Page 981 of One More Kiss

Drexel

Thankfully,the drive to the airport was short. As was the flight. Mags stayed in her own world the entire time, not saying a damned word. Shit, she didn’t even look at me the entire flight. Honestly, the whole thing pisses me off.

Once again, I’ve dropped everything for her, and I can’t help but wonder if she’s going to disappear again once all of this is over. Fuck, she probably won’t even travel back from Salem with me.

She turns the car down a private lane then gets out to open the gate. I climb out with her, wanting to help, but when I see the blade in her hand, I rush forward. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“It’s spelled to open with blood,” she replies before running the silver over her palm.

Crimson wells to the surface, and I’m horrified at the sight of her injured. Just like she was in that alley. Bleeding.

Focus, asshole,I scold myself as she smears her blood on a lock hanging from the gate.

Then, she turns to me. “Because your blood is not in the wards, you’re going to need some of this.” She raises her bloody palm. “It’s my blessing to allow you to enter.”

I stare at her. “You’re going to smear your blood on me?”

“It’s the only way you can get in.”

Heart hammering, I step closer to her. She reaches up and presses her palm to my cheek. I close my eyes, breathing deeply as she caresses my skin. It might be blood she’s smearing on me, but her touch is fucking addicting.

When she drops her hand, my body feels cold. Abandoned.

“We are good now,” she says with a slight smile as she heads back to the car while cradling her injured hand.

“I’ll drive.”

“Thanks.”

With a nod, I climb behind the wheel and pull through. I’m just getting ready to get out and close the gate when it swings closed of its own volition. “When did Rainey tell you about this place?”

“About three years ago,” she explains. “She met me here so she could add my blood to the wards.”

I come to a screeching halt and whirl on her. “Rainey knew where you were?”

Regarding me warily, she nods once.

Betrayal, anger—the onslaught of emotional turmoil has me taking off again, faster this time. I can’t fucking believe she lied to me. I trust Rainey—more than I’ve ever trusted anyone—and she fucking lied.

How many times did she ask me if I knew where Mags was? How many times did I ask her if she’d heard anything? And the entire time—

I slam on the brakes, and the car screeches to a halt beside a destroyed house. It’s little more than rubble now, black scorch marks up and down the sides of the brick. Rainey told me her grandmother’s house was destroyed by a local witch coven who wanted to kill the Astor line.

Was that a fucking lie, too?

Fury burning in my veins, I throw the door open and climb out.

“You can’t be mad at her.”

I whirl on Mags. “Excuse me?”

“Rainey. I asked her not to tell you where I was. Or that she’d spoken to me.”

And that hurts a hell of a lot more than Rainey’s betrayal. “So I was the only one you were running from. Good to fucking know.” Moving around, I grab my bag and throw it over my shoulder. “Where the fuck are we going? I want to get this over with.”

Her eyes shimmer, but she nods and retrieves her own bag from the trunk. “This way. We can leave our stuff and head into town.”

Mags leads me down an overgrown path to what looks like it was a garden shed at one point. Then, she presses her palm to the only remaining wall, and a door shimmers into view. With a heavy push, she shoves it open and descends stairs that are barely illuminated by small lights along the wall.

---