Page 29 of Ruthless Moon

“Of course.” Meredith turns to Rachel. “Would you lower the soundproofing spell and call for the attendant?”

Rachel hurries to comply. The enchantment lifts, like a veil being drawn away, and soon a cheerful woman with a warm smile is taking my measurements and inundating me with questions about wedding plans and my excitement.

I try to reciprocate her enthusiasm, pasting on a polite smile and providing suitable responses.

She chatters on about her wedding a year ago and how it was the best day of her life. But even though I know in the deepest part of my soul I’m doing the right thing for the right reasons, it doesn’t mean that my heart doesn’t ache for the mate I’m leaving behind.

Outside the shop, I take a deep breath, clearing the smell of roses and perfume and satin from my lungs. It’s then when I notice the scent of another wolf.

Not the bodyguard my father sent with us that Meredith somehow magickally convinced to sit in the car, silent and out of the way, during our trip. He doesn’t even turn his head when we pass by the parked car.

He’s oblivious.

The scent I notice is female and it’s different from normal. It’s thicker, heavier with magick than most wolf scents. In fact, it feels very similar to what I now can identify layered over Meredith and Rachel’s scents.

Magick doesn’t smell. But it does have a presence. So either this female wolf is traveling with more witches or there’s a hell of a lot of magick clinging to her.

“What is it?” Meredith asks, putting a hand on my arm and stopping our walk.

“There’s a wolf nearby. A woman. And she’s got a witch with her... I think.”

Rachel comes up and stops on my other side. “How can you tell? Can you smell witches?” She glances at Meredith and they exchange a surprised look. “The O’Connors never shared that they were capable of telling us apart from humans.”

I shake my head. “You don’t smell, but there’s a heaviness of magick around you. I noticed it after you said you were a witch too. It’s not obvious unless you really look for it. Not like a wolf scent that takes little effort to pick out over humans. It would be easy to overlook. But I live in a constant survival state. I notice tiny details. Things other people ignore.”

“Could someone have come from the court? Followed us?” Rachel asks, keeping her voice low.

Meredith shakes her head, takes both our hands, and pulls us into an alley between two small shops. The light is low. There are no people. And it’s a dead end.

“Someone is following us, but they’re not from our court. I sensed magick outside the shop while you were trying on dresses.”

Rachel’s eyebrows rise together. “How?”

Meredith pulls a necklace loose from her blouse and dangles it in front of us. A large white opal hangs from the end, pulsing with a soft yellow glow. “I didn’t think anything about it getting warm earlier, because you cast the soundproofing spell in the dressing suite. But it didn’t calm down after that. Which means someone is using magick nearby.”

A magickal proximity alert.

“Then why are we trapping ourselves in an alley?” I yank Meredith back toward the safety of the sun-drenched sidewalk. But my heart rate plummets when a dark-skinned woman with long braids steps into the alley, boxing us in. She’s wearing enough leather and flowing robes to give the main character inAssassin’s Creedflashbacks. Whether or not she’s a trained assassin like the character in the video game remains to be discovered, but she’s not just any woman—she’s a Moonbound wolf too, I can smell it. She’s a hybrid.

“She’s not worried about being in an alley with me. Meredith Banfield is one of the most powerful witches alive—aMathair.” The possible assassin twirls a ring on her finger like she doesn’t have a care in the world.

My wolf growls in my chest and I step in front of Meredith. Rachel steps up to my side and together we completely block the stranger’s view of Meredith.

Meredith puts her hands between our bodies and pushes us both aside, stepping forward toward the stranger. “It’s been a long time since anyone uttered that title aloud in my presence. I despise what it stands for. Who are you?”

A hint of surprise flickers in the stranger’s eyes. “Talia Windham. Lawrence sent me. TheMathairsknow you’re in Colorado. He says you need to leave. I’m to help you pack whatever you need and make arrangements for travel.”

Meredith stands still, but her heart races in her chest. Had I not been looking right at her, I would’ve thought she was running for her life.

“Did you not hear me?” Talia takes an impatiently aggressive step toward Meredith.

I snarl and move to block her path forward. “Back off.”

She growls right back and her eyes glow gold. “I can do that too, honey. We’ve both got fangs. The difference is I can knock you on your ass with a few well-placed words too.”

“You’re a witch.” It’s not a question from Rachel’s lips, but a realization. “But you’re a—”

“Wolf,” I interject, my voice heavy with disbelief. “How are you possible?”

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