She can't take on the talents of others. To get stronger, she either seduces them to her side—like she seduced my father—or she kills her enemies and removes their powers from this earth.
If you aren't with me, you're against me.
It's a philosophy that's kept her alive a long, long time.
Sooner or later she's going to get tired of waiting and just kill you.
You're probably right.
Another shiver passed over me, making my skin ripple beneath all the fur. The only thing more frightening than Sawyer being on the side of evil was Sawyer not being on any side at all. My feelings about him were complicated to say the least.
Can she kill you?
He gave a little sneeze—amusement and derision rode on the sound—then pawed at his snout as if that had tickled.
I might be very hard to kill, Phoenix, but that doesn't mean I'm immortal.
You could wear a turquoise, I suggested.
That wouldn't work for me.
Why not?
Magic. He took a deep breath. It's difficult to explain.
I'd have to take his word for it. Though I'd dealt with my share of magic lately—spells and witches and fairies, oh, my—I still didn't know much about it.
So what do we do?
Sawyer lifted his large, shaggy head, and his gray eyes, which were both bizarrely human and savagely wolf, peered into mine. We find a way to kill her first.
CHAPTER 13
Considering no one, including Sawyer, had a clue how to kill a Naye'i his words weren't as comforting as they should have been.
Let's get some sleep, Sawyer continued. By morning you'll be healed, and we can get back on the road. In order to kill her, we've got to find her.
We have to make a detour. He tilted his head. First Ruthie wants us to go to Detroit and meet with the benandanti who can remove the spell from the amulet.
What amulet? he asked.
I guess I hadn't explained everything, so I did. Then, considering the turquoise, I had to ask.
Did you make it?
You think I'd give her something that allowed her to murder at will unseen?
When he put it like that...
Did you?
No. I'm not capable of that powerful a spell.
I snorted. I thought he was capable of a lot more than he ever let on. Still, I didn't think he'd do his mother any favors.
Could she have made it herself?
Perhaps, but I have to think that if she could have, she would have, long ago.
We live and learn, I pointed out, and he dipped his head.
How she got the amulet is irrelevant, Sawyer continued. We have it now; it's useless to her.
She'll keep coming after it.
Isn't that what we want? She comes after the necklace and we... He paused, a frustrated sound escaping his throat. If he'd been in human form, he'd have thrown up his strong-fingered, magical hands. Do whatever it is we have to do to end her.
In theory, I agreed. In practice, we don't know how to end her, so she probably ends us. Ruthie was very adamant about meeting with the good witch of Detroit. And she wanted you to go with me.
What Ruthie wants, Ruthie gets.
I'd thought he would argue or outright refuse to go along, then disappear into the night on his own witch hunt, leaving me to travel alone. He was full of surprises lately.
Come to bed.
My head went up as he leaped to the floor, crowding me until my flanks hit the spindly, scarred excuse for a table and it rattled. His eyes flared, but I refused to look away. Alphas stared down betas. Problem was—Sawyer and I were both alphas.
I growled and bumped his chest with mine. He snarled and bumped me back. This could get ugly.
He ran his open mouth across my shoulder, teeth just brushing my skin, and I shuddered.
Or it might get something else.
Images flickered—of us together in the desert. The best sex I'd ever had.
No. I dropped to the ground, crouching, tail tucked beneath, a position of submission—until I rolled away.
He followed, stalking me like the predator he was. Come on, Phoenix, you know you want to.
The frightening thing ... he was right. I wanted to. I would probably always want to. Except—
You 're a wolf.
So are you.
He kept coming; I needed to stop retreating. I'd never be the alpha if I let him push me around.
But—
His mouth opened in an expression that was pure wolf, in any form, and I understood.
The first time I'd touched him after Ruthie had died, I'd seen the eons of his life rushing past me, people he'd killed, women he'd loved, the many ways he'd lived. Sawyer had spent time as a wolf. He'd mated as one, too.
Gack! I don't think so.
Try it, Phoenix. I know you'll like it.