“I think it’s best to pull the boat up and wait for your father,” Rourke said. “We don’t know what’s real now, and what may be an illusion. From what I know about black magic, everything is tainted.” He slowed the boat down by turning off the propeller and gliding us toward a thick bank of trees. These boats didn’t have brakes. As Rourke nestled the boat in between cypress roots like a pro, the air around us pushed down on our chests, making it harder to breathe.
My wolf paced back and forth, lifting her muzzle to scent the area. The smell of rancid meat and rotting flesh started to creep into my senses. No wonder the guides didn’t venture any farther. It was menacing here, and the trees were so thick that we could see only a few feet into the grove. Anything could be lurking there.
“Is that fog rolling in like on a movie set?” Marcy asked, her voice hitting a high note at the end. “This place is laced with negative energy.”
There was indeed a fog creeping in. It was misting in front of us, straight up the waterway, blocking out any sun that had been trying to filter through.
“Dammit,” Tyler swore. “This isn’t good.”
Rourke went to the side of the boat. “If I had to guess, I’d say we’re about a mile farther in than the guides have ever been. I didn’t feel any wards, but we definitely crossed a line of some kind back there.” He glanced at the sky. “And the vamps should’ve been back by now. I say we turn around and head back to wait for them on the other side of the line. No reason to stay here like sitting ducks if we’re in the priestess’s domain.” Rourke reached back to flip the fan back on.
Nothing happened.
Danny stepped over the bench in front of us, heading toward the guys. “Here, let me help. I have gifted fingers when it comes to starting things.”
Rourke stepped aside. “By all means, wolf, give it your best shot.” Danny flipped the switch and nothing happened. Tyler started to argue with him and Rourke drew closer to me. He leaned over and said, “If we’re under some kind of attack, I want you to head straight back the way we came. Use the sun if you have to, but I want you to go.”
I nodded absentmindedly, still scanning the trees in front of us. “The chances of us separating is slim, and you know it. I’m not leaving you here to fight the threat alone.”
“If this priestess wants power,” he said, crossing his arms, “she wants you. If she’s a bokor like Marcy thinks, these Made wolves aren’t cursed—they’re dead. She’s likely been in control of their minds the entire time, and if that’s the case, she’s had an agenda all along. We don’t need much brainpower to reason that she’s lured the Pack here on purpose, in hopes you would show up. And we played right into her hands.”
I nodded. “That might be true, but we don’t know anything for sure. It could be she was originally hired by the fracture pack and then decided to turn the tables when she realized how powerful her new wolves had become. Every supe we’ve encountered wants power any way they can get it. I might be the icing, now that I’m here, but there’s a possibility I wasn’t the main meal.”
“I don’t believe any of this was unintentional. She wants you,” Rourke grumbled. “The air here is thick with hate. Nothing natural would live within these boundaries. Something that evil lies in wait for their prize, even if it means waiting a hundred years.”
He was right. No self-respecting animal would live on cursed land if they could help it.
I looked over at my brother and Danny. “Hey,” I called, “time to stop worrying about the motor. Let’s get some long sticks and start moving this thing along like a gondola. We only went a mile or so before Rourke shut the boat down. Naomi and Ray should be back any moment. We’ll meet them back the way we came.”
Rourke leaned over the side and cracked a big branch off a cypress tree and placed it in the water.
Then he stilled mid-thrust.
“What?” I asked, reading his face. “What is it?”
He put his finger to his lips, his eyes pinned over my shoulder. Don’t move, he told me internally.
Marcy stifled a shriek behind me and I closed my eyes.
My back was closest to the trees. Slowly, without moving my body, I tilted my eyes upward. Right into the face of a huge python. It slithered above me, slowly descending, not making a sound. It was ten feet from my head. We wouldn’t be able to get the boat out fast enough by hand. We had to fight it.
Rourke changed his grip on the branch to hold it like a baseball bat. Stay still. When I yell, you duck. It’s only going to take one hit.
Hurry up. That thing looks hungry and more than a little possessed. There was no mistaking that the snake only had eyes for me. Its head never wavered.