Page 21 of Prey

I feel sick. This isn’t how things are supposed to go when you find your mate. I don’t know how we’re ever going to have peace between us. If it’s too late for him, it may be too late for all of us.

Unbuckling my seat belt, I start to push my door open when I hear bikes. Before I can even think about it, I’m being pulled gently out of the car and into Kadi’s arms.

“Thank the Gods. I was on the phone with Joaquin, headed this way to grab something when he saw Ethan shove you into the car. Are you hurt?” he says, looking me over with worried eyes and running his hands up and down my body checking for wounds.

That's when he sees the blood.

A roar comes from him that I have never heard a human make before, and he shoves me behind him as if to protect me from the danger that has already passed. He must be very close to losing control of his lion. Shit. I have to do something before he shifts.

“Hey,” I say, turning him and grabbing his face in my hands. “Look at me. It’s just a graze. I’ll be fine. I just need to grab a bandage. It’s not even worth wasting magic to heal it okay?” Lifting my arm, I show him. His eyes flash from gold to brown, back to gold, and then to brown again before they finally stay that way. He’s still breathing heavily though.

“I’m going to grab the SUV. We can all go together. Someone has to sit in the back with Ethan in case he wakes up,” Joaquin says. Getting on his bike, he starts it and rides off.

Kadi nods, jaw clenched tightly as he tries to regain control of himself. I grab a piece of the bottom of my shirt and rip it off, wrapping it around my arm where the bullet grazed me. Kadi walks over to Ethan and pulls him out of the car and catches his scent.

Dropping him and backing away quickly, he says, “We’ve got a big problem.”

“Yeah, I know. He smells bad, like what you all said the hoodie guy smelled like. We need to get him to Grams’ quick before what happened to the hoodie guy happens to Ethan,” I say. “We also need to figure out how this all started in the first place so we can avoid it in the future.”

Black magic feeds on negative emotions and they are getting a feast with Ethan. He has so much anger and hate right now that there was no way the magic could resist. The fight with Kadi probably didn’t help, though I’m not going to say that. I’m sure Kadi is blaming himself enough. Though he shouldn't be.

Stepping back up to him, Kadi grabs him under the arms and pulls him the rest of the way out of the car just as Joaquin pullsup in the SUV. He hops out, opens the hatch, and grabbing Ethan’s feet, they lift him up and into the back.

I grab my bag out of the car and get in on the passenger side of the SUV. Kadi gets in on the drivers‘ side and as soon as Joaquin is in, we pull away, tires squealing and head to my Grams’.

Chapter eleven

Covens & Cuffs

KADI

This is my worst fucking nightmare come true.

Shasta, injured and almost kidnapped. Ethan, possessed by dark magic, the thing he fears most in the world. First thing that’s going to happen when we get to Winnie’s is Shasta is getting healed by someone, I don’t care if it's just a graze or not. Then, we are going to get Ethan fixed up so I can kill him for shooting our mate.

My hands are white knuckled on the steering wheel of the SUV and Shasta keeps shooting me worried looks. I know she can feel my emotions through the bond. Taking a deep breath, I try to calm myself a little and release the death grip I have on the wheel.

I check the back of the SUV in the rearview mirror. Joaquin just nods to let me know everything is fine. I know I should probably try to comfort Shasta right now but it’s taking everything in me to keep my shit together. Suddenly, Loki pops into the SUV in Shasta’s lap.

I jerk the wheel in surprise and we skid a little.

“Get it together up there, Kadi, before you kill us all,” Joaquin grumbles.

“Sorry, Loki just popped in and freaked me out,” I say with a wince. “A little notice next time, Loki. I know you could’ve let Shasta know you were coming.”

He just hisses at me and stands up, putting his paws on Shasta’s shoulders and just looks at her. I’m sure they are having a conversation but it’s a little eerie with them both just looking at each other like that. After a minute or two he curls up in her lap and starts purring. Loudly. The next thing I know, a soft glow comes from where the bandage is wrapped around her arm.

He’s…healing her? “Uh, since when can Familiars heal their person?”

Shasta just laughs and shakes her head. “Loki has always been strange. I’m sure you already know, since he snitched me out, that he can actually talk in your mind?” I nod. “This is anotherthing he’s able to do that he shouldn’t be able to. I’ve noticed other small things too, but these things kinda outweigh those.”

We are finally pulling up to Winnie’s, so I park and shut the SUV off. “We are going to talk about this some more later because I think we need to figure out why he can do all these things and what it means for you. For now, you go ahead inside and check with Winnie and see where she wants us to put Ethan.”

Nodding, Shasta opens her door and Loki jumps down and runs up to the porch and waits while she gets out of the SUV.

I step out and head to the back, meeting Joaquin by the hatch. “Damn, he’s still knocked out hard in there. I don’t know what Shasta hit him with, but it was a doozy.”

Joaquin laughs and says, “Yeah, I definitely don’t want to meet up with her in a dark alley, that's for sure. She might just be one of the most powerful witches I’ve ever met if the signals I’m picking up from her are right, though her energy is a little weird and also familiar.”

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