Page 10 of Wolf Tamer

And right now, that’s a witch who can’t rely on her invisibility powers and who happens to be falling in love with the local wolf pack alpha.

No big deal.

“What, exactly, have I failed at?” I ask her in a needling tone. “Besides the obvious.”

Much to my surprise, Mae chuckles. “You hide your insecurities behind a mask, and you believe it’s endearing.”

“We’re not so different, you and I.” This time I drop my tone into a deep and serious base, knowing that will annoy her further.

Mae refuses to take the bait. “You’re a disappointment to your parents.”

“Don’t talk about them like you actually know them. Or give a flying fuck about me and my life.” I shift and use my hair to hide my wince.

“I’d just like to know how you think sleeping with the enemy will help you find your little sister,” Mae presses. “Your entire mission was based not on a desire to help us but to help yourself, and you missed the mark on both of those points, Tasha.”

Mae’s gift must be a knack for cutting other people to the quick, because she’s doing a fine job of it with me.

“Why don’t we have this conversation in the living room with a nice cup of tea?” I ask. Forcing a smile. “This isn’t very comfortable.”

“You’re not getting out of here. You know that much.”

“I know you’re taking this a little too far.”

Her scowl deepens at my retort. “How so? You don’t believe in punishment for failures?”

“Not when it’s a person who had to be coerced to confess using a truth serum you forced me to guzzle.”

I’m on my feet a second later and stalking toward her. There’s no way I’m getting past her and out the door; I know that much instinctually. And as she stated, the cell is warded against the use of magic.

I also highly doubt I’d be able to not only call my powers when I want but also use them to hold my own against the coven leader.

“You were paid for a job you did not do,” Mae says calmly. “That’s why you’re in this cell. You must see.”

“Oh, I see well enough,” I reply.

Except for the whole stake bit. Because now, I’ll never have the chance to see if the feelings I have for Reid are anything we can build on.

Too bad.Although it’s probably better for him to not be mixed up with me.

“Unless you’ve got something you want to say to me, like an apology or a way out of this cell, then kindly fuck off,” I tell her with a sweet smile. “I’m a little busy here. Repentance.”

Mae just shakes her head. “Your sister would be ashamed to see you now. She’d be ashamed of what happened during the ceremony and how you dropped the ball.”

And leaving me questioning literally everything, including my sanity, Mae finally backs out of the cell and sets the wards around me again, making sure they’re airtight and unbreakable.

What does she know about Carmen?

What does she know about my missing sister?

“Stop!” I call out after her. “Do you know something?” She has to know. She’s in a better position than anyone else to see what’s really going on, and I’ve long suspected there are more reasons for me being in this cell than the ones she cared to share.

“Only that your parents’ deaths were justified.” Mae’s voice reverberates back to me along with a string of dry laughter I’d love to choke out of her.

She’s probably only saying these things to taunt me, some kind of emotional torture or manipulation to make me doubt myself before my death.

Mae must have known my parents. She is older than dirt, after all, and the head of the Buson Coven. The same one my parents had been a part of before they died. What did Mae know about my family dynamics?

Either she knows more than she wants to say or this is all a ploy, and I can’t be certain of which.

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