Page 49 of Witches Be Damned

For once he didn’t glare at me like I was next to lose my vocal cords. “I’ll cut your balls off when you sleep before you’re a son-in-law.”

I clapped Loco on the shoulder. “That’s the warm welcome I expected. Thanks, Dad.”

Dad ignored my comment and stole the show once more with, “You hurt my daughter, and I’m going to have to take more from you, mate.” He pushed him back onto the concrete and proceeded to carve off his balls and toss them aside.

“Nice work, Dad,” I cheered as Loco licked the blood from the knife.

“Christ, Loco.” Serena scrubbed her eyes. “Get on with it. You too, Tor.”

I applied compliance to Saxton, and his body sagged and his eyes dulled.

“You’re going to tell me where the others are hiding before I scramble your fucking brains and leave you a vegetable, asshole.” A threat I hadn’t attempted before, but was down to try, since I got an upgrade in the powers department.

Saxton handed it over on a silver fucking platter. “The vampire world.”

Glances shifted between Knoxe, Pascal, and me. We barely made it out alive when we went there to rescue the kidnapped Mothman’s family.

“Why would you go there?” I asked. “That’s dangerous.”

“The team who organized our escape are working with the rogue vampire faction,” Rod sung like a fucking canary.

“Who’s on the team?” I rooted deeper into his mind when I detected some resistance.

“Devon and Eduardo.” That’d be right.

I glanced up at Serena, then Knoxe. “Anything else you want to know?”

“What do you know about Vancor?” Serena probed.

Good question. One safer to ask outside the prison.

“He’s related to the Sanchezes by marriage,” Saxton gave up. “The father of Devon and Eduardo.”

Fuck me dead, I wasn’t expecting that. Talk about a massive conflict of interest. Gears clicked into place. We were dead if we spoke a word of this to anyone. Dead if we made the wrong move in trying to expose Vancor. We had to get hold of Ben back at the prison to pass on information to Vartros and trust he got it to Cole and the right authorities to arrest these traitors.

CHAPTER 17 - ASTRA

After three rounds of animalistic sex, Raze took a break to make a circle of fire and baked the fish for our lunch, drizzling sliced lemon and some herbs he had foraged from the forest. My mouth watered as I ate it, the combination of herbs, lemon, crusty skin and soft flesh melting on my tongue.

An alarm went off on my wolf’s watch, and he checked it. “Time to get back to camp and prepare this food for the bonfire.”

“Boo!” I joked, wanting to go another two rounds before we headed back.

“You fiend.” He slapped my ass and dressed me in my clothes, telling me fun times were well and truly over.

Dressed and bellies full, we lugged our haul back to camp, getting waves, hellos, sniffs, and keen inspections of our catch from the other shifters. A stark contrast to the unfriendly and untrusting greeting he initially encountered with the sanctuary’s other residents.

Raze set the cooler on the bench of a doorless communal hut in the center, where the pack brought their hunted trophies and collected vegetables to skin, rinse, slice, and prepare to stew or roast the edibles for dinner. Some of the members preferred to eat dinner alone, and that was fine, though shifters were encouraged to mingle for the sake of community.

Raze and I got busy, slicing off the heads of the fish, removing their scales, and slicing up fillets, storing some in the fridges powered by solar panels on the roof. We left the rest out marinating in lemon juice, salt, and herbs for tonight’s campfire dinner.

My wolf’s phone buzzed, and he removed it from his pocket and read the screen, chuckling and grunting. “It’s for you.” He held out his phone for me.

“Me?” Only Luna knew I was here. My stomach clenched, dreading the order to return home.

The mystery made sense when I clasped the cell and glanced over the first line of the text message. Another message from Tor. One quarter of my heart vibrated faster.

Hey Supergal,