Page 74 of Wolf Tamer

Tasha dives away too, and the fiery orb explodes at the base of a tree. Not wasting time, I launch myself at him, catch one of the man’s wrists, and snap the bone with a hard flick of mine. He screams in pain, but at least that’ll slow down anymore magic-making from him for a bit.

In one motion, I push him down and roll fast so that I’ve crushed his chest to the ground. My knee presses to the small of his back, pinning him in the dirt. “Submit,” I bark out. “Or die.”

The stranger sucks in a breath as I use my weight to keep him down.

“I’ll talk! I’ll talk!” he croaks out.

“Talk? You’re out of your mind,” Bullet says before I have a chance to answer. “Kill him, Reid. Better yet, let me.”

“Submit,” I demand of the man again, “and then we’ll see if I feel like entertaining guests.”

“I was manipulated into coming here,” the warlock hurries to say. He reeks of his fear.

“You’re lying,” I snarl.

He shakes his head. “I’m not—I’m not lying. I owed a debt to the local coven, and they called it in. They sent me here to distract you as they worked to find a way into your territory!” He tries to push his face more out of the leaves and snow and his gaze shifts over to Bullet. “It was a wolf’s idea! A woman wolf. I don’t know her name, but she’s been calling a lot of the shots in Buson. Her and Mae.”

Tasha and my gazes meet again, and we growl out the name at the same time, “Emily.”

It has to be.

“You honestly expect us to believe you were manipulated? That’s a load of crap.” Tasha scoffs.

“Tell me everything this Emily told you to do. Exactly. Don’t leave anything out,” I ask him.

Tasha groans. “Christ, Reid, you can’t trust him!”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m with Tasha here. This is a waste of time,” Bullet adds in.

I ignore them both. “He won’t lie.” I push a little harder with my knee into his shoulder blades, making him cry out in pain. “Right,friend?”

“Okay, okay, okay, okay!” he squeals. “There’s nothing for me back there anyway. There’s nothing those old biddies won’t do after you’ve broken your word.” He looks directly at Tasha as he says it. “You know what I mean, sweetheart?”

She bares her teeth at him at the nickname, but I detect the hint of an accent on it. He’s not a local, that’s for sure.

“Name’s Oliver by the way,” he struggles to go on with my weight on him. “From the Quebec Coven.”

Quebec? As in Canada?

What the fuck is he doing all the way down here?

“Which one?” the question is like a whip from Tasha, and it not only takes Oliver off guard, it surprises us all.

“Ah…” Oliver sounds impressed. “You know about that?”

She crosses her arms over her chest. “That’s not an answer.”

“What the heck are they talking about?” Bullet asks Liam. He’s losing his patience. “It’s like they’re speaking a different language.”

“There are multiple covens in Quebec, so they split the city into sections and go by common flowers.”

I ease off the male witch’s back a little to allow him to lift his head and give better answers.

Oliver sucks in a sharp breath and groans. “You’ve been to Quebec?”

“Killed a witch in the Zinnia Coven on a job,” she explains nonchalantly. “So hopefully he wasn’t a friend of yours.”

“Zinnia? Fuck no. I’m an Alyssum. I’m sure that Zinnia had it coming. Ruthless bastards.”

---