Page 37 of Wicked Fate

I tilted my head, trying to understand, but it sounded similar to what the last witch we’d talked to had explained. “Someone else already told us that, since the spell on Ryker is still active, it means the witch who cast it is alive.”

“Well, yes, but there’s more to it than that.” Cassi closed her eyes for a moment, like she was steeling herself.

Briar leaned forward. “What is it?”

“It’s something that we aren’t supposed to share with outsiders, but these are extenuating circumstances, now that everything is coming out.” She wrapped her arms around her waist.

Reid stood, his face twisting. “If you aren’t going to be helpful, then you need to—”

“No, I’m going to tell you.” She dropped her hands. “Your pack took me in and sheltered me when my coven abandoned me. That means something to me, but the witch practices have been so ingrained.”

My heart ached for her. She was warring with two parts of herself—the beliefs she was raised with and the family she’d chosen outside of blood. I was curious why she’d needed to be taken in.

“Any day now,” Ryker snarled as his annoyance strengthened even more.

“I can track her using the thread that connects her magic to Ryker.” She wrung her hands together. “It’s just a pulse, but if I use a location spell and focus on the magical essence, we’ll know where she is.”

My blood turned cold, and a lump lodged in my throat.

“Wait.” Sun’s hand trembled. “If you can track her, can she track Ryker?”

That was the exact same question I had.

“Yes.” Cassi rubbed a hand down her charcoal shirt. “But there’s nothing I can do to prevent that. She’d have to remove the spell.”

The silence that followed was deafening. Time halted as understanding finally broke through the shock.

“You mean to tell us we’ve been walking around with a fucking beacon on our backs?” Gage’s voice boomed.

Xander snarled. “You’vegotto be kidding me. You should’ve started with that.”

Kendric stepped toward Ryker and narrowed his eyes as he gritted out, “I hope you’re satisfied with the fucking decision you made behind our backs.”

Ryker didn’t flinch. Didn’t move. But the energy pulsing from him was lethal. “If she’s had access to me this whole time—”

“She knows where you are at all times,” Reid bit out. “That would’ve been nice to know before you came here.”

Anger swirled from Ryker and toward me through our bond, and he dropped my hand. “Are you fucking kidding me?” His words were such a low growl that they were almost inaudible.

Guilt crashed over him, surging through me as well, and I wasn’t sure what to do.

He glanced at me, his expression twisting. “Is she messing with us? Is she hiding the scent of lies with magic?” I could hear the desperate hope that clung to his words.

My eyes focused back on Cassi, confirming what I already knew. “She’s not.”

The mix of emotions that slammed into me weakened my knees. There was so much there, anger… disdain… embarrassment… and shame. He stood there, rigid, his jaw clenched so tightly I half expected his teeth to crack.

I glanced at Xander, Kendric, and Gage, who showed varying expressions of anger, each with deep lines in their foreheads and flared nostrils.

If you’d talked to us—Gage started.

Stop.I wouldn’t stand here and allow them to rip Ryker apart.This is not the time or place. Focus on what we can do now instead of on the past, where we can’t change a damn thing.

“They won’t expect us to use it against them.” Cassi cleared her throat. “So that should give us an advantage.”

Reid nodded once, curt and clipped. “What do you need?”

Cassi met his gaze. “A sample of Ryker’s blood. A binding stone. Sage—fresh, from the garden. And a map to direct the magic.”

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