Page 14 of Son of a Witch

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Serena!” she barked.

“Miss. Serena.” Fuck. Loco was going to be a handful, all right.

Serena rubbed her forehead.

Yeah, good luck with that, love.

Loco was as controllable as a rabid dog. I was glad I didn’t have to deal with him. But I chuckled inside at old Serena taking on the duties. I gave her a week before I’d be back onboard where I belonged.

CHAPTER5

Raze

I was finally here.Wind tugged at my hoodie, threatening to rip it off and expose my face. Glancing left then right, I pulled the grey material tighter over my head, tugging on the drawstrings to secure it. No one must recognize me.

Find the box,the spirits whispered to me.Save your pack.

Thoughts that kept me going and not collapsing into a heap at losing my family and mate. Three days without her and I hadn’t been able to shut my wolf up. His howls drowned out my hearing and gave me a damn headache. I’d camped outside the Broken Hill prison for two nights and days, until a black Mercedes rolled up and the warden sent sentries out to warn me to leave. They informed me a replacement warden had arrived to investigate the escape of gantii prisoners and inmates, and if he caught me, he’d send me back to the Lycan realm.

Unsafe to wait for her, I’d jumped in my car and taken off. I hated leaving her behind. Hated leaving her, full stop. But the only way to get back to her was to find Jaz’s buried box. Get the evidence my fallen brother had warned me about. After a brief visit with my mother, I’d used the magic rituals taught to me by my tribe to escape through a portal that took me straight to Bathurst to retrieve the evidence to prove my team’s innocence.

I hovered at the edge of the hallowed grounds, power welling from the ground up and making the hairs on my arm and neck rise like drawn swords. Sacred power from my tribal elders that used to reside here before the European and British men chased them back into the forests mingled with ancient holy energy from the blessed water sprinkled on the dirt and the prayers whispered for protection from demons and spirits. The dead lingered here, restless and wary. They tried speaking with me, but I pushed them away, focused on one goal only.

Magick charged in my legs from the dirt to me as I entered the hallowed grounds. TheCathedral of Saint Michael and Saint Johnin Bathurst looked like every other church, only this one had been historically restored, preserved as a heritage building according to the signs out front detailing the restoration works carried out since 2012. Every single brick, stained glass window, arch and fixture of the tower had been meticulously cleaned, repainted, and repaired to its original glory. I estimated the church inside could hold up to three hundred or so patrons.

Before I’d helped Jaz cross over to the other side, he’d confessed to me that he’d had the men in our team framed for a crime we didn’t commit. Protection, he called it. Hell, more like it. He claimed he’d saved our asses from enemies pursuing us to kill us out of revenge for busting up a gantii trafficking deal worth half a million dollars. In retaliation, the snakes and their associates had killed a team from the Shadows trying to hunt and locate us. Tor, Knoxe, Pascal, and I owed our life to Jaz in a strange, twisted way. Almost three years of incarceration later, and he was saving our asses.

In that respect, time in the Guardians had been worth it to save those poor gantii creatures from being traded and abused by traffickers and human collectors. As part animal myself, I hated the injustices done to my kind by anyone, human or inhuman. And I’d destroy anyone I came across who abused helpless creatures.

Energy in the ground crackled again, telling me I approached another spell. I lifted my nose, taking in every scent, carefully scanning my surroundings. Coffee from cafes around the corner, toasted sandwiches, cigarettes, water from the fountain in the adjacent park across Keppel Street, even the smell of children, washed clothes, sweat, and grime. Wax and fire from the candles burning inside the chapel. My nose wrinkled at the fumes from the gas station on the opposite side of the road.

Traffic on William Street behind me buzzed as couriers and locals drove past. Birds cawed as they flew overhead, some landing in the boughs of mighty ancient trees in the park. Children murmured in the distance at theCathedral Catholic Primary School.

Soil had been disturbed and the smell of fresh loam hit my nose from where new garden beds had been installed in the refurbished property. I sorted through all the scents, honing my senses to one in particular.

Before I’d arrived at my destination, I’d performed a little summoning ritual, confirming with Jaz where he’d buried the box.At the rear of the chapel,he’d informed me.

I found a recently constructed parking lot and disabled ramp right where Jaz had indicated. Small shrubs had been planted in boxes through the parking area and the compact gardens decorating the church’s grounds. My body tightened at the sight of scratched dirt between the wall and the tower. I kneeled down beside it, studying it, hoping it had everything to do with the renovations and nothing to do with someone finding the box before me. The dirt sunk a little as if someone had compacted it. I scratched around in it, searching for the box, locating a crumpled note instead that nearly broke apart when I removed it.

Looking for the box?It read in wonky ink that had bled from soil moisture.

Munyara.Someone had gotten to the box before us. My stomach clenched and I didn’t have a good feeling about this. I lifted the note to my nose, smelling the ink, nicotine, sweat, and dust. A scent I knew well. A scent I’d never forget. Devon’s. Why had the fucker been here? And how the fuck did he know about the damn box?

All the blood in my body drained to my feet and my legs and arms went numb. I punched the empty hole and growled. That fucker and his gang were always one step ahead of my team and me. I didn’t know how they were connected to any of this, but I was going to find out. Then I’d tear his throat out, lap up his blood, and savor it for harming my mate and what he put my team and mate through.

Footsteps scraped on the concrete behind me. “Can I help you, sir?”

Munyara.I stuffed the note in my pocket and managed to scramble to my feet, keeping my head low so the man didn’t see my face.

“No,” I replied. “I tripped.”

I kicked the dirt into the empty hole before stumbling away, stuffing my hands in my pockets and hurrying across the street before the man called the cops on me.

I ran a hand over the top of my head, thinking. Now we were fucked. We needed the evidence in that box and clearly, Devon had found out about it and intercepted it before I could. Revenge for Knoxe getting his team locked up on two separate occasions.

Edwardo and Devon must still have insiders in the Guardians to feed them this info. One of the medical staff in the infirmary, perhaps? Someone with access to the security footage? The warden himself? Our number of enemies grew by the second, and my wolf snarled, desperate to save his mate and pack. One way or another, I would find out who was behind this.

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