The Burning Claw (The Grey Wolves #10)(65)

“I will bring him here,” she told him, “but I’ll need to get Sally to the bar first.” She pulled back so she could focus on the matter at hand. 
“Out of a strange curiosity, Sally,” Peri asked, wondering why she hadn’t thought of it to begin with. “Do you have a tattoo on your back?”
Sally’s brow drew together. “No.”
“Could I” —she paused and shrugged— “check? I know, I’m a weirdo. Humor me.”
Sally was looking at her as if she’d lost her mind. Peri hated doing it, but she used a bit of her power to convince Sally that the girl wanted nothing more than to show Peri her back.
Sally stood and turned around. Peri reached forward and pulled the fabric up. She bit back quick intake of breath. The markings, which had been nonexistent for the past several months that Sally had been living in Oceanside, were beginning to show again. At the moment, they looked almost like a watermark on a piece of paper. Very, very, faint, but there. She dropped the shirt and stepped back.
Sally turned back around and seemed too distracted to ask Peri if she’d seen anything strange.
“I work tonight, but I need to talk to Jericho before my shift,” Sally told them. “I know it’s childish, but would you all come with me?”
“Of course, we will,” Jen said nodding at her. “Hoes before bros, right?”
Jacque groaned. “Don’t even get started with that mess again.”
They walked to The Doghouse in tense silence. Sally was a mess and she wasn’t good at hiding her emotions. The proof came as they walked into the bar and Jericho laid eyes on her. He hopped over the bar and was standing before her in an instant.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” he asked her in a voice that made it clear how he felt about her. Peri could tell he wasn’t faking. Jericho was in love with Sally. He was also very, very dead.
“Can we talk?” Sally asked softly.
He nodded and led her back behind the counter. They watched as he wrapped his arms around her and attempted to comfort her.
“I need to step outside,” Jen growled. “If I have to watch him touch her like that, especially after what he did, I might kill him right now. And he’s not mine to kill.”
“That’s what Lucian said,” Peri told her. “You might turn around and kill him yourself after I tell you two this. What they did wasn’t consensual, at least not in the traditional sense. He used magic to get in her pants. The diamond bracelet had a spell on it that would ensure that she’d want him. Essentially, he gave her a magical date rape drug.”
Jen snarled and turned to go back but Peri stopped her. “It’s Costin’s kill, remember?”
“It’s kind of sad,” Jacque said. “It’s obvious that he loves her.”
“He took a mated female, knowingly. He used magic to make her desire him, slept with her, and marked her damn neck,” Jen growled. “It’s like he wanted to die. He’s practically begging Costin to kill him.”
“He marked her?” Jacque’s eyes were as wide as saucers.
Jen nodded. “I didn’t see it until her shirt dipped a little when Jericho put his arms around her.”
“Bloody hell,” Jacque whispered.
“I need you guys to stay here and make sure douche bag doesn’t leave the bar, or that Cross character, as well.”
“Wait,” Jen said. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to get her mate and the other males. This has gone too far,” she repeated her mate’s words. “Not only has her mind been violated, but now he’s violated her body. She’s going to have to live with that for the rest of her life.”
Jacque gasped as the reality hit her and her hand snapped up to her mouth as if she was holding a scream in. “Why did he do it, Jen?” she asked through her hand.“I think she started out as an asset for the Burning Claw, and he was the means in which to draw her in. But somewhere along the way, he fell in love with her. And he took it too far.”
“When Costin gets here it’s going to be bloodbath,” Jacque said. Jen nodded her agreement.
Peri didn’t go straight to the wolves. First, she went to visit the Warlock King. She appeared in his great hall and yelled for him.
“Did you have to scream that loudly?” Cypher said as he came storming in. “Is Lilly okay? And Jacque is she—”
“Pipe down, warlock. They’re fine. I need your size and your fighting skills. We’re getting Sally out. Costin will be coming which means it’s going to get messy. I’m thinking we will need extra manpower to hold him back when it’s time for that. You game?”
“Of course, anything to help the wolves. Lead the way,” he told her.
She grabbed his arm and flashed them both to the bridge where she’d left Decebel, Vasile, and Fane. She needed to move fast. The clock was ticking and she didn’t like leaving Sally with Jericho. The rogue wolf was obviously getting desperate. He had crossed a line and she wanted him to pay. To her shock, when she arrived, the three males were standing there talking to none other than Costin himself.
“I know where she is,” Costin growled.
“Cypher,” Vasile nodded to the king.
“Yes, yes, say your hellos and then let’s go. Costin, you look crazy as hell, which at the moment is a good thing. Crazy people make other people nervous. And nervous people do stupid things. So own the crazy, bar boy, own the crazy.”
She motioned them to gather around and gave a very, very watered down version of the events. She didn’t even touch on the whole Sally slept with Jericho piece of the puzzle. She needed Costin crazy, not a complete berserker—at least not at first.
“Okay, so now that you’re filled in. Let’s get going.” She held out her arms and each of the males, even crazy Costin, placed a hand on her. As soon as each of them was touching her, she flashed back to Oceanside, a.k.a., the place where Jericho was about to meet his fate.
Jen felt like Peri had only been gone for a couple of minutes when the fae reappeared on the sidewalk with a handful of very pissed off looking wolves and, to her surprise, the Warlock King to boot. Jen imagined that Peri must be using some serious fae voodoo to block them all from sight if she was able to appear like that in broad daylight.
Decebel was in front of her a second after they appeared. He took her hands in his face and cupped her cheeks. His eyes soaked her in hungrily and his wolf growled. “Too long,” he told her. “We’ve been apart too long.” 
Jen didn’t have time to agree because Decebel’s lips had crashed into hers with bruising force. Good thing she healed quickly.
“Please move,” said a voice thick with the need for violence and Jen pulled back from Dec to look around him. Costin stood about twenty feet from the door. Vasile and Cypher stood in front of him.
“I can smell her.” Costin and his wolf were so in sync with each other that both of their voices came out at the same time. It was freaking scary.
“Costin,” Jen spoke up. His eyes snapped to hers and Decebel tried to block her from the feral wolf. She pushed around him. “Let me and Jacque check on her first before you go in.” Jen was motioning for Jacque to go to the door.
She looked at Jacque and mouthed “open it, peek in.”
Jacque did, then pulled her head back out and the fear in her eyes told Jen enough. Jericho still had Sally wrapped in his arms. Then Jen remembered Jericho’s scent in her best friend’s room, the bracelet that allowed him to persuade her into bed with him, and the bite mark on her neck.
She stepped aside. “You know what, on second thought, by all means. Go.”
Decebel shot her a look. “I’ll fill you in.” Apparently, Peri hadn’t told them anything.
Jen watched as Costin started forward. Vasile and Cypher flanked him on either side and Decebel and Fane stood next to her and Jacque. Peri was the first to enter. She flinched when she saw the position Jericho and Sally were in.
She was seated up on the back of the bar and Jericho was between her legs with his arms wrapped around her. This was going to be bad.
As soon as they were all in, Peri spoke loudly. “If you look at this man,” —she pointed to Costin who looked eerily calm— “and don’t know why he wants to kill that man,” —she pointed at Jericho— “then get out.”
There were only a handful of patrons and they looked confused.
“NOW,” Vasile boomed. They no longer looked confused. Now they looked like scurrying mice that had just realized that there was a herd of cats in the room.
As soon as the last person was out the door, Costin put his hand on the deadbolt and turned it, locking them in. The clicking of the lock seemed to echo in the quiet room.
“I think I’m going to pass out,” Jacque whispered to Jen.
“Don’t you dare. Suck it up. Sally needs us.” What she didn’t add was, and we need to get Sally the hell out of the way now. Jericho was going down and Costin might not have enough control to keep from accidentally hurting his gypsy mate.
Chapter 22
“She takes my breath away. As soon as my hungry eyes land on her face, I feel my soul reaching for her. My wolf is desperate to get to her. She’s mine. We found her. Now everyone standing too close to her must die. Starting with the mangy wolf who had his hands on her.” ~Costin