On the Hunt, page 15
Todd rubbed the back of his neck and dared to speak for the first time since Deirdre harangued him at the door. “Jinx had an interesting idea about the sorcerer and another witch.”
And then he looked expectantly at me, clearly in payback for me getting him in trouble with Deirdre. I sighed and held myself carefully still, my hands fully visible so she didn’t suspect me of being up to something shady. “Look, I doubt there’s a connection, but I don’t know anything about this sorcerer or where he’s been hiding. It occurred to me that another witch could have potentially given him shelter after he had his little run-in with you.”
“Another witch.” Deirdre’s eyes narrowed and her hand, previously rubbing slow circles on her belly and swatting her husband’s hand away, stilled. “Who, exactly, do you think could have done something so terrible?”
Shit. Todd must have misunderstood the nature of her relationship with Estelle, or maybe she’d repaired the tensions with the coven and they were once more in her good graces—where I would clearly never be. But I hadn’t lived as long as I had by letting other bitches intimidate me. “Estelle and I had a disagreement about a year ago. She wanted me to leave the city and I objected, so we had to settle things rather more... suddenly than either of us wanted.”
“So she has seen your magic before.” Deirdre tilted her head to study me, rather too much like an unexpected bug on her favorite garden plants. “And could have tracked you down. I hardly think she would have cooperated with a sorcerer, though. Estelle is something of a purist and would not consider allowing any nonnatural witches into her circle. And that includes sorcerers, wizards, whatever. Witches or nothing, and only the pedigreed ones at that.”
“Which just makes me like her even less,” I said under my breath. “What a hateful bitch.”
And then I heard what I’d said about her family, right in front of her, and held my breath. She’d be well within her rights to lash out at me, and I’d deserve it. You didn’t insult someone’s blood or lineage, and certainly not someone they’d shared a circle with. No matter if Deirdre and Estelle had a falling out, you always chose the ones naturally connected to you to defend. It was just the way of things.
For the first time in a long time, I regretted no longer having anyone naturally connected to me. No lineage or blood relations to fall back on for support and protection. No questionable relatives to reach out to. Just me.
But Deirdre’s attention went elsewhere as she chewed her thumbnail. The air crackled around her as a hint of static charged the room. The animals looked around, sensing something had changed, though they couldn’t track down the source. The witch finally sighed and propped her feet up on the rather battered and mostly mended coffee table. “I’ll call her, just to make sure. I very much doubt she would tolerate a sorcerer’s nonsense, particularly one like Rocko who did not have a high opinion of women or collaboration, but desperation makes strange bedfellows.”
“Desperation?” Todd asked. “Why is she desperate?”
“Another witch left her coven, so she’s losing power and influence.” Deirdre patted her husband’s shoulder. “Go get my phone.”
The alpha looked more annoyed than a smart man should have, but he didn’t say anything as he went to hunt down her phone. Deirdre rolled her eyes. “Big babies, all of them. Now, Jinx. Mercy tells me you can put magic in the tattoo ink.”
I blinked at the conversational whiplash. “Uh... yes. That’s my thing.”
“Interesting.” Her attention turned a little predatory. “So in theory you could weave magic into water or fertilizer or something else to add to plants? So they could absorb it through the roots and strengthen their healing properties?”
“Depends on how much magic you put into making them grow already.” Boundaries. There had to be boundaries. We’d known each other all of fifteen minutes. I damn well wasn’t going to volunteer every little scrap of power I had to make her garden grow. Especially if she was linked, however tenuously, to Estelle and that coven.
Her head tilted. “Interesting. I wouldn’t say I put a lot into it.”
Mercy’s eyes grew wide and she leaned against Dodge to whisper furiously in his ear.
I really liked Mercy. I couldn’t help it. She just radiated goodness, and that was fucking rare. No doubt she wanted to know precisely how much magic Deirdre put into her garden already, and whether that meant they’d all been eating magic vegetables the whole time. I braced for a barrage of questions later, or at least more than normal for our whole three-day history together.
But Deirdre still watched me, waiting. I shrugged. “In theory it could work. Water doesn’t typically have enough to adhere properly, though, so it’d need to be something else.”
“Enough of what?” Todd asked.
And that was precisely why I didn’t like talking about magic with mundanes, or even with witches. With anyone, really. Too many questions I didn’t want to answer, or couldn’t answer. “It’s hard to explain. But it’s why I had to use soy sauce and olive oil to fix you up and not just water. It is what it is.”
“Interesting,” Deirdre murmured. She made a face and adjusted her posture and stomach, looking suddenly very uncomfortable, and everyone else in the room held their breath as they watched her. I glanced around; did they expect her to pop immediately? Deirdre finally grunted and relaxed, then caught everyone staring at her. Irritation rolled through her. “Oh, for God’s sake, I’m not having the baby.”
“How do you know?” Mercy whispered. “Maybe we should go to the doctor anyway. Just... you know. In case.”
“What’s going on?” Evershaw demanded as he strode into the room. “Why do we need the doctor? Who has the car ready? Dodge, get the go bags. Todd, call the hospital—”
“Stop,” Deirdre said, trying to be forceful though it was ruined by a wobble in her voice and chin.
Everyone froze.
I held my breath, debating where to flee in case shit hit the fan.
The other witch held her hands up and power flickered in little lightning bolts between her fingers. “I’m fine.”
Still, no one moved. Her husband kept his voice impressively soft and gentle and reassuring. “Babe, maybe...”
“I’m fine,” she repeated. Instead of coming out stronger, like she no doubt intended, her voice cracked and pitched higher. Power trembled in the air around her, and my eyebrow arched.
“Y’all should get out,” I said as calmly as possible. “Everyone. Now.”
Miles immediately bristled, showing his teeth. “Look, girl, you don’t—”
Todd watched me intensely, then faced off with the other man. “Listen to her. We should go.”
Mercy popped up out of her chair and elbowed Dodge, who scooped up his sleepy and very pregnant mate, and they all disappeared into the back of the house.
The two men who remained in the room practically bumped chests as Deirdre hovered on the edge of an absolute magical meltdown. Miles snarled at me. “Get out of my house.”
Which made Todd snap right back, “Don’t talk to her like that.”
“Or what? What are you going to do?”
Todd’s shoulders tensed and he expanded with each breath. I watched hair darken and thicken on his arms and heard the growl deepen in his voice. “I’ll kick your ass, dick, that’s what. Get the fuck away from her.”
“My mate is—”
“For fuck’s sake,” I muttered. I pushed to my feet, swiped my hand through some of the energy that built up around Deirdre, and waved my hands to lasso the both of them. “If you’re going to fight, do it outside like good little boys. But get out before you get yourselves killed. Morons.”
The magic propelled them out the front door, binding them together and heaving them off the porch, and slammed and locked the door behind them. Todd and Miles howled with outrage at me, at least agreeing that neither of them liked me very much, but I twisted the wards Deirdre already had, using her magic once more so the wards recognized their maker, and blocked them both from even getting on the porch.
I exhaled and flopped into the chair next to Deirdre, where she struggled to keep her tears and magical shitstorm at bay. I rubbed my temples. “I don’t know how you put up with them, I’m not going to lie. Two days in and I’m ready to run.”
“Yeah,” she said in a whisper
Leaning back in the chair, I let my head rest against the soft cushions and closed my eyes. “You need me to ward you off or something? Siphon off some of that power?”
“No,” Deirdre said.
“’Kay.” I propped my feet up on the coffee table, though it wobbled, and I balanced my legs gingerly. “I’ll stand by, then. Just let me know when you want to get back to business.”
She managed to make her sniffle sound both annoyed and pitiful. “I’m normally very controlled. This is not me.”
“You’re normally not pregnant,” I said. “Or so I assume. I can’t say I’ve ever been around a pregnant witch, though, so I have no idea what you’ll do. You were throwing sparks so I figured it was prudent to clear the room.”
“Th-thank you,” she said. “I haven’t been around pregnant witches, either. So I’m about as prepared as you are.”
Deirdre put her dark hair up into a ponytail, her face blotchy and her eyes red. “I don’t even know why I’m crying.”
“Your husband is a dick?”
“He’s always that way; it doesn’t bother me.” She rubbed her eyes. “Well, it doesn’t bother me much anymore. I think he means well. Usually. Either way, he shouldn’t be telling me I have to go to the hospital every time I get heartburn or sneeze too hard and pee my pants.”
That did not paint a positive picture of having kids at all. I laced my hands behind my head. “Then let’s get the important stuff out of the way while they’re locked out of the house, and I can go on about my business with that sorcerer.”
She shot me a dirty look. “I’m perfectly able to handle Rocko. I already faced him once.”
“Which means he’ll see you coming.” I sighed, wondering when I’d transitioned from “not my problem” to “I’ll defeat the sorcerer for you.” Stupid. It was fucking Todd that had done it, and getting all tangled up with Dodge and Mercy. It was precisely why I always avoided those sorts of connections. “And, I hate to break it to you, but you’re not moving as fast as you’d probably need to fight even a semi-competent magic handler. Not to mention I doubt you’d want to endanger your child. Or that your husband would let you.”
The look got even dirtier. “I am perfectly capable of—”
“You don’t have to bullshit me.” I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t see it coming if she wanted to hex me. I sure as hell wouldn’t react and take the risk of hurting her or the baby. I could be an asshole, but not when kids were involved. Unless they were assholes, and then there was some internal moral code negotiation to work through. “I’ll help you guys with him. Just him. Nothing else. After the sorcerer is dealt with, I’m out. Got it?”
The silence dragged out long enough that I got worried and lifted my head to make sure she hadn’t fallen asleep or passed out. Deirdre watched me, her serene mask back in place as if she hadn’t been on the edge of crying like a bullfrog in the desert. “That’s what I said not so long ago.”
“I don’t have the same kind of problem you do,” I said, pointing in the general area where Miles and Todd continued arguing on the front lawn while a giant-ass cat observed from the porch railing. “I don’t know how you fell in love with that dude, but that’s on you.”
“It sneaks up on you,” she said. “One second I wanted to kill him, and the next...” She shrugged. “Can’t live without him. Life is strange and occasionally stupid, but I wouldn’t trade him.”
Good for her. I still didn’t know how it was relevant to me. I listened as she started to recount the first encounters with the sorcerer. I probably should have taken notes but adhering too closely to how another witch cast their magic could make you overthink. So I let her words slide over and around me, teasing out the relevant details. A shiver of nerves worked through me. Just wonderful. I needed to get the hell out of there, and fast, before I got pulled in any deeper.
CHAPTER 28
TODD
Todd saw red when Miles turned and growled at Jinx. He could have pummeled his cousin into the ground and not shed a tear. The alpha had no right to threaten Jinx, no matter whether Deirdre was upset or not. Deirdre was always upset. They were lucky Percy wasn’t awake, because the two would have become a crying echo chamber just from proximity.
After enough growling and swearing and a little bit of scuffling, they retreated to glare at each other. Todd glanced at the house, trying to see Jinx through the windows. “The fuck is wrong with you, talking to a woman that way?”
“She ordered me out of my own house while my pregnant mate was upset. The fuck do you think I was going to do? Send her an engraved ‘thank you’ card?”
“You were upsetting Deirdre,” Todd muttered. He really couldn’t wait until both babies were delivered and some of the insanity that gripped Miles and Dodge would dissipate. Only some of it, because then they’d have a mate and a child to worry about, but still. The entire pack hoped the edges would be blunted at some point. “And since Deirdre is a witch, Jinx is the only one who could have controlled whatever the fuck was about to happen. She’s the only one who can protect Deirdre from herself.”
Miles’s eyes narrowed. But at least he didn’t lose his fucking mind.
Todd folded his arms over his chest. “And Jinx is the only one who can face the sorcerer, since Ophelia isn’t back and I doubt you want Deirdre standing up to the asshole. Right? So maybe chill the fuck out and don’t drive her away.”
“You sure altruism is the only reason you want her to stick around?”
“I don’t get your meaning,” Todd said through gritted teeth. God, there were times when he really hated his cousin, that smug son of a bitch. Miles didn’t let anyone mess around in his life but he had a great time fucking with everyone else’s peace of mind.
“You smell like her,” the alpha said, his gaze hard. “I didn’t think she was your type.”
Todd tried not to scowl as his wolf reacted and wanted to burst free to shut the other man up. “It’s not your business. Don’t fucking worry about it.”
“You’re goddamn right I’m going to worry about it,” Evershaw snapped. “You want to bring someone into this pack, it’s my business. Especially another witch who could fuck up the balance.”
“You didn’t have this issue when Ophelia showed up, and she’s the one who brought the trouble that Jinx has to clean up.” Lightning bolts of pain shot through Todd’s head as he ground his teeth. “Ophelia is why Silas is fucked up and this sorcerer is haunting all of us. At least Jinx brings solutions to problems, instead of just the problems.”
The alpha growled. “So this one is your mate? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Of course not,” Todd said. “Get the fuck out of here. I barely know her. But it’s not your business if I do want to see her or even if she’s my mate.”
Evershaw rocked back on his heels. “Is she?”
Todd hadn’t thought about it, despite his wolf side’s instantaneous defense of Jinx in everything. He’d moved to push her out of the mobster’s way without thinking and had been about to fight his alpha because the man raised his voice to her. Todd shook his head. “No. Of course not.”
“Dude.”
“She isn’t.” Todd kept shaking his head and put his hands in the air to dismiss the very idea. “That’s ridiculous. She’s impossible. Crazy. Way too wild and nontraditional and just... She isn’t right for me. She would make an absolute fucking mess of my plans.”
The alpha ran his hands over his hair, looking wild-eyed. “Damn it, man. You don’t get the mate you want, you get the mate you need.”
Todd’s wolf side agreed. They needed Jinx. They also really wanted Jinx. But Todd’s reasonable, rational side meant to argue. He couldn’t handle the kind of chaos that Jinx existed in. It was already difficult enough to keep the pack together when Evershaw was distracted by Deirdre and everyone else put their personal lives ahead of the good of the pack. He damn well couldn’t do the same. Someone had to give a shit about keeping everyone else safe and healthy.
He scowled and looked at the house, wanting a peek at Jinx to make sure she was okay and Deirdre hadn’t fricasseed her in a fit of rage. At least the house still stood. “That’s not how it works for me. I can’t afford to just... accept whatever the universe throws my way.”
“You’re fucking kidding me.” Evershaw stared at him in utter disbelief. “I’ve never heard anything so fucking stupid in my life.”
Todd didn’t have time for any of that. “Forget it. Stay out of my business. We’ve got bigger issues to worry about, like how we’re going to deal with that damn sorcerer. We have three days to come up with a plan.”
But Evershaw didn’t look away or let him change the subject. “You’ve got to figure your own shit out first, man. Because no matter what kind of plan we come up with, you’ll fuck it up if you don’t know your own feelings. You didn’t plan on getting shot today, but the second she was in danger, you threw yourself in front of a bullet.”
“That was different.”
“Bullshit.” The alpha made a sharp gesture. “You almost died. For someone you’ve known a day and a half, and apparently didn’t get along with to start out. Now you’ve fucked her and you’re going to just stand by and watch as she walks up to confront a sorcerer? Give me a break, Todd, you’ll lose your fucking mind and...”
Todd didn’t hear anything after Evershaw made such a crude reference to Jinx. He growled and launched at the alpha, and they both flew across the lawn and landed hard. Todd didn’t even know what came over him. He’d lost control of the wolf and his own fists. He snarled something about his cousin watching his fucking mouth and got ready to pummel the son of a bitch into a bloody heap.
