Nightfall (Book 2, the Halfblood Chronicles)

15 | Revelations

"You didn't have to come with us," Lu said from the backseat of the SUV.

Nika, sitting in the passenger side as Ren drove, glanced over her shoulder, arching a brow. "And let you meet that hedgewitch all alone? Are you crazy?"

Behind her, Misha cleared his throat. "I'm not completely useless, you know."

Nika gave a wry nod and turned back around. He wasn't useless, though. Or at least that's what Lu hoped. She hadn't been keen on the idea of visiting Mizelle Mitra at all, until Nika had tempted her with mentions of spells and resources that Mizelle sold in her shop.

Lu unwrapped the cloth sitting in her lap, exposing the ancient knife within it. It was a peculiar blade, etched with magical runes that Lu didn't recognize. The main purpose of this trip to the hedgewitch was to find out what secrets Dusha held. But still, Lu wanted to ask Mizelle about other things. She longed to talk to another person about her frustrations with magic.

"You really shouldn't have come with us," Misha said suddenly, yanking Lu away from her thoughts. "What if the voodoo lady sees you? It's because of you two that she had to pack up her life and flee."

"Voodoo lady?" Lu murmured, shaking her head.

"We're just here for backup," Ren said. "We won't get out of the car."

Misha muttered something under his breath that Lu didn't here. But, from Ren, it earned a scowl that he sent through the rearview mirror—one that Misha ignored.

"Has there been any word from the ranch?" Nika asked.

Lu re-wrapped the knife as Ren answered, "Keepers in the area confirmed that the Volkari corpses were found yesterday."

Ashes, Lu silently corrected. Seeing as Markos had ordered the wolves to be burned, leaving only their skulls to be identified. That had been three days ago now, though it felt like a lifetime. So much had been happening around headquarters, between using Viktor's Amnesty on Saran and tracking down the hedgewitch again. It took nearly a full day for Misha to find her. She hadn't just moved to a different city; she was located in a remote mountain town that had barely a large enough population to even be marked on the map. With a twenty-minute drive, it was shockingly close to headquarters.

"Do you think Capello will retaliate?" Nika asked.

Ren trained his gaze through the windshield. The headlights shone across a freshly painted road, illuminating the towering pines.

"He will. It's just a matter of when and where."

"And how," Misha added.

"Which is why it's best that we're together," Ren concluded. "This town is too close to headquarters to be claimed by the humans, and just far enough that the Ministry hasn't claimed it either. Which means wolves could be roaming around, and if they catch our scents—"

Nika interrupted by placing a hand on his powerful thigh. "Relax. They have no reason to believe that we'll interact with Mizelle."

Lu couldn't help raised her brows at that gesture. It was so . . . natural. And Ren barely seemed to notice, as if such an intimate touch didn't faze him. She wondered if, during the chaos of the past several days, they'd patched up their shattered relationship. How come Nika hadn't mentioned it? Oh, Lu was so going to squeeze every last detail out of her as soon as they returned home.

"It doesn't hurt to take precautions," Ren said.

"No," Nika agreed. "But it does ruin the fun."

"It's not supposed to be fun."

Despite his words, Lu sensed a trace of amusement in his tone. She could only assume he was as grateful to see Nika back to her old self as Lu was. Though the blood addiction wasn't entirely a thing of the past, Nika's health was finally making a resurgence, and an eager vibrance now lit up her face.