Total pages in book: 8
Estimated words: 7510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 38(@200wpm)___ 30(@250wpm)___ 25(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 7510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 38(@200wpm)___ 30(@250wpm)___ 25(@300wpm)
I rotate to face him. “Yes. She was infected.”
“I killed the wolf. I can feel your concern. Why? I killed the wolf,” he repeats.
“On a full moon,” I state.
“She didn’t turn before I killed him.”
“There are some case studies our scientist has produced that suggest a human created on a full moon doesn’t have to become a wolf in physical form to convert.”
“No.” The word is sharp. “No, I killed him before there was time for the virus to even enter her bloodstream.”
“It’s been known to happen minutes, hours, or days later for some. You know this.”
“She drank my blood. That offers protection.”
I glance her direction, finding her standing at the wall to our left, looking out over the city. “She reeks of black magic and wolf.”
“I don’t smell anything.”
“You aren’t a master vampire,” I say, stating the obvious he seems to need to hear.
His gaze lifts skyward, his jaw ticking, before he looks at me, his eyes dark and troubled. “I have to save her.”
“And we will.”
“How?”
“You start by converting her. A vampire withstands the power of a wolf far more easily than a human.”
“Done,” he says, no longer fighting the life he didn’t want to give her. The world he just knew would destroy her. He was right. I always knew he was right. Ivy was doomed as a human, just as he was so many years before, but he couldn’t see the truth until it punched him in the throat. “What about the council?”
“We’ll petition them.”
“And the dark magic? I saw the witches’ mark on his arm.”
He has my attention. “What mark?”
“A star on top of a cross.”
“The Romera clan,” I say tightly, the magnitude of this discovery far heavier than he realizes. Maria Romera was once a good witch who did good things until a hunger for power consumed her. Once Nico, the king of the natural werewolves, married the most powerful witch of all, Aylia Richardson, Maria bonded with the rebel, Abel, who is now their king. Already the rebel king controlled many of the Reds. If they’ve partnered and empowered the Reds with dark magic, and done so on the scale of an army, they could destroy all of humanity. They could destroy the world.
“You need to go see Nico and Aylia at the werewolf headquarters in Vegas.”
“After I convert her,” Eli states. “After we see the council.”
“No,” I say. “I’ll handle the council. Don’t do anything until you know what Aylia recommends. Take Ivy to her. Take her now.” I eye Ivy and snap my fingers, changing her into jeans and sweater, and covering her in a long coat.
Ivy is marching toward us now, which is my intent. It’s time to move. My attention returns to Eli. “Tell Nico and Aylia what happened. And do what they say.”
“If it’s that urgent,” Eli says, “take us there.”
In my mind, I think of that werewolf charging through the window. I think of Elijah’s claim that Grayson betrayed him that has never felt right. All of this might not be about Eli and Ivy at all. My senses are alive with warning, and that warning tells me this—all of this—is not about Eli and Ivy. It’s about Elijah and me, master vampire to master vampire.
“I have reason to believe I’m at war with Elijah, and he’s in bed with the witch, Maria,” I explain. “If she’s tracking my magic, you’re both at risk if you’re with me. I can only get you so close. Then you’re on your own.”
“How close?”
I snap my fingers and deliver us to Utah—a short drive to Vegas—and the front door of one of the many safe houses I own to protect those I want to protect. Ivy gasps at her new location and rotates in circles to discover where she is standing. “There’s an SUV in the garage,” I say to Eli. “Use it. It’s a two-hour drive. Rest up two hours before you hit the road. I’ll know by then if it’s safe to make contact with Aylia and Nico.”
“Is there a concern Aylia and Nico have turned against us?”
“No,” I reply. “But everything is not what it seems. We can’t risk drawing the enemy to Aylia and Nico.” I speak the rest of what I have to say in his head. Black magic was used on that wolf who infected Ivy. For all we know, they turned her into a weapon that can be used against Aylia and Nico.
You think Ivy is the enemy? he demands.
I don’t assume to know the answers right now. Just that I plan to get them. Don’t do anything until you hear from me. And I mean anything, Eli. I shift back to verbal conversation and speak to Eli and Ivy. “Watch your backs,” I say, and that’s where I leave everything, including them.
I disappear and reappear at the vampire council headquarters.