Page 20 of Hellcat

"Tania, those people are dangerous. Not to us, but they could..."

Suddenly, she glanced at the little girl who was currently hugging Rye's side.

"You...what you said earlier..."

The attention of the room went back to the child.

"Hsu is a seer. She saw you get abducted, and hurt, presumably."

The girl nodded. "They burn her alive."

Shit. Fucking hell.

"You're not serious."

"Extremists have been known to do things like that to defenseless regular humans they see as sup sympathizers."

That was fucking insane.

"Do you still see an attack, poppet?" Rye asked.

The girl nodded. "But it's better now. The first time, Jas catches the bad men, and the second time, Ian is there. No burning."

Good. No burning was good.

"What makes it change?"

"Decisions," said Ace. "The first vision was the most likely future before we knew you were in danger. Then, when we decided to do something about it, the visions changed. Jas, Ian, your primary duty is guarding Tania for the foreseeable future. Can she go to work?"

The fact that an adult was seriously basing her course of action on what a tween said blew her mind.

"Hang on, of course I'm going to work."

No one paid attention to her. "I think so. Yes. Work, and she's in a cabin."

"Not the lake house?" Rye asked.

Hsu shook her little head. "No, a cabin with a porch and...Ian's cabin," she stated. "Yes, it had a boathouse. She's safe there. When she's in the main house, the bad men come in the garden."

"Do they catch her?"

The little girl seemed to strain.

"All right, enough," Tania said. "The kid obviously needs a break. And I'm not staying at his place," she said firmly, pointing to Ian.

She was way too freaked out right now to even consider it. "I thank you for your help, but..."

She was getting up.

"You can go," Rye said. "You're not our prisoner. You're not our responsibility, either. But I can't afford to send my enforcers away from the territory for an extended period of time, so if you go, you're on your own."

Ian glared at Rye, but the alpha stood his ground. Still on her feet, Tania hesitated.

Her eyes cut to the little girl in the alpha male's arm.

They burn her.

She fell back down in her seat.

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