Page 40 of The Incubus and the Bodyguard

Mrs. Son-Ha reluctantly shook her head. “I’m a Shaman, not a witch. There are only two ways I can think of to remove this spell from your core and that of your tiger. Either you force the sorcerer whose work this is to undo it. Or you kill him.” She paused. “The third way is to find the objects he used his blood on to transfer the spell to you.”

“Objects?” Cortes repeated.

“You mean dolls?” Delphine said skeptically.

Mrs. Son-Ha bobbed her head.

Shit.Blood pounded dully in Vlad’s head in the hush that followed.

“What about Mae?” He met Mrs. Son-Ha’s gaze. “Could she undo the curse?”

“Possibly.” The Shaman lowered her brows. “Your core may need fixing afterward though, like Cortes’s did.”

“We should call her,” the Colombian told Vlad in a worried voice.

“I concur,” Delphine said.

Something in her tone had him looking over at her.

Her eyes were dark with a nameless emotion.

“There’s something else you need to know,” Mrs. Son-Ha warned. “This curse will become permanent in about forty-eight hours.”

Ice filled Vlad’s veins. “What?!”

Tarang let out a distressed yowl that set the dogs barking.

Mrs. Son-Ha reached over and patted the tiger, her expression full of disquiet for the first time since they’d entered her house. “I would call Mae sooner rather than later.”

But trying to get in touch with the Witch Queen proved to be a fruitless exercise.

Vlad stared at his phone in the back of the Range Rover, Mae’s number glowing on the screen as he hit redial for what felt like the hundredth time. The call went straight to voicemail, just like every other attempt he’d made in the fifteen minutes since they’d left Glendale.

Frustration churned his stomach.

Where the hell is she?!

Delphine’s gaze met his briefly in the rearview mirror of the Range Rover. Though her expression remained neutral, he detected concern in the slight tightening of her mouth.

They were working against the clock and they all knew it.

“I can’t get through to Bryony either,” Cortes said stiffly, his phone in hand and Popo uncharacteristically quiet on his shoulder.

Delphine frowned and glanced at them. “Want me to drive over there? I know the address.”

Vlad swallowed and dipped his head.

Hopefully, someone in the New York coven will know Mae’s whereabouts.His stomach sank when another thought followed.If she’s in Europe, it might take her more than a day to get back here.

Delphine had just pulled onto the Long Island Expressway when tension tightened her shoulders. Her gaze flicked from the wing mirrors to the rearview mirror and back again.

“We’ve got company.”

Cortes looked behind them, a gun appearing in his hand. “How many?”

Vlad scowled and twisted around.

“Three vehicles. I think they’ve been shadowing us since Ridgewood,” Delphine said calmly. “Black SUV at our six. Silver sedan two cars back on the left. Dark blue van that keeps going in and out of sight.”

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