Page 81 of First Ritual
She extended a hand. “Rhona. You’re a witch.”
I felt Rooke’s focus on me. Supernaturals had an unspoken rule amongst themselves about staying under the radar. Humans… there was nothing wrong with them, per se. I had a lot of human friends. But they tended to become a mob when confronted with something frightening. This woman was clearly familiar with the supernatural world, however. “Not many could make that call. Not many humans.”
“I’m not most humans.”
“Not if you smell like a Luther, no. You were in the bar during my last visit. I hope you’re not here for my benefit.”
I was reasonably certain that Luthers didn’t murder my family. One, the wolf shifters left behind a smell. Two, their magic was restricted to the connection with their wolves. Not to say that one couldn’t have hired another supernatural creature who was capable of yielding magic. I shouldn’t discount their involvement when it could impact my safety...
Rhona, as ice-cold of a human as I’d ever met, was sizing me up. She eventually said, “I’m from a tribe in Deception Valley. We have close affiliations with the Luther pack there, and we’re curious about the supernatural creatures in surrounding areas.”
“Last I heard there was a tribe warring against the local Luther pack in Deception Valley.”
“That was resolved. By my sister, Andie. She’s a Luther now.”
Interesting. Unfortunately for Rhona, she also reeked of an ulterior motive. “I don’t care whether you’re here scoping out the territory to attack or if you’re here for an alliance. Simply put, you’re speaking with the wrong magus, and I’m not interested in continuing this conversation. You can direct everything else to our coven council.”
She took that all in with barely a blink. “How?”
“Come knocking.” I turned back to the bar.
“The last Luthers to go knocking on your coven door ended up dead,” she hissed.
“Not my problem.”
Remnants of her red-hot anger remained after Rhona left.
“Phew,” my cousin said on an exhale. “Are all humans like that?”
“Not at all. That was a one-of-a-kind type of woman.” And I wouldn’t let her ruin my buzz. “Another drink?”
20
After waving goodbye to Rooke, who would meet me at the hot springs later, I drank my smoothie alone at the table. Nice to be alone sometimes even if my dawn walks gave me solitude from the newness and crowds of coven life
Four magus surrounded me and sat. Uninvited. Solitude gone.
“You’re avoiding us,” Sven announced.
No kidding. “Needed a break. What do you want?”
“You didn’t need a break,” Corentin replied. “You’re avoiding talking of your past. I didn’t even push that hard, and you cracked.”
I licked my lips, then wiped off the smoothie still on my bottom lip. “I won’t talk about my family.”
“What if it’s important?” Huxley put in.
I banished my smoothie cup to the cleaning pile and didn’t answer.
Wild slid a stack of papers between us when my silence became clear. “We took the opportunity to do research while you were avoiding us. For your... issue.”
I had one million issues. Did he mean my tether?
I met his gaze for the first time and reached for the stack. Doing my best to ignore the quad, I flicked through the top pages. “This is so much more than I found on the subject in the library.”
“You let something slip that allowed us to target the search in a different way,” Huxley said. Before I could ask, he added, “You told us you gained an affinity upon the deaths of your family members.”
“Murder,” Corentin corrected him. “She said they were murdered.”