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The blond guy took another sip of his shake. The loud slurping signaled that he’d finished. “Just be careful with that shit. She might be your mother, but she’s not right in the head. We don’t have anyone who can stand against her. Not anymore.” He threw the cup out of the window.

Even her own son thought she was dangerous. This was definitely not a good sign.Advertisement

“Get in the car,” I said as I ran back. “You were right about the fork.”

He laughed. “See, babe. You should never question my genius.”

I snorted. “Some ego you got there, Mr. Matthews.”

As soon as we were buckled in, I floored it down the road. We took a sharp corner too quickly and I had to swerve so I didn’t run off the road. “Crap. Sorry.”

Chris had his hand on the ‘oh shit’ bar. “Maybe you should slow it down, Speedy Gonzales?”

“I should but we’re in a hurry.” A metal farm gate blocked the road, and I slammed the brakes. “Can you get that for me?”

“I have a bad feeling about this. You sure we’re in the right place?”

“As sure as I can be when I have no idea where the hell I’m going. There haven’t been any more forks and we’re out of road. Unless the guys from my vision were heading somewhere else, this should be it.”

Chris grunted and hopped down from the car. The gate squeaked as he opened it. It seemed silly for it to be there and not have a lock. Who was it really keeping out?

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I eased through the gate. The tires rattled over the spaced out metal rails of the cattle guard that lined the entrance. Goosebumps rose along my skin as an icky sensation slipped off me. It was as if bad juju was warning me away from going through it.

When Chris got back in the car, his eyes were glowing blue—a sign that his wolf was close to the surface—but he didn’t say a word.

Something felt off. It was too quiet in my head. I took inventory, trying to figure out what was wrong.

Oh my God. I couldn’t feel Dastien anymore.

“Can you feel the pack?” I asked Chris.

“No. My pack bond dulled when we got on their land. It’s making me edgy.”

“Weird.”

“Very.”

I brushed it off, and focused on what we were there to do. We needed to get in, find my cousins, and leave before we could get into any trouble.

No big deal.

My Tiguan rounded another corner and the road smoothed out. The dense treeline thinned to reveal little two-story cottages lining the dirt road. Cars and SUVs were parked haphazardly on the roadside. If the cars hadn’t been there, it would’ve looked like an Old West town.

“It’s kind of creepy that they have a mini-suburb out here, right?” I asked.

“Supernaturals like to stick together. It makes life easier when you don’t have to constantly pretend to be normal.”

That made sense. I was terrible at the whole pretending stuff with the visions. Being a pariah among norms was all too familiar.

“I’m not gonna lie, my wolf isn’t liking it. I’m getting itchy.” Chris’ eyes were still glowing. That didn’t bode well for us either.

I handed him a pair of sunglasses that Dastien had stashed in my car. “Dude. If you can’t calm it down, how am I going to stay in control?”

“I don’t know.” He slid them on. “I think we should turn around.”

Yeah, that wasn’t an option. I stopped the car in the middle of the road. “You can wait for me outside the gate if you want.”

“No. I can’t. Dastien would kill me if I left you alone to face the witches. I’m surprised he let you come at all.”

I bit my lip. “Well…”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Chris slammed his hand on the dash. “He didn’t let you come?”

I resented that. “No one bosses me around. We’re here to help Meredith. And I shouldn’t need his permission anyhow.”

Someone knocked on my window and I jumped.

Smooth move, Tessa. I should’ve been paying better attention.

The guy from my vision—Luciana’s son—motioned for me to roll down my window. “And you are?” He asked.

“I’m here to see Claudia and Raphael,” I said. “I’m their cousin.”

“Teresa?” He wasn’t giving anything away with his stoic face.

When I nodded, he stepped back. “Park there.” He pointed to the side of the road.

I did so quickly, then grabbed my bag and hopped down. pqdm.com