Back outside in the fresh air, I turned on Hunter. “We could have gotten more information off him?”
“About what?”
“These Nappers he was talking about.”
“Did you see him? He was shaking. There are no Nappers, just the paranoia of a Bliss addict in withdrawal.”
“Or maybe he was scared.” But I wasn’t so sure now.
“We’re done here,” Sariah said.
Hunter opened his mouth to protest, but I cut him off.
“Yeah, we’re done.”
Because the urge to rub up against Hunter was a physical ache now. I needed to stay away from him. I needed to stay away for good, but my gut told me he wasn’t going to make that easy, and suddenly, going on the run didn’t seem like such an awful idea.
Chapter Nine
Nox dropped me off at the pinnacle, and I headed inside, grateful to be home. Exhausted, both physically and mentally. Resisting my primal instincts around Hunter was getting harder and harder.
There was a cup of cocoa with my name on it somewhere, but by the time I made it into the kitchen, the will to make the milky drink had died. Instead, I pulled out a chair and sat down with my head in my hands.
“Fee?” Cora entered the room. “You okay?”
“I need a boyfriend to dote on me and make me cocoa.”
She chuckled softly. “You don’t need a boyfriend for that. You have me.” The clatter of pans followed as she set to work. “Although Grayson will make you cocoa once you’re mated to him.”
There was something odd about her voice. It sounded wobbly and strange.
I looked up, studying her back as she poured milk into the pan and set it on the stove. There was tension in the way she held herself.
“Cor…what’s wrong?”
She turned to me with red-rimmed eyes and a slightly puffy nose. She’d been crying, and Cor rarely cried.
“Cor?”
“There’s no amulet,” she blurted out. “The Masterton Coven doesn’t have one, and they don’t have a witch powerful enough to make one. The kind of amulet that we need has to be created by a single person’s unbound energy.”
“So, not a coven member.”
“Right, which explains why Azazel didn’t go to the covens. We need an independent witch, and the last one Vi knows of that could make one is the witch Jasper killed.” Her mouth twisted, and she swallowed a sob. “I’m so sorry, Fee.”
It was a relief to know the score. To be done waiting. “Don’t be. At least we know where we stand now.”
“Conah’s arranging documents for you, and Mal’s getting a series of safe houses organized.”
The guys were already on it. My stomach trembled, and I nodded. “It’ll be okay.”
“Yes, it’ll be okay.” Cora pulled out the chair next to me, sat down, and took my hands. “We’ll get through this. It’ll be like a road trip. We’ll have so much fun.”
Oh God. She was going to hate me for this. “I’m going alone.”
She frowned. “No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am.”
“Fuck off, Fee. We’re a team.”
It looked like I was going to have to be harsher. “I don’t want you to come with me, okay. You’ll just slow me down.”
She flinched, and then her eyes narrowed. “That bullshit isn’t going to work on me. I know you, Fee. I know what you’re trying to do. You can’t offend me and push me away. I’m too thick-skinned for that shit.”
Urgh. “Dammit, Cora, you have a life now. You have a chance to make something of it. To be an amazing witch. You can join a coven or be independent or whatever you want, and learn about your power.”
“I’m a freak, okay?” she said. “Witches aren’t meant to be able to do the kind of shit I can without a connection to a coven or without using blood, sex, and pain. I’m a freak that can do major miasma manipulations without any help. You think if they find that out, they’ll be cool with me hanging with them?”
“Shit, Cora…”
“Yeah. I’m coming with you, end of discussion.”
The air crackled, and Cora squeezed my hand on reflex, then looked over my shoulder. She cursed softly.
I glanced behind me to find Jasper standing by the fridge.
“Fuck off, okay,” she said. “Not tonight. I’m not in the fucking mood.”
“That isn’t the deal,” he replied coolly.
Cora stood so fast her chair clattered to the ground behind her. “Fuck off, Jasper, okay. Just fuck off!”
Her words were sharp with annoyance.
“You’re upset,” Jasper said.
“No, what gave it away?” Cora said sarcastically.
Jasper winked out and appeared beside Cora. The air around him was charged and thick. He cupped her face and forced her to look into his eyes. She didn’t resist, didn’t pull away from his touch, but her death glare spoke a thousand words.
“No,” Jasper said. “No, this won’t do at all.” He leaned in closer, and Cora’s mouth parted slightly. “What ails you? Tell me, and I will fix it.”
She pressed her lips together and jerked out of his grasp. “Unless you can find me a mirage amulet, then no, you can’t help me.”
“A mirage amulet?” He smirked. “I can do that.”
Cora blinked at him in surprise. “Sod off. You’re taking the piss.”
He looked confused. “I don’t take people’s piss.”
Cora glanced at me and then back at Jasper. “You know where we can find a mirage amulet?”
“No. Not where you can find one. Where I can find one. But it will cost you.”
Cora tensed. “What do you want?”
He leaned in and whispered in her ear.
Her face paled.
It was bad. Whatever he was asking for was bad. “No, Cora. We don’t need it.”
Jasper grabbed her jaw, and from her wince, it was obvious he was hurting her. “Do we have a deal?”
“Let go of her!” I made a grab for his shoulder.
Pain lanced through my arm, and I was flung backward into the fridge.
“Fee!” Cora cried out.
Oh, shit. My head. I pulled myself up, anger coursing through me.
“Stay down,” Jasper said. “You’re no match for me.”
“Hurt her again, and we’re done,” Cora said. “I will fight you. I’ll fight you with every fucking breath.”
Jasper rolled his eyes. “So dramatic. Do you want my help or not?”
Like hell. “No.”
“Yes,” Cora said. “You have a deal.”
“Dammit, Cora.”
“I’ll be back with the item in a few hours,” Jasper said. “Be prepared to pay the price.”
He vanished, and Cora sagged, grabbing hold of the table. “Fuck.”
“What did you promise him, Cor?” I grabbed her shoulder. “What did you do?”
She shook her head. “It’s nothing. Nothing I can’t handle, trust me.”
“Why won’t you tell me? Since when do we have secrets?”
She met my gaze levelly. “Since now, babe. Since now.”
I was in the second lounge, Chaos Dimensions on full blast, when Conah and Mal returned. Cora had retired to her room to wait for Jasper, and my stomach was in knots. This helped. Killing monsters helped.
Cora had a secret.
She was keeping stuff from me, and it hurt. But how could I deny her privacy? She was her own person, and that meant there would be parts of her life that she’d want to keep to herself, and she was doing this to help me. Doing it for me.
“Fee, we need to talk,” Conah said before switching off my console in the middle of a battle.
“Seriously?” I glared at him.
“Wow, Conah, not cool,” Mal added. “She was on a kill streak; how many was that?”
“Thirty.”
Mal let out a low whistle.
“Will you shut up,” Conah snapped at him. “This is more important.”
I set down my controller. “I know, okay. But you don’t need to worry about the safe houses and the papers. Jasper’s gone to get a mirage amulet. Apparently, he knows someone who has one.”
“The malevolent spirit?” Conah asked. “We’re trusting him now?”
“Hold up,” Mal said. “He did help Fee and Cora get us out of the Eye.”
“For a price,” Conah said.
But there was no denying the relief on his face.
I smiled tightly. “Yeah, there’s a price this time too. Cora’s paying it, but she won’t tell me what it is. I doubt it’s donuts or eclairs, though. She looked scared.”
“Cora’s strong,” Conah said. “And Jasper won’t physically hurt her. He needs her.”
“I know, but there are ways to hurt someone that go beyond the physical.”
There was silence as we all absorbed this.
“Well,” Conah said. “At least we have a backup plan should we need it.”
“I doubt we will,” Mal said. “This Jasper entity seems to have his fingers in a lot of pies.”
Pies… My stomach grumbled.
Conah frowned at me.
“Have you eaten?” Mal asked.
I arched a brow and then looked at the coffee table littered with empty crisp and mini cake packets.
“Proper food,” Conah elaborated.
“I was too lazy to cook.”
Conah rolled up his sleeves to expose toned forearms. “I’ll fry up some steaks. We can eat in the kitchen.”
My mouth watered at the thought of a sizzling, juicy steak, or maybe two. Conah fried them to perfection.
“Can we have creamy mash too?”
Conah smiled. “Yes. And there’s a chocolate tart in the fridge.”
How had I missed that?