Page 286 of Flirting with Darkness

The smell of blood was delicious. Dex licked it from his blade as he watched Chad grip his throat, trying to understand how he was still alive. The line across the human’s neck was so thin, so fine, there were only a few drops of blood.

It would be scabbed over in a few hours and on its way to healing, even for a human.

“If it’s not done by tomorrow night, I’ll do it for real.” Dex chuckled and patted the politician’s head. “You’re cute when you beg.”

“It’ll be done,” Chad promised, his entire body quivering.

“Good, because if it’s not, you’re not the only one I’ll be hunting.” He winked and spun the knife before slipping it back in its sheath.

Dex grabbed his coat and his helmet, yanking them both on before leaving the office. He gave the secretary a two-finger salute as he left, grinning at the shocked look on her face.

Some days, he loved his job.

12

NOVA

Nova studied her notes and sighed.

Seattle wasn’t as cut and dry as she’d thought it would be.

There were the normal paranormals who grouped up together. Seattle’s Pacific Coven was sanctioned by the Council with the normal high-society witches and those who had the power or money to get a membership.

Then she’d found the smaller, unsanctioned covens of witches who were often overlooked.

Nova always felt bad for them. If she didn’t have her father’s family, she would have ended up just like them, begging for scraps of knowledge where she could, just to keep her magic from killing her.

Her mother had received extensive training, thankfully, and had gotten a scholarship to the University of Morgana young and was able to teach Nova before things got out of control. The only reason she was alive at all was because of a Seer and her warning.

Nova tapped her knife on the table and considered the other paranormals in the city.

For such a large metropolis, it wasn’t part of an official pack or pride which was strange. Usually a city was shared by one of those and a coven. All the other paranormals answered to those two, paying membership fees to keep the area safe for the humans and the weakest of them.

But there wasn’t an official shifter pack in this city.

The Cascade Mountain Pack was too far east and the Blue Mountain Pack too far south. There was a fox pack no one was supposed to know about, but their territory didn’t extend to Seattle. They came into the city when they needed supplies and that was it.

From her father’s contacts, there was an assassins’ keep somewhere close, but it was hidden from reality, thanks to their deals with the old goddesses. The raven shifters didn’t claim territory in the same way the land shifters did, so she wasn’t really worried about them.

Most in the paranormal world were terrified of the ravens and their glowing red eyes, thanks to all the rumors and fear surrounding their profession. They said the only time you would ever see a raven was if they were there to kill you.

Her dad knew too many ravens for Nova to actually be afraid of them. Wary? For sure. But not afraid.

There was only one thing she was really afraid of.

Nova knew how to kill a demon, but they were from the hell realm and far more powerful than anything on earth.

She would never forget the fear she’d felt as he’d tried to take her, scratching her face with unnatural claws, her sister doing everything in her power to keep him from teleporting with Nova in his arms.

Whatever had happened when the demon damaged her eye, her magic had lashed out to protect her. The demon had died for what he’d done, but it had also changed her in a way that wasn’t natural.

Nova tossed her knife on the table and considered the vampires again, but there was no issue with drained bodies being dumped. They’d been following the rules, thanks to their strict queen.

She picked up the intel the Council had received, resulting in her mission.

“I haven’t seen any out-of-control magic,” Nova muttered, setting down her tablet. She tapped her fingers on the table and considered what her next step would be.

If she was hunting a feral wolf, what would she be looking for?

---