Bjørn pouted. “Awe. Scared little Witch.”
My hand flew to my stomach, mirth twisting my insides, I’d never laughed so hard that it actually hurt. Reaching for a piece of bacon, I chewed on it, realizing I was starving.
“Since you don’t have a Dante to sink your canines into right now, can we please eat?” Vane joked, grabbing a plate, and beginning to serve herself.
I glanced at the hallway behind me. “Let me just go get him.”
“Drag my brother here while you are at it. He gets mad when we start without him, but dude, a girl’s gotta eat.”
With a nod, I headed back to the bedrooms.
Walking past my room, I stopped before Dante’s, but voices reached me from the other side of D’s door. Curiosity got the best of me, and I walked toward it, soon realizing that Dante and D were there, but there was also a woman…
A jealous growl attempted to rip through my throat, but I forced it back down, swallowing it. My wolf did not like that. Shedid notlike that one bit. With her anger stirring within my chest, I opened the door and stepped inside the room, trying to find out what was going on there. A small entry space with two chairs and a mirror greeted me. They were not there.
“How could you allow that to happen?!” the woman suddenly raged, clearly upset out of her mind.
The protectiveness and ire driving her words stopped me in my tracks, this was not at all what my wolf suspected.
“Viscountess, we never thought?—”
“You didn’t think?” she cynically interrupted Dante. “I trusted you to protect the most important being in this world and youdidn’t thinktheRavenWolveswould find a way to get to her again?”
My pulse began to race with her words. Were they talking about me? And who the hell were theRavenWolves?
“They will kill anyone to get to her!” she raged. “How could you be so careless knowing everything you know? After everything I’ve done for you?!”
Mind racing out of control with questions, I walked farther in, peeking around the corner of the entry wall to the actual room. Both Dante and D stood in front of a desk with a large screen on it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see the face of the woman. Was that a computer?
D’s hands fisted at his sides. “With all due respect, Viscountess, we have risked our lives for her too, and we wouldn’t put Natasha in danger so recklessly. This was not our fault, and you should know I wouldnever?—"
“We are sorry you are disappointed, Viscountess,” Dante interjected, addressing her in a more tactful way than D had.
I suspected he’d also, stopped D from accidentally insulting her or saying something he would regret. Whoever the Viscountess was, she seemed to command respect from them, even if D was pissed off out of politeness.
“But no one could have expected them to use Necromancers to track us here,” Dante finished.
“Necromancers?” the woman gasped, seeming disturbed by the notion.
“We are inNew York City, there is no way they would have found us here after we took her from Colorado, if not for the help of black magic. Yesterday, Vanessa fought two Wolf Shifters on her own to get them off Natasha, and the state they left her in…” Dante paused, his hands fisting too. “There were parts of her body missing, Viscountess. I had to feed her my mystical blood to help her fully heal, knowing that neither magic nor blood alone would be strong enough in her state.”
Shock and horror swept through me at the thought of Vanessa drinking his blood. Swallowing, I took a step back, butI couldn’t make myself leave. I needed to know who that woman was, and why they were talking about me.
The Viscountess…
I abruptly remembered Vanessa mentioning her when she told me about her story, and even Dante had mentioned her last night when he confessed how he felt about me. That woman had shown each of them their future, and for some reason, I was part of it.
“I spent the entire day and night helping Natasha and her wolf regain the energy lost during the altercation because they gave everything to save that human. Even as I stand before you now, I’m using what is left of my shadows to actively block the Necromancer from finding her again, and I’m truly exhausted… But I’m still here.” Pausing, he straightened. “I know the turn of events is upsetting for you, Viscountess. I understand it because it affects us too.”
A long, loaded sigh left the woman. “Something greater is going on here if Arnoldt is using a Necromancer to try to find her,” she replied, her ire receding, and telling me how extreme of a measure that was. “Forgive me for my outburst. Of course, I appreciate everything you’ve done and continue to do for Natasha. Your sacrifices never go unnoticed. It’s just hard?—”
“We know,” D answered, his voice kinder this time. “We know how much you’ve sacrificed too.”
“I’m sorry to hear about Vanessa,” she added, her tone grave and deeply saddened. “I hope she is fully healed now.”
“She is.”
“I’m glad. D, please thank her for me, I appreciate what she did more than you can imagine. Dante, please do whatever it takes to recover, I need you all safe and sound…” Tension grew with her pause, and the guys tensed in anticipation of her next question. “Does Natasha know the truth?”
