Page 37 of Wicche Hunt

“Actually,” Declan began, moving closer and sitting on a bench. His werewolf hearing meant he always heard both sides of a phone conversation. “Your daughter already had it covered. All I did was shove him along.”

“Your grandmother and I will bolster your wards. Men like that shouldn’t be able to get anywhere near you. Do you have cameras up and running?”

Declan glanced up, looking for cameras.

“You know I do, Mom, but I did have it under control.”

“Gran and I will be right over.” And she hung up.

Slipping my phone back in my pocket, I sat down next to Declan, bumping his shoulder with mine. “I really am fine.”

Nodding slowly, he wrapped an arm around me. “I know.” He patted his chest with his free hand. “Got my heart racing when I saw him walk around the gallery. We were standing near the road, Natsuki explaining her vision, and I got a bad feeling. I turned, saw him, and just started running.” Shaking his head, he added, “I didn’t even tell them where I was going. Kenji was midsentence and I sprinted away.”

Resting my head on his chest, I said, “Thanks.”

“No problem. You’re getting more creeps than I would have expected. The place isn’t even open yet.”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “I’ve been living like a hermit for so long, I guess I was hoping it wouldn’t still be a problem.”

“What wouldn’t be? And did you know your gloves are still off?”

I stared down at my bare hands and then watched Declan wrap his warm one around one of mine. It was nice. “My mom was probably more panicked than she’d normally be because I’ve attracted a certain kind of attention from certain kinds of men since I was quite small.”

Declan pulled me closer to him.

“They were always trying to lure me away or just straight up snatch me. Because of that, defensive magic was the first thing Mom and Gran taught me. The first time I remember, a man took me before anyone saw.”

“First time?” Declan growled. “How many times has it happened?” His eyes were lightening again.

“A few. Anyway, this man clapped his hands around the back of my neck and over my mouth. I dropped into a vision of all the other little girls he’d taken, raped, and killed. When I woke up, I was in the back of his van. Windows blacked out. Duct tape over my mouth and around my wrists. And he was unbuckling his belt.”

Declan’s hand clutched mine, but he stayed silent.

“My hands were tied behind my back. I needed my hands, but I tried to throw every spell I could think of anyway. I was so scared. I started kicking. Screaming behind the tape. He liked that.”

Feeling a jab, I drew my hand away. Declan’s hands now had long, sharp claws at the tips.

Blowing out a breath, he shook out his hands and they went back to normal. “Sorry. I’m very angry.” He cleared his gravelly throat. “I know there’s nothing I can do about something that happened when you were a child, but I want to very badly.”

“It’s okay,” I said, patting his hand. “It has a good ending. After I started kicking, the back doors of the van flew off and there was Mom, like an avenging angel. The man screamed, falling out of the van, curling in on himself and cradling his junk. She grabbed me, spelled the tape so it fell away, and stalked back to our family party on the beach.”

“Tell me she ripped off his cock.”

“If not off, it was severely damaged.”

Declan grunted his approval.

“Anyway, the van was in the beach parking lot, near some bushes, probably where he was going to dump my body when he was done. The next lesson with Mom and Gran was how to get out of duct tape, rope, any binding. So, I know my mom might have sounded more angry than concerned on the phone, but creepy men are a real trigger.”

“As they should be.”

I smiled, nestling in. “True, but even though she knows I can take care of myself now, she and Gran are racing over. They need to assure themselves I’m not tied up in the back of a van again.”

He ran a hand up and down my arm. “You’ve been dealing with predators all your life?”

I nodded. “Part of why I like to keep to myself. I was also figuring that I’d aged out of the pedophiles’ preferred victim pool.”

“There are plenty of predators who are just fine with adult women,” he growled.

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