I Regret Nothing - JB Trepagnier Page 0,39
so a silver hair raised a lot of questions.”
Well, that answered a lot of questions, including how good a thief she was. It also raised a lot. Why was she caught in the parking lot of the museum biting a witch?
“What exactly happened at the museum?”
“Rei doesn’t know her family. We know what she is, but we’ve only made educated guesses about what kind. She thought she was a fox shifter when we met too. It was hard for her to be raised by humans. She wanted that amulet to contact her ancestors and get some answers about herself. I tried to talk her out of it, but she had a plan. When Rei plans something, it’s flawless. She could have stolen that amulet, and no one would have realized it until they saw the empty case. Rei saw Venus on the security cameras and improvised. Venus was the one that botched the theft and alerted the guards. Rei should have left instead of assaulting her in the parking lot, but she really wants those answers.”
“We chatted about her human parents. She told me a little about how hard it was when she realized she wasn’t like them. She had to keep it this big secret, and she was in a human high school too. She had no one to talk to about it.”
“Yes, I know. Her parents kept secrets about her too. She asked them about her birth parents several times, and they refused to tell her. I’ve tried to help her by digging into her adoption, but they redacted most of it, and it was like she didn’t exist. We both wanted the answers that amulet could have given. I didn’t want her doing it, but she could have done it if Venus didn’t show up. You can’t trust that witch. I agreed to take a job with her because she begged me, and she double-crossed me. I nearly got caught, and I had a whole Vampire clan after my ass because I thought I was stealing the item for them.”
See, that was why I worked alone. Killing people tended to be a solitary job unless they paid you to take out a sizeable group at once. I still didn’t take on a partner then. I just got creative. My old pack would make group kills, but there was so much drama with that. If someone didn’t pull their weight, everyone got fucked. And I wasn’t shocked it was a witch who had caused so much trouble with Hauser and Rei. Most witches and warlocks were perfectly lovely, but when they went wrong, they went evil.
“Rei has pissed off a lot of witches. The witch gang in Silverhold isn’t that bad. Their high priestess keeps them in line, but I’ve watched this Venus making friends. I can’t throw her in solitary unless she does something. I’m thinking of making her dead if she keeps threatening my mate.”
“I don’t think anyone is going to weep if Venus dies. Venus has probably pissed off way more witches than Rei ever did. We’re talking blood feuds with several covens. If she ever wanted to stop being a free agent and join a coven again, I don’t know of a single one that would have her.”
“The only reason I hadn’t is that I didn’t want any more attention on Rei. Everyone at the prison knows Rei and Venus are enemies. If Venus ended up dead, even if nothing tied back to Rei, people would still blame her. I need a plan before I take out the witch, so it doesn’t come back on Rei.”
“Good. And I don’t think I need to tell you that you need to keep her away from the other shifters.”
“I gave her a job doing my paperwork. She’s with me during the day. I’m going to have to figure out something as to why she’s not going to the yard with the other shifters when we unlock their cuffs and let them shift or use their magic for an hour.”
“Listen to me, Faust. This is important. It’s not just her scent. When Rei turns into her fox, it’s not even remotely like a shifter change. She cannot go anywhere near that yard and be expected to change. Promise me.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Good. Figure out the prison situation. Rei is like my daughter, and I fiercely love her. You keep her alive for the next seven years, and you have my blessing to claim her if that’s what