Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
Her eyes flickering, Tyra licked her lips. ‘I’m not naming names. I just think it’s a theory we should consider. Some witches in this town are creatively vengeful and don’t much care about how much destruction they cause.’
‘Name them,’ said Shane. ‘I’ll look into them.’
Tyra dropped her gaze. ‘I’m not comfortable doing so when I have no proof.’
Kage snorted derisively. ‘You mean you’re not comfortable admitting that you’re referring to Emberlyn, because you know what the consequences will be and you don’t want to face them.’
Carver grunted his agreement. ‘She’s the ideal person for you to blame because it would shift the anger from the coven onto her, that’s all. And let’s face it, Tyra, you have personal grievances with her.’
Considering Carver had months ago referred to Emberlyn as ‘the devil’s witch’, Ripper was more than a little surprised by the Alpha’s vote of confidence.
‘I won’t buy for a second that it’s Ripper’s woman,’ said Shane. ‘Emberlyn has a reputation for being vengeful, but she’s specific about who she targets. There’s never collateral damage – you all know that. So, let’s discuss who could really be behind this.’
Tyra wisely snapped her mouth shut, not looking happy about it.
‘I personally don’t believe that it’s only one person,’ said Bennet. ‘But I do think the number of witches involved is small. The things that have been done . . . Very few in our coven would condone it, and even fewer would be part of it.’
Nods and murmurs of agreement came from most of the coven.
‘I think it’s worth looking at witches who’ve mated with werewolves,’ Ruben cut in. ‘They’re still in our coven, yes, but maybe their loyalties have shifted.’
Carver sat up straighter. ‘No werewolf would ever ask a witch to target the Rabid.’
‘In your opinion,’ said Ruben, crossing his arms over his chest. ‘I’m entitled to my opinion.’
The two fast fell into an argument.
Shane leaned a little toward Ripper, saying, ‘The names I heard most often repeated were Dez, Hank, Sera, Getty, Ames and Ruben.’
Ripper gave a short nod. ‘I’ll be taking a closer look at them.’
‘How many members do you think the group has?’ Shane asked him.
‘Probably not very many. Maybe twenty or so. The only way to keep an inclusive club secret for so long in such a small town is to keep its numbers low.’
Chewing on that, Shane dipped his chin. ‘You have a point there.’ He paused. ‘They all need to die, Rip. They have blood on their hands. That can’t be overlooked.’
‘It won’t be.’
Just then, Carver slammed a hand on the table. ‘Enough,’ he barked at Ruben. ‘Your theory is pure bullshit. You’re just trying to turn the attention away from yourself – anyone can sense that. I’ve seen a lot of that happening here tonight.’
Shane leaned forward in his seat as he addressed the townsfolk. ‘I’m gonna make something clear to the faction members – you know who you are. Your time on this Earth is limited. I don’t care who IDs you first, Reena or the clans, you will die. All of you.’
Almost as a whole, the coven uncomfortably shifted their attention to their High Priestess, clearly waiting for her to object.
Instead, Reena shrugged one shoulder. ‘Why should I fight for the right to punish those traitors? They are not worth the trouble it would cause. They skulk around practicing immoral magick, implicate and bespell others, and here tonight remained silent when others pointed fingers at innocent people. They are not one of us, they are against us.’
‘Hear, hear,’ said Ward.
Other members echoed his sentiment.
Reena fluidly rose to her feet. ‘I declare the meeting over – there’s nothing else that can be said.’
With that, the townsfolk stood and talked amongst themselves as they made to leave.
When Reena went to step down from the platform, Carver spoke. ‘Reena . . . I hadn’t expected that of you. It can’t have been an easy concession to make. Know that it is appreciated.’
‘This isn’t a coven issue, or a clan issue, it’s a town issue,’ she stated. ‘We should be working together, not apart, or the faction will win. So if I have to leave the punishments in this case to you and the other Alphas, it’s exactly what I’ll do.’ She then walked off.
‘She isn’t wrong,’ said Ripper, rising to his feet.
‘No, she isn’t,’ agreed Shane as he also stood. ‘It’s a shame she didn’t do this years ago, though, isn’t it?’
Knowing the Alpha was referring to what had happened with Rosemary, Ripper shrugged. ‘No sense in me forever being bitter about it. What’s done is done.’
Shane spared Emberlyn a slight look. ‘I wouldn’t have ever thought you’d end up so entangled with a witch, but I can see how it’s happened. She’s . . . extraordinary.’
Ripper narrowed his eyes. ‘Not sure I like the amount of admiration in your voice as you speak of her. In fact, I definitely don’t fucking like it.’