Page 21 of Shadow Mate

“You and her are connected,” Zoe said. “She takes his place, but it means she’s tied to you. If you die, she dies.”

“And if she dies?” I ask quietly.

“So do you,” Zoe said.

“It’s simple magic, nothing impressive,” Scarlett added.

I didn’t care what kind of magic it was. “Take it back.” I advanced on the other alpha, swinging for him. My blow hit nothing but air despite the fact that he hadn’t moved.

“You and me are square now,” he said with a laugh. “I can’t harm you, and you can’t harm me.”

“Did you know about this?” I hissed, glancing at Zoe.

“Nobody uses this anymore,” she said defensively.

“I might not be able to touch you again,” Billy called. “But I got everything I needed.” A huge dust cloud blew around us, making everyone cough and cover their eyes. When it settled, Billy and the witch were gone.

“You need to get that girl before he goes and kills her himself,” Zoe said.

ChapterSeven

Morgan

My dad’shouse was empty when I arrived. I stomped back to where Jasmine was waiting just in case things went sideways. “He’s not home.”

“Seriously?” Her brow wrinkled. “You think he took off so you can’t complain to him? I mean, why else would he miss the proposal?”

I shook my head. It was odd. My dad so rarely left town. “I wonder if he didn’t know it was going to happen tonight?”

“Possibly. You really humiliated Owen last night,” she said. “And again tonight.”

“He humiliated himself,” I replied.

She nodded. “That’s true.”

I glanced around the darkened house. The porch light glowed warmly, but all the other windows were dark. I’d used the spare key, still hidden in the same place as it was when I was a kid, to check inside. Everything looked normal. Nothing in the house seemed off.

“I guess we try again tomorrow?” Jasmine offered.

“Yeah, sure.” I didn’t like the idea of putting this off. My stomach was already in enough knots at the unsettled thought of being stuck as Owen’s wife. That was never going to happen.

“Come on, let’s go clean up the bar,” Jasmine said.

I followed, trying to focus on the work we had waiting for us. We’d rushed here so quickly the only thing we’d had time to do was lock the door on our way out. I stopped walking. “You don’t think he’s at the bar, do you?”

“Your dad?” Jasmine asked, turning to look at me.

“Yeah. What if he went there? What if Owen got to him first?” I asked.

“Well, if he’s there, you’ll have the conversation at the bar instead of his house.” She stared at me unblinking for a moment. “What were you going to say if you found him here?”

I sucked in a deep breath as I realized I hadn’t gotten that far. WhatwasI going to say? I supposed I was going to tell him to fix this problem. Demand that he give Owen something else. Anything else. I didn’t care if Owen wanted to be alpha. I didn’t care who was alpha. I just wanted to be left alone to run my little bar in peace.

“I’ll figure it out when I see him,” I reassured her. We started walking again, sticking to the edge of the dirt roads on the half-mile walk back to town.

* * *

The tables were litteredwith unfinished drinks and someone had tracked toilet paper across the floor in their hurry to reach the commotion outside. My shoulders slumped. This really was as good as it was going to get for me. How far had I fallen if my greatest dream was to run this shit hole of a bar just so I could have the illusion of freedom?

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