Page 56 of Curses and Casualties
“Probably nothing,” she says, but her hand moves unconsciously to where Luna rests in her chest. “I just... do you feel like we’re being watched?”
I reach out with my senses, scanning the forest around us. Kane prowls behind my eyes—not defensive, but alert. Waiting. Remembering. Whatever’s out there... it knows us.
“There’s something out there,” I confirm. “But it doesn’t feel hostile.”
“Just leave us the fuck alone,” Scarlett mutters, but I catch the way her hand drifts unconsciously to her chest again.
“Why don’t you try and get some rest?” I suggest to both Scarlett and Georgia. “We still have a long way to go.”
As Ethan pulls back onto the road, I keep my senses stretched toward whatever is out there in the trees. Kane is restless in my mind, hackles raised but not in aggression. More like... recognition.
Something follows,he tells me.Something watches.
I know,I say, glancing at Scarlett.And I have a feeling I know who.
Chapter 21
Georgia
The rental car’s air conditioning gave up somewhere around hour four, which means we’re now driving through mountain passes with all the windows down, and my hair whipping around like I’m in a shampoo commercial gone wrong. Not the sexy kind. The kind where the model looks like she stuck her finger in an electrical socket.
I keep flexing my fingers, still amazed they’re normal again. No claws, no fangs, just regular human appendages that can’t accidentally puncture the upholstery. But Luna feels different now. Closer. Like she’s not fighting so hard to break free.
We showed them,she whispers in my mind, and I can actually hear her instead of just feeling her presence.We protected pack.
“Yeah, we did,” I murmur, touching my chest where I feel her resting.
“Did you say something?” Ryan asks from the driver’s seat, glancing at me in the rearview mirror.
“Just talking to Luna. She’s... chattier now. I have to remember I can do that in my head.”
Scarlett shifts in the seat beside me, and I notice she’s been doing that a lot. Little movements, like she can’t get comfortable.Every few minutes she adjusts her position and takes a shaky breath.
“You OK over there?” I ask.
“Fine,” she says automatically, but her knuckles are white where she grips the door handle. “I just... I thought the pull was supposed to lessen the farther away you were from each other. But it just seems to ebb and flow. It’s weird.”
I glance past Scarlett to the blur of trees and granite out the window, and I see it again—just for a heartbeat—something dark and nimble moving parallel to the road, keeping perfect pace with us. Like Ryan said earlier, this thing isn’t hostile. But it’s something. Something following. Something fast enough to follow.
Don’t pretend you don’t know who that is,Luna says in my mind, not holding back for a moment now that she has the ability to communicate more freely.
Ethan checks the map, tracing the route with his finger. “Next turn should be coming up,” he says. “According to this, we should be arriving at the Stonecrest Falls Coven soon.”
“So what are we expecting?” I ask as Ryan takes the turn onto a narrower mountain road. “Gingerbread houses? Cauldrons bubbling in the front yard? Cats with attitude problems?”
“Knowing our luck, probably all of the above,” Ethan says. “Maybe some wind chimes made of bones.”
But as we crest the next hill, what we see makes us all stare.
“Well, fuck me gently with a broomstick,” Scarlett breathes.
Spread out in the valley below is what looks like a luxury resort. Modern buildings with clean lines and lots of glass, nestled among carefully landscaped gardens. A wrought iron gate guards the entrance, but instead of looking medieval and forbidding, it’s elegant. Understated. Like something you’d see protecting a high-end spa.
“Are we sure we’re in the right place?” I ask, leaning over Ethan’s shoulder and double-checking the map.
“This is it,” Ryan says, pulling up to the gate. “Crescent Lake. Population... apparently rich witches.”
A security guard approaches the car, but instead of the gruff mountain man I was expecting, he’s wearing a crisp uniform with gold embroidery along the edges. His smile is professionally polite.
