Bear Reign (Alpha Guardians Book 7) Read Free Page A

necessary. “I don’t feel much of a spark. Besides, I was never more than a low level white witch. It’s not like I’m going to get powerful all the sudden. I don’t think that’s how it works.”
    Dawn blew out a breath. Sophie could see that her friend was frustrated, holding back something she wanted to say, but afraid to hurt Sophie’s feelings. It was very, very easy to hurt Sophie’s feelings these days, ever since…
    “Lily died,” Dawn blurted out. “Your baby sister died. And it was terrible, like the worst thing you’ll ever go through in your whole life. A little piece of you went away, and it is never going to come back. I get that, I swear I do.” Dawn took a deep breath. “But the rest of you is withering away. This stuff, keeping the mannequins the same, refusing to scatter her ashes, that thing you do where you just go and sit outside Bellocq and watch …”
    Sophie’s mouth dropped open.
    “You know about that?!” She squeaked, her face going red. So maybe she liked to go to the Vampyre club where Lily had spent her last few hours alive. Well, less go to and more sit outside and brood , waiting for… something.
    A clue. A single idea of what could possibly have happened to her innocent, kind, open-hearted eighteen year old sister. The one person who’d always been there, the only family Sophie ever had.
    Had. Past tense.
    “Hey!” Dawn said, snapping her fingers. “This right here? The weird zoning out? This is what I am talking ab0ut, to a T.”
    “Sorry,” Sophie apologized again.
    “Don’t… don’t be sorry, Soph. You just… you can’t go on like this. You need to go on a vacation, or re-engage with the Wiccan coven, or… hell, I don’t know. Start sky diving. Anything! You need to get mad, or get energized, or get something. Anything is better than just being sad every hour of the day.”
    Sophie didn’t respond, just rubbed her face again and stretched.
    “I should go get some coffee,” she said, trying to change the subject.
    “Uh-uh,” Dawn said, crossing her arms. “You are going to go home and try to sleep. If you need it, I will call someone and buy you some pot.”
    “Ugh, no,” Sophie said, but Dawn wasn’t interested in her protests.
    “Fine! Get drunk, go for a run, whatever. Get tired, get some rest. And don’t you dare think of coming into the shop for the rest of the week. I will call Lacey and Maryanne and we will cover all your shifts.”
    “Oh, Dawn, I couldn’t,” Sophie said, rolling her eyes.
    Dawn reached out and grabbed Sophie’s hand, giving it a squeeze.
    “I love you. I really, really do. But if you show up here for the rest of the week, I quit. And I know the rest of the staff will follow me. The store is a mess. Let me take over for the week, and when you come back it will be…” she paused thoughtfully. “Maybe not perfect, but better. And more importantly, different.”
    She twirled a finger to indicate the merchandise racks that had slowly begun to accumulate dust. Sophie knew that Dawn couldn’t wait to change the mannequins, and it made her heart give a lurch. Still, this wasn’t a fight Sophie was interested in having. Dawn was her closest friend, and sometimes it was better just to take her advice.
    Besides, there was something she needed to do tonight…
    And it wasn’t catching up on her sleep.
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    “ Y ou sure you want to do this, white witch?”
    The woman’s Haitian accent was a little slap in the face, a startling bit of reality. Her dark skin gleamed in the light of the small fire that lay between them, her teeth flashing white against the darkness of the sultry night air. She held her closed fist out over the fire, palm down, awaiting Sophie’s decision.
    Could this really be happening?
    You’re not hallucinating this. You’re not dreaming. You are actually in the underbelly of the Gray Market, paying a Vodun priestess to do spells that require dark magic .
    Blood magic, actually. Just the thought of