Page 53 of The Lunatics

She clenched her jaw shut.

I stared at her. “Seriously?”

Her expression became closed off, mulish.

“We just saved you,” I said. “I heard you from down the street and came running. If not for us, you’d be dead right now.”

Beside me, Michael began setting himself to rights. He tightened his tie, smoothed back his hair, straightened his vest, and then adjusted his cuffs. When he spoke, it was with measured calm. “If you don’t answer our questions, you may still succumb to your injuries.” He stilled and raised his gaze to meet hers. His eyes were amber. “Such a shame we were unable to reach you in time. The vampire must have broken your neck in the struggle.”

The witch took a measured step back. I almost did, too. He stared at her with the neutral gaze of a wolf, but in my head, he felt coiled like a snake ready to strike. The witch had a choice: answer our questions or die. Michael didn’t seem to care which one she picked.

She looked from him to me, her stubborn expression morphing into unease.

“Answer the question,” I urged her.

“I was told to watch you,” she said. “We felt you enter the city.”

“Just watch her?” Michael asked.

The witch nodded. “I was on my way out of here when that piece of shit dropped from the roof and grabbed me.” She glanced at the decomposing vamp. “He’s too young to have covered thedistance from the Common to here so soon after sunset. He must have spent the day nearby.”

That was a troubling thought. I turned to Michael. “Shouldn’t someone have felt him in your territory?”

It was the witch who answered me. “Unlikely. He’s maybe a month undead, max? I didn’t feel him until he was right on top of me, and I have better vamp sense than most of my coven.”

A dark SUV backed into the mouth of the alley and spat out a small team of werewolves. Monica was at their helm, her braids pulled back in a bun. Her eyes swept the alley, assessing it in a clinical way that made me think that if she was asked later, she could recount every detail of the scene, down to the last drop of blood.

“Please excuse me,” Michael said. He turned and went to her.

“What are you, anyway?” the witch asked me. “I’ve never seen a wolf half turn like that.”

“Right now? Your savior. You’re still the enemy to them.” I nodded in the direction of the city wolves. They were swathed in black fatigues, large, well-armed, and vicious-looking. A few of them stared at her with openly hostile looks.

“But not to you?” she asked.

I shook my head. “I’m new here. I don’t really like your kind, but I’m not about to let anyone kill you after we just went through all this trouble saving you.”

She let out a heavy exhale. “Thank you. For saving me. I’m Bonnie, by the way.”

“You’re welcome. I’m Layla.”

“I owe you,” she said. “One favor. Anything you need.”

I cocked a brow at her. “Anything?”

“Anything that won’t end with me dead.”

That was a hell of an offer. One I’d be stupid to pass up. I took two steps away and scooped up my dropped clutch, careful to keepmy gaze from the decomposing body. A gurgling sound came from it that turned the limited contents of my stomach into pure acid.

I walked back to the witch and pulled out my phone. “Give me your number.”

She hesitated, then glanced at the other wolves. One of them snarled at her. She turned back to me and held out her hand. I passed my phone over and watched her enter her contact information. I immediately called her. Her phone rang from her back pocket, and I hung up.

“Now you have mine, too,” I said. “I want one other thing besides a favor.”

“What?”

“If the order changes from watching me to something else, let me know.”