"I'm going to kill you," Austin said, almost casually, "not let you go. Besides that, I'm going to make an example of you. No werewolf in the city, in my territory, or in any of the surrounding territories, is going to sully himself with a witch."
Apparently, Elise had heard enough.
"You're literally using magic to keep us tied up. Your people used magic to kidnap us. Why is me dating Nico worse than that?"
Austin gave her a pitying look. "It's one thing to buy spells from independent witches who know their place, it's quite another to keep one in your bed."
"But I'm a kind man," he said, "and I won't be cruel to either of you. You'll have enough time to say your goodbyes. And if there's anything you would like me to relay to your pack or your—" he grimaced again, "coven, let me know, and I will send them your last words. We're preparing for the execution. You die at midnight."
Chapter
Thirty-Six
Reece hated magic.One of the best things about living in pack territory was that he never had to suffer the scent of it, the way it crawled over his skin and curdled deep in his gut, making him both want to vomit and scream at the same time.
The pack was supposed to be a safe place,hisplace. Yet right now, four witches were sitting on the front lawn holding hands and swaying from side to side as they chanted out a low droning noise. The scent of magic grew stronger and stronger by the second. The air itself seemed to thicken with it, pressing against his lungs and squeezing his ribcage.
This was an affront to werewolves everywhere.
He wanted to shake Cole and demand that the man put his head on straight. What were they thinking, playing with witches?
Elise's jacket was in the center of the coven along with a pair of Nico's shoes, something they apparently needed to focus their energy on. They had said they were doing a tracking spell. They had an old paper map that would pinpoint the location of Nico and his little witch girlfriend.
If it worked, Reece might grudgingly accept it was convenient to know exactly where Nico was. But he didn't have to like it.
One of the witches—he thought it was Aya—cried out in pain. The witches started to move even faster as the scent of magic got thicker and nearly choked him. His throat constricted involuntarily, and bile rose at the back of his tongue.
He backed up two steps and hoped no one noticed the cowardly retreat. His eyes kept snagging on the witch with the dark curly hair, Delainey. She'd looked up from casting her spell once, and their eyes had met. He'd looked anywhere but at her in the fifteen minutes since that happened.
But his wolf was curious, and he kept glancing back despite himself. She was hot, he could admit. He had eyes. But he wasn't going to fuck a witch. He wasn't Nico, and he wasn't about to be bespelled.
The scent of magic disappeared as quickly as it had built. The witches stood slowly. Delainey swayed slightly on her feet, catching herself with visible effort. Their leader, Briana, looked at Cole.
"We know where they are." She held up the map, revealing a marking with red pen—hehopedit was pen—over an area on the corner, on the edge of Iron Runner territory.
"Exactly where we thought," Hugh muttered from behind Cole's left shoulder.
Not exactly, but Reece didn't say that out loud.
They'd been pretty sure it was the Iron Runner pack. They were the only people big enough to really pull off something like this. But the Iron Runner pack's territory was five times the size of the Southern Basin Pack and covered half the city. Nico and the witch could have been anywhere. Anything could have happened to Nico and his little girlfriend by the time they found them.
"Let's go." Cole turned toward his truck, already fishing keys from his pocket.
The wolves piled into Cole's truck. The witches took their own car and led them down the road to into the heart of Hobson.
Reece bristled at that. Cole should be leading the way. But there could have been more magic bullshit going on. He tried to think of them more as a GPS service than his enemy.
Cole grimaced and then pressed the screen on the dashboard and scrolled through his contacts. He brought up Dawson, who was the alpha of the Iron Runner pack.
"You sure, boss?" Reece leaned forward between the front seats, close enough to see the contact name on the screen.
Just because the Southern Basin pack had a somewhat antagonistic relationship with the Iron Runner pack didn't mean that they were never in contact. Reece was pretty sure that Cole had all of the alphas’ within one hundred miles phone numbers in his phone.
"We have to try and settle this peacefully," Cole's thumb hovered over the call button, "if we can." He punched the contact information, and the phone started ringing. "Everyone stays quiet." Cole's eyes flicked to the rearview mirror, catching each of their gazes in turn before Dawson picked up.
"I didn't expect to hear from you," Dawson said. "Have you rethought my offer?"
What offer was that? Reece wondered, but he kept quiet, just as Cole had asked.
