The Burning Claw
Page 94

“She did it willingly?” Peri asked.
“I don’t know. She looked pretty agitated when we came in.” Jen pointed out.
“Let’s go find out.”
They both entered the living room to find Jacque interrogating Sally about the previous evening. Sally was doing a great job dodging the questions. Peri walked past the chair where Sally sat and, just as she passed, she stopped, turned, and looked down at Sally. “What’s that?” She pointed at the beautiful bracelet on her arm.
Sally blushed. “Jericho got it for me.”
“Can I see it?” Peri asked. “I’ve never seen chocolate diamonds in real life. My man’s too cheap.”
Sally held out her arm and watched as Peri took it off. Jen was looking at Peri when she heard Sally’s gasp.
Peri’s eyes snapped to their friend. “Feel better?”
Sally shook her head. “No. I feel…less foggy. But by no means better.”
“What’s wrong?” Jacque asked in an encouraging voice.
Sally’s lip trembled as she spoke. “I think I made a huge mistake last night.”
They nodded, telling her to go on.
“I slept with Jericho.”
Peri glared down at the bracelet in her hand. The magic on it had pissed her off. But hearing Sally say she’d slept with the wolf who gave it to her enraged her. Once again, this magic had the taint of Alston all over it. When she got her hands on him, it wasn’t going to be pretty. Viewer discretion advised for anyone under the age of three centuries.
“It was consensual?” Peri asked her.
Sally paled. “Y-yes. Jericho didn’t force himself on me. But I feel like I’ve—” She stopped and gasped. Just like the previous night, pain bolted through her head.”
That’s what you think, Peri thought to herself. But he didn’t use physical force. He forced himself through the use of another’s magic. How will you feel when you know that, Healer?
“Are the headaches getting worse?” Peri asked her.
“He used magic to mate with her?” Lucian snarled in her mind. Oh crap, Peri thought. Gotta start remembering to close that stupid bond occasionally.
“I’m handling it.” Peri tried to ignore her mate and focus on Sally. Things were starting to click and Peri had a feeling that the sky was about to fall.
“He deserves to know where she is. It’s gone too far, Peri. Another male has taken what belongs to her and to her mate. And he knows she has a true mate. His life is forfeit and the kill belongs to Costin.”
“I will bring him here,” she told him, “but I’ll need to get Sally to the bar first.” She pulled back so she could focus on the matter at hand.
“Out of a strange curiosity, Sally,” Peri asked, wondering why she hadn’t thought of it to begin with. “Do you have a tattoo on your back?”
Sally’s brow drew together. “No.”
“Could I” —she paused and shrugged— “check? I know, I’m a weirdo. Humor me.”
Sally was looking at her as if she’d lost her mind. Peri hated doing it, but she used a bit of her power to convince Sally that the girl wanted nothing more than to show Peri her back.
Sally stood and turned around. Peri reached forward and pulled the fabric up. She bit back quick intake of breath. The markings, which had been nonexistent for the past several months that Sally had been living in Oceanside, were beginning to show again. At the moment, they looked almost like a watermark on a piece of paper. Very, very, faint, but there. She dropped the shirt and stepped back.
Sally turned back around and seemed too distracted to ask Peri if she’d seen anything strange.
“I work tonight, but I need to talk to Jericho before my shift,” Sally told them. “I know it’s childish, but would you all come with me?”
“Of course, we will,” Jen said nodding at her. “Hoes before bros, right?”
Jacque groaned. “Don’t even get started with that mess again.”
They walked to The Doghouse in tense silence. Sally was a mess and she wasn’t good at hiding her emotions. The proof came as they walked into the bar and Jericho laid eyes on her. He hopped over the bar and was standing before her in an instant.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” he asked her in a voice that made it clear how he felt about her. Peri could tell he wasn’t faking. Jericho was in love with Sally. He was also very, very dead.
“Can we talk?” Sally asked softly.
He nodded and led her back behind the counter. They watched as he wrapped his arms around her and attempted to comfort her.
“I need to step outside,” Jen growled. “If I have to watch him touch her like that, especially after what he did, I might kill him right now. And he’s not mine to kill.”
“That’s what Lucian said,” Peri told her. “You might turn around and kill him yourself after I tell you two this. What they did wasn’t consensual, at least not in the traditional sense. He used magic to get in her pants. The diamond bracelet had a spell on it that would ensure that she’d want him. Essentially, he gave her a magical date rape drug.”
Jen snarled and turned to go back but Peri stopped her. “It’s Costin’s kill, remember?”
“It’s kind of sad,” Jacque said. “It’s obvious that he loves her.”
“He took a mated female, knowingly. He used magic to make her desire him, slept with her, and marked her damn neck,” Jen growled. “It’s like he wanted to die. He’s practically begging Costin to kill him.”
“He marked her?” Jacque’s eyes were as wide as saucers.
Jen nodded. “I didn’t see it until her shirt dipped a little when Jericho put his arms around her.”
“Bloody hell,” Jacque whispered.
“I need you guys to stay here and make sure douche bag doesn’t leave the bar, or that Cross character, as well.”
“Wait,” Jen said. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to get her mate and the other males. This has gone too far,” she repeated her mate’s words. “Not only has her mind been violated, but now he’s violated her body. She’s going to have to live with that for the rest of her life.”
Jacque gasped as the reality hit her and her hand snapped up to her mouth as if she was holding a scream in. “Why did he do it, Jen?” she asked through her hand.