Page 50 of The Witch and The Blood Oath

As the Ranger stared at me, helpless from the confines of his newfound prison, I studied the bloodied spot on my baby sister’s head and considered killing him. My magic, a molten river in my veins and a heady song in the air, urged me to do it. It begged me to unleash upon him a fraction of the hurt and fear the Ranger had inflicted upon my sister.

If this man could hurt a child, he deserved to die.

He deserved worse.

I raised my hand to hit him with the full force of my lightning. Ever since I had come to understand my magic as an extension of myself, it had become easier to control. I trusted it not to hurt the ones I cared about.

I also trusted my power to end those who dared to harm them.

“Cowboy!” Freya screamed. “Let’s go!”

“Walker,” Cadence said quietly. I didn’t tear my gaze from the Ranger’s. “Walker, there’s more coming.”

The fear in her wobbling voice freed me from the deadly song of my magic. My lightning fizzled out, and, with my friends beside me, we raced around the hideous gas station and threw ourselves into the SUV.

For miles, no one spoke. I just drove and drove, keeping an eye out for any trailing motorcycles. We had heard the other Rangers coming, but we hadn’t seen them approach.

Maybe they’re too busy trying to save their fellow officers.

Chewed up and spit out, I wasn’t sure what was left of the pretty boy Ranger, but he had still been screaming when we left. The other one had been intact but trapped in Cadence’s earthen vice.

He had been alive, but not thanks to me.

I checked the rearview to check on Cadence. Freya dabbed at the wound on her head with a baby wipe.

“Is it still bleeding?” I asked.

“Nope,” Freya promised. “Her magic healed her in record time.”

Cady smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. I hated the fear lingering on her face and fought the urge to turn around and finish what those Rangers had started.

“Maybe we should stop by a doctor’s office,” I said, “just to make sure she’s not concussed?”

Freya frowned. “You know doing that would only put her in greater danger. Besides, if her magic healed the exterior wound, it will heal the internal damage too.”

Though Freya was right, I grumbled under my breath. I was desperate to do something to help Cady. My baby sister had gotten hurt because of me—because I had left her there and because I let her get dragged into another dangerous journey. That ass-wipe of a Ranger had been the one to hurt her, but I was the one who gave him the chance to do so.

When thirty miles separated us from Hell’s gas station, Freya broke the heavy silence.

“So,” she said to Ryder, who sat beside me in the passenger seat. “Are you just going to be naked the rest of the trip?”

The bloodied-up werewolf sat with nothing but a sweatshirt over his lap. He laughed breathlessly, and Freya chuckled, but neither was loud enough to cover Cadence’s quiet reply.

“I wish.”

Freya cackled, but I groaned. “That’s sick.”

Ryder turned red and declared, “Frey, toss me some pants.”

???

Miles and hours later, we stopped for the night at a lowkey, but decent enough hotel just outside Baton Rouge, Louisianna. Ryder had wanted to push through and get to the city sooner rather than later, but Freya and I had agreed that it would be better to arrive in the light of day. With Arion in her lap, Cadence had slept through the entirety of the conversation.

After we checked in at the front desk, the four of us and Arion walked to our two rooms but paused in the beige, brightly lit hallway between them. Generic paintings hung alongside the many doors. Avoiding my gaze, Freya ducked her head andentered the room closest to Ryder. As the werewolf followed her inside, he smirked.

“Oh good,” Ryder said before the door closed, “only one bed.”

The door clicked shut, but I couldn’t tear my attention from it. My magic hummed in my veins, and the hall lights flickered.

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