AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Then I turn and get the full effect of her ire, so severe that even a woman as small as her seems dangerous.
“I want the powerful witch to fight and know she is still weaker than a human.”
“Atta girl,” Danica praises, pushing me into the ring and handing the reins to Ginny. “Let me know when you want me to tag in.”
My magic flares beneath the restraint of the collar, doing nothing but sapping my energy and making me an easier target.
I should have listened to Grand-Mère’s warnings.
I never should have come back to New Orleans.
* * *
FINN
Locked in by the sun, I pass the day in my suite, my butt parked in front of the computer for hours as I scroll online, searching for the name Josephine Dumont and devouring every crumb the internet offers.
Working backwards from her hotel reservation, I track the witch’s arrival in the city to her flight from Leeds, where she and her grandmother have lived for the last twenty-five years.
After Celine Dumont’s death, Claudette and Josephine disappeared. Witches and vampires alike believed they had perished in much the same violent way as Sebastian’s unity bound mate and her husband.
Instead, Josephine and her grandmother fled to France, where they stayed for two years. Halfway through Josephine’s first-grade school year, they moved on and since then, have lived a quiet life in the UK. Settled in a small town just outside of Leeds, they run a funeral home.
By the time I’m done, I have a profile of Josephine Dumont’s entire life mapped out.
What does it mean now that she’s back in town? Is she planning on staying?
I was there when the first unity bonds took hold. I remember how violent and unforgiving those times were. As Sebastian’s second, I had a front-row seat when Celine Dumont rejected him. The fallout was ugly.
And then the witch turned up dead.
I always thought Bas might’ve killed her in a rage without realizing how he’d suffer for it later. He denied it once and then never spoke of it again. Maybe he really didn’t do it.
If that’s true, then what happened?
“Hey, what are you up to?”
I jump and spin, then pat my racing heart as adrenaline floods my system. “Fuck, Rune. Don’t do that.”
Rune is about the only person who can sneak up on me. Made that much more impressive by his size and bulk.
I shift in my chair to take him in. “Wow, ye look like ye might live, after all.”
And he does. Healthy and energized, ready to dive head-first into the next altercation he stumbles across. His skin is flushed from feeding, and his dirty blond hair is freshly braided and tied out of his face.
Rune is a true Viking and never gave up the style. Even his beard features a small braid in the middle of the wiry hair.
It suits him.
“Rune Leifson can’t be taken out by a single werewolf. Fill me in on what I missed.” He looks over my shoulder to the glare of the computer screen and goes rigid. “Dumont? As in Celine Dumont? Why are you looking into them?”
I turn my attention back to the screen where my mystery witch stares back at me with dark, infinite eyes. “The woman the wolves snatched up is her daughter, Josephine.”
He chuffs. “How dumb do you have to be to show your face in the city where the Vampire King has a twenty-year-old vendetta against your family?”
“From what I’ve found, it was supposed to be a quick trip. Bring her grandmother home for the ancestral ritual and then back to Leeds before anyone realized she was here. Her flight home is today.”
Rune leans in to read some notations on my screen. “Considering the Algiers pack has her, I think it’s safe to say she’s going to miss her flight.”
