Page 27 of Nita's Redemption

Silence fell upon him. There was no usual sounds, like the rustling of leaves or birds chirping, sending his inner alarm on high alert. ‘Titan do you sense danger?’

Tank didn’t let on that he was aware of danger or that something was off by any outward response. He kept his steps slow and solidly paced as if he was just a male out for a stroll. If someone or something was watching, the only thing they’d see was a big male in jeans and nothing else strolling around a trailer park. Not much out of the ordinary to see there. Other than he was a big fucker, but lots of big motherfuckers around the area.

‘I have reached out to Aztec and Ludwig along with Alana. Our females are very stubborn and have no plans to stay behind where it’s safest. I’ve caught the scent of chicory and true Frankincense. And before you ask how I know what is or isn’t true, I have been around a very long time. You’re my third human. True Frankincense has, for an example, a lemon/lime citrus scent and Olibanum. It’s a unique combination that many in this century are unaware of. This is ancient magic.’ A shudder almost had the human part of him giving away his inner turmoil. Fuck.

‘Yo, Tank, I hear we got some new friends, or rather old ones who are happy as all get out to be chattering with us. I for one am glad I have not silenced the bastard for my life. Fuck, I’m ready to gag and place the shit in a box in the corner of my mind if he doesn’t shut the fuck up. Feel me?’ Gray’s angry tone let Tank know that he was seriously considering doing what he said.

‘Hello, human Tank. I am Amaraq. I am the wolf inside the idiot that is Gray. We sensed the same as Titan. The humans are close but not on our lands. Harou, that is Colt’s wolf and my partner said that the females were doing a spell, trying to lower our shields. Of course, Jaklyn is being very stubborn and isn’t allowing us to speak with Lyulph because our female will want to go and find the idiots who are trying to come onto our lands,’ Amaraq snarled, flashing long white teeth in warning.

He found himself outside the trailer where his family was hopefully still sleeping. However from the way the heartbeats were pounding and the angry breathing in two rooms, Tank was pretty sure his wish was just that, a wish. ‘I’m heading in to face my mates. I think we need to have a meeting with all of us, including our wolves.’

How the hell they’d have any sort of peaceful conversation when most shifters were hotheaded when they were just males and females, now they had actual talking wolves with names housed in their very beings. Life sure as shit got real fucked up, really damn quick.

Chapter Nine

ANTOINETTE STARED AT the dirt beneath her feet then at the alter they’d set up in the abandoned trailer park. The blood from their sacrifice had already turned cool, making the bastard no longer useful to them. “Dispose of his worthless hide.”

She pointed at the corpse with one long finger nail, wishing she could incinerate him on the spot. The foul scent of his disgusting body was downright offensive to her nose, and clearly no better to her sisters as they were scrunching their noses at the scent of his death wafting off of him.

“I guess that backwater town we found him in, when he tried to steal from the both of you didn’t believe in bathing.” Antoinette gave a small chuckle. The memory of the stupid male and the shocked expression on his face when he’d realized he’d screwed up by choosing the wrong woman to make a move on, still made her laugh.

“If we were back home we could feed him to our pet crocodiles,” Cheryl sighed, moving to the foot of the corpse, leaving the head to be lifted by poor Chloe. Antoinette didn’t bother to lift a finger to help. Her job was to take what they needed and perform the rituals that would produce the outcome in hopes of getting to their ultimate goal. She wouldn’t admit she’d failed not when it was clear the male was at fault.

“Why are slimy men all alike?” she asked the other women gathered around her.

Not that Antoinette expected them to answer as they were all in a trance. Besides Chloe and Cheryl, the others had an aversion to killing what they deemed poor defenseless people. It took a little more time and effort, but she’d learned it was easier to make it to where they were unaware of what was going on so that she could perform the ritual. She had no such issues taking a life or lives. The ones she chose as a sacrifice were far from good, and none were defenseless. In fact, each and every being she selected had an evil soul from inside out. They were rotten to the core. In her mind she was doing the world a justice by taking care of the garbage. Hell, the world was a better place once she got rid of them, ensuring none of them could harm another being. Of course, she couldn’t explain that to the females who followed her. No, only a select few were able to accept what needed to be done. If you were inducted into the inner circle, you took a blood oath. If you were to break that oath, there were consequences worse than death. The ultimate goal they strove for was bringing back their true king. Once he walked among them again, all their worries would be gone. They wouldn’t have to do the goddamn parlor tricks for tourists back home in New Orleans.

“Once we get what that traitor Mohini was supposed to have gotten from those worthless dogs, we will have what we need to bring Papa Legba back. After he rises and is no longer forced to guard a stupid gate, he’ll reward us.” Antoinette turned from the altar. Her rage boiled under the surface, making her tremble. She hated the loss of control. She forced air in and out of her lungs in small breaths, so they were barely audible to others. Antoinette refused to destroy the alter after they’d worked so hard to create it on the desecrated ground, nor would she allow others to see what she considered a weakness.

The shrine they’d painstakingly built was created with love and devotion to Papa Legba, with items and artifacts that only those from the decedents of the greatest lines of Voudon held. To have moved them from New Orleans might’ve been a huge risk, but time was ticking. Fucking Mohini, if she’d just done what she’d been ordered to do.

“Antoinette, one of the males has come near,” Chloe said in a hushed whisper.

She sucked in a breath, praying to the Loa for patience. Chloe and Cheryl were direct relatives to Mohini, their blood was how she’d been able to trace the traitorous bitch. Although they hadn’t been as gullible as their cousin, they were still bothersome. She needed to keep them on her side so she could use their innate powers when the time came. Not that she wasn’t powerful, but she didn’t want to fuel the spell with her blood and essence, yet. “Which one?”

“The large one.” Chloe gasped.

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