Page 54 of A Trial By Blood

I scrambled in quickly. I couldn’t look away from him as he got in and started the car, jerked the wheel, and sped onto the street.

“Are you all right?” I asked a few minutes later.

The muscle in his jaw ticked once, twice. “Apologies for my behavior. I’m still navigating everything I’m feeling and…” He gritted his teeth and squeezed the steering wheel so tight it groaned. “I’m feeling…a lot of things. New things and…fuck.” He slammed his hands against the wheel, then sucked in a breath and blew it out. Something I’d also never seen since Ronan didn’t actually need to breathe. “Sorry,” he said again. “Just…I need a minute.”

I tried not to stare at him, but my gaze kept sliding his way. Ronan was different today, even more than he was the night before. The way he talked, not to mention the way he was looking at me.

Several more minutes passed as he growled and cursed under his breath and continued to squeeze the steering wheel, then finally, he said, “Where would you like to go next?”

This was so freaking bizarre. I decided not to address what had just happened. I wasn’t sure that was a good idea with how long it took him to regain his control. “We need to check out the museum’s demonology department, but first I think we need to speak to a demonology expert.”

“I can get us a demon if you want? I’m sure I could make one talk.”

Visions of Ronan striding into the woods and plucking out a demon, then making him talk filled my head. “Ah, no, I don’t think that’ll be necessary. I’m pretty sure the council has one on payroll. We need to find out who they use and track them down.”

“Right,” he said, his shoulders shifting under his jacket. “I’ve never been to the witch’s council. Anything I need to know? Is it dangerous? If anyone tries to hurt you—”

“Nope, not dangerous,” I said quickly. Looking at him now, so volatile and dark, you’d almost think he was looking for a reason to fight someone. “No one will give us any trouble.”

“Good,” he said, and his eyes darkened again. “Because if anyone tries anything, I’ll kill them.”

My god, who was this guy? He may be different in a lot of ways, but he was still very literal. So when he said he’d kill them, he meant it. “There won’t be any reason to kill anyone, I promise.”

He dipped his chin, and without my say-so, my gaze slid to his throat. The tendons and veins there were bulging. My belly clenched in hunger. I quickly looked away. What should I do? Ask him if he’d give me blood when he dropped me home tonight? I didn’t know how this worked. Did he expect me to go out and find my own blood now? I didn’t know the etiquette for drinking blood. I’d heard there were clubs people could go to for the purposes of feeding. Is that where Ronan usually went? Should I ask him about them?

I shut down those thoughts because the very idea of someone else feeding him did not sit well with me at all. Did Ronan feel that way about me? He was my mate, after all, at least that’s what my sisters thought. Did he feel it as well? I knew I didn’t want to feed from anyone else. I hated the idea.

I slammed on the mental brakes.

This was definitely not the time or place for my mind to be in a spin about all of this. And if I kept thinking about his blood, the way it tasted and smelled, I’d jump him and latch on to his throat like a freaking starved mosquito. I quickly looked out the window, anything to take my mind off it. It didn’t help, though, and I inwardly sighed in relief when we pulled into the council parking lot.

Grabbing my bag, I got out and dragged in the cool air.

“Rose?” Ronan said as he got out. “Are you unwell?”

Nope, just starving for your blood, and if you’d like to get naked while I feed, that would be awesome as well. “I’m fine,” I said as heat crawled up my throat, and I forced myself to smile. His gaze dipped to my mouth and his eyes darkened again. I quickly looked away. “Okay, let’s do this.”

All witches had an ID that allowed access to the building, identifying the witch and their coven. But there’d been some changes recently, a tightening of security after Iris’s task and a whole lot of not great things that went down here, which was why I was required to sign Ronan in as my guest. We were scanned as well, the magical kind that checked for spells or incantations a witch could use on themselves or others to cause harm.

My family didn’t have many friends here. We’d ruffled a lot of feathers, especially the last couple of years, but there was one person who had always been kind. I just hoped Councilor Trotman had the information we needed and would be willing to share it.

* * *

“I don’t like this,” Ronan said as we drove down the bumpy, pothole-riddled road that took us deeper into the Roxburgh State Forest.

“Councilor Trotman wouldn’t send us into some kind of ambush.” I told him I was helping Willow with her investigation, and he’d given me what I wanted, a name. Though, I got the feeling he knew something was up. I left before he could question me further.

I grabbed the door handle as we bounced over more potholes. I’d never been to this part of the forest before, but I could already feel the powerful witch who lived out here, her magic reaching out to us. According to Trotman, Agatheena Burnside had lived in this part of the forest for over fifty years. She was unpredictable and kind of terrifying—his words. He’d advised me not to come out here. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much choice. I needed a demon expert, and that was Agatheena, even if the council had stopped utilizing her expertise a while ago, for reasons Trotman didn’t go into.

“Maybe we should call Bentley again. I’m sure he could get the information we need if we give him more time,” Ronan said.

Bentley was the council’s current demonology expert, and Trotman had given me his name as well. Bentley was a pompous ass and hadn’t been interested in helping us. I was sure it had more to do with his lack of knowledge than anything else. “He was rude and arrogant and didn’t know what he was talking about. And we don’t have time for him to do the research.” I pulled on my collar, tugging my sweater and shirt down over my shoulder so I could show him the tattoo-like vines left by the mother. “They’ve gotten closer, I’m sure of it.”

Ronan glanced over and jolted. “I should have torn her throat out for that.” He gripped the steering wheel tight again. “She almost killed you.”

Fury rolled off him, filling the car. It was still hard for me to believe. Being with Ronan had always been—quiet. Still. Not anymore. Now he was this wild storm, emotions flowing from him, whipping around us. And sometimes, like now, it was strong enough to steal my breath.

It wasn’t the first time he’d said something like that, and I knew he meant every word. Usually, what he said was logical, to him at least. This most certainly wasn’t. “You can’t kill her, Ronan. She’s immortal, you know that. She’s also incredibly powerful.”