Has Vi deliberately withheld information? My blood boils, and I almost forget about Jasper’s hold on me and his proximity, but he reminds me with his breath on my lips.

“You’ll stop jumping,” he says against my mouth. “You’ll go back to your Loup friends, and you’ll tell them you have eyes on the streets. You’ll rest and leave this to me. Do you understand?”

His thumb sweeps along the column of my throat, and my breath hitches traitorously.

He licks the seam of my mouth, and an unwanted moan rises between us as my mouth parts.

He sucks on my bottom lip, and I clench my fists to quell a groan of pleasure. “Do you understand?” he repeats.

“Yes.” My voice is a husky rasp, and I’m desperate for this ordeal to be over.

He obliges by releasing me, and then he’s gone.

My hand goes to my throat and then to my mouth, still tingling from his attentions. “Fuck you, Jasper.” I say it out loud, but not too loud, because he might hear and come back.

I make the jump back to the house and materialize in the kitchen of the Regency Pack house. My legs give out, but before I can grab hold of anything to brace myself, I’m swept off my feet.

“I got you,” Dean says, his smooth baritone a delight to my ears.

“Thanks, big guy.” I offer him a cheeky smile, and I swear his cheeks flush.

Dean sets me down on a high-backed stool carefully, and Bobby places a cup of coffee in front of me.

“Extra sugar,” he says shyly. “I figure the jumping-about thing takes energy.”

I give him a grateful smile. “Thanks. You figure right.”

“Did you find anything?” Grayson asks, straight to the point.

His hair is mussed, and he smells of the outdoors, plus he’s topless—all abs and shit—which means he’s only just come back from scouring the city himself.

“No. But Jasper’s on it now. He has eyes on the city. If she’s here, he says he’ll find her.”

“What kind of eyes?” Dean asks.

“I didn’t ask, because to be honest, the less I know about Jasper’s goings-on, the better.”

I gulp the coffee, not caring how hot it is. I need to get my energy levels up because when Jasper comes back with intel, I need to be able to make the jump.

The doors to the house swing open, and Azazel and Mal enter, looking pissed off.

They’ve been out scouring Necro and the surrounding areas ever since their meeting with Eldrick. That’s another thing that’s bothering me. Logan, the ex-Rising Pack member, is adamant his intel’s correct—that Eldrick and Hunter are about to make a move to take Necro, and Grayson’s inquiries over the last two weeks back it up.

It makes sense for Eldrick to be in on Hunter’s plan, but Azazel has a gift for reading people, and if he says Eldrick’s innocent, then he must be. So, what the fuck is going on?

I look up at Grayson. “Where’s Logan?”

Grayson’s brows snap together. “He’s not lying. I’d smell it if he was.”

I roll my eyes. “Yes, yes. I get that. I just need to ask him a few questions. Maybe he knows something else that might be useful, something he might not even realize is crucial.”

“It’s obvious Hunter’s working alone on this,” Dean says. “If Eldrick is innocent, then it must be all Hunter’s idea.”

“And he spread the word that Eldrick was working with him, maybe to garner support…” Grayson ponders.

“Right, so then Hunter goes off and kidnaps his alpha’s daughter at the eleventh hour and blows up his own fucking plan?” I give them all incredulous looks. “Why would he do that? Why throw away all his hard work like that? If Eldrick isn’t on Hunter’s side, it would mean exile or some shit from the pack, right? I doubt Eldrick is going to pat Hunter on the back and forgive this.”

“Hunter wants Fee,” Grayson says. “And he knows once he has her, Eldrick won’t abandon him. He’ll have to keep him close to keep his daughter safe.”

“Dammit, hadn’t thought of that.”

Logan lopes into the house, his body slick with sweat. “We’ve searched the whole of Rising Pack territory and nothing,” he says.

I fix my gaze on him. “Who told you about Hunter and Eldrick’s plan?”

“Everyone in the pack knows. It’s all they whisper about.”

“A rumor. You left on a rumor?”

His expression hardens. “A rumor that’s been proven to be true.” His gaze flits to Grayson, who nods in agreement. “I want no part of a pack that would seek to crush the Loup’s spirit, and that’s what such a regime will do.”

I down my coffee. Pack business gives me a headache. “Jasper. Jasper!”

The air ripples and my personal malevolent spirit appears. “Impatience doesn’t suit you.”

“Any news?”

His smile is a warning, sharp and cold. “Summon me again, and I will increase my price, but maybe that’s what you want…”

My pulse quickens. “You wish.”

His brow flicks up slightly, calling my bluff. “I will come fetch you when I have a location; in the meantime, I can confirm Fee is not in Necro City.”

And he vanishes in typical Jasper fashion without a goodbye, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

“What did he mean?” Dean asks softly. “What price?”

I shake my head. “It’s nothing. I don’t want to talk about it.”

Nope, from the look on his face, he’s not about to let the topic drop, and I’m steeling myself to knock him back when Vi sweeps into the house.

I’m still pissed at her, but right now, her entrance is a godsend because all eyes are on her.

“I have the key to the shackle,” she says. You can tell she’s been crying from the puffy skin under her eyes. She’s meant to hold on to the key and hand it to Hunter once Fee’s mated to him fully. “I got here as fast as I could. There was a meeting, and I had to attend, and I—”

“Could you do a scrying spell for her?” I blurt out. Mainly because I need to know but also because it keeps Dean’s attention off me.

Vi stares at me with wide, innocent eyes. “Sorry?”

“Jasper said you could easily locate Fee with a scrying spell.”

“Not with the blocker on,” Vi says. “It blocks her reaper signature and kills her connection to you, her tulpa.”

“What about by using blood?”

Everyone is listening now. Grayson is especially alert and tense as he waits for her response. Azazel and Mal stand side by side, arms crossed, mouths pressed in thin lines, and if the situation wasn’t so fucked up, I’d be tempted to take a snap of them to show Fee later.

Vi’s eyes harden. “I know what you’re insinuating, Cora. I know you and Fee share blood, but Hunter wanted something a witch couldn’t trace, and so I added a warping rune to stop a witch from scrying.” Her shoulders sag. “I understand I’ll have to earn your trust again. I understand that sorry isn’t enough, but I swear to you I am on your side.” Her words choke off on a sob.

The anger bleeds out of me. Women in love do crazy things. “I believe you, Vi.”

She gives me a tentative smile. “Do you think Fee will ever forgive me?”

I’m all about the honesty. “If Hunter succeeds in his mission, then no, but if we manage to stop him, then yeah, I think with time, she will.”

Vi takes a shaky breath. “Where are we on the search?”

“Necro is clean,” Azazel says. “Now, we wait for Jasper to find Fee.”

“Relying on a malevolent spirit,” Mal drawls. “The world’s gone mad.”

I don’t care what we have to do and who we have to squeeze for help; I don’t care what price. All I know is if I don’t get my best friend back before Hunter finishes the mating, then I might lose her for good because there is no doubt in my mind that being bound to Hunter will crush my best friend’s spirit.

I can’t let that happen.

Chapter Seven

Fee

Hunter and I sat at the kitchen table, nursing a glass of whiskey each. Neither of us had spoken since getting back to the cabin. We’d dried off, and now we were here, just sitting and drinking, trapped in a weird bubble of what-the-fuck.

The effects from the fallout of the adrenaline rush were gone, but the fight-or-flight situation had left me with another problem. The heat was here. A prickling in my blood, and a throbbing in my palms. It was coming, and my time was almost over.

I needed to stay calm. Calm would control it and slow it down. Ha, who was I kidding? I had no clue if that would work, but I had to try. I wasn’t ready to give up.

Hunter broke the silence. “It’s not safe here any longer. A rogue pack is prowling this territory. There could be more.”

“I thought rogues lived solo.”

“There have been rumors of rogues forming packs for some months now. I didn’t believe it until tonight.” He sipped his whiskey, not looking at me, and that in itself was disconcerting.

Hunter was the master of penetrating looks and raking stares. He used his obsidian eyes to intimidate. But this worked in my favor. Proximity, eye contact, all that shit might nudge the heat to the next level.

Hunter took another sip. “You went out there even though I warned you how dangerous it was. You’re not stupid, so what? Did you think I was lying?”

“No. I just didn’t care. I wanted to get away from you.”

He rolled his lips into his mouth and exhaled through his nose. “You hate the idea of being mated to me that much.”

“And finally, the penny drops.”

“Sarcasm doesn’t become you.”

“And kidnapping looks really shitty on you.”

The corners of his mouth dimpled in displeasure.

“Look, I don’t want to be tied to someone who wants to own me like a possession. You have no respect for me or what I want, and that’s a huge red flag for me in a relationship.”