Chapter 181-2
I recognized his voice even if my wolf didn’t. Slowly, I shifted. “Dr. Ramirez,” I said as I walked out and put my hands up. “Do you know who I am?”
The old man squinted at me and London and lowered the gun. “You’re the idiot who let her get
away.”
Next to me, London snorted tiredly. The moon was fully up in the sky, and now that we’d stopped, I knew that we were both going to drop to our feet. We had to make camp, or we’d be no good to
Kiana when we found her.
“That’s me,” I agreed. “If you tell me where she went, I’ll give you whatever you want.”
“Only one thing I want,” the doctor muttered. “And it’s that bitch’s head on a stake. In any case, I can’t tell you where she went because she didn’t tell me. I suspect she knew you would try and find her. Still, if you came this far, you’ll find her. I can offer you the same thing I offered her. Food and a place to rest, although I offered her my last chicken. You’re gonna have to make do with rabbit.”
“Can we trust him?” London asked in a low voice.
“I don’t trust anyone at this point, but I don’t think he’s going to gut us in our sleep.”
An hour later, our bellies were full, and London’s wolf was curled up in the corner of the room and snoring loudly. My mind was racing too fast to drop off to sleep.
“They slept separately,” Hector offered. “Not that you asked, but I figured you’d want to know. I gave her my bedroom, but she slept on the floor. Finn slept on the other side of the door. I remember when that boy was so carefree, even when he lived out here. Now there isn’t an ounce
of trust in him.”
“Claudine took control of him, and he lured his sister to her death,” I said flatly. “Hard to trust when
you can’t even trust yourself.”
Hector’s eyes narrowed. “He didn’t tell me that, but then, that’s no surprise. At least the other girls
are safe. No reason Claudine needs to fool with them now that she has what she wants. Magic
turned that woman into a monster.”
“What makes you blame magic?”
“We don’t need to be seeing into the future. It does nobody any good. Prophecies just destroy us. She turned into a monster trying to keep from turning into a monster. Magic is not for wolves. Maybe it shouldn’t even be for witches. It should stay in the earth where it belongs.”
“Our humanity makes us greedy. I don’t think magic has anything to do with it.” I hesitated. “Did
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Kiana seem okay? Was she hurt or ill? Did you see her wolf?”
Class
“She had just about run herself into the ground, but she wasn’t hurt. She ate enough for three, and I hoped it would hold her. I filled their packs with enough supplies to last them a few more days.”
“I owe you.”
“You do, and you’ll tell me what the hell you said to that woman to make her run. Ain’t no wolf should be afraid of their mate. It’s just not right. If I think for a second that you’ll hurt her, one of us will die in this cabin tonight. Even if it’s me, at least it’ll give her more time to escape.”
Exhaustion swept over me. “I’d never lay a finger on her. Never. She’s running because of another prophecy. A stupid prophecy that I didn’t tell her. I hid it to save her, and now I’ve lost her.”
Hector grunted. “Told you.”
“Yeah. You did.”
“She said it was over. That Claudine was done for. Not dead, just done for. That true?”
“No,” I told him honestly. “No. She came out her because I didn’t tell her the truth. I didn’t tell her
that she wasn’t safe.”
“What do you plan on doing about it?”
“Make it right, whatever it takes.”
We slept for four hours before we headed back out again. Hector had filled our own packs, and I instructed him to find safety in my territory, but he declined.
It was easy to catch Kiana’s scent again, and we traced it for two hours before I knew exactly where she was headed. Darkwyn Coven. Maybe to find sanctuary or maybe to pay her respects.
I was the only who’d killed Evalina. I was the one who needed to pay my respects to the Mother.
The path leading to the den was filled with death. Finn’s work? Had he thrown the wolves into the spell traps?
It wasn’t until we reached the den that I knew I was wrong. Kiana would never let Finn break into
the coven this way and leave it vulnerable. Something was very wrong.
I walked cautiously through the door, my wolf tense for a fight, and saw a shadow pass over the doorway on the left.
We weren’t alone.
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