be totally self-sufficient. Like the human version of Atlantis, it was one of those things that you supposed might have been real a long time ago, but there was no way it was possible now.
“She’s awake,” a male voice answered.
I started, but quickly composed myself as I took in the hazel-eyed male who’d been at my bar. Twisting my lips to the side, I gave him the dirtiest look I could muster. “If it isn’t my kidnapper.”
“I’m not your kidnapper,” he added, a note of cool indifference in his tone. “More like your jailer, I suppose.”
“Did you not break into my home and steal me?” I demanded.
“Well, when you put it that way,” he said. “But it wasn’t like I had a choice.”
My brow furrowed. “What are you even talking about?” I glanced between him and the witch. “You’re crazy. This is some kind of cult or something, isn’t it?”
“Not a cult,” the witch said matter-of-factly. “I’m honestly not sure why Luke accepted you as payment, but here we are.”
“Pretty sure you told me it was our best choice,” the male, Luke, said.
I wasn’t sure who these two were, but they spoke so casually that it reminded me of siblings.
