Total pages in book: 202
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 193561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 968(@200wpm)___ 774(@250wpm)___ 645(@300wpm)
“You fuckin’ bitch,” he barks, “Again. You tried to fuck us over again.”
She tugs at the necklace I put on her, but jolts in pain as the scent of singed skin permeates the air.
“Won’t come off unless I take it off,” I advise watching smoke rise from her singed skin.
I look over at the other witch, wondering if I should disable her with the other necklace even though she’s unconscious. I tighten my grip on it, prepared for that possibility. Mimi didn’t tell me to do that, so I won’t unless she poses a threat when she rouses.
“Your bullshit fucked us for seven years,” Riley shouts, “And it’s pretty clear to me that you did it for your own gain. And now you try and fuck us again. Well, bitch, I’m about to fuck back.”
She gives him a bullshit excuse about it being the right thing, the needed thing, while Erica keeps pleading with Mimi to wake up.
Aviva continues with excuses about being tempted by magic like Erica’s, as if temptation is an excuse. Riley gets in her face and loses it, schooling her on what he went through believing she was dead, even more pissed that she has nightmares about the river.
He shifts again and his wolf’s teeth snap at her until she’s frightened backwards, tumbling over what must be the same cliff Riley watched Erica disappear over.
“Holy fuck,” Joel mutters, staring down into the river with Riley as sudden rushing water sounds as if we’re next to Niagara Falls. I move that way to see a maelstrom sucking her flailing body into its’ core.
I turn back to a weeping Erica who’s pleading with her eyes, wanting to be wrong, wanting me to do something.
“I think she’s dead, Greyson,” she whimpers.
Riley takes her face into his hands to comfort her.
I don’t think Mimi is dead despite this faint white noise in my head. I think I can still feel her, feel that presence I felt when she spoke to me. I can’t be sure, but instinct is telling me she might not be gone. She was strong enough to call me here. It’s like my mind is still engaged with a phone call but though there’s not much noise, it feels like the link is still connected. Like I’m tapped into something I wasn’t part of before, but not completely. I really fucking hope she’s not gone. I’m suddenly aware of the lack of stabbing pain in my gut and this has me concerned.
“Maybe not dead.” I tap my noggin. “I feel her. Don’t give up.”
“I think she’s dead,” she cries. “I think she sacrificed herself so Greyson could have her power and use it to save us. Is that what those swirls were between you?”
“I don’t think she’s dead,” I repeat. “Her power is here – “ I tap my temple. “but I still feel like she’s connected to it. How do these links work?”
“I… I don’t know. Maybe it’s not too late? Wake up, Dani!” Erica shakes Danica and small blue sparks, not unlike the red ones that came from me fly from her fingers as she calls out her other sisters’ names, too.
Dani comes to, asking for her medicine bag. Linc runs to fetch it from Erica’s van back at the water tower.
Vivica suggests we break up the circle and wake the other unconscious SCC witch. I don’t trust that one either and still have that necklace ready, though it doesn’t seem like she was in league with Aviva.
“Talk to me,” Vivica requests, eyes filled with fear.
I spill, “She initiated me into the coven last night at Rye’s. She told me she needed to spell her power to come to me in the event of her death. She told me she wanted contingencies in place before meeting with the SCC. She told me earlier today that if anything went sideways, I should step in and break the circle, and that she’d get a message to me to let me know to help. She also told me she was wearing a partial cloak, so she’d appear weak if either of the SCC witches were reading her abilities tonight.”
I tell my cousins that I believe she’s not dead even though her body has no pulse, she’s not breathing. She’s still warm, at least.
***
The girls are all gone back to Riley’s place. Lucinda woke and went to the rented cottage with Mitch Blakely, a wolf shifter doctor on the SCC who is a mentor to Cat Savage and friends with the members of the council of my dad’s generation.
We’ve also put three non-council alphas on patrol outside that cottage and though I’m headed home to my mate, I’m prepared to put this necklace on Lucinda if I get any indication she’s going to cause problems before she fucks off.
She seemed disoriented, upset, and I’m fairly sure I read her right. She’s not a threat to us and had no idea what her crony was up to. I also sense something from her that’s not unlike that pulsing sensation I got when Mimi’s last message came through. I looked over Erica and her siblings and felt it from all of them as well. It’s as if I’ve unlocked an instinct of measurement, feeling something from Erica that was much larger than what I felt from any of them, though Lucinda ran closer to Erica than the others.