Chapter Two
Nyah’s eyes fluttered open and she attempted to wake up. Darkness shrouded her, except for the moonlight streaming in from the window behind her. She rolled over and a wave of pain crashed her head, forcing a moan from her throat.
“What happened?” she choked out as her fingertips caressed a lump at the back of her head.
A low growl hummed through the air in response. Her heart raced at the sound and she shot up from the bed. Before she could grasp her surroundings, a hand clutched her throat and slammed her against a wall.
Arms and legs flailing, she dangled in the air, gasping for breath.
“Who the hell are you?” a gruff voice said. If she hadn’t been fighting to get air into her lungs, that voice would have melted her insides to a puddle. Sexy and animalistic, it still sent a wave of heat through her.
She clasped her hands to his and tried to pry his fingers from her throat. Fine, if he wanted to play that way, she would, too. Pressing her hand to his chest, she mumbled an incantation and her hand blazed with fire.
The man dropped her from his grasp. “What the ever-loving fuck?” He stripped out of his shirt and threw it to the floor, stomping out the flames engulfing it.
“Don’t choke me, and I won’t have to do that again.” Nyah rubbed her neck, attempting to swallow back her fear mixed with excitement.
The stranger stepped back and moonlight shimmered against his light-brown skin. Muscles flinched as he curled his hands to fists. For a wolf, the man was as smooth as porcelain. Not a hair on his head or his chest, save the dark stubble that dotted his stark jawline clenched as tight as his hands.
She’d watched him for a week, studied him. Though the coven told her the target was his brother, Zeke, the one they called Jordan had stolen her focus, and it cost her. Damn him. Something about him intrigued her. Maybe it was his quiet, broody nature sitting in that back booth every night just taking in the surroundings. Maybe it was how his gaze stalked her from across the room, undressing her within the depths of his dark-brown eyes. Maybe it was his protectiveness over his pack, because when he wasn’t watching her, he was watching everything else going on in that bar, from the patrons to the workers, the ones who’d nicknamed her Trix.
She fell prey to whatever charms he used on her, and she kicked her own ass for it. Nyah should have been back to her sister’s coven by now with the heart of her killer still pumping in her hands. Instead, she stood eye to eye with a wolf.
“You tried to kill my brother. While I said I would let you live, I didn’t say you wouldn’t be punished for it.” Jordan closed the space between them, releasing that low growl again from his chest.
“What happened after you knocked me out?” Nyah folded her arms, holding her ground. The wolf didn’t scare her. She’d been up against their kind before.
Jordan backed her against the wall and slammed his hands above her head. Blood trickled the length of three claw marks on his upper arm. Nyah fought the instinct to touch them, heal them, remembering her enemy towered over her. Heavy, weighted breaths huffed from his mouth against her ear, sending a ripple of exhilaration to her core. As much as she didn’t want it to, it turned her on. His nearness, his growls, his ferocity with her.
“I won, if that’s what you’re asking.” He leaned in and sniffed along her neck before pulling back. “Who are you, Trix? Obviously, you’re a witch. But what I can’t figure out is, which coven has a beef with my pack? We haven’t had any trouble with witches in centuries.”
“The name’s Nyah. They only call me Trix because the bastards in your bar don’t know how to play pool.”
He gripped the hair at the back of her head and yanked her face toward him. “I don’t care about your pool hustling, I care about why you tried to rip Zeke’s heart out. Now tell me, before I rip yours out with my teeth.”
He wouldn’t hurt her, of that Nyah was sure. The evidence of that pressed against her belly. He was just as turned on as she was, and she’d use that to her advantage. She’d get close to him to get close to Zeke and then avenge her sister’s death. Maybe she’d kill both of them, send a message to the wolves that when they kill a witch, they should know who they’re dealing with. They may have taken her sister, but Nyah was the stronger of the twins. Even more now since Norah’s death fused their powers back together in her veins.
She didn’t care about the coven her sister joined years ago when she ran away from their abusive father. She did care about losing her only remaining family. Nyah was now the last of the Winston Witches, descendants from Salem. Norah would never know what Nyah had done for her, killing their dad, making him confess with his last breath that he had indeed killed their mother. And she would have made damn sure he wouldn’t do it to her sister.
But instead, Norah lost her life at the hands of a wolf. This Zeke person. All the evidence given to her from the coven pointed to it. And she had lain in wait for him to show up at the bar to exact her revenge.
“Does it matter? If you’re going to kill me, just get it over with.” Nyah pressed into him, allowing her belly to twist and rub against the bulge threatening to rip open his jeans.
Another low growl emanated from his throat. “Obviously you’re not working for Roark since he tried to kill you tonight. So who wants my brother dead?”
Nyah dragged a nail along the edge of his jeans, scraping the skin. “I do.”
Jordan gripped her wrist, and in a move so fast it blurred her vision, he slammed her back into the wall, pressing his other hand against her cheek, forcing the side of her face to scrape the rough finish. “Do not toy with me, bitch. You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”
“Nor do you,” she choked out, punctuating it with a laugh.
She closed her eyes, and as another incantation left her lips, her body disappeared from his grip. He slammed into the wall before spinning around in a fury. Nyah reappeared on the other side of the room, a smirk twitching on her lips.
Before her body took on full form, Jordan crossed the room in a blur and tossed her onto the bed with such force the air whooshed from her lungs as she hit the mattress. He launched himself on top of her, pinning her with his hands and legs.
“This is your last chance, Nyah, or I swear my teeth will rip a hole in your throat and I’ll leave you to bleed out.” Jordan panted above her. “Why do you want my brother dead?”
Nyah tried to suck in a breath, but the weight of Jordan above her crushed her lungs to the point she couldn’t even move. “He … killed … Norah.”
Jordan tilted his head and jerked back. “Who the fuck is Norah?”
Nyah coughed as he eased his chest from hers, allowing air to return to her lungs. “My twin sister.”
Jordan shook his head and pushed himself off her, though still pinning her with his hips as he sat above her. “Impossible.”
“The fuck it is. I know who killed my sister. And I will have his heart for it and return it to the coven so another wolf can never again terrorize a witch.” Nyah spat at him.
Jordan’s lips pulled into a seductive grin that Nyah wanted to punch off his face. Asshole.
“Wouldn’t you think he’d recognize you then, if you were a twin?” Jordan crossed his arms. “He had no idea who you were. I even sent him on recon to find out. If he already knew you or your sister, he would have told me.” Jordan leaned back down, clasping his fingers around her throat. “So let’s try the truth this time.”
The heat of his touch ignited her body, and it pissed her off. How could she even be turned on by this smug asshole? “That is the truth, you arrogant bastard.”
Nyah gripped his fingers closing in on her windpipe, preventing her from getting out another incantation. She kicked her leg up and kneed him in the balls, and he toppled off the bed. Nyah rolled to her knees and Jordan slung an arm around her waist while clasping his hand around her mouth.
“Zeke,” Jordan yelled over his shoulder.
Zeke whipped open the door, slamming it into the wall, almost off its hinges.
“She says you killed her sister,” Jordan said. “What was her name again, darlin’?”
“Norah,” Nyah mumbled against his fingers before she bit down on his hand. “Norah Winston, you asshole.”
Jordan clenched his jaw through the pain, and his left eye twitched as Nyah looked up at him, still in his hold. “Do you know a Norah Winston?”
Zeke shook his head. “Never heard of her.”
“She’s supposedly Trix’s twin. I said highly unlikely that you killed her then, because you should have recognized Trix , too.” Jordan leaned in and pressed his lips to Nyah’s ear. “So tell us how you came to the conclusion my brother killed your sister. You’ve got one chance, or I let Zeke here avenge his almost death. Speak fast.”
Jordan released his grip and thrust Nyah onto the bed. She glanced at his still-hard cock pressing against his tight jeans. He got his kicks from this shit. Probably lived for rough sex and beating women, just like her father. The fucker.
“I told you, my name isn’t Trix. It’s Nyah.” She sprung up from the bed and launched a fist into his chin, knocking him backward to the floor. Nyah darted across the room to Zeke, her last chance to take him out. Go big or go home.
She slammed her hand against his chest, digging her nails into his flesh. Zeke gasped, as his arms that almost pushed her back fell limp to his sides. But something gripped her from behind and flung her to the ground.
Zeke dropped next to her, blood trickling from his chest. “I … didn’t … kill … her.”
Nyah’s heart seized at the dying man’s words. He sucked in another gasp, blood gurgling to his lips.
Jordan dropped to his brother’s side and gripped his face in his hands. “Don’t you leave me, Zeke. Fight it.”
“You swear you didn’t kill my sister?” Nyah rolled over and looked into the dying man’s eyes. The eyes never lied.
Zeke nodded and coughed up a river of blood.
Nyah held her hands over his chest and whispered a spell as a bright white light glowed under her fingertips. The same fingertips that could bring death, also brought life. Her blessing and her curse.
Zeke sucked in a gasp of air before coughing it back out, rolling to his knees. “Crazy-ass bitch.”
“You’re fucking welcome, asshole.” Ungrateful dick, like the rest of them.
“Oh, I’m the asshole? You’re the one who fucking tried to kill me. Twice!” Zeke rubbed his chest and glared at her.
Minor details. If this Zeke guy didn’t kill Norah, who the hell did?
“Looks to me like you owe my brother an apology,” Jordan said, sitting on the floor with one arm draped over his raised knee. A sexy smirk twitched on his lips.
She ached to kiss it off his mouth and knee him in the balls again at the same time. He infuriated her, yet she ached to have his body press against hers again.
Don’t fall for it, Nyah. You have no time to lose. You have to find Norah’s killer.
“I saved his life. That should take care of it,” Norah said, pushing herself to her feet.
Nyah brushed past Jordan, slamming into his shoulder. His hand gripped her by the elbow and spun her around, thrusting her back onto the bed.
“What the fuck? We’re done here. You can let me go.” Anger thrummed in her veins, just shy of the excitement welling beneath it.
Jordan nodded his head toward his brother. “Zeke, go have a rest. I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Thanks, bro.” Zeke turned and gave Nyah the finger as he closed the door behind him.
“As for you,” Jordan said, crossing his arms as he made his way to the bed. “I’m not through with you yet.”
“What do you want with me?” Nyah inched her way up the pillows, ready to strike back at him.
“I haven’t figured that out just yet.” He ran a hand along his face, rubbing his chin. “But until then, we need to figure out who actually killed your sister.”
Nyah swallowed hard. For the first time since she arrived in Eden’s Bayou, it hit her. Norah was truly gone. Dead. All she had to survive on was her anger. Her determination to find her killer and make him suffer. Now, she had nothing. All her clues had led her to a dead end. The emotions balled up in her throat and wedged themselves there. She forced back a pool of tears welling in her eyes.
No tears. Don’t let him see you cry.
“Why? What’s in it for you?” Nyah choked out.
Jordan paused, staring at her with dark eyes. “Because someone obviously fed you false information. They wanted you to kill my brother. Which means we both need to get to the bottom of it. And, I’m sure you want closure for your sister. You healed my brother. I’ll help you find your sister’s killer.”
She didn’t need his help. Didn’t want it. The longer she stayed in his presence, the more he seduced her with his eyes and his large, protective body. He could have ripped her to shreds a number of times tonight, but he hadn’t. He fought with her. Fought for the truth and let her live. She almost needlessly killed a man tonight in blind rage with only hearsay to go on. It struck her heart she could have had a hell of a lot more blood on her hands tonight if it weren’t for him. Yet he sat there and offered to help her.
Nyah was in over her head.