Page 90 of Blood Sacrifice

“Then don’t,” he replied. “Bind her or knock her out with a taser if you have to, but leave her punishment to someone else. There is an entire wolf pack that would happily seek vengeance against Aisha.” His tone said he was one of them.

“I love you,” I said simply, tugging his arm around me tighter. “Promise me that we’ll survive the upcoming storm.”

“I’ve loved you for forever. There is no way I intend on letting anything take you from me again.” I felt his emotions crash into me.

Tomorrow brought war and inevitable death. All I could pray was that those closest to me survived.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Salvator

It didn’t matter how far I travelled, all roads led back to this place: a volcano that had claimed too many lives to energise spells through sacrifice.

Even though I was surrounded by the white city of Arequipa and people going about their business, Misti stood distant and proud, as if she oversaw everything with disdain. Her tip was white with snow to match the white clouds that surrounded her.

I felt a thrum in my solar plexus, pulling me toward her, almost as if I could feel the power that Luna had spoken about.

“Dominic’s men are in place,” Luna said, appearing beside me. “They’ve been tracking the warlocks living in this city.”

“Looking back, every time I ordered men to search this place, I always diverted them to another mission.” I shrugged one shoulder. “It makes sense now since this place is crawling with them.” I suppressed a shiver as I felt the weight of eyes watching us.

“I’m sure most of the residents here belong to the army of our enemy,” Luna replied, linking her arm through mine. “There are symbols engraved on the walls, hidden by murals and plants. They are designed to repel humans.”

“We used to live in temporary structures and caves,” I said, taking another look at this place. “Now, the immortals are building cities so they can hide in plain sight.”

“Says the man who owns several luxury homes and state-of-the-art facilities with modern technology,” Luna teased, bumping me with her shoulder.

I shot her an exasperated glare, even though she grinned up at me unrepentantly. “I spent too many years living in caves or ditches and eating things I would rather not remember. We all deserve a little luxury in our old age.”

Her hand landed on my abdomen to rub up and down, and I had to grind my back molars together before I growled in pleasure. “I think you still have a few years left in you before you need to retire and sit beside an open fire in your slippers.”

I glanced away, my lips twitching, because I could envisage the two of us growing old together surrounded by grandchildren who filled our home with love.

“We’ve identified tunnels under the city,” Jethro’s voice sounded in my ear. “There are multiple entrance points from major buildings across the city. Rats tend to return to the sewers.”

My gaze met Luna’s and her chin lifted as if she was steeling herself.

“Do we know where they lead?” I asked as if I was talking to Luna.

“I’m about to release drones so Tarrack can scout the terrain before I send men in,” Jethro replied.

Every instinct inside me screamed that I should be the first into those tunnels leading a team, but time had taught me that as the alpha of this pack, our enemy would be watching me. One false move and everyone could be dead.

Luna tugged me into walking, manoeuvring us toward tourist stalls to peruse what they were selling. Half coconutshells and rocks bore the name of this place, some with the Nazca symbols on them. Another stall sold hand-carved wooden hummingbirds hanging on plastic wires from a rack and wooden totem poles sat in rows on the table.

Peru was famous for llamas and alpacas, photographs of them on Machu Picchu. The wool from alpacas was hypoallergenic, and so stalls tended to be filled with knitted socks, hats, and finger puppets of well-known cartoon characters. I randomly picked up a few and handed them to the stall owner, along with some Sol to pay for them. I didn’t need the items, but these people were humans working hard to earn money for their families, and I respected their effort.

Luna had moved onto a crystal stall, and was chatting away to the woman who owned it about the benefits of black tourmaline. Most of the crystals sold in these markets were harvested from the land we stood on, and every one of them were part of my homeland. She selected several long, thin pieces that looked like wands before moving onto the quartz section. The stall owner nearly fell over herself to serve a customer with such a large order.

I casually watched the marketplace as if I was bored shopping, but every synapse in my body was vibrating with tension since my mate was standing exposed. Danger lurked everywhere I looked, and it took all my willpower not to react and drag her ass back to somewhere safe. My attention returned to Luna as she finished her purchases, and I handed the woman a handful of notes to pay for Luna’s crystals. Her smile revealed several missing teeth as she kept thanking me.

Many lycans looked down on humans, but there had been times during the war that humans saved my life, or fed me when I was starving. We were all on this planet for a reason.

I took the heavy bag filled with crystals and grabbed Luna’s hand to ensure she didn’t wander off again, navigating us toward where I had parked my car.

“First drone’s released,” Jethro’s voice sounded in my ear.

“Connecting remotely,” Tarrack replied. “Visual transmitting to phones.”

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