Page 9 of Livewire Witch

That we’re safe.

I can’t imagine she’s felt that too often in her life, living how she has been.

The guy nods, like he just heard all my thoughts.

Shit. He probably did.

Thank fuck, I didn’t start thinking about all the nasty things I’d like to do to his pseudo-sister.

He blanches. “Fuck man,you think pretty damn loud. Can’t help listening when you’re practically yelling in my ear.”

He switches to speaking out-loud.“You’d better be right that she can trust you. We don’t give trust out easily. That’s how we’ve stayed alive this long. You don’t want to see what happens if you fuck with that.”

“I owe you, man. Thanks for filling me in on what went down. I was kind of losing my mind not knowing.”

He nods. “You can owe me a favor.”

“Sure. Whatever you want.” I’m feeling generous. Although I get a slight twinge of panic when he smiles immediately. “And you have a way of contacting her?”

He nods again, with a casual gesture toward his temple. “Direct hotline into her brain, right here. With most people, it only goes one way unless I’m concentrating like I am right now. But when I’m talking to Silver, we can chat like this.”

“Will you let her know that whatever went down, we’ll sort it? That if it’s a question of loyalty between the three of them and Felix, he doesn’t stand a chance?”

“I’ll let her know,” he says out loud. “I know exactly what you can do for me. Just get me face-to-face with your dear uncle.”

I cock my head to one side, deadly curious about what he has planned. But he just shakes his head and turns away from me, ready to head back to work.

“It’s better you don’t know, man. Just get me close enough to talk to him someplace private. Someplace with no cameras.”

“I can do that.”

He grins over his shoulder and heads back into the cafe, slapping the tall, grumpy one of Silver’s friends on the shoulder.

I briefly wonder what kind of deal I just made. But then I shrug it off. Whatever is coming Felix’s way, he deserves it.

My cell phone buzzes with an irate text from Z, telling me to hurry my ass up for the meeting the Archarcan Felix has set up for us.

I’m buzzing as I leave the cafe. A weight of worry lifted from my shoulders. They’re safe wherever they are. They all survived the ritual and, providing we can protect Seb and Silver from Felix, maybe we can scrabble back to something close to regular life.

3

Zeph

I’m stuffed into another suit that was supposedly tailored to my exact measurements but which is currently cutting off both blood and air supply. It doesn’t help that I broke my fucking leg last week, so I’m wrapped up in a cast that makes walking a pain in the ass and makes me look even more ridiculous.

It’s itching like crazy too.

The med bay nurses did their thing and gave me something to help speed up the healing process. I should be ready to take the cast off in three weeks instead of six.

Small fucking mercies.

It’s raining again too. For some reason, the Archarcan we’re meeting with has chosen to hold a meeting outside instead of in their cozy office. We’re currently hunkered behind some dumpsters around the back of a takeout place that hovers somewhere between the Nexus District and Arcanum Heights. The combination of old food and kitchen smells is messing with my stomach, leaving me muddled about whether I should be repulsed or hungry, which is not making my mood any better.

The weather’s something I always wind up paying particular attention to, and it’s been weird as hell recently. It’ll be bone dry one minute, a downpour the next. Uncontrolled. Kind of how I’m feeling right now.

Most of the time, I’m a leashed beast. Or a storm trapped in a snow globe. But over the past few days, the itch inside me has become unbearable.

I was barely holding my shit together when we found out that Fabian had disappeared without a trace. Then, barely five minutes before this meeting, Ro dragged me aside and filled me in on everything he’d found out from Silver’s witch friend. The truth about what happened that night.

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