It’s not really surprising that there are differing levels of evil within the spirit world. They aren’t all the same, just as witches and humans aren’t. She paused. Hell, that statement might also apply to demons.
No one will ever convince me demons have a soft side.
And yet, until today, we both thought the same about dark spirits.
The large pine plantation where Byron—one of the rangers—had recently been murdered soon came into sight. I slowed and, without Monty needing to tell me, turned into the dusty road that ran between two orderly rows of pines.
“If we keep on following this track through the plantation, we’ll end up on the mountain and the outskirts of the O’Connor compound,” I said. “We can’t go in there, Monty. Not without permission.”
“I know, but hopefully she’s doing nothing more than just tracking through their territory, and we’ll be able to catch her again on the other side.” He shrugged. “I can’t see any reason for her to be hunting in the compound, given married wolves don’t stray.”
“You can’t make such a blanket statement when there are always outliers. Hell, take Mia as an example—” Horror surged, and my gaze snapped to Monty. “Fuck, you don’t think Mia could be the target, do you?”
“Why on earth would she be a target?”
“Well, she technically did cheat—she had a common-law husband when she became engaged to Aiden.”
“True, but she appeared in the reservation after the kills started,” Monty said, “She shouldn’t have been included in the scope of the spell.”
“Except we don’t know yet who created the spell or what its parameters were. Hell, the caster might not have set any limitations at all—it would certainly explain why the hone-onna is going after both the cheater and the lover.”
“There’s no indication as yet that Ms. Taylor was the lover of one of the victims. For all we know, she’s married, cheating on her husband, and we’re simply dealing with an equal opportunity killer.”
“We might not know, but that doesn’t mean the witch behind the hone-onna doesn’t,” I said. “She has to be using some kind of magic to locate her targets, so why couldn’t the same spell uncover whomever they were cheating with?”
“If we do work on that theory, Aiden could be a target as well.”
I blinked and, for a second, couldn’t breathe. I gulped and then said, “We can’t discount that possibility, even if he was an unknowing participant in the betrayal.”
While the charm he wore had already protected him from this spirit, now that she knew it was there, it wouldn’t take her too long to defuse it. “You’d better warn him. We need him to contact Mia anyway.”
Monty grabbed his phone and hit the call button. It rang several times before Aiden said, “I take it there’s a problem?”
“There could well be—do you know where Mia is?”
“No—why?”
Sharp concern rode his question, and something twisted inside. Which was stupid. Even if he didn’t love her, he certainly wouldn’t want to see her hurt or murdered.
“Because,” Monty replied, “we’ve tracked the hone-onna up to the Mount Alexander pine plantation. We believe she’s heading for the compound.”
He didn’t ask why we believed Mia could be the next target. He would have made the connection as easily as we had. “Give me a few minutes to get permission for you to enter, then I’ll contact Mia.”
He immediately hung up. Monty tucked the phone between his legs and picked up the tracker again. The closer we got to the compound, the stronger its pulse became.
I might have wanted Mia out of Aiden’s life, but not like this.
We came to a T-intersection, and I braked. If we went left, we’d end up in the O’Connor compound; going right would take us on a loop around the plantation and then back into Castle Rock.
The tracker was of course indicating to the left.
I was more than willing to risk going up there without permission if we were given no other choice, but I also knew the O’Connors would come down on us hard. If they did—if they delayed us for even a few minutes—it could have disastrous results. Not just for Mia but also for the longer-term relationship between the witches and the pack. For that same reason, we couldn’t use magic to clear a path through their ranks, not even in an effort to save a life.
But sometimes the quickest way to achieve a much-desired goal was by the slowest method available. Or so Belle’s mom used to say back in the day, when Belle and I were impatient teenagers wanting things done now rather than later.
It was a memory that made me smile. At least we’d be able to go visit Belle’s parents while we were up in Canberra, and that alone might make the whole trip worthwhile.
No might about it came Belle’s comment. In fact, I’ve already contacted Mom. She’s invited the four of us for dinner the night we arrive in Canberra.
We haven’t even booked the flights yet.
We don’t need to. The Black Lantern Society has taken care of all that sort of stuff. Ashworth forwarded me the tickets about an hour ago.
I frowned. Why would they be paying for it?
We’re key witnesses to the case being brought against your dad, so why shouldn’t they? She shrugged mentally. But maybe they simply want to make sure we actually get on the plane.
I do believe that’s the reason Ashworth and Eli are coming with us. They want to ensure we get there in one piece.
That sounds ominous—intuition? Or did I miss something when Juli appeared at the café?
Not intuition, and you didn’t miss anything. But let’s be honest here—Juli’s sudden appearance was nothing more than a vague attempt at intimidation.
Very vague indeed. Her amusement swam down the mental line. He was never as good as your father at that sort of thing. He’s too soft to be scary.
He doesn’t have to be scary when he’s got the magical nous to back up any threat he makes.
So have you, now. Remember that.
Except we’re not exactly sure whether my personal wild magic will be functional outside the confines of the reservation. Without it, I remain an underpowered witch.
You can’t say that with any certainty, given the way your psi abilities are morphing. But I can’t imagine why the inner wildness wouldn’t be available—it’s part of your damn DNA.
A part that was inactive until I entered this reservation and came into contact with its unprotected wellspring.
That’s not exactly true. There was some leaching over to me—it was in the erectile dysfunction spell I unleashed on Clayton, remember.
Monty’s phone rang sharply, making me jump. He hit the answer button and quickly said, “Do we have permission to go in?”
“If necessary, but Mia’s currently on the way out of the compound. Do you want her to turn back?”
“No,” I said quickly. “The hone-onna is between us and her—she’ll get to Mia before we ever could.”
“Except this time, she’s in a wolf compound. Even a dark spirit as deadly as this one will have her hands full dealing with a pack of werewolves ready and willing to protect one of their own.”