Page 55 of Claimed

She blinks a couple times and her expression gentles, but she’s got questions in her eyes.

“Rough night,” I tell her. “Need to talk to you.”

Her chin trembles like she’s about to cry. “Wyatt,” she guesses.

“He was either here or sent some men in. Need to show you some pictures. Video. Get you to identify some people. Yeah?”

She rubs her eyes while shuffling to a sitting position. I turn the lamp on and our eyes meet.

“Someone died tonight, Blossom. Pretty certain they’re not just from your old pack, also from your family.”

She goes rod-straight and her lips part in shock.

I reposition us so our backs are against the pillows. One arm around her, I slide the thumb of my free hand up my phone screen and show her the still shot of the two guys at the four corners taken from our surveillance video. I add my index finger to my thumb and spread them to zoom in on the faces.

“Jimmy and Malachi,” she whispers. Her eyes hit mine and she whispers, “Who died?”

“Him,” I point.

She flinches. “Jimmy? Jimmy’s dead?”

“I’m so sorry, babe.” I squeeze her shoulder and press a kiss to her temple before asking, “Jimmy’s your cousin, right?”

“He’s dead?”

“Yeah.”

“What happened?” she asks.

“He took Riley’s mate. Hit one of our pack’s females who tried to stop him. Riley went ballistic when he got to Erica. Found her bound and upset and he lost it. Took out the shifter responsible.”

She blinks a few times and asks, “Is… she okay?”

“She’s okay.”

“Jimmy didn’t hurt her?”

“No.”

“And Jimmy’s definitely dead?”

“Definitely dead, babe.”

“She’s… a witch?”

“Yeah, Blossom.”

“That’s why he took her.”

“Erica said Jimmy told Rye he’d exchange her for the female we took. In other words,you.”

She shakes her head. “They wouldn’t have given her back for me. No way. What about Malachi? Is he–”

I get a strange sensation from her and she gulps.

“He got away,” I tell her. “We’ve got people lookin’, but he might be too far. They both masked their scents, but Linc caught a whiff. He’s got the strongest nose in the pack. Either it waswearin’ off or it wasn’t as effective as whatever you had on the other day. You think he’s close? Think he’ll strike out?”

She swallows and closes her eyes, blowing out a long breath. “I’m surprised Wyatt sent Malachi here, especially with Jimmy. They didn’t get along.”

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