Prologue
“Once upon a time, there was a high fae who was on vacation. She had no wolves, gypsy healers, warlocks, elves, pixies, or any other supernatural or non-supernatural beings under her care. Then, all of a sudden, her vacation ended. Now she has all of the supernaturals to deal with. The strain of babysitting these overgrown toddlers has caused her to start talking about herself in third person. She’s thinking maybe someone should just put her out of her misery now because she’s getting on her own nerves.” ~Perizada
“Iam going to kill them,”Peri said as she paced the small clearing that had become a place of sanctuary for she and Lucian. “I’m just going to take them out before they have the chance to bond. That way, the girls will still live. Boom. Problem solved. Then, all I’d have to deal with is Volcan, Jewel,andAnna.”
“You can’t kill them, love,” Lucian said in his annoyingly calm voice. “Maim them? Sure. But killing them would hurt the girls. You know you could neverdothat.”
Peri shook her head at him. “Don’t underestimate my ability to act irrationally when the wolves are involved. They should not have gone hunting on their own. We both ordered themnotto.”
“I agree, but I’ve come to terms with it. We are dealing with very dominant wolves—Alphas who run their own packs. They aren’t used to taking orders. And we also have Betas who only take orders from one person. I cannot force their compliance and keep their respect at thesametime.”
“What did they think they were going to accomplish?” she huffed, not acknowledging her mate’s words simply because she wasn’t ready to face the truth. “They have no ability to force their way into the pixie realm. The veil is blocked. Were they going to try doing some naked, full-moon dance and ask the veil gods to show themfavor?”
Lucian chuckled. “The veil gods? I’m pretty sure such a thing does notexist.”
“Not the point,furbutt.”
“Don’t you mean fur ball? Isn’t that what Decebel’s matecallsus?”
Peri nodded. “Yes, but there are times when fur ball is much too kind, and fur butt is more accurate. Right now, you are the epitome of afurbutt.”
“If that is what will appease you, then I will allow it. At this point, I think we need to discuss our next move. It’s been four months since Jewel and Anna left us. I’ve managed to convince Dalton to stay put by telling him he needs to be here in case they return. Jewel told him she would be coming back. If he’s out there looking for her, then he will miss her if sheshowsup.”
“That was a wise decision. Using his need for her against him may be the only way we can keep him here while I go searchingforthem.”
Lucian leaned back against the tree behind him and folded his hands in his lap. “How are you going tofindthem?”
Peri’s insides twisted as she thought about what her two pixie friends had found out. After they’d found Sally, Peri had sent them in search of the two lost gypsy healers, hoping to get a jump on things even as she was helping Vasile with the psychos in the mysterious burning claw organization. She was hoping the pixies were wrong, but deep down she was pretty sure theyweren’t.
She met her mate’s gaze as she answered. “I’m going to follow the trail ofbodies.”
Chapter1
“I need to look at the situation from a scientific standpoint. There has to be a formula. X+Y = the birth of a witch. But what is it? And how many lives will be lost before I figure out what the X and Y variables are?” ~Jewel
Four months earlier
Jewel staredout the window of the hotel room. She hadn’t gotten much sleep the previous night. Understandable, considering she’d been dropped off in Los Angeles with no more information than ‘Hey, make witches or die.’ Her mind wouldn’t shut off. She thought about Dalton and what he must be thinking and feeling since she’d left him—again. She thought about Anna and how she’d betrayed the poor girl by turning her into a witch. She thought about the two warlocks who acted more like friends than guards and wondered how exactly they fit into the grand scheme of things. They didn’t seem like the type to just willingly follow someone like Volcan. Jewel thought about her mom and whether she was okay. She thought about the other healers still in the pixie realm and wondered whether or not Peri would be able to get them out. Then she wondered if theyshouldcome out because, if they did, they would be vulnerable to capture byVolcan.
The worries and fears were never ending. And on top of all those concerns, she had to figure out how to turn innocent women into witches. After all, she couldn’t just walk up to perfect strangers and say, “I’ve got a proposition for you. I make you a witch, and then you serve a dark, sociopathic fae who wants to take over the world. Oh and, by the way, all those supernatural beings in books? Yeah, they’re real. So, want to jump on board?” Nope, she probably wouldn’t get anytakers.
“Do youfeelit?”
Jewel had been so lost in thought that Anna’s voice coming from behind her made her jump. “You mean hismagic?”
“Yes. I can feel it moving inside of me, like it’s urgingmeon.”
Jewel nodded. “He said it would do that. He said we would feel compelled to make the witches, that the power inside of us was designed specifically for that purpose and would demand to be used,” Jewel explained, her gut twisting tighter and tighter as she remembered Volcan’swords.
“It’s a bitannoying.”
Jewel laughed. “That’s an understatement.” She heard Anna moving, so she turned around to face her and saw the other girl had climbed back up on the bed and was sitting cross-legged. Her elbows were resting on her knees, and her fingers were pressed together forming asteeple.
“I’ve been thinking,” Anna said. “And you can totally shut me down if you don’t agree with this. But we have to find women to turn into witches. And I’m pretty sure walking up and down Rodeo Drive is not the answer. We need to find people who are … outside the mainstream of society. People who immediately run the other way when we start talking. And I think I might have a couple of ideas that could work. What if we went out to some nightclubs in Los Angeles. I’m sure there are some underground places that cater to a crowd that has different tastes than the normal, high-profile clubs. Maybe in one of these underground places, we could find some women who are open to the idea of the supernatural? That’s the first idea. The other thing I was thinking was that we could look up some occult shops. A lot of the occult shops are owned by self-proclaimed witches, which we obviously know now can’t possibly be true. But maybe we can work some sort of anglewiththem.”
Jewel let out a breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding. “Anna, you’rebrilliant.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re the genius in the room,” Annareplied.
