Page 95 of Twice Bitten

I wrapped my hands around his arm and closed my eyes. Standing outside in the fresh air, with a gentle breeze ruffling my hair made it easy to slip into the state between wakefulness and meditation. My breathing steadied and I tapped that inherent magic always resting inside me. I don’t know where itcame from; Mom said hers didn’t work the same way, but the power was useful, even if it was niche.

I stroked my thumb over the veins in Silas’s arm and concentrated. At first, nothing happened, but I kept searching.

A wave of black oiliness hit me; the magic inside Silas’s veins was dark with corruption. I sucked in a gasp. My elbow burned like fire.

“Alex?” Silas’s voice was warm with concern.

“Shh.”

He fell silent. I kept searching, digging deep for answers, but the darkness kept slipping away, the spell or virus, whatever it was, evading my questing. I pressed a little more, sensing something familiar, even as I knew I’d never before encountered whatever was living inside the Shifter King’s body.

One thing I knew, though, was Silas was right.

A witch and possibly something else had made this spell.

TWENTY-SEVEN

I drove home in a daze, ignoring the fact that I looked like I’d been lost in the woods for a month. My curly hair stood out from my head in a snarl of wild tangles and my eyes were wide and freaked out. Dirt streaked my face in several places, and my body was covered in a variety of rapidly healing small scratches.

Witches had done this to Beckett and now to Silas. The big question was, why wasn’t I infected? Or was I and maybe I’d overcome whatever this was? The only thing I’d been feeling was the aftereffects of mixing blood with Alric and Silas. In fact, right now I felt surprisingly good—despite the fur aftertaste. I guess a hearty meal, despite what I ate, and sleeping inside the cocoon of a man’s strong arms could go a long way to curing what ailed me.

But I still had lots of questions. Like what was so special about the mixture of our mixed blood to turn me into whatever I was turning into?

And why had Alric lied to me?

I called Edmund. He answered on the first ring.

“Thank goodness you’re alright. We’re scheduled to get new Wi-Fi in a few days.”

I rolled my eyes. “Your priorities are always in order, Edmund.”

He huffed. “Better Wi-Fi means I’m able to assist you when you do such things as, oh, I don’t know, shifting in the middle of the highway.”

“Drama queen,” I grumbled. “Silas helped me through the shift.” I think. I couldn’t remember much other than how delicious the rabbits were. Even as I had the thought, my stomach roiled.

“Did he now?” Edmund’s tone was suggestive.

“Shut up before I decide to live like a pioneer woman and shut off the electricity. My bill has been awfully high lately.”

“Devil woman.” A put-upon sigh. “Fine. Tell me all about it when you arrive home. Try not to shift during the drive.”

I disconnected and whipped my car into the drive-through of the local pancake house. I felt like I could eat three dozen of everything.

Once the bounty was secured, I hauled ass home, praying nothing else would happen before I arrived.

Edmund greeted me as soon as I walked in, peppering me with a dozen questions. I held up a finger and pointed at my pancakes.

“Breakfast first. Questions later.”

And then I proceeded to eat half a dozen pancakes and a quarter pound of bacon.

“Dear god, woman. Do you have a tapeworm?”

“Witches don’t get worms.” I grimaced. “Though I’m not completely a witch anymore, I guess.”

“True. You are something entirely unseen before,” he mused.

“Ugh. No. Let’s take a beat and put a pin in that one. Once I clean up, I’m calling the Prime. He and I have a lot to talk about.”