I shot forward again.
Nora yanked open her Corvette’s door.I reached the passenger side as she started the engine and threw myself inside.
Her tires squealed, spinning just long enough to give Christian the second he needed to open the back door.He didn’t get inside before the car fishtailed and shot forward.His shoes skidded across the gravel.He was going to get pulled under…
Somehow he muscled himself inside.
I turned toward him, eyes wide, heart jackhammering in my chest.He met my gaze, chest rising and falling fast, then let out a short, breathless huff that was half laugh, half disbelief, like he was just as surprised as I was that he’d made it.
I gave him a look that saidnot funnythen turned my attention to Nora.“You’ll distract him more than you’ll help him.”
Nora didn’t respond.She just white-knuckled the wheel as she shot out of The Rain’s lot.
“She’s right,” Christian said.“And you’re putting Kennedy at risk now.You have a responsibility to protect the last Rain.”
My eyes went wide for a different reason now, a silentshut up.All I needed was for Nora to shove me out of the car.But Nora still didn’t react.Her eyes were full gold and she kept speeding, barely even slowing to take corners.There was no reasoning with her.
I fidgeted with the bracelet on my wrist, the rough macramé knotted around six small marbles set in netted cages.I hadn’t taken it off since Christian gave it to me before Beltane.He called the marbles chaos grenades.The three that were pale gray created an extreme strobe effect when broken, something that severely disoriented most vampires.The other three were darker and packed with scent, sound, and distraction.They were meant to give me time to escape from a paranorm.Using them offensively was a risk, one I’d take if necessary.
I needed to make it not necessary.
“Do you have your phone?”I asked Christian.I hadn’t grabbed mine when we’d dashed out of the residence.
“Yeah.”He pulled it from a pocket and handed it over.
I dialed Blake’s number by memory.It rang three times before he answered.
“What?”Blake snapped into the phone.
“It’s Kennedy.”
“What’s wrong?”His tone did a 360.
“A vampire named Satine is in town,” I said.“She—”
“We know.”
“You… You know?”I gripped the oh-shit handle above the door when the Corvette nearly skidded off the road.“And you’re just letting her go wherever she wants?”
“We don’t interfere in vampire politics unless they interfere in ours.”His voice had relaxed, taking on a tone that was half bored, half entertained.I wanted to strangle him.It was one thing to not interfere in vampire politics and another not to warn Nora that an Heir with a grievance might decide to pay a visit to her husband.
Or to me.But Blake didn’t know I’d made my way onto Satine’s shit list.
“She’s at the compound,” I said.“We’re on the way, and Nora’s—”
“Pull over,” Blake ordered.Finallyhe grasped the situation.
“I’d love to, but she’s driving and she’s not listening to us.Her eyes are full gold.”
Blake cursed and then growled, “Put me on speaker.”
Hoping she’d listen to him, I tapped the icon.“You’re on.”
“Stop the fucking car, Nora.”
At least he was direct.Unfortunately, we were on a straightaway and Nora floored the pedal.
“Nora.”His growl raised chill bumps on my skin.His magic couldn’t reach out through the speaker and strangle her, but it wasn’t nothing either.
