Page 48 of Bloodline Unbound

“Sounds like a general direction, at least,” said Caden. “There are shifters all over the place, though. Why is it hunting us?”

“Maybe you’re from some super-secret royal shifter bloodline that’s extra magical?” Logan suggested.

I snorted. “If we were, I'd be pissed over all the money and power we’ve missed out on. Do we know if it’s still following us? Maybe we finally shook it.”

“I can try asking the trees. Not sure if they’d be able to tell, but it can’t hurt.”

We dug through a dozen or so more books before Logan leaned back against the shelf with a groan. “My eyeballs are crossing.”

“Do we want to buy the one possibly useful book and grab some drive-thru before we head to Hood River?” Caden asked.

“Fuck yeah!” I grinned. “I’m starving.”

We tidied up the mess we’d made and purchased the thick demonology book before heading out. We grabbed some cheap burgers and ate them on the way. It was a solid hour drive to Hood River from the bookstore.

The metaphysical shop we were searching for was basically a hole in the wall—small and cramped, with stock up to the ceiling. It smelled like incense, but about six different kinds at once, and made my nose twitch.

A middle-aged woman with thick, dark hair and bejeweled glasses lifted her head as we all came inside. “Logan.”

It was weird that she said the name as a statement rather than a question.

“Yep.” Logan gave a little wave and took the lead on our group.

“I’m Melinda.” The woman held out her hand. “Come here, sweetness. Tell me everything.”

Logan spilled out everything that had happened. Melinda’s eyes gleamed as she absorbed the story, and the hair on my arms stood on end.

“Sweetness, who were your parents?” Melinda held up her hand and a thick leather bound book zipped into her hand, hovering as she flipped it open.

“Um, Matthew and Lorelei Murphy. They adopted me when I was born.”

“Hmm.” Melinda waved her hand over the book and the pages whipped frantically. “Do you have information on your birth parents?”

“No. My birth mother wanted everything to be closed and I was supposed to get information when I turned eighteen, but apparently all the records were destroyed before then.”

“Come sit by me. I have to show you something.”

Logan extracted herself from Caden and I and sat next to Melinda. The witch looped an arm around Logan and our girl jerked back with a hiss, but Melinda wrapped her other hand around Logan’s wrist, her eyes going all glowy and weird.

My first instinct was to rocket off the couch and tackle Melinda, but the air was thick as molasses as I tried to reach for Logan, every movement fighting me. The harder I pushed, the stronger the force keeping me back.

Caden looked pissed as hell, fighting against whatever mojo Melinda had going on. Logan’s eyes were screwed shut, her body straining to pull away.

“Stop hurting her!”

Hush, little panther.

I shook my head, hating the feeling of Melinda in my mind.

Caden slipped into his half form, tail whipping behind him, claws digging into the invisible barrier, his growl vibrating the air around me. “Let. Her. Go.”

Melinda laughed in my head. Logan struggled, but it was easy to see her strength was fading fast. We kept struggling against Melinda’s magic, and when my fingertips finally reached Logan, her skin buzzed like a bug zapper and I flinched away.

“What the fuck?” I snapped.

Don’t worry, panthers. She’s not being hurt. Melinda turned those freaky eyes on me.

I didn’t like this bitch one bit.

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