Page 75 of Witches Be Damned

Vindication for Little Wolf lit my veins on fire.

“I’ll have your badge for this!” the ferret threatened.

“You won’t get out of it this time.” Talon shook him so hard his teeth rattled. “I’ll make sure of it.”

The bluish-white light of a portal crackled, and our leader glanced over at me. “Is Councilor Sanchez secured?”

Gable crouched beside us and snapped restraints on her. “She is now.”

I showed her no mercy when I hauled the bitch to her feet, riding a triumphant wave.

Talon nodded and shoved his captive through the portal, Cole and Luna following behind him with the male they both detained. Blaze waited for us both, covering our backs as we marched to the window, dragging the cussing witch through it to the other side.

“Where are we?” Kymbal took in the hieroglyphs of the stone walls of the basement. “We have rights. I demand a Guild lawyer.”

Talon snorted and dragged him into a cell warded with more symbols. “Somewhere your friends and family can’t get you released this time.”

The biker’s clubhouse basement. The Guild wouldn’t dare enter when the Jackals would kill them for entering their turf, and they didn’t touch demigods.

The other four shouted down the walls as they were roughly shoved into their homes for the next few weeks, until Talon secured a conviction with a judge immune to bribery and corruption.

I went up the iron bars, not touching them when they’d burn my gantii skin. “Get used to your confinement. Close quarters. Cold, damp, and darkness will be your friend in the Guardians when we lock you up.”

Where they sent me and my brothers for crimes we didn’t commit. Where they locked up my mate for a minor crime that could have been dealt with by the Academy's discipline procedures.

Today turned out to be a good day after all. I couldn’t wait to tell Little Wolf the good news when we next spoke on Sentry Ben’s phone.

CHAPTER 24 - ASTRA

“Admit defeat!” I cackled and slapped down the shining glory in my hand of cards on the pile, anExploding Kittencard from the similarly named card game.

“Never!” Pascal whacked me with aDiffusecard, which saved him from admitting defeat and bowing out of the game.

Damn. I was all out of bombs.

Tor grinned at me in a way that melted me all over, and I had to deploy my defense shield or else lose this round. “Nice try, Supergal, but P-man is sly.”

I liked that they didn’t go easy on me because I was their girlfriend. I demanded equal treatment. To be one of the boys, even though I was at a disadvantage in the height and strength department in comparison. My warrior heart was fierce, as Raze said.

Tor slapped down aFavorcard, and flicked his finger at Knoxe, claiming one of his cards. “Excellent,” he hummed, a common strategy of his to trick us into thinking he held a formidable hand.

Knoxe laughed and confirmed the card was a dunce. The man had a killer poker face in the Fae casino, but he dropped it for us, and that smile… damn, that made my heart skip beats, even more so when he didn’t let many in this place but us see it. Vulnerability in jail was a death sentence.

Pascal won the previous round ofExploding Kittens, Knoxe, the one before that, and Tor, the first. I had to get a leg up on my men or lose face. I had a competitive streak a mile long combined with the drive to succeed, which in my vocabulary spellednever admit defeat. Sometimes I got a bit carried away and forgot the game was for fun and had to remind my winning spirit to take a hike.

Knoxe planted aSee the Futurecard and lifted the deck to peek at the top three cards, his laugh deepening, which spelled there was anotherExploding Kittenlurking in those cards. Or maybe not…

Tor squeezed my thigh from his position next to me at the table. “Uh oh! That spells trouble, Supergal.”

I scanned my hand of five remaining cards. TwoCatermelons, aBeard Cat,Skip, andTacocat. Nothing to phone home about. My play had to be strategic.

Deploying theCatermelonscard, I said to Pascal, “Hand one over, White Lightning.”

He smiled as he stretched out his cards to me, allowing me to select a random card. Yes! ANOPEcard blocked another’s when they hit me with it.

This was the life. Less danger, stress, and injuries.

Though, excitement to get back out in the field and make a difference in the world called my name. Life as a student at the Academy had its perks—safety, fun, and education. Life in the Guardians was a steep learning curve, and my time here taught me that I thrived better under pressure. Hunting criminal gantii scared the heck out of me at first, but then I came to enjoy it, finding the lifestyle of missions one hundred times more exciting than the job of a Gildron back at the Shadows. I didn’t think I could return there when I was released. I was a Guardian through and through. Danger, my middle name, Trouble, my first. Sucker for bad boys, my last.

---