Page 25 of Blood Sacrifice

“Yes, there have been more frequent breaches in the wards between the Earth realm and Hell. The hellspawn have been sneaking through for decades.” She blinked, peering at me in confusion. “I used to see them in the lava when Misti was angry.”

“What have I been missing all these years?” I demanded. “You seem to have been off into the world to discover all the secrets that it holds.”

Her mouth curved up into a sad smile. “It’s a lonely place when you travel by yourself, maybe that’s why I spend so much time in libraries.”

“This is fucking crazy,” I muttered, starting to drive again.

“Can I suggest we continue on the tour route?” Luna said, chewing the side of her mouth again. “I feel it’s important somehow, although I don’t know why.” She finally met my eyes and my stomach clenched. My memory of her didn’t do her beauty justice.

“I need to change cars and then we’ll make plans.” I had always been suspicious, never fully allowing the rest of my team to see all aspects of my life. I owned a building in the town below Machu Picchu, and kept a Jeep in it for when I wanted to escape into the mountains, and run wild in my wolf form.

My wolf was going crazy in my head, our thoughts blending together in a burning anger. Three times now our mate had been in danger, one of which when she was sleeping in our bed, and I wanted to kill whoever had tried to hurt her. My claws dug into the steering wheel, and I had to try and breathe deeply to calm myself before I ended up shredding it.

Luna rolled the window down and tilted her head forward so that the air rippled through her hair. “There is a distinct smell of this land that always signifies home,” she said. “Nowhere else has this unique aroma.”

“I’ve travelled over the years, but I’m always drawn back here,” I replied, relaxing back into my seat. “In the early years, the journey wasn’t as convenient as it is today.”

Her laugh rolled over my skin in a familiar caress. It still had a faint husky tone that made her sound breathless. “It took weeks to traverse across the sea in a boat, and by the end, the smell was horrendous.”

“Sick and sweat!” I said, remembering the disgusting aroma.

“And shit,” Luna added, laughing again.

It suited her, transforming her face to remove the seriousness that years had placed there, reminding me of the girl who stole my heart all those years ago.

“Ugh! To think you can fly across the world in a day now in a metal bird.” I shook my head. “They would have called it witchcraft and beheaded people back in our day.”

“They beheaded people just for entertainment back in our day,” Luna teased. “Or threw you into a volcano.”

“Good times.” The problem was they were good times because it was simpler times. “Everything was sorted with a good war instead of all these negotiations that people insisted on nowadays. Throwing the asshole into a volcano was so much easier than talking about our feelings.”

“Not for the person in the volcano,” Luna quipped. “I imagine that was rather uncomfortable.”

I gave her the side-eye. “I would prefer that to talking about emotions and fluffy shit like that.”

“Heaven forbid!” She held her hand to her chest and rolled her eyes. “It would burn you alive to talk about your feelings.”

“You have no idea,” I muttered. No one had seen me when I had been told Luna was dead. I disappeared and collapsed, my arms wrapped around the back of my head as my entire world fell apart. I couldn’t speak, walk, or eat for days as I mourned her loss. Behind closed doors I fell apart and slowly put myself back together again. The man I was today was the best I could achieve.

Luna turned on the radio, changing the station until she found something to hum along to, singing the odd words that she knew, getting louder in the chorus. I smiled and shook my head, hardly able to get my head around the normality of what was happening.

“Come on,” Luna said encouraging. “Everyone knows this song.” She turned the radio up as the lyrics filled the car.

“I don’t sing,” I replied, knowing that I had belted this out in the shower more than once.

She poked me in the side. “Everyone sings even when they’re not very good at it.”

“Are you saying I’m a bad singer?” I asked, my eyebrow rising in question.

“Nope, just that you weren’t very good at chanting before someone was tossed into the volcano.”

“Homicidal maniacs tend not to bring the best out in me,” I defended. “I have a delicate constitution.”

“Uh-huh. Of course you do.” She sat back in her seat to watch me. “Do you still prefer to rip heads off or have you changed your modus operandi?”

My lips twitched. “There’s nothing wrong with ripping the heads off your enemy.”

“It is a little bit gory,” Luna commented.

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