I couldn’t stay quiet any longer. “Who the hell are you talking about?”
Viktor snorted while Yutani muttered something under his breath.
“They’re talking about a certain witch I know.” Herne shrugged as he turned on the ignition and backed out of the parking spot. “She rubs them the wrong way. It’s always been a hate-hate fest between the three of them.”
“You can’t tell me you feel any different than we do, especially after what she did to you.” Yutani tapped away on his phone, bringing up a picture that he handed to me.
The woman in the picture was gorgeous, that was for sure. Tall, statuesque, really, with long blond hair, and boobs that exceeded my own in size. But she was thin and leggy, and looked like a porn star. I swallowed. Hard.
“She’s…well… Wow.”
“Wow is right. Her name is Reilly. She’s a witch and a priestess of Aphrodite. And she used to be Herne’s snuggle bunny until he found out she was snuggling with everything that walked on two feet and had money and a cock.” Viktor shook his head.
“Enough,” Herne said from the front seat.
At that, Viktor and Yutani shut their mouths and stared out the window. A moment later, Herne sighed as he turned swung onto the road that would take us to the freeway.
“Okay, here’s the deal. The guys are right. Reilly can be bad news. But she can also be helpful. As to my past with her, it would have been one thing if she had told me about the others, but I had to find out the hard way. And I found out that not only was she screwing around on me, but she was scamming the other guys for whatever she could get from them.”
I tried to take in what he had just told me. “And you still keep in contact?”
“We parted amicably enough. I told her we were done. She burned down my garage and threatened to shrivel up my dick. I reminded her I’m the son of a god—and goddess—and she said we were even. We don’t stay in touch much, but I still hire out her services when absolutely necessary. She’s good at what she does.”
I blinked. “That’s a lot of information to take in.” Then, before I could help myself, I added, “So what’s she so good at?”
Herne glared at me through the rearview mirror, but then laughed softly. “I should have expected that. To get it out of the way, yes, she’s great at casting lust spells. But she’s also a talented medium and she’s very good at divining the locations of missing people. And monsters. It helps if you have something that belongs to the missing person, and since we have Kuveo’s tails, I think Reilly should be able to get a good bead on him.”
Reilly. Sexy witch. Lovely.
“Will she do it?”
“I called her. She’s home and still up. She said for us to drop by. It will cost me two-fifty—that’s two hundred and fifty—but it’s worth it.”
“She won’t scam you?”
He shook his head. “That’s one thing about Reilly. When she gives her word on a business deal, she keeps it. She’s lousy at relationships, but she’s an astute and savvy businesswoman.”
I pressed my lips together, staring at the back of the front seat. Astute and savvy businesswoman, my ass. She was sex on legs. The thought of her and Herne together needled at me, and I realized I was jealous, even though I had no right to feel that way. Or, perhaps, threatened was a better word. They had a history. Herne and I had shared a kiss. That was it.
I felt something poke me in the side and glanced up to see Viktor giving me a knowing look. He couldn’t have seen Herne kiss me, only Angel had been there, but then again, I wasn’t sure who knew what anymore.
“Ember? Ember?”
Herne’s voice jolted me out of my thoughts.
“What?” The word came out more sharply than I had intended, but I cleared my throat and added, “Sorry, I was off in my thoughts. What did you ask?”
“I asked if you’re okay? Did Kuveo hurt you?”
I snuck a glance at his face in the rearview mirror. He looked concerned and I had to force myself from kicking the back of the front seat. I was frustrated and tired, and aching from the bruises that were starting to come on full force.
“Yeah…I mean no. I’m bruised up a bit, but I can take it. Nothing I haven’t dealt with before.” I leaned back, glancing at Viktor. “Mind if I rest on the way to the witch’s place?”
He shook his head and held out his arm again. I ignored Herne’s glances in the rearview mirror as I leaned against the ogre’s chest and closed my eyes, listening as the wheels of the car ate up the asphalt, spinning the road out behind us.
REILLY LIVED NEAR Medina, one of the priciest areas near Bellevue. Outside the window, the houses passed by, growing more lavish and expensive as we went. I had seen my fair share of expensive homes, but these were sprawling behemoths that promised a life of glitz, glamour, and massive property taxes.
I wondered what it would be like to live here in one of these grand houses.
I had never been wealthy. Even my parents had lived modestly, given they had been cut off from their families when they were kicked out of TirNaNog and Navane. They had left with what little they possessed. All told, it afforded them a tidy little house in Seattle, but when they died, I had asked the lawyers to sell the house, with almost everything in it, and I invested what was left as best as I could.
I had lost a little of the money on poor speculations, so I didn’t touch the bulk of it until I was eighteen and moved out of Mama J.’s house. She’d invited me to stay, pointing out that Angel wasn’t leaving yet, but I really didn’t want to take advantage of her any more than I already had. Mama J. had a huge heart, and if she could have, she would have gathered up every stray dog, cat, and kid that came her way. There were others who needed her help more than me, so I got a job and moved out to make room for them. Two years later, Angel and I roomed together at junior college, and two years after that, Mama J. gave birth to DJ.
“What are you thinking about?” Herne asked. “You look a million miles away.”
I was surprised he had noticed. “My past. Where I came from, and where I’m headed. All sorts of things.” My mood had turned from snarky to introspective and I decided to tone it down. It really wasn’t my place to be jealous. One kiss didn’t mean much, nor did two.
We were on Twenty-fourth Street and had just passed the Overlake Golf and Country Club when Herne took a left onto Seventy-ninth. As we wove through a new development of McMansions, I shook off my thoughts, especially the one that needled me with wondering how I looked. I was better off if I just ignored that particular train of thought. There was absolutely no way to compete with a sex goddess when you were covered in bruises and blood.
Halfway down the block, Herne eased into the driveway of a house that looked modest compared to the others, but fancy compared to what I was used to. It had the typical pillars in the front, common to current design, and was a two-story house on a narrow lot. I glanced at Viktor, who raised his eyebrows and shook his head. His lips were set in a thin line.
We got out of the car, and followed Herne up to the door.
I glanced at my phone. It was almost two in the morning. “I’m surprised she’s still up.”
“I’m not,” Yutani quipped. Herne flashed him a dirty look and the coyote shifter simply shrugged and shook his head.
“Play nice or she might not help us.” Herne’s sigh told me he wasn’t so blasé as he sounded.
He rang the bell.