We caught up to Cerri and Vi who were standing near the hood of Vi’s jeep. They had a map spread out. I looked for the crystal point that we’d used to find the witch, but the only crystals present were the ones holding down the corners of the map—okay, they weren’t crystals. They were just rocks from the ground. Crystals totally sounded cooler.
“What’s going on?” I asked as I approached the map.
They’d marked three places on the grid that was Syracuse and Lakesedge.
“Alvin is up to something very dirty,” Cerri began.
I cut her off because my mind was still in the gutter. “I don’t need to know about his sex life.”
Cerri’s expression flattened, unamused. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
Vi moved aside to let me stand a little closer to the map. I studied the three points but drew a blank, so I looked to Cerri.
“These are the places where…where our friends died.” She swallowed and blinked before her expression went stony once more. “It seemed like Alvin was killing to keep people silent, but I got suspicious. He killed so quickly. They all seemed back to back. I knew there had to be something else up. It seems that I was right.”
My brow furrowed. I didn’t see what was so important about the three different spaces. At least, not until my mind connected the dots—literally. Though Connor had died not far from the rental apartment where Catriona had been murdered, connecting the two made a line along the outer boundary of Lakesedge.
When I connected Alvin’s estate, where Candi had died, to the outer corners of that line, it created a triangle that swallowed almost all of Lakesedge. Alvin had trapped our territory within a circle of death.
“What’s he up to?” I muttered under my breath.
We knew from the witch that Alvin had purchased more ritual supplies. I’d assumed that he planned on binding the pack one by one. This made me think that his plans were much larger—and perhaps a little more immediate.
I looked back and saw Ryder’s head above all others. He stood in the center of the pack. They gathered around him because he’d become their new safe space. So long as Ryder was around, they would feel protected. The pack would be safe in his hands.
That also meant I couldn’t ask him for help.
Damn, I wanted to tell him that I loved him. I wanted one more night with him just to know what I might be losing. Yet, if I approached him now, he would insist on coming with me. I couldn’t let him abandon the pack like that. Not right now.
I gave a nod. “Thanks for letting me know.”
If I took off now, my friends would get suspicious. Vi would never let me go alone, either. Almost as bullheaded as myself, Vi would charge ahead alongside me. Her fire arcana was dangerous, though. If she didn’t burn down half of New York, then she might succumb to her demonic heritage.
I wasn’t going to ask her to risk that for me.
Alvin was my problem, and I was going to take care of it.
“I have to pee,” I said, because it was the only way out of this conversation.
The only one who seemed to see through me was Cerri, but I spun and marched off to the port-a-potty that stood off to the side. When the sensation of being watched vanished, I ducked around the back of the port-a-potty.
I hated those things. They were vile and always reeked of shit no matter where you stood, like smoke from a bonfire finding you even after you switched positions. However, that also meant that no one would catch my scent over here. In the shadow of the port-a-potty, I tugged my shirt over my head and let my hound out.
She was ready for the hunt. My hound tossed her head and shook out her tail. The lines of the map remained in the forefront of my mind. I dove into the woods and made my way to the border of Lakesedge.
Alvin hadn’t been using the witch’s scent-hiding spells lately. If I could find a hint of Alvin’s rot, then I would be able to track him down. Then, it would be just him and me. So long as I could catch him off guard, he wouldn’t be able to use the ritual arcana against me.
Ryder, I’m so sorry. I would have told you if it weren’t for the pack. They need you more than I need you. I’m so sorry.
If the mate bond had been intact, I would have sent those thoughts down the line to him. The ritual had snapped the magical bond between us. I couldn’t tell Ryder how much I loved him even though my heart swelled with affection as I thought of him.
I marveled at how lucky I’d become. I’d thought that my life would remain cursed because of what I was. Alvin had beaten me into submission and convinced me that I would never have anything of value, that I would never be loved, that I would never prove to my pack that I could be of use.
All of that had been shattered when Ryder showed up. I’d gone about it all wrong at first. I’d asked Ryder to kill for me. That’d been my first mistake. If I hadn’t asked him to do something so drastic, maybe we could have confessed our love for one another sooner.
Sorry, Bri. I don’t know if you loved him. Maybe you were waiting for him to love you back. I didn’t mean to steal him from you, but I’m so happy that I did. If that makes me a bad person, then I hope this sacrifice makes up for it.
But I remembered Bri’s all-knowing grin when she looked at Ryder and me. She’d known before I had. Bri had been the first to see the truth that I’d fought so hard. I didn’t steal him from her. If anything, I think Bri was happy that Ryder and I had found one another.