Page 38 of Cage Me
I nod, a little confused with the rapid change in subject. “Why?”
“I didn’t think about it earlier, but tonight is a full moon,” she explains. “I have two weeks until my first heat cycle now that we’ve met. Guess that gives us a deadline because, from my understanding, now that I’ve met you, I’ll be pretty much useless for anything other than sex for two days once my heat starts.”
The lower half of my body can only think about the fun that will be, but the more logical part of me knows we will either need a powerful cloaking spell or Kel will need to be dead by then.
My hope is for the latter.
“Good to know,” I tell Spencer, then gesture toward the house. “Should we let them know we’re leaving?”
She shakes her head and frowns. “It’s been a shitty enough day for my mom and Peter already. They should sleep. I have my phone on me if they need to reach us.”
I take her word for it since it’s her family and she’s not wrong about the day. I just hope the boy isn’t having nightmares.
We leave Kasha’s property and walk toward the center of town. It’s the middle of the night, but there are still people out and about. Though, nobody pays us any attention, which I find odd given the rumblings I heard while waiting to pass through the portal. Others that had already come back talked about how they were the center of attention. Most didn’t like that and came back to Tartarus quickly, while others had seemed to take advantage.
When we get nearer to the portal, there’s a draw to go closer toward the swirling vortex, but the desire isn’t anything I can’t ignore. If I have my way, I’ll never step foot in that dark world again. Though, if Spencer finds herself curious about my old home, I just might have to make an exception.
She gives me a onceover, a crease between her eyes, but doesn’t say anything.
“What’s wrong?” I glance around us, but don’t sense anything abnormal.
“Nobody is paying attention to you.”
And here I thought that was a good thing.
“Would you rather they were?” I ask, hoping I already know the answer to that.
Her lips flatten as she pokes at me, blinking and looking closely at my skin. “I wonder…”
She keeps staring at me like she expects to see something, yet nothing about me has changed. At least, not that I can tell.
Spencer shakes her head. “Never mind.”
I want to press her further, but I can see the witch’s shop from here and I’m instantly on guard. Coming to Natalia seems like a bad idea, but Spencer has known her longer and I’m not going to stand in my mate’s way when she wants to do something. I don’t intend to, anyway.
We enter the shop, and tension builds inside me as my eyes move constantly, a part of me expecting there to be a trap waiting for us. The place is quiet, not even the songbird above the door making a noise.
I grab Spencer’s hand. “We should go.”
“Fuck that.” She snickers. “This witch doesn’t scare me.”
“I should,” Natalia’s voice calls out, seeming to come from nowhere yet everywhere all at the same time.
There’s no movement within the shop. I can’t even scent the witch, which is a problem that makes me worry more about my mate than it does myself, even though I’m the one Natalia wants gone.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” Natalia adds, still keeping herself hidden.
“And you shouldn’t have pissed me off earlier,” Spencer replies with a rumble. “We had a deal and you’re breaking your end of it.”
“I did no such thing,” the witch replies. “I gave you what you asked for, even when I didn’t get full payment. Now, it’s time for you to leave.”
Spencer’s arms cross. “No. I want to know what has you so scared. Whatever you think you found with my mate’s blood, you need to take a second look and tell us everything.”
Natalia’s shimmering ebony hair appears first, followed quickly by the rest of her until she’s standing right in front of Spencer. “You don’t tell me what to do, wolf. I’ve put up with your attitude because it served me at the time, but you have no idea what I’m capable of.”
Spencer doesn’t back down even for a second. “I have some idea, which is why I’m not going anywhere. Drake was cursed by a witch, and we know curses can be broken. Given you’ve just admitted how powerful you are, you’re going to break it and tell us where we can find Kel so we can kill her.”
I thought the plan would be to kill Kel so that her death would break the curse, but if there’s something Natalia can do, that works as well.