The vision made her feel as if it would happen shortly. They didn’t have much time to prepare for what was coming. “We have to get out of here, through the back door,” she said, trying to pull her father along with her to make their escape. “We have to get a message to Oliver. He is the only one who can help us now.”
“We don’t need that little witch hunter to help us. I can protect my own family,” her father declared.
“Not from this threat you can’t. Please, let’s go.” She tried dragging him along with her but he remained steadfast. “Why do you have to be so damn bullheaded?”
“It runs in the family,” he retorted hotly.
She could sense dark magic—it was too late, they were here. “They have arrived.” The horrifying reality of her nightmarish vision was about to come true.
“Who’s here?”
“The woman who wants to twist time to her own vile means. Get away from the front door.” She pulled him away and they managed to avoid most of the blowback from the explosion. At least this time she wouldn’t lose consciousness. “Oliver,” she screamed. “I need you.”
The purple-black shifter cat entered the house first. She sniffed her way over to Dallas.
“Hello, Neha,” Dallas said.
The cat held her face a hairsbreadth away from her.
“Get away from my daughter,” her father shouted as he lunged at Neha.
“Stop it, Dad. Neha won’t hurt me,” she said. “Your mistress is taking a while to catch up. I guess she’s so proud of herself that she has to revel in the moment of Oliver’s downfall.”
The cat’s emerald-green eyes gleamed with pain. “You are a seer,” Neha said, startling her father out of his wits.
“Shit, a shifter. I’ve run into these kinds of cats before. They are like witches and warlocks, except they have one hell of a bite if need be,” he muttered, backing away from Neha.
“She never told me you were a seer. Seers are sacred among my kind. I can’t let her hurt you—and I won’t let her hurt your mate.”
So, Neha knew. Dallas supposed she had Oliver’s scent on her.
“I fail to see how you can do anything to stop it,” her father said. “She’s got you enslaved.” Bitterness and anger filled his voice.
“I will die for them if I have to,” Neha proclaimed.
“You won’t have to die for us, Neha. I twisted my ankle when we fell from the explosion. At least this time I wasn’t knocked out. All you have to do is find Oliver. You will see the way when I touch you. In your cat form you can run much faster than my father or I could ever hope to. Tell him what’s going on so he’s prepared. May I touch your skin?” Dallas asked.
Neha regally dropped her head so Dallas could touch her on the star-shaped mark on her head. Her fur was soft, so very soft. She thought for a moment and gave Neha the vision she would need in order to find Oliver.
“Go, now, before the bitch gets in here,” Dallas said.
Neha looked up and quickly gave her a lick across her face. “I will return,” Neha said as she darted out of the house in a shockingly fast blur.
“I forgot how fast those creatures could go,” her father muttered. “Did you actually hurt your ankle, because I didn’t see you fall?”
“No, I didn’t. I had to say that in order for Neha to leave. Oliver will know how to get that damn collar off her—or at least, I hope he does.”
“Why do you want her free?”
“Because no one deserves to be a slave, and Neha has a lust for revenge that has been building inside her for over twenty years. I think she should have that lust fulfilled tonight, don’t you?”
He solemnly nodded. “It’s going to get ugly.”
“Yeah, but this time I’m ready for the fight. I don’t know what Rebecca is doing but she’s taking her own sweet time, which buys us enough time to get to the library and find the Hyde family spell book that has the information I need right now.”
“Do you think you can cast one that will take care of Rebecca?”
“I’m not sure. If I can’t, I’ll have to move to plan B.”
“And what’s plan B?”
“It involves taking us all back in time and erasing Rebecca from existence.”
“I like the sound of that. Let’s get cooking,” he said as they made their way to the library.
Chapter Eleven
Oliver shot upright in bed as Dallas’s scream