Page 32 of Wolf Hunter

“Then you’re delusional,” I mutter.

I lift my hips and press against him with such force that he actually makes room for me. He just doesn’t let go of my wrists. He maintains his bruising grip with the clear threat of retribution in his eyes.

“Are you going to let me up or not?”

“I’m still deciding,” he answers honestly.

“Dude, I’m serious. Let me up. There’s something freaky out here, and you’re making us big old targets right now.”

Inevitably, Reid moves to my side, still holding one arm. “Don’t think I’ve forgiven you for the nut shots.”

“There’s something seriously wrong going on in your McMansion, Reid,” I tell him in a harsh whisper. “My senses are out of control.”

I need to think fast. The coven will kill me if I fail the mission. I’ve already been paid half, so unless I want to return the cash and break the contract, I have to follow through. There’s so much riding on this. A girl has to prioritize, and this latest sensation has me rearranging my thoughts in a hurry.

His brows draw down the longer he looks at me. “Don’t you have magic? There’s nothing to stop you from bespelling me right now and finding out for yourself.”

Oof. He makes a good point there.

“Not that I feel anything.” He glances around the hallway to scrutinize, and apparently comes up with zilch. “What do you sense, exactly?”

I level a blank look at him, a terrible idea forming and airing before I have a chance to stop myself. “Help me find my sister, and I’ll help you with whatever problem you have going on here. Since you’re obviously too inept to figure it out yourself.”

And he does have a problem. I don’t need my magic to tell me that.

“Wait a minute, yoursister? What does she have to do with any of this?”

The sensation of eyes drills into the back of my neck, and I tug a clearly confused Reid in the opposite direction. “We’ve got to go,” I tell him. “Come on.”

I give the man a whole lot of credit. He doesn’t automatically dismiss me. My power might be on the fritz, but at least his senses tell him not to discredit what I say.

Plus, I’m keeping that knowledge on the down low. Reid already knows I’m a witch and here to kill him. The near miss with the vampire? That’s my own business. And the fact that I can’t turn invisible if my life depended on it? Which it totally does?

Also my business.

Already aware of what I bring to the table, all he needs to do is listen. Tough for a man, of course, but maybe there’s hope for this one.

“What’s here?” he asks. “What do you see?”

“It’s more of what I feel, and Ifeellike it’s the right time to get the fuck out,” I reply.

Reid takes charge and leads me down the hall toward a slender staircase with dust on the treads. A press of his hand has the lights popping on overhead as the curve brings us down to the first level, and when we level out, he drags me immediately to the left.

The intense sensation of being watched lessens slightly, but not enough for me to let down my guard.

“You have a poltergeist problem or something?” I mutter.

“There are no ghosts in this house”—he gives a tug, and I almost trip over my own feet—“aside from whatever is clearly going on in your own head. I haven’t seen anyone haunted the way you are.”

Outside of a mirror, I bet.

Maybe we just recognize our own. Because as much as I hate to admit it, I see the same expansive emptiness inside Reid, the same loneliness I notice whenever I look at myself.

“I’m taking you someplace where we can talk without being overheard, and you can tell me what the fuck is going on with your sister,” he says.

Oh, right. Ihavelet that out. The strangeness I feel must have addled my brain.

Another turn brings us to a patio supply closet near a set of French doors, and Reid shuts us both away inside. A quick flick has the overhead lights snapping on.

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