AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Gabriel mentioned that the coven had been secretive over the past few years.”
Peri didn’t press for more information about his reason for being in Wyoming. Valen would tell her what he wanted her to know. Nothing more.
“They were always secretive,” she instead said, returning her attention to the reason she’d spent the entire day and half the evening traveling to Wyoming.
“Why?”
“My mother was paranoid that someone might arrive and challenge her place as leader.” Peri recalled the image of her mom, Brenda Sanguis. She grimaced at the memory of a reed-thin woman with thick black hair and cold blue eyes. Peri had done her best over the years to scrub the woman from her mind, but the details of her features were still crystal clear. Including the gnawing hunger in her eyes. As if the older woman was desperate for something just out of reach. “And she was willing to use forbidden objects of power to maintain her position.”
“Risky.”
“Yes.”
Valen studied her in silence. Did he sense she was hiding the depths of her mother’s evil? Probably.
“It would have made more sense to keep you alive,” he finally said. “No witch would dare to challenge her authority so long as you stood at her side.”
“My mother was under no illusion she could control me.”
The silver eyes flickered with an emotion she couldn’t read. “She’s not the only one,” he said dryly.
“Good, I—”
“Stand back,” he commanded, moving so fast he was a blur before he was abruptly moving in front of her.
Peri shivered as an icy blast of power spread through the air. “What’s wrong?”
“There’s someone here.” He tilted back his head. “A human.”
Peri abruptly recalled the eyes she’d spotted in the picture of the dead witches. It had to be the witness she’d come here to find.
“Let me.”
Peri moved so he was no longer blocking her view of the hayloft. Ignoring Valen’s glare of annoyance, she tapped into the magic she’d stored before leaving New Jersey. Her bracelet glowed as she released the spell, the sizzle of power filling her with a heady sense of pleasure.
It was better than sex.
Well, it was better than what she could remember about sex. It’d been a while, and never with a male like Valen—
“Stop!” a female voice cried out, thankfully interrupting Peri’s treacherous thoughts.
“Come down,” Peri ordered, maintaining the magic that she’d wrapped around the hidden woman’s throat. It would feel like a noose, tightening with every beat of her heart.
There was a shuffling sound as the person crawled to the edge of the loft, swiveled at the edge and used the ladder to climbdown. As she reached the bottom, she slowly turned to face them with a terrified expression.
“Please don’t hurt me.” She lifted her hands to her throat, tears in her pale blue eyes.
Peri studied the round face streaked with dust and the messy cloud of blond hair. She was several inches shorter than Peri, with soft curves that she displayed in a tube top and tight jeans. It’d been fourteen years, but Peri easily recognized her.
For a tense moment, Peri battled against the urge to keep squeezing. This witch deserved to suffer. Not only for helping Peri’s mother try to kill her, but for the years of petty insults and jealous backstabbing. She’d done her best to make Peri’s life in the coven a living hell.
“Destiny.” She forced a humorless smile to her lips as she released her spell. She was there for information, not revenge. “I thought you must be the skulker in the background when I saw the pictures.”
“Who are you?” The woman flicked her gaze between Peri and Valen, her fear pungent in the air. “What are you doing here?”
“You don’t remember me?”
“Should I?”
