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I narrowed my gaze at her. “This one was bad. I touched it, and I was in a dark room. It was scattered, but I felt alone. Terrified. So scared I could barely breathe. The smell of sulfur was so strong. And I felt like I was burning alive. Whatever that knife is—whatever she’s done with it—it’s evil. It’s possible that it wasn’t always bad, but it is now.”

Claudia blinked a few times before covering her face with her hands. “I didn’t know.” She pulled her hands down. “I swear. I didn’t know.”Advertisement

“I believe you.” And I did. I didn’t know much about my cousin, but I knew for sure she wasn’t evil. “The question is, how much does Daniel know? How much does the rest of the coven?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t think Daniel knows anything. He would’ve said something. He’s not allowed into the craft room at his house. He always uses ours.” She rubbed her hands along her temples. “I would’ve said that we’d never allow that kind of darkness in la Aquelarre, but I guess I was wrong.” She sighed. “This coven might not be worth saving.”

No shit.

After my reception at the schoolhouse and the fact that only a handful of people had even come by to say hello, I’d been thinking more and more that the coven was a lost cause. La Aquelarre needed to be dissolved. Disbanded. Whatever it was called, but it needed to go away.

But after what I’d seen in Luciana’s house, no fucking way. This place was bad news and just breaking the coven up wasn’t going to cut it.

My gut was telling me to run. Now. Fast. Before anything else happened.

I wasn’t sure if I’d even closed Luciana’s back door. She was going to know I’d been there. And if she was really involved in dark magic, she was going to retaliate. She didn’t want me around. She wanted to control me. To manipulate and use me. But I wouldn’t allow that.

Dastien had been right. Caving to her had been a bad idea. I should’ve never come here.

I stood up. “If you come with me—if you and whoever you know, and I mean know, is good—come with me to St. Ailbe’s, the pack can protect you. But I’m leaving. If I ever come back here, it won’t be on friendly terms.”

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Claudia blinked as she tried to take in my words. “I…I…I’ve got to get Raphael. And the others. We need to pack. I can’t just go right now. We need time.”

The urge to go now was riding me hard. I’d left Luciana’s maybe ten minutes ago. I wanted to be gone within the next ten. “How much time do you need?”

“I don’t know. A day.”

A day was too long. I shook my head. “No. We need to go now. Like within the next fifteen minutes.”

She paced away for a second, wringing her hands, before turning back to me. “Raphael is out by the creek. It’ll take me time to go get him. Please wait for me. I’m scared of what Luciana will do if you leave and we’re still here. I just…Please. Do this one more thing, and I swear I’ll make it up to you. I’ll get everyone as fast as I can.”

Crap. I didn’t want to leave her stranded. If Luciana did come looking for me, Claudia and Raphael would need protection. I couldn’t leave them to deal with the backlash of what I’d done.

“I can give you one hour—and I don’t even want to do that—and then I’m leaving with or without you. My offer of protection will stay on the table, though. You’re welcome with the pack, but I’m not sticking around.” I stood up and felt woozy. I slammed my hand down on the table to keep from pitching forward.

Claudia shot over to me, steadying me. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know. I think that gris-gris is still messing with me.”

“A gris-gris!” Claudia said with eyes wide.

“Yeah.” I was so tired. I hadn’t been sleeping, and I probably wasn’t eating enough. And I hadn’t shifted. It was all weakening me. My body needed to run free, but I’d been following the rules.

“Okay. I’m going to know about that, but just give me a little time to go get the guys. We can be good to go in an hour. I’ll make it work. And then we can figure out what to do about the gris-gris and everything else once we’re off the compound.”

I took a breath to calm my nerves. I still wanted to leave right this minute, but I didn’t want to screw Claudia over. She was going to be leaving everything she knew. Of all people, I knew what that was like. “Okay. Okay. But be fast.” pqdm.com