Page 54 of Bait N' Witch

Besides, Grey had said nothing. He had barely noticed shocking her when he’d touched her the day they met, and this mark had taken time to form. Therefore, this couldn’t be a bonding. Could it?

She had three fucking days to clear out of here and draw the wolves hunting her away from Grey and the girls. What were the fates thinking? She’d ask the girls, but they still had no clue what they were predicting or why.

A bonding? Now?

This must be something else. It had to be.

But the only person she could ask would be Grey himself.

Rowan shook her head. No. She’d concentrate on her plan and deal with the wolf shifters. Then she’d confess everything to Grey and put herself in his hands. And…after all that…if this mark remained and he hadn’t killed her, she would ask him about it.

But not before.

She startled as Nefertiti wound around her ankles, rubbing against her in a show of comfort. Absently, Rowan reached down to pet her soft fur. “What am I going to do, Nefti?”

Nefti turned up her little pink nose and began washing herself, and Rowan shook her head. Like most cats, Nefti didn’t deign to talk to a human. Even one she liked.

That cold chill passed through her body, shaking a shiver down her spine, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Right now, she needed help. Rowan hopped off her bed and snatched her purse from where she’d dropped it on the floor when she’d come home earlier. She fished out her cell phone and called Delilah.

“Rowan?”

“I’m in trouble, and I need your help.”

“Is it Greyson?”

“Not the way you think.” Quickly, Rowan explained the falcon’s warning.

“We need to get you out of there. Now.”

Rowan’s heart, already heavy, dropped into her stomach. She’d known that was the answer, but the thought of leaving Grey, leaving the girls… She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. There was no other way.

“What if that leaves Grey and the girls vulnerable? They don’t know danger is coming. I should tell Grey—”

“No. Not yet.”

Rowan frowned at her phone. “Why do you say that?”

“Let’s just say I have a Seer on staff. If Greyson finds out who you are now, things won’t work out.”

Rowan swallowed, that knife twisting deeper into her heart. Did that mean she’d die? Could Grey really kill her?

I’m a damn fool for ever thinking love could’ve been at the end of this twisted yellow brick road.

She didn’t ask for clarification. She didn’t want to know. They had more immediate issues. “I need to make sure they’re okay.”

“I could call Tala and Marrok, have them surround the place.”

As much as the idea of fighting fire with fire appealed, Rowan couldn’t ask the wolf shifter couple to help her again. They’d already done too much for a witch who technically attacked them. Besides… “More wolves might attract Kaios’s lover. She’ll want retribution against them, too. Warn them, but don’t send them. Can we lay a false track for me, like you did from that cabin in the woods? Draw the wolves away from Grey and the girls?”

“Yes. That’s possible. I can’t guarantee they’ll go for it. It’s not foolproof.”

“Okay.” Rowan thought hard. “I’ll drive out of here and teleport back.”

“That won’t work. The shifters will still sense your presence if you return. And you risk them controlling you. If Kaios had a lover no one knew about, she must be powerful.”

“They won’t sense me if I’m a wraith.”

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