“I wasn’t sure what you were going to say,” he murmured, his breath warm on her hair as he held her close to his chest. “It’s part of the reason I couldn’t find the courage to say anything earlier. I was scared you’d walk away from me again. I know now that’s not what happened before, but still…if you had walked away, it would have crushed me.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” she whispered, her whole body on fire at the thought of what her life with a soul mate would be like. “Except to bed with you.”
And that’s where they ended up, what was left of their burgers and fries forgotten as they made love long into the night. It was only after Karissa collapsed onto Hale’s naked chest, worn out and completely satiated, that thoughts of anything else could fill her head.
“What does it mean that Bagley was somehow aware of our bond?” she murmured against his chest, his heart thumping hard under her lips. “Do you think we should be worried?”
“I have no idea,” Hale answered, one arm behind his head, the other around her shoulders. “And yeah, we probably should.”
They were both quiet for a little while, just enjoying the moment as Hale’s heartbeat slowed further. Then her cell phone buzzed, forcing Karissa to push herself upright to reach it on the nightstand. Hale groaned in complaint, murmuring for her to ignore it. But much like it wasn’t an option for him, that wasn’t an option for her.
Karissa almost fell off Hale’s chest when she realized the text was from Nicos. The number of responses she’d received from the Greek priest could be counted on one hand. Of course, considering the fact that most of those responses had been monosyllabic in nature, she wasn’t exactly expecting much this time, either.
So Karissa was surprised when she discovered an extremely long text. Long enough that anyone else would probably have sent an email. But technology was not Nicos’s friend.
“What is it?” Hale asked from his position under her, having clearly picked up on her surprise. “Is everything okay?”
She nodded, reading through the long text once again before answering. “Everything’s fine. I called Nicos hoping he might know how to deal with Bagley or the Balauri. I didn’t really expect a response, but he just texted me. Unfortunately,he didn’t share any advice on Bagley,” she admitted, more than a little disappointed. “According to him, I have everything at hand I need to deal with Deimos’s avatar. But he did send a recipe for a potion that’s supposed to help make the Balauri vulnerable. Though I have no idea what the hell we’re supposed to do with it. I’m pretty sure we can’t buy this stuff at the local Walgreens.”
Sighing, she handed him the phone.
“Blooms of a smoke tree, blessed olive oil, hair of a snake?” Hale muttered, making a face. “No, we definitely won’t be getting any of this at a pharmacy. Fortunately, I know just the person who might be able to help with this.”
“Who?” Karissa asked. She had no idea who to turn to for ingredients like this.
“A witch,” he said simply, already thumbing the buttons on her phone to forward the message to someone.
Karissa was sitting on Hale’s couch, wearing a pair of shorts and one of his SWAT T-shirts, eating a bowl of Cheerios and catching up on the newest season ofSpy Racerson his gigantic flat screen, when someone rang the doorbell. She seriously considered ignoring whoever it was. Deven would have texted first before coming over and Hale hadleft for work early this morning, saying something about the Pack having a solid lead on the location of the Balauri. He hadn’t liked the idea of leaving her alone, but she’d convinced him that Bagley had no idea where she was staying.
The grand opening event of Patterson’s automotive plant was scheduled for seven o’clock that night, and even though she needed to be there early, she still had another hour to relax and watch TV. A plan that someone was ruining by pounding on the door hard enough to practically rattle it in its frame, followed by the repeated ringing of the doorbell.
Karissa supposed it could be Kat Davenport, coming over to talk about Nicos’s potion. Even if it had only been a few hours since Hale had sent the formula over to the woman.
When Hale had mentioned giving the potion recipe to a witch, Karissa had naturally assumed he was talking about Davina. But instead, the witch in question was Kat, the soul mate of one of Hale’s teammates, Connor. To say Karissa was thrilled the woman had promised she could create the potion they’d sent her was an understatement. On the downside, Kat had no idea if it would work, but at least she could make it.
Maybe she was done with it already.
Sighing, Karissa set her bowl down on the coffee table, then paused the show she was watching. Asshe got up and padded barefoot to the door, her instincts weren’t exactly singing the praises of whoever was out there, but she wasn’t picking up any sense of danger either. Still, she stopped to take a quick look out the peephole anyway to see who it was. When she did, she almost turned around and headed straight back to the couch and her bowl of cereal.
“Oh, damn,” she whispered. “I really don’t need this.”
Taking a deep breath, she opened the door.
“I wish I could say I’m surprised to see you here,” she said, looking past her parents at Lorenzo, who was standing behind them with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. “But now that you have Mommy and Daddy to hold your hand, I suppose it’s to be expected.”
Karissa stood in the doorway of Hale’s apartment, taking in her parents’ angry expressions, wondering if she should slam the door in their faces. She was still trying to decide when her mother spoke.
“Are you going to let us in?” she demanded.
As tall as Karissa, her mother was an older version of her with the same dark hair and green eyes, which were glinting with fury at the moment.
“I wasn’t planning on it,” Karissa said casually, keeping herself firmly in the middle of the threshold, one hand on the frame, the other on the edgeof the door. “I assume my turd of a brother told you about what I’m dealing with on this job, so unless you have something to add when it comes to handling Bagley, there’s really nothing to talk about.”
Her father’s mouth tightened, his gray eyes flinty. “We know about Bagley. That’s what we’re here to talk about.”
Having no doubt that Lorenzo had told them everything he knew—or suspected—about her current relationship with Hale, Karissa honestly doubted Bagley was the only thing her parents were there to talk about.
When her dad moved determinedly toward the door, Karissa had no choice but step aside or risk him stomping on her toes. Her mom and Lorenzo immediately followed him into the apartment. Cursing silently, Karissa closed the door behind them.
