Page 56 of Chosen Destiny

Lungs seizing, I snatched the phone from my back pocket.I’m getting a phone call.I silenced the ringer and glanced at the unfamiliar number scrolling across my screen.

I had no fucking clue who it was, but instinct screamed at me to answer. After all, Kel had a habit of calling, and even if I didn’t want to play the game, I had to.

I swiped the answer button and held the phone to my ear.

“Hello?” I whispered, not wanting to speak too loudly.

“Can you please call off your hounds?” a deep, unfamiliar female voice asked. “You should be expecting us.”

I swallowed.I think I’m on the phone with a woman from the vehicle,I informed everyone. I inched to the left and moved closer to the lattice holes so I could see the women. The one in the front passenger seat held a phone to her ear, her eyes locked on the place where I assumed Michael, Jasmine, and Katelin were hiding.

The women know where you three are,I linked to Michael and Jasmine before speaking to her. “And why would I do that? Thosehoundsare my people.” Of course, they’d use a dog joke. She must have thought she was being original.

She laughed, but the lack of malice in her tone had me freezing.

“It’s just a figure of speech. I didn’t mean to offend, but I can see it was in poor taste.” The woman sighed. “I apologize. The last thing I’d ever want to do is upset the queen.”

I couldn’t hide my bitterness. “You say that, but here you are, ready to attack us.”

“What?” she gasped. From my spot, I watched her bright-green eyes widen and flick toward the door. Her light-brown hair fell into her face as her brows furrowed. “Dina sent us. What are you talking about?”

I stiffened. “Dina?” I pulled the phone away and looked at the time. It was nine in the morning. The coven Dina had called shouldn’t be here yet.

“Yes, she said you had many wounded and to come heal them.”

I blinked, and the world steadied itself again, but I didn’t want to be tricked. Kel wanted to make me feel incompetent. I linked with Stevie, Stella, and Janet, hoping one of them could confirm what this woman was telling me.Are any of you with Dina? She said she was sending witches here from a coven three hours away, but they’re here early. I’m not sure I believe them.

Janet replied,We’re not with her, but I’ll get you an answer right now.

I needed to hold off doing anything until I could confirm their story. “Dina said it would take the coven three hours to get here. How did you arrive so quickly?”

“We were in a town thirty minutes south of our lands, and we drove fast. We’ve heard stories of what Kel has done. We didn’t want to leave you injured and unprotected. Four other witches are on their way, about thirty minutes behind us. They’re coming from the pack and coven neighborhood.”

That sounded reasonable, but Kel had a knack for making things sound true, like when she’d vowed she wouldn’t hurt us at our parlay, but she’d meant she wouldn’t hurt those in her immediate vicinity and had attacked two Oregon packs after I’d refused to submit.

What’s going on?Bodey linked, his agony multiplying tenfold.Are they out of their car?

No, I’m verifying their story.I wanted to scold him. He shouldn’t be up and moving, but I understood why he was. Our time apart had impacted him as well.

“Well, well.” The witch muttered on the other end of the line. “Dina is calling. I’ll need to take this.”

“Please, go ahead.” I had no doubt the woman had realized what we were doing, but I couldn’t blindly trust someone after everything that had happened these past few weeks.

I heard the back door to the deck open. Bodey had finally made it outside. Just when I was about to head up and stop him from falling down the stairs, the car’s passenger door opened.

Phil and Carl stiffened and crawled backward, moving out of the spot under the house, readying to respond to an attack.

The woman stepped out and held out her phone, the sun hitting her face and catching the dark-red highlights in her light-brown hair. She looked to be in her forties, and she wore the standard long cotton dress that witches favored.

“Callie, I can vouch for Prue.” Dina’s voice came from the phone. If I hadn’t been a shifter, I wouldn’t have been able to hear. “She’s a friend.”

The tension in my shoulders released, and my head hung. “Thank gods.” I then linked to everyone here,The witches aren’t a threat. They’re here to heal us.

Carl lowered his weapon and glanced at me. He smiled and patted my arm while he linked,You did good.

I snorted.Not sure I’d go that far. I just wasted about ten minutes when they could’ve been healing Bodey and the rest of us.I tended not to be cautious enough when there was a threat and overly cautious when we weren’t at risk. Would I ever get it right?

You’re learning, and you did what you felt was right. They did show up early.

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