Witches. She meant witches.
My heart jumped in my chest and I folded my arms as well. “Why should I believe you? Why wouldn’t I think this is just some kind of trick? I’ve never even met you.”
“If you don’t believe me, that’s fine,” Siobhan snapped, head tipping minutely. “But we aren’t all like Colette.”
“You don’t like her,” I assumed. “You don’t want her as your leader.”
Her eyes flickered in something very close to fear and now she did look away from me. “Let’s just say, we wouldn’t be ripping our hair out if something happened to her. Most of us, anyway.”
“If most of you don’t want her…“
“It doesn’t matter what most of us want. It matters that she has the support of her family.”
“They’re that powerful?”
“They’re that cruel.” She blinked and stood up suddenly, nearly knocking over the coffee mug. “We’ve talked for too long; they’ll know what I’m doing before long. Just please do yourself a favor and stop helping him. Lock your door and protect yourself.” She glanced towards the door, then back to me. “Goddess willing, this won’t be so bad for much longer.”
“When the vampires all support Cian?” I assumed, getting up as well.
“When he’s gone.”
“Gone?” I questioned, but she didn’t turn, only walked out the door and turned so that I couldn’t see her. “Siobhan, wait!” I darted out the door as well, looking around for the witch.
But she was well and truly gone.
Biting my lip, I jogged back to my SUV, barely noticing the pouring rain. I needed to get home, to get Aveline, and call Indra.
Chapter 23
I didn’t even make it back to my door before I knew something was wrong.
Having just parked my car in our driveway, I had noted with relief that Aveline was home, meaning I could grab her, explain what was wrong, and hopefully go straight to the others so we could figure out what to make of Siobhan’s words.
So I’d closed my door hard, biting my lip as I made my way towards the house. The rain had let up, but it was the furthest thing from my mind as I walked.
Something tickled my nose, but I only swiped my hand across my face, strides long. Was Aveline up? If not, I would be getting her up.
The closer I got to the house, the more my nose tingled, until finally I sneezed, my eyes threatening to water at the burn in my sinuses.
It was nothing I could put my finger on, but the witch part of my soul screamed like a tornado siren.
My knees cracked hard on the sidewalk, pain ricocheting from my feet to my head like an arc of lightning. I doubled over on all fours, mouth open to gasp in air as my stomach threatened to eject its contents on our sidewalk. When I tried to stand, however, I found I couldn’t move my legs.
In fact, I couldn’t move at all, other than my eyes and to breathe.
My eyes landed on a woman leaning against a tree, turning something over and over in her fingers.
When I’d gotten home, I’d dismissed her as one of Aveline’s neighbors I hadn’t met. But now I knew that to be false. The dark haired woman had her eyes firmly on mine, and a smirk drew her thin lips up at one corner.
I immediately tried to draw on my own power, body flowing into a half shift as I brought my wolf to bear. Fangs lengthened, my ears swiveled towards her and my eyesight sharpened.
Until fingers wrapped around my throat and jerked me upright. Limp as a ragdoll, I could only fall into the person behind me, relying on them to keep me up right.
“Put your fangs away,” a low voice requested in my ear. “Before I make you.”
I couldn’t speak, but I didn’t let go of my wolf. Not when my shifted form boosted my power and anger both.
The man sighed, his fingers tightening around my neck and causing me to choke. “If you can’t put your toys away when asked, then I’ll have to.” Magic tingled down my body, burning my fingers, and my wolf receded.
It was as if he’d simply sucked the power from me, leaving me dizzy and spinning while I tried to fight the woman’s magic.
I didn’t succeed. I was still choking and in pain.
Black spots clouded my vision; the woman walked closer, eyeing me impartially.
“Colette said not to hurt her, Rajan,” she pointed out delicately.
“I’m not hurting her. I’m subduing her.”
The woman snorted, but didn’t protest further.
All I could do was gasp as my head spun, chest heaving as I tried to do anything to get more air, even though my body wouldn’t respond to anything I asked from it.
“Someone is going to see,” the woman said after a few more seconds of my slow strangulation. She reached forward and unbuckled my thigh bag, tossing it towards our steps.
“That won’t matter; she can summon her cards without that,” Rajan pointed out.
“It’ll be fine. Stop playing around.” When the man didn’t answer, she rolled her eyes and lifted the feathered charm once more. This time, she bent it hard.
Searing pain shot through my head, and I blacked out.
For a split second I was sure I would wake up and see Indra or Aveline above me. That I’d gone to sleep in my room and the voices swimming in the room around me were those of the people I liked.
Then reality hit and consciousness came quickly.
My entire body protested it, and even half awake, I dreaded what waking up meant. Already I could tell I was tied to a hard chair, my hands behind my back.
Fingers digging into my jaws and jerking my face upward pulled me out of my haze, and I winced at the harsh treatment.
The woman from my house was in front of me, a scowl on her full lips and her brown eyes unkind. “She’s awake.” She dropped my face and
