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West piped up. “Listen, unless you want the rest of us picking pieces of you out of the branches of evergreen trees, you’ll follow Lorelei’s orders. We can’t afford to be dicks about this.”
Cam looked at him with sharp interest. “I never knew you could be so succinct, West.” She leaned over and whispered to Gun, “It’s pretty hot.”
“I can be succinct,” Vaughn said.
Oh, how the tides had turned. It seemed Cam and her crush might’ve swapped places.
Cam sidled up to the alpha and linked her arm through his. “I’m with the wolf.”
Bert sighed. “We’re all wolves on this side of the room.”
“If Brody pops up once we’re out there, consider him part of this operation. I don’t care how long your magic wand is, you don’t go macho man on the nature mage, understood?”
Gun scowled. “Nobody here uses a magic wand. We’re not book characters.”
“It was a metaphor,” Vaughn said, “for our male members.”
Camryn rolled her eyes. “That’s just using a metaphor to describe another metaphor.”
I ignored her. “Josie, you can team up with Gun.” At least they knew each other from Assassins Guild meetings. I wasn’t convinced Josie would work well with a complete stranger—and I included myself in that category.
The vampire glowered at Gun from beneath a set of naturally thick lashes. The vampire should at least have the decency to possess anemic eyelashes. It didn’t seem fair thatshe was blessed with both immortality and gorgeous genes. “I work alone,” she said in a low voice.
Gun smiled. “I expected nothing less from you, Josephine.”
“Remember, we’re there to capture, not kill,” I said, once the groups had been formed.
Vaughn scratched his head. “Remind me why that is again?”
“Because they’re not operating under their own steam. We think they’re being controlled by their collars.”
“What happens if you remove the collar?” Vaughn asked.
“We haven’t managed to do that yet,” I replied. “They’re enchanted.”
“I tried to break the enchantment,” Cam chimed in. “It was like banging my head against a brick wall.”
“Which I’ve seen her do,” Gun added, “so she knows firsthand what that feels like.”
“How do you know they’re not behaving willfully?” Sage asked. “They could be trapped in animal hides but still acting of their own free will.”
“Because the pig asked for help,” I said.
“I thought Cam’s magic didn’t work,” Vaughn said.
“The details don’t matter and we’re wasting time,” I insisted. I started to feel flushed under the glare of the artificial lights.
“How about those cookies before we go?” Josie interrupted. “Hunting is hungry work.”
On cue, Nana Pratt entered the room carrying a large plate of cookies. Josie snatched one and gobbled it down like she hadn’t tasted sugar in a century.
Vaughn regarded the floating plate as he bit down on a cookie. “What kind of magic is that?”
“Her name is Nana Pratt,” I said. “She’s a ghost here.”
Vaughn stopped chewing and swallowed. “For real?”
Gun burst into laughter. “You kill for a living. What’s so scary about a ghost?”
