Kat waited for Davina to say more—specifically the details on how she was going to do what the other witch was suggesting. But as the silence stretched out, it became clear that none of those details would be forthcoming. At least not without some prompting on her part.
“Okay,” she said, deciding she’d play the game. “There are a few areas of the plan that seem a little vague, so I have some questions.”
“Sure,” Davina said almost cheerfully. “Go for it.”
Kat leaned her hip against the counter. “You said that at some period during the ritual, I should make my move and attack. How will I know when to do that? It’s not like I can keep asking if we’re there yet. Will there be some kind of sign?”
“The crescendo of all rituals of this type is the sacrifice,” Davina said, her voice turning serious now. “The teens will be positioned outside the protective circle, and their sacrifice will initiate the final step of the ritual that will trap you as Marko’s familiar forever. He’ll be most vulnerable then, which means that’s when you’ll need to make your move.”
Kat’s heart started to pound faster, as memories of the last time she’d seen these kinds of sacrifices, when Marko had brutally killed her coven members, came to mind. She took a deep breath and shoved those thoughts aside. Nothing but panic lay in that direction, and it wouldn’t do her any good.
“Okay, so when the blade comes out, that will be my signal to act,” she said. “But what do I do? You said I’ll need to use the gifts my coven gave me to somehow take control of the power coming through the ley lines and turn it against Marko, but I’m not sure how to even do that.”
“Unfortunately, neither do I,” Davina admitted. “But you’re smart and you’re powerful. I know that when the time is right, you’ll know what to do.”
Kat resisted the urge to scream. She needed Davina to give her more than meaningless platitudes. She needed real answers on what she was supposed to do. Without that, getting anywhere close to Marko would be flat-out suicidal.
She took another breath, forcing herself to calm down. “If I somehow happen to figure out how to do this and find a way to deal with Marko, what happens to the familiar bond? Will Marko’s death break the spell, or will I end up being a cat for the rest of my life?”
“I wish I could tell you definitively that it will break it, but I’m not sure,” Davina said with a sigh. “Most spells are tied to the person who sets them, so Marko’s death should end it. But he’s wicked smart. I’m almost sure he powered the spell with your own magic. That’s why you’re so exhausted after turning back into a human. It’s draining you at the same time it’s transforming your body. If that’s the case, there’s a chance that killing him will have no effect on the spell.”
Kat closed her eyes to let that sink in, then opened them again. “So even if I survive this, I won’t know one way or another until midnight tonight, which is when I would normally go through the change?”
“Sorry…but yeah. You won’t know for sure until midnight.”
She spent some more time talking to Davina about how she needed to center herself and focus on her core, feeling the magic and letting it work through her. It all probably would have fit nicely onto a fortune cookie paper or maybe on a T-shirt, but Kat wasn’t sure it was going to help her at all.
When the doorbell rang a little while later, interrupting them, it was a relief, even if she didn’t have a clue who it might be. She appreciated everything Davina had done for her, but right now, talking about it was only making her more freaked out.
“I have to go. There’s someone at the door,” she said. “I’ll call you later to let you know how it all turns out. Unless it goes badly, of course, in which case, you won’t hear from me at all. If that happens, it might be a good idea to go somewhere Marko can’t find you. If he succeeds here, something tells me that he’ll be heading your way next.”
Davina wished her luck, told her once again to trust her magic, then hung up. The doorbell rang again, and Kat hurried across the living room to answer it. She quickly checked the peephole, surprised to see Jenna standing there, looking nervous as hell. Probably at the prospect of facing her brother again. Kat could understand that.
Kat unlocked the door and opened it, ready to give Connor’s sister a big hug and a promise that it was going to be all right. But then a big man dressed in a black cloak appeared out of nowhere and stepped in front of her, his equally huge hands clamping around Kat’s neck with enough force to make breathing impossible.
That’s when Kat realized why Connor’s sister had looked so terrified and how incredibly screwed she was right then.
Chapter 23
“She’s still not answering the phone,” Connor said.
He pressed a little harder on the gas pedal, weaving the SWAT SUV in and out of late-day commuter traffic.
“Calm down,” Rachel murmured from the back seat. “You talked her into going home to get some rest, so she’s probably sleeping. Or she’s in the shower getting ready for tonight. Either way, you need to relax. There’s nothing wrong. And slow down some, before you get us in an accident, and it takes even longer to get to your place.”
Connor glanced at Hale in the passenger seat, who nodded in agreement, before forcing himself to let up on the accelerator a bit, dropping his speed even as his inner wolf chafed at the delay. No matter how reasonable Rachel’s explanation was, he couldn’t shake the sensation that something was wrong. There was a tiny part of him worried that Kat had decided to leave town without telling him in a foolish ploy to keep him and the Pack safe.
As Connor continued to fight an ongoing battle with his inner wolf, he listened with half an ear while Rachel and Trevor discussed what the Pack had found when they’d searched the Sam Houston Trail Park that afternoon. Their pack mates had wandered around the trails for hours until they realized there was a section of the park on the map they couldn’t seem to reach on the ground. Every time they walked in that direction, something distracted them and nudged them in a different direction.
According to Gage, it was only after half the Pack had walked purposely toward a wall of vines and thickets that seemed like they were too thick to ever make it through that they’d found the location for the ritual. A section of trees had been cleared from an area along the banks of the river, giving Marko and his coven a circular space of a hundred feet across to work with. There was already a large protective ring inscribed in the earth with a pentagram placed inside it. Once Gage confirmed they had the right place, they’d all pulled back, marking a few trees outside the area so they’d be able to find the place again in the dark.
“It’s kind of terrifying how these witches and warlocks can hide something like that in plain sight,” Hale murmured with a shake of his head. “It’s even scarier to think what would happen if one of these covens turned their attention to crime.”
“How do we know they haven’t?” Connor questioned. “With their ability to hide stuff and distract people, they could rob a bank vault and walk right out the front doors with the bags of money over their shoulders and no one would even notice.”
That comment seemed to have a sobering effect on everyone, and silence reigned in the truck for the next mile or so.
“At least we have Kat on our side to help us deal with the magic stuff,” Trevor finally said as Connor turned onto the road that led to his place. “It’s going to be an uphill battle no matter what, but without her, we wouldn’t stand a chance of dealing with Marko and his crew.”
