Page 50 of Blood Sacrifice

“You were spellbound,” I replied, throwing the vampire a filthy look. He merely raised his eyebrows at me and returned to searching through the books.

Jethro shook his head, and blew out a slow breath before bringing his gaze up to mine. “Who spellbound me?” he demanded. “Because I fully intend to skin them alive and strangle them with their intestines.”

“We do not approve of needless violence in our organisation,” Luna said, glancing up from typing on the laptop Dominic had brought her.

“We do approve of violence,” Dominic corrected her. “I’m a vampire and they are wolves, so aggression is always part of the solution.”

Luna rolled her eyes at him, and I bit the inside of my mouth to stop myself from growling. I had seen her memories and knew he had saved her after that group of assholes had captured her and tortured her to try and access her magic. The vampire didn’t have to show Luna compassion, but he did, getting her to a witch who healed her.

That calmed my wolf enough to bear his presence.

“Spellbinding is forbidden,” Jethro snapped. “That means the life of the witch is forfeit to me.” He pushed himself to his feet and stomped across the library to lift a bottle of whiskey and poured himself a large glass before downing it in one gulp.

Luna shot me a troubled look.

“He’s right,” I said. “I’d like to get my hands on who bound my wolf. There are rules that govern over this land, and those who break them are subject to the full repercussions of our laws.”

Luna may prefer to strike from a distance, but I had no problem looking our enemy in the eye and blowing their brains out. My wolf delighted at the thought, howling in my head.

Jethro poured himself another glass and held the bottle out to me in silent invitation. I shook my head as I needed to be able to concentrate.

“I’ll take a glass,” Dominic said, moving across the room, and taking the bottle from Jethro. “You are both looking at this problem with anger. Instead, you need to be searching for the culprit with stealth and determination. You strike me as someone who doesn’t trust easily, so the witch who cast the spellhad to be known to both of you as I doubt they would risk using more than one witch for this task. My understanding is that you need to physically touch the person to activate the binding spell. Again, that would indicate a level of trust, as wolves are notorious with their claws and canines.”

I glared at him, my muscles bunching because he was right on every single point. I hated anyone touching me, so this person had to be someone who I felt comfortable around, and treachery didn’t sit well with me.

Dominic held the glass up to study the amber liquid. “If this had happened in my coven, I would pretend to still be under their spell. I would discover the full extent of how far this rot infected my people, and then, when they least expected it, I would set a trap that would catch them.” He glanced at Luna, and a dark smile crossed his lips. “Then I would dissect them piece at a time so they could consider every decision they made, and suffer for every last second of their existence.”

My smile echoed his. “I think I’m beginning to like you.”

Dominic raised one eyebrow. “I tend to grow on people. I have no problem getting my hands dirty to ensure evil is removed from this world. Our races dwell in the darkness because humans would either want to kill us or fuck us, and the more these people play games, the more danger there is to our existence.”

“Are you genuinely crazy or deliberately antagonising?” I asked.

Dominic shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe a bit of both.”

“Could we please concentrate?” Luna asked, sitting back and staring at us with her eyebrows lowered and an adorable pout on her lips. She was trying to express her annoyance, but it just made me want to kiss her.

“We are planning a war,” I pointed out. “That requires concentration.”

She rolled her eyes and turned her laptop around, tapping the front of the screen. “I think we need to return to Misti volcano,” she said. “Everything started there, and for a long time I have felt mother priestess calling me back.”

Jethro swallowed another mouthful of whiskey, shaking himself and setting the glass down. “We need to set up an exclusion zone so that no one will find us. If you are drawn back there, then others will be too. There are caves close to the volcano that we can stay in to avoid anyone following us, and that means we will be close by to examine the area at night.”

“Tarrack would be able to cover our tracks, but getting him out of the base to remove the spell controlling him is going to be difficult,” I added. “We need something big enough that would require his expertise in the field.”

“He is our best bomb disposal person. I haven’t seen a device he couldn’t deactivate,” Jethro continued.

“It would have to be a target important enough that whoever is controlling him allows him out of the base. He is their gateway into every security system we own,” I concluded.

Jethro and I looked at each other, both speaking at the same time. “The cathedral,” we said in unison.

“Do people still hold religious structures in such high regard?” Dominic queried.

I shook my head and pursed my lips together. “We have several buildings that are fronts for our businesses. A cathedral in Lima is one of our most important, and is heavily guarded at all times by our pack who took holy orders to ensure their cover. It is the jewel in our crown, and where most of our business is conducted.”

“Your wolves took holy orders?” Luna asked, her eyes wide. “Are they religious?”

Dominic waved off her comment. “Most of the religious leaders around the world don’t even believe in God anymore. Religion is a multi-billion-dollar business.”

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