A slim-fingered hand curled in my shirt, yanked me around hard, and slapped me.
It brought me out of my all-consuming focus on the wolves and Colette, and my wide eyes found Yuna’s scowl very suddenly. I hadn’t even noticed her appearance. Had she seen everything?
It was as if a switch inside of me clicked off, and I felt the wolves vanish into nothing.
My face stung, but I was incredibly grateful to Yuna for doing what she had.
“I didn’t mean to!” I gasped, gripping her shirt with shaking hands. “The wolves–I didn’t mean to–“
“Stop,” Yuna said calmly, though her voice was like steel. “She was going to kill you if you didn’t beat her to it, George.” She turned, backing me into one of the tombs and pressing my back to the stone with her presence and her insistent grip. “And…” She leaned forward, whispering in my ear. “You came here and made friends with the monsters. Do you really think you aren’t one too?”
My heart pounded in my chest. Me? A monster?
I didn’t see any of my friends as that, and I certainly had never considered myself to fit that term.
Dust rained down on my shoulder and both of us looked up into Merric’s irritated frown.
“This is cute,” he said sweetly, though his voice held an edge and he hadn’t bothered with his normal facade. Blood was streaked over his nose, giving him a savage appearance “Really heartwarming, but I’d like to burn the witch and leave.”
“Burn the witch?” I repeated slowly, my brain barely catching up with the rest of me.
Aveline strode past, a lit torch in her hand and Indra on her other side. “You know why,” she said simply, tossing the torch onto Colette’s body.
Of course I did. Powerful witches who died violent deaths were burned so they couldn’t come back as zombies or something worse.
Curses and beasts had been made from bits of witch before. I didn’t need any piece of Colette coming after me in the future.
I stood there, frozen, and watched the coven leader’s body burn.
Chapter 32
“Are you sure you don’t want to come?” I asked for the sixth time, sitting back in the driver’s seat and not bothering to get out. “Because it feels like I’m leaving you out.“
“You aren’t,” Aveline interrupted, her voice echoing a bit from my phone. “Besides. I’m working. And you need to get your shit sorted out.”
I very carefully paused, fiddling with my tank top as if she could see me. “I don’t have anything to sort out,” I said finally, happy I was alone in my car.
“Yes you do. So take care of it.”
“No, Aveline. I really don’t.“
“See you when you get home. And don’t rush on my account.” She hung up suddenly, like I hadn’t been arguing with her.
Throwing my head back, I closed my eyes with a long-suffering sigh.
I wasn’t dumb. I knew what she meant.
I hadn’t spoken to Cian or Akiva since holding them with my newfound power the night before. It had been pretty obvious that Cian, at the very least, had not enjoyed the grip of my magic.
But I hadn’t meant to. I’d just wanted him to stop so that I could take care of my own problems.
I’d expected him to be angry, or to chastise me for going to the cemetery instead of going home. So after Aveline and Indra had burned Colette, I’d left without saying much, citing exhaustion and waving goodbye.
There had been no picture-perfect moment. No coming together in a badass way to celebrate our victory.
And certainly no apology from Cian.
This morning, however, I’d woken up to having been added to a group chat and Indra had invited everyone, Yuna and Merric included, to dinner at our usual spot.
So here I was, internally arguing with myself in my car over whether or not I should even get out.
I didn’t need a repeat of last night’s conversations and Cian’s condescension. Was he just going to use this dinner as an opportunity to berate me?
The passenger door clicked and I opened my eyes in confusion.
The object of my racing thoughts, vampire extraordinaire himself, sat in my passenger seat looking gorgeous and blameless. Muggy air flooded the SUV until he closed the door, and I considered turning the AC back on.
I opened my mouth to say something, but he got there before me.
“I don’t want you sitting in your car all night,” he said slowly, red eyes holding mine. Tonight he wore his leather jacket and his blonde hair was perfectly tousled. I was willing to bet he took longer to get ready than I did.
I looked away from him, gaze trained on a small dog bouncing at its owner’s heels.
“Are you going to tell me I should’ve stayed home last night?” I asked finally. “And are you mad about the wolf thing?” I tried to ask the question in a cool, collected tone, but failed. Instead my voice came out too high and too unsure, while my heart pounded its misgivings in my throat. Why did I care so much what he thought of me? And when had I started to care this much for his opinion?
Cian sighed, rubbing his thumb over a small tear in his jeans. “No,” he said finally.
“To which one?”
A small, hesitant smile found his lips. “Both. Is that why you’re sitting out here? Because you think I’m mad at you?”
“Yes,” I admitted stiffly. “And because I don’t want to find out how pissed Akiva is.”
“For what?” Cian laughed. “Not letting him jump Colette? He isn’t mad at you. I’m not mad at you.” Cian reached out, hand resting on mine that was on the console between us. His fingers curled over mine, tapping at my knuckles. “I was wrong,” he said at last, prompting me to whirl on him in surprise and disbelief.
“Say it again,” I requested. “Otherwise I’ll think I’m hallucinating.”
“I was wrong.” His hesitant smile grew. “And I treated you like a child, when I shouldn’t have. Merric was
