Page 40 of Mortal Heart

The Harley continued its journey block after block, mile after mile, until she lost track of where they were or even where they were going. All she knew was she needed to hold on to Ronan and not let go.

11

RONAN

Isthis what dying feels like?

During the last few miles of their journey, Ronan didn’t so much steer the Harley as aim it in the general direction they needed to go. By the time they arrived at the witch’s house, his sight and hearing had diminished noticeably and his ears rang.

All of which suddenly seemed unimportant when Arkady let go of his waist, slid sideways off the motorcycle, and crumpled in the grass between the sidewalk and the curb.

He managed to put the kickstand down, staggered off the bike, and dropped next to her. His chest had long since gone numb, and he could no longer feel either the pain of the gunshot wound or the sharp agony of the bullet that had lodged in his ribs. He had enough experience with serious injuries to know lack of feeling was not a good thing.

Though his mortal senses were beginning to fail him, his other senses felt the steady thrumming of very powerful witch wards on the otherwise charming and nondescript blue bungalow in front of them.

His fumbling fingers found a thready pulse in Arkady’s wrist. When he kissed her, her skin felt cold and damp—far worse than before. The demon poison might yet prove fatal.

“Not dead,” she murmured when he pressed his lips to her forehead. The irritation in her voice lightened his heart because it meant she remained as fiery and defiant as ever. “You’re not getting out of this that easily,” she added.

He was about to ask her what she meant bythiswhen a second, larger set of witch wards flared. The streetlights on the block buzzed and went out, plunging the street into darkness. The wards formed a protective, magic-dampening bubble around the house and yard. That muted the magic on the bullet in his chest so he couldn’t be tracked. Unfortunately, it also dampened his own power almost completely.

A brisk female voice came from behind him. “You’ll have to get yourself inside. We might be able to carry Arkady, but wedefinitelycan’t carry you.”

The speaker was a petite young woman with vibrant pink hair in long braids, wearing a threadbare punk band T-shirt and yoga pants. If the smell of parchment hadn’t already tipped him off that she was a witch, the intricate Triple Goddess tattoo on the inside of her right forearm would have.

Arkady snorted softly and disguised a wince as an exaggerated eye roll that Ronan found strangely charming. “Can’t you see we’re wounded?” she asked. “Where’d you learn your bedside manner?”

“She came by it honestly, same as you.” A second woman appeared out of the darkness. The newcomer was a petite brunette with dark hair and bare feet, wearing jeans and a T-shirt that read HEX APPEAL. “Get inside, both of you, before you either pass out or bleed out.”

Ronan recognized her voice as well as her magic. This was Alice’s close friend, the powerful witch who’d visited him while he lay in a coma and helped heal him with amulets and prayers.

Together, he and Arkady staggered to their feet and made their way to the gate that led to the house’s front yard. Both women watched their every move as only witches did, at least in Ronan’s experience.

Vampires had an aloof predatory manner, since they considered all others prey, even their own kind. Shifters watched for signs of aggression and readied themselves to attack or defend. Mages like Alice and Malcolm stayed constantly hyper-aware of their environment and attuned themselves to the natural sources of power around them, their nimble fingers always twitching, ready to create a spell or use their magic.

Witches noted and mentally catalogued everything in an almost clinical way, because everything and everyone was either a source of power or knowledge, or both. In all his long eons of existence, he had yet to encounter anyone as observant as a witch. That skill above all others was what made them so disconcertingly canny and dangerous.

At the moment, the brunette witch studied him in a way that implied she knew everything about him there was to know and then some. Possibly Alice had confided in her about his origins so she could provide the type of healing he’d needed.

Demonstrating the very skills Ronan respected most among witches—observation and keen insight—she touched his arm as he passed. “I don’t speak anyone’s secrets,” she said quietly once Arkady was out of earshot. “But such things have a way of finding the light, whether you want them to or not. Better she hears it from you.”

A witch’sothertrademark: unsolicited wisdom.

Arkady had already made it to the top of the steps. Since they had an audience, she hadn’t used the handrail, so neither did he.

“Arkady already knows me, of course,” the brunette witch said when they reached her front door. “Ronan, I am Carly Reese, High Priestess of the Emerald Star Coven. We’ve met before, at Alice’s house, though I’m sure you have no memory of it.” She touched his arm again and then Arkady’s as well. Even with his magic dampened, he sensed a little frisson of power. “You are both welcome in my home.”

She’d spoken formally, so Ronan responded in kind. “I’m most grateful for your hospitality, High Priestess. I am honored to visit your home.”

“Call me Carly,” she said. “Hurry inside. You’re both in immediate danger of expiring on my front porch, and I try to avoid that kind of negative energy as a general rule.”

“I’m Katy Clark,” the pink-haired witch added. “Your friendly neighborhood black witch gone good-ish.”

Ah—probably the source of Arkady’s Exit spells, then.“A pleasure to meet you,” he said.

As they crossed Carly’s threshold, Ronan smelled a hundred scents: drying herbs, incense, smoke, even what might have been the lingering smells of elixirs and spells that hung in the air long after their creation thanks to the magic used to mix them. He also detected the aroma of something baking, which reminded him that he’d consumed only tequila since lunch.

“A kitchen witch, I take it?” he asked as Carly led the way to her living room.

---