Heart of Vengeance (Alice Worth #6) - Lisa Edmonds Page 0,104

feared the very outcome he described. “The witch Torryn said I’ll have to cut it out,” I said. “I’m afraid of what that means. And if I have to cut it out of myself, what will I have to do to save Sean?”

His eyes darkened again, but this time, it wasn’t with anger. “All good questions, Alice, but not questions you must answer now.” He took my cup and set it next to his on the table. “Rest. Regain your strength.” He gestured at the bags of food I’d bought at the way station. “Eat. The magic consumes energy. You’re hungry all the time now, aren’t you?”

I nodded.

He put the cap on his bottle of tequila. “Eat when you’re hungry, rest when you’re tired, as best you can. That will buy you some time.”

“Time for what?”

“To figure out how to get the black magic out. To find what you’ve come here looking for. To get you home.” He headed for the door, bottle of tequila in hand. “Sleep.”

I followed him. “Where you are going?”

He turned. For the first time since I’d met him, the corners of his mouth turned up in a ghost of a smile. “Missing me already?”

“Asshole.” I touched the doorframe to lower the ward. “Get out.”

He opened the door. The early light of dawn spilled across the horizon behind him. “I’ll be nearby. Sleep tight.”

I wanted to slam the door. Instead, I closed it quietly and raised the ward.

Daisy chuffed.

“Quiet, you.” I flicked off the light. The bottle of moonshine, half empty, remained on the table, next to our cups.

Outside, the Harley rumbled to life. After a moment, it departed, and the motel fell silent.

I didn’t remember taking off my jeans, but they were draped over the back of a chair. Warm from the moonshine, I returned to the bed. Daisy curled up in front of the door, on guard. The pūķis purred on her pillow.

I pulled the covers up my chin and fell asleep.

I woke from a sound sleep to someone pounding on my door and my stomach cramping from hunger.

“Rrrrr,” my cat-dragon said with a yawn, blinking sleepily on the pillow beside my head.

“Alice!” Lucy shouted through the door. “Wake up! We’ve gotta hit the road!”

I stumbled out of bed. Disoriented, groggy, and lightheaded with hunger, I nearly fell. Daisy was suddenly at my side to steady me.

I thought maybe only an hour or two had passed since I’d fallen asleep, and was prepared to yell at Lucy for waking me up so soon. To my surprise, the clock on the nightstand said it was a little after two in the afternoon. I’d gotten about seven hours of sleep, which should have been enough to get me back on my feet, but I felt almost as tired as when I went to bed.

The half-empty bottle of moonshine on the table confirmed Ronan had been in my room this morning and I hadn’t in fact dreamed his visit. I dug a protein bar from one of the shopping bags from the way station and unwrapped it on my way to the door.

When I opened the door, I found Lucy outside, already dressed, her bag at her feet. “You look like hell,” she told me.

I took a bite of the protein bar. “Thank you,” I said around my mouthful of food. I dropped my ward so she could come inside and stepped back to let her walk past.

She brought her bag inside and shut the door. I got my jeans off the chair where I’d left them and put them on as I ate the rest of the bar.

Lucy eyed the bottle on the table. “Where’d that come from?”

I went to the bathroom to put on my bra. “Ronan,” I said.

“What? How—?”

Between bites of a second protein bar, I explained how Ronan had found us. As she cursed Charles, Ronan, his motorcycle, and all of their ancestors, I brushed my teeth, washed my face, and combed and braided my hair. My eyes were deeply shadowed and looked almost feverish. At least the hunger pains had eased.

When I emerged from the bathroom, Lucy was still livid. “Tracking us,” she fumed. “Spying on us while we fought the gravelings. Rat bastard.” She glanced at my rumpled bed. “You didn’t sleep with him, did you?”

I gave her a look. “No, I did not. I have a partner back home who I love very much, and Ronan is an ass.”

“You wouldn’t be the first person to sleep with someone you thought