Wrath

connection allowed us to “see” each other, but when I didn’t have to worry about maintaining it, I could let a bigger part of my mind roam, searching for familiar mind signatures.

While in Tennessee, we stopped at the faeries’ cottage in the mountains to see if the sisters knew or had heard anything about Dorian or the Daemoni’s plans—if they even wanted to be helpful—but Lisa and Jessica weren’t home. Part of me was glad, because I had no idea what they might do if I didn’t have Kali’s soul in a jar the next time I saw them. The task they’d given me was daunting, but it no longer scared me. Kali’s soul could never be saved—she’d never allow it—so I had no qualms about handing her spirit over to the faeries and the Otherworld. That would be one less Daemoni roaming this earth, which was my goal. Especially since she might have had something to do with Dorian’s kidnapping.

On the other hand, if they’d been home and willing to help, they might have given us insight from the Otherworld. We hadn’t seen Bree since the day she’d helped Tristan, Blossom, and Jax.

The faeries’ cottage took us more west than Blossom and I felt we should be going, so we headed northeast from there, sticking to back roads, trying to avoid checkpoints. In North Carolina, we rode part of what Tristan called the Tail of the Dragon—a curvy mountain road full of switchbacks and a popular drive among bikers and sports car enthusiasts. As we sped along the road, our foot pegs often scraping the ground as we leaned into tight curves, I could understand the draw. The ride provided quite the thrill.

At least, until we completed an S-curve and found ourselves at a checkpoint.

Normans ahead, I had warned everyone not two minutes before. I’d picked up on the six mind signatures and listened in on their thoughts. They hadn’t spoken to each other at all, their minds focused on their hunt. With the way the road curved, I thought they traversed the woods. I didn’t realize until the last second they were cops standing in the road, and they hunted supernaturals. We’d already rounded the corner, too late for Charlotte to cloak us.

Maybe things weren’t looking up after all.

Chapter 15

“Just act Norman.” Tristan spoke to all of us through my telepathy as we slowed in front of the roadblock. “If they don’t suspect anything, they’ll let us move on.”

I didn’t think it would work that way. Based on the experiences Vanessa and I had had so far, these officers would know exactly what to do to test us. Only Blossom and Charlotte could pass their tests of silver weapons— they wouldn’t react to the silver, they would react to the pain, and they’d bleed. Jax and Sheree would bleed, too, but they’d be more difficult to injure, and depending on how much pain the officers chose to inflict, they could lose control and change. Vanessa, Tristan, and me? We’d never stand a chance.

Jax, with Blossom clinging to his back, and Charlotte moved to the head of our pack, already knowing our mages were our only hope for not being detained. But the thought of them suffering on our behalf made my stomach clench. Even knowing Tristan could heal them didn’t help. My body tensed and my muscles coiled, ready to act if the Normans did anything to my friends.

“Is there a problem, officers?” Tristan asked after we finally stopped and cut the loud engines. A deafening silence filled the air for a long moment. Not even birds, squirrels, or other wildlife in the woods lining both sides of the road could be heard. Tristan had made his voice appropriate for the situation: friendly enough, yet with the hard edge of a hardcore biker.

Four of the officers crouched behind the three marked cars, shotguns pointed at us. Two of them, wearing khaki pants and brown leather jackets to ward off the cool mountain air, held their handguns in front of them as they slowly approached us. Neither answered Tristan.

“What’s your business here?” the closer one asked, his eyes—and gun—trained on Jax.

“My mates here were taking me on this Dragon ride,” Jax said casually. He gave a nonchalant shrug. “It’s all right.”

The officer narrowed his eyes, as though he didn’t buy Jax’s answer. He appraised Jax and Blossom for a moment as he walked by them, while the other officer stayed at the front of our group, his feet planted shoulder- width apart and his gun held in position, ready to fire on any of us.

“Is there something wrong?” Tristan tried again as the first guy passed us, his gray eyes scrutinizing us. “Because we’re just out for a good time.”

The cop only grunted, so I jumped into his mind.

“I don’t buy this group for one minute,” he thought as he kept walking. “On a casual ride my ass. Only thing is—”

“Hey!” he barked aloud as he stopped at the end of our group, right next to Vanessa. “I saw that.”

Oh, shit. What did she do now?

“Nothing, Alexis,” she said. “I did nothing.”

The cop suddenly grabbed Vanessa in a chokehold and dragged her off her bike. Good thing she’d already put her kickstand down.

Go along with him, I said when he held the gun to her temple.

She sighed in my mind. “I know the drill. I’ll wait for your order.”

Tristan swung his leg over the bike and stood to his full height.

“What’d she do?” he demanded, his voice rougher now. He took a step in Vanessa and the officer’s direction.

The other cop’s gun clicked. “Don’t you move!”

The sound of the officers behind the cars pumping shells into the chambers echoed in the otherwise still air. Tristan stopped and raised his hands to chest level, palms out, in the universal “don’t shoot” position. Of course, they didn’t know he practically stood in a fighting stance, his palms ready to fire.

“It’s not what she did,” the first cop snarled as he dragged Vanessa up to the front of the group. “It’s what she is.”

His gun-hand dropped the pistol into the holster, but came back with a silver-bladed knife. He slid the edge against the curve of Vanessa’s cheek. Her jaw clenched—the silver hurting, but not badly—and I stiffened, already knowing he’d have to cut her up bad to make her bleed, and then they’d know for sure we weren’t Norman. Except . . . what the hell? A small trail of red trickled down the side of her face. Among all the many thoughts I monitored in my head, Blossom chanted a silent spell.

The cop sprang back, letting Vanessa go. “I, uh—”

“You what?” Tristan demanded as he took another step forward despite all the guns aimed at us. “You thought you’d cut up some innocent chick just because you don’t like the looks of us?”

The cop’s head shook violently. “I could have sworn . . . look at you! No flaws on any of you.” He eyed Jax’s scar. “Except you. But all these gorgeous women with two men? Not your typical biker gang.”

“I don’t buy it,” the other cop said. He swung his arm so his pistol aimed at Blossom. His trigger finger twitched.

But I moved faster.

“No!” I screamed as I jumped from the motorcycle and landed on the cop, tackling him to the ground. The gun fired into the air, the explosion right in my ear.

The other four guns immediately aimed at me as I lay on top of the cop. The officer closest to us dropped his knife and drew his own pistol. I sprang to my feet, my hands up. We were never getting out of this now. I’d crossed twenty feet, including hurdling Charlotte, in a blur. The thought of sitting in another jail cell that smelled like piss made my stomach sink.

“Now, now,” came a lustrous voice from behind me. “Do we really need to do this, sweethearts?”

I didn’t think I’d ever be so happy to see a faerie.

Bree, appearing in all of her golden glory, sauntered past me, her movements and her voice reminding me of Marilyn Monroe. The effect she had would have made Marilyn look like an amateur, though, and it was immediate. The guns of the two cops right in front of us clattered on the ground, and the men stared at her with their mouths gaping. She turned her full faerie glamour on them, her hair blazing in the sun and her eyes a sultry