I swallowed, recalling the process from one of the books we’d studied at school. This was awkward as hell.
“Uh, it needs to be afluid of life. So, uh, I need either your blood or…uh…your semen. Either one works fine,” I added quickly, feeling the heat rush across my chest.
His eyes snapped open and locked on mine. “As flattering as that is, I think we’ll go with blood. At the moment, I don’t think I’m in the mood to whip out my friend downstairs.”
“I figured,” I said, blushing furiously.
Should have just said blood. Why did I even mention the other fluid? What an idiot.
I pricked his finger with the knife, letting the blood drip into the bowl. Closing my eyes, I held my hand over the bowl and recited the ancient Celtic words, praying that it would work. One of the few areas of magic I excelled in was healing.
The paste started boiling, as though it was being heated from below. The lumps melted away, leaving a thick, cream-colored mixture. I laughed to myself and clapped my hands.
“I did it. Let’s get this on you,” I said, spooning it up.
“I’m not eating that shit, right?” Declan said, eyeing the mixture warily.
“It goesonyou, notinyou.”
Declan didn’t flinch as I applied the potion to his shoulder. The mixture seeped into his wound and vanished almost instantly.
“God, that feels good,” he moaned, and a smile erupted on his face. “Do my arm. That hurts the most. Please.”
Pleased with myself, I slathered the rest of the mixture over his arm. He made a choked sound of relief and happiness as it melted into his skin.
It would take a couple hours, but itdidtake away the pain and numb the skin to make it much easier to deal with as the rest of the magic did its work.
Now that he wasn’t in agony, I peered into his face.
“Why are you looking at me like that,” he said, some of his gruff tone returning.
“You lost it back there.” I thought about how he’d beaten the man, nearly killing him to get information. “It seems like you’re usually a little more measured. Calmer, you might say. Why did you freak out like that?”
Declan cleared his throat and sat up in his chair. “They tried to kill you. Me too. Anyone would get mad.”
I snorted a humorless laugh. “In the days we’ve been together, I’ve almost lost count of how many times someone’s tried to kill or capture me.” I lowered my voice. “I could see it in your eyes, Declan. You were on the verge of murdering that guy. You were full of rage. I feel like there’s something more going on. Is…” I hesitated. My gut told me to push on with my theory, but I was afraid of pushing too far. In the end, I chose to try and find out the truth. “Does it have something to do with why you retired?”
His eyes snapped to mine. “What?”
“You heard me. You’re good at what you do. Something bad had to have happened to get you to give this all up. Did you hurt someone by accident? Was there some sort of?—”
“It was three years ago,” Declan said. I’d never heard him sound so hollow, so broken.
“What was three years ago?” I whispered.
“The…the day my life went to shit.” He cleared his throat and sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees and staring down at the floor. “A bear shifter, pack alpha, hired me. He was from up north in Detroit, but he’d heard I was the best there was at finding people. Turns out there was a serial killer at work up there. Someone targeting shifter kids. By the time he hired me, ten had been killed.”
“Ten?” I put my hand to my mouth. “Oh my god.”
He nodded and licked his lips, looking off into space. “All of them were taken and killed before they’d had their first shift, so each and every one was under the age of twelve. The oldest was one of his own pack, a cub of eleven. The youngest was a panther shifter baby. Eighteen months old, stolen out of their crib in the middle of the night.”
It was like I’d been kicked in the chest. A baby.Children?What kind of person did that to innocent kids?
“I traveled up there and went right to work. Told the guy I’d do it all for free.” When he glanced at me, he had a hard gleam in his eye. “You don’t fuck with kids. Not on my watch. I didn’t want money. I wanted the fucker to pay.
“Anyway, I do some research, hit the streets, ask around. Get a very vague description, and use that to find my way to a small coven of witches. Gave them the description I had and asked if they knew anyone who looked like that. They, of course, said no. My gift clued me in that they were lying. I”—he clenched his fist—“persuadedthem that it would be better if they worked with me rather than against me. I had a few anti-magic talismans with me, thankfully, and what little they tried backfired. They got freaked out, and their leader told me all I needed to know.
A member of their coven was fairly low on the totem pole when it came to power and ability.” He gave me an apologetic smile. “Kinda like you, you know?”
