Page 61 of Cold Sacrifice

“No,” he told me, pulling me to my feet. “Someone will see you. Wait until they’re gone, Kait. It won’t be much longer.”

I knew he didn’t want me to go in after the necromancer. In the ground, no one could help me if things went wrong. But he was also right that if I did, someone would be bound to see me.

So I would wait.

I’d learned that Jolene needed vast amounts of blood to keep going, and that didn’t bode well for the humans. I didn’t know how often she would need to drink. To roll around in blood and absorb the liquid so she could carry on with her rage killing of the vampires.

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll take the guys to lunch and then we’ll find something to get into until you call me. How long do you think it’ll be?”

“Give us a couple more hours. We’ll finish the alley long before the van. As soon as everyone has moved out of here and the tape comes down, I’ll call you.”

I wasn’t worried about the activity around the van. They wouldn’t be able to see me deep in the alley. And if I were being honest, I wasn’t eager to see if I could follow her into the earth. That was not going to be a good time.

“I’ll walk you back to Jared,” he said, his fingers warm against my lower back.

“Did the spook detective solve our crime?” someone called as we walked down the alley. There was scattered laughter.

Rick’s fingers tightened on my arm.

“Ignore them,” I told him. “They don’t hurt my feelings.” I grinned up at him. “I have thicker skin than that.”

He returned my smile. “I’ll see you in a little while.” Then we were at the tape and he handed me off to Jared. “I’ll call you as soon as we’re finished here.” Then he strode away, the tension already back in his body.

Sam, Remy, and Zach waited with Jared, and I told them everything as we walked to our cars.

“Take me into the ground with you,” Zach said, surprising me.

I frowned at him. “What?”

He shrugged. “I’ve been there before. And you may need help. When you go into magical ground, Kait, it’s not like…” He hesitated. “It’s not like you think.”

“I would go in with you,” Remy said, “but I don’t want to.” Despite his flippancy, there was uneasiness in his eyes.

“It’d be like being buried alive,” Sam said. “Wouldn’t it?”

But Zach wouldn’t say anything else and I simply didn’t know. “When I find out,” I told Sam, “I’ll let you know.”

I didn’t know if or how I could take Zach with me, but I didn’t hate the idea. I didn’t want to go in alone. I would, of course, if I needed to, but the idea of having one of the guys with me was immensely comforting. Especially one who knew what it was like in there.

“If I can,” I said to Zach, “I’ll take you with me. Thanks, Zach.”

He gave me a nod and then climbed into the car. “Let’s eat,” he said. “You’re going to want to fuel up for this, Kait.”

Funny how that didn’t make me feel any better.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Jared didn’t want me going into the ground after Jolene, but he wouldn’t say so. Not long ago, he would have forbidden me to, even though he’d known damn well that I’d do as I pleased.

He’d changed. Maybe it was just that he saw me, finally, as the force I was. Even without my magic, he no longer thought of me as someone he should give orders to. But even though I was alpha, I was also his wolf—and that part of me was unhappy with the changes. I wanted him exactly as he always was.

“I don’t want you to change toward me,” I said, before I could stop myself.

He was driving, because it was his car. Sam was still driving mine, because I wanted to be with Jared. He took his stare off the road long enough to shoot me a somewhat confused frown. “I have not changed toward you, Kait.”

“You’re not trying to stop me from going into the ground after Jolene.” I cringed when I heard the hint of a pouty teenager in my voice.

“Don’t you think I want to?” he asked, then removed his hand from the steering wheel and put it on my leg. “I don’t want you to do it, Kait, but I’m not going to waste time telling you not to when you’re going to anyway.”