Page 11 of Hextreme Measures

“Oh, hell,” Ofelia muttered.

“Yeah,” Angelique agreed. “We’re in trouble.”

3

THREE

Ofelia didn’t know what made her do it — later she would ask herself why she’d made the move — but she was fast when she hurried up to Angelique and yanked the arm of her shirt down.

Confusion had Angelique’s eyebrows knitting together, and the way she searched Ofelia’s face had everything inside of Ofelia going weak before it solidified. “What … ?” She didn’t finish it out. She didn’t have to.

“Don’t tell them,” Ofelia whispered as she smoothed her hands over the shirt. “Just don’t tell them.”

“Who?” Angelique swiveled when Ofelia jutted her chin toward the area behind her. The way her eyes widened told Ofelia she hadn’t realized that the cavalry had arrived. “What do you think they’ll do?”

Ofelia didn’t have an answer for that question. She didn’t want to alarm her friend and tell her that she was frightened; she’d put an idea in Sully’s head that would bite both of them in the ass. “Just don’t tell them,” Ofelia insisted in a low voice.

For a moment, Ofelia feared that Angelique would argue with her. She was a blunt woman who said whatever was on her mind. Instead, the siren nodded. “Okay.” Her voice was much weaker than Ofelia was comfortable with, but the witch forced herself to shove that worry away until later.

“Let me do the talking,” Ofelia insisted as she straightened. She’d caught sight of two members of the paranormal unit heading in their direction. Luckily — or maybe unluckily — she knew them both.

Jack Dunham was Sully’s immediate boss, his captain. He had an air of authority wafting off of him as he surveyed the scene. “Are you okay?” He focused on Ofelia, his eyes roaming her dress, which hadn’t been as much as mussed during the fight. “Do you need anything?”

“I’m fine.” Ofelia straightened. She was surprised that her voice sounded so calm. “I wasn’t hurt. In fact, it happened so fast, I assumed nobody was hurt.”

To Ofelia’s relief, Jack didn’t question Angelique. She had no idea how her friend would react. “That’s good,” he said. “I’m sorry your party was ruined.”

“Oh, the party was ruined before the banshees showed up.” Ofelia’s smile was more of a grimace. “That was on our mothers, though.”

“I kind of figured.” Jack looked around. “This doesn’t seem like your type of shindig.”

That’s when something awful occurred to Ofelia. “Wait … why weren’t you here?”

Jack smirked. “Are you wondering if we weren’t invited?”

“I’m a little afraid you weren’t. Your name was on the guest list.” When she thought about it, there were other people she’d put on a list to be invited who hadn’t been at the party. Now was not the time to kill her mother — she had other things to worry about — but she couldn’t help herself from being angry. “Were you not invited?” Her voice was icy enough that it had Jack backing up.

“We were invited,” Jack assured her. “Sully told us not to come because it was going to be an overblown affair. We were going to meet you guys at a bar in an hour.”

Of course, Ofelia mused. Sully had known the party was going to come off the rails. He’d anticipated it. Did that mean he’d invited the few friends she hadn’t seen? That would be just like him.

“Well, maybe another night.” Ofelia glanced around at the destroyed party. “It feels sort of like a vindication.” Then she remembered Angelique’s arm. “I don’t think anybody is in the mood for a party tonight.”

“Unfortunately, we’re going to be busy.” Jack’s smile disappeared, and his eyes went flat. “Sully texted about potential scratches when he sent out the SOS. Thankfully, we were only a few blocks away. I’m afraid we’re going to have to take some of your guests into custody.”

The hair on the back of Ofelia’s neck stood on end. She had to fight to remain neutral. “What do you mean?”

“Sully says that those who have been scratched can turn into banshees. It was a garbled text, but I got the gist of it. We need to check all the guests.”

It took everything Ofelia had not to move closer to Angelique so she could protect her. “Well, everybody is over there.” She offered up a vague wave. “I don’t know if anybody was scratched. It really was a hit-and-run attack.”

“Did you have something to do with that?” Jack’s smile was back.

Ofelia shook her head. “I barely did anything. I was just getting into it when a pack of black panthers attacked and took the fight out of my hands.”

“Ah.” Realization dawned on Jack’s features. “I guess I should be talking to Sully then.”

“Definitely.” Ofelia tried to act as normally as possible, but it took effort. “When you see him, can you tell him that I took off with Angelique?”