Her words cut, deep. For a tiny moment I thought I could make my problem someone else's and get some help, but it was clear I was on my own.
I shoved my feet into my black ankle boots and gave Sophie a salute. "Well, I'm not your problem anymore. Sorry for the trouble."
I blasted past her, knocking into her shoulder, hard, and she stumbled backwards. The growl in her throat made me wonder if I should be giving her my back, but screw it. I needed to leave before these assholes saw me cry.
"Wait!" Logan shouted, and I stepped out into the frigid snow trying to pick up the pace. I heard footsteps behind me and then Logan spun me around to face him. Dammit, a few tears leaked out of my eyes before I could control my emotions, and when Logan saw them he looked on in horror, as if he had never seen a girl cry-he probably hadn't. Sophie and Nadine looked like they didn't have a single tear in their badass bodies. I wiped the tears quickly and gave him a piece of my mind.
"My car is parked downtown. Once I get to it, I'm outta here." I had stashed my only possessions in that car and left it there so the hunters wouldn't destroy it. I couldn't wait to get back to my life and leave this freak show behind me.
Logan looked offended. "You're not leaving," he said with certainty, and I looked down and noticed his feet were bare. He must be freezing, but he didn't show it. "You're a part of our family now whether you like it or not."
Family. That word did funny things to my insides. Keegan trekked out into the snow with a coat and handed it to me.
"Put this on, you look like a prostitute jonesing for her next fix," he said with a wry grin.
I made a choking sound and laughed. Bastard was a total dick, a funny one. I think I liked him. He reminded me of my best friend in sixth grade. Tommy. I hadn't spoken to him in years.
"But Sophie … ?" I motioned to the house, where Sophie was waiting with the rest of the pack.
Keegan nodded. "She had a concern, she brought it out into the open. That's how we deal with things in the pack. We can't let things fester or they build and it affects the whole. We're family. We're honest. And we get it all out so we can get over it. She is annoyed by your presence and she let you know. You stuck up for yourself. Great, now it's done."
What the … ? These people were crazy.
Logan tilted his head towards the house. "Come on, we gotta get Nadine and Gear to a sorcerer friend for a healing. And I need to speak to Eva about you. We need to cover your scent."
I didn't know what that meant, but I guessed I was riding a little bit longer on this crazy train. To be honest, the latest run-in had scared the crap out of me, and I figured I had better odds of staying alive if I stuck with my new friends.
"Okay," was all I said, and started following Logan into the house.
Keegan stepped beside me and bent down low to whisper in my ear. "My guess is that Sophie isn't crazy about some hot chick living with her ex-boyfriend."
My eyes widened and Logan snapped his head back and glared at Keegan, who gave him an easy smile.
Keegan winked at Logan. "Just keeping it real, brother."
Logan looked like he wanted to retort, but Nadine's wail cut him off. She was in pain and we needed to help her.
As we entered through the blown-out wall, I looked around at the neighbors. Shouldn't the cops be on their way? A wall was blown out of the side of the house and they must have heard the fighting.
I looked at the ground, watching my step, and to my shock the dead druid had been drug out onto the snow. It looked like he had sunk halfway into the ground. The hunters too.
"What the hell?" I muttered, unable to keep the shock from my voice.
Logan gestured to the scene. "I had a spell on the house to keep it from human eyes. The dead druid and hunters will be absorbed into the earth. They're her burden now."
Earthbound. Wow, that was really literal.
Keegan glared at us. "This learning session is cute but my pack is injured."
Dick.
Logan looked at my outfit. "We need to go to a club for supernaturals. Eva, my sorcerer contact, lives on the top floor and owns the place, but I can't have you recognized or smelled as we walk in."
He was looking at my red hair. How would anyone recognize me? I was a nobody.
"The hunters have spread the word about a redheaded possible dragon female. Until we can camouflage your scent, you need a disguise."
"Fine," I said through gritted teeth. Mostly because Sophie was still shooting eye daggers at me. But also because at the word of hunters spreading rumors about me, a fresh wave of fear washed over me. I was fully jumping on this crazy train and I was afraid I would never find my way off.
4
"THIS IS MESSED UP! This better not be some kind of prank or I'll kill you," I shouted to Logan as Sophie and Cooper snickered in the corner of the alley. Dom stood at the opening of the alley, two guns drawn at his sides.
Logan winced. "Trust me, beautiful, it's just as painful for you as it is for us."
Keegan had pissed in a bottle and now Logan was proceeding to pour it on my clothes. Clothes which consisted of jeans that Nadine had been wearing and Sophie's shirt. Topped with Keegan's hoodie. They were trying to pass me off as a wolf shifter. The acrid smell of urine rose up and I gagged, forcing the contents of my stomach to stay where they were.
"Jesus, Keegan, what did you eat today?" Logan mock gagged and I had to clench my fists to keep from punching him in the jaw.
Gear, who seemed to be on the mend, brought over a flask, covering his nose as he neared. "Top it off with this and let's go. Nadine's arm is healing at an odd angle. They hit her with druid magic."
Logan frowned as he upended the flask on the front of my sweater and the pungent smell of vodka hit my nose, causing a slow burn down my throat as I inhaled.
"I swear to God, this better not be a joke. Some hazing shit." I would literally go dragon on them all and spray fire.
Logan looked me in the eyes and a serious expression fell over him. "I would never do that to you."
His words rang true and I nodded. My life had taken a drastic change the last two weeks, but standing in an alley in front of a sexy dragon shifter while wearing wolf piss was really the icing on the cake.
Keegan linked arms with me then and began to drag me away from Logan. My hood was pulled up and my hair tucked back inside, finishing off my disguise.
"The bouncer can tell truth from lie, so don't speak. I will do all of the talking."
I just nodded. The bouncer must have some magical ability to sniff out a lie. The very thought had me more on edge than I already was.
The rest of the pack filed in behind us and I wondered just what the hell I was about to see. He had said "supernatural bar," and I was already imagining sorcerers with cauldrons and shifters tearing into each others' necks. And hunters. Dozens of hunters looking for me.
Keegan looked down at me. "I can hear your heart racing a hundred and thirty beats per minute. Just relax. Weakness is not something you want to bring into this bar."
His words made the fear flush through me even faster. We had reached the end of the alley and I could hear the music now, but I couldn't see the bar. We were in a weird industrial part of Flagstaff, not the popping college town that I thought we would go to. Keegan crossed the street with me on his arm and walked full speed right for a brick wall in front of us.
"Umm, Keegan … ?" I asked as he jumped up on the curb with me at his side.
He looked down at me, annoyed. "You're fine," he said, and kept walking so that we were going to faceplant right into the wall. I pulled back at the last second, inches from the bricks smashing my nose, and he jerked to a stop.
"What's your deal?" he asked, looking forward, embarrassed. Behind us I saw that Nadine was draped in Logan's arms.
"Umm, my deal is that I don't fancy breaking my nose on a brick wall," I told him as I gestured in front of me.
Keegan looked confused, and then something dawned on him.
"Something is wrong with you, your magic is broken," he mumbled, and with a hard yank he pulled me into the wall.
I braced myself for the face slam, but it never came. A tingling feeling caressed my skin and suddenly I was standing at the entrance of a raging nightclub. What the … ? I looked behind me to see a shimmering brick wall, five feet away at my back. An illusion. The rest of the pack walked through it and I saw the brick illusion shimmer and wave before reforming once they were through.