Page 20 of Witch Untold
“You sound surprised to hear from me.”
“I am. We don’t usually get calls from Grimswood witches.”
“Does everyone know?”
“No. Just those who need to. What do you need?”
Perceptive as usual. “Why do you think I need anything?”
“Because we don’t do the social thing.” The smile in her voice told me she was pleased to hear from me regardless of why I’d called.
I loved that I could just get down to business with her. “I need you to test a sample of my blood.”
A beat of silence followed. “Why?”
“It’s a long story, but I might be changing on a genetic level. I need you to test my DNA against the sample you already have.”
“We don’t have a sample.”
“Uh-huh.” I knew how the Magiguard operated. They were constantly collecting samples from outliers.
Last year, when a secret government organization had released a drug called Bliss into Necro City, vamps had become hooked on it. It had changed their behavior from solitary hunters to creatures who congregated in colonies, allowing the covert organization to reap them for their own nefarious purposes. We’d taken them down and the Magiguard had been there to collect all the samples, eager to use them to find a way to reverse what this agency had done. A way to neutralize the vampire infection in outliers.
It was the Magiguard’s job to stay on top of any new species, or anything that could change existing ones, so like hell they wouldn’t have obtained a sample from the only tulpa in existence with autonomy and witch power. Ursula probably wasn’t permitted to admit that, though.
I twirled a tendril of hair around my finger. “So can you do it?”
She sighed. “Meet me at Lumiers in an hour. I’ll bring a kit to take a sample.”
An hour. I couldn’t make it there in a…Wait a fucking second. I totally could. Now that the amulet was off, I could jump wherever the fuck I wanted.
“I’ll be there.”
* * *
It didn’t takeme long to scoff the full English breakfast Leif had laid out. Tor entered, gloriously naked and covered in dew, as I was piling a second helping onto my plate.
I froze for a long beat, taking him in. Bronze taut skin stretched over a powerful muscled chest and cobbled abs. I’d run my fingers over those abs, followed by my tongue. Yum.
He winked and swiped a pair of joggers from the box by the door, but took his time putting them on, giving me ample opportunity to check out all the other interesting bits.
Yeah, he was mine to ogle.
“If you’re done showcasing, your food’s on the hot plate,” Leif drawled.
Tor grabbed his plate and joined us.
I shoveled scrambled eggs into my mouth, back to focusing on my plate. So good. So fucking good.
A prickle ran over my scalp. A warning that I was being watched. I raised my head, cheeks bulging with food, to find the guys staring at me.
I chewed and swallowed. “What?”
“You okay, Cora?” Leif asked.
Eh? “Course I am.”
You’ve eaten a lot.
