Found in Flames Read Free Page B

said bluntly. “But out there,” he added, jerking his head over his shoulders to indicate the city lights she probably couldn’t see, “the witch can get you. And he will come.”
    The woman’s mouth opened, her scent telling him she was fully prepared to argue with his statement, and he knew the exact moment her brain processed his words. A couple of heartbeats later her mouth snapped shut and she swallowed heavily.
    “Al—” Chad began, cutting himself off and clearing his throat as he obviously thought better of his wording. “What about Justin?” he asked instead. “Do you want me to go find him?”
    Schooling his expression into the closest thing he could manage to minor frustration, Luka replied, “No.”
    “But—”
    “No,” he repeated, lifting a stare to the younger wolf for emphasis.
    “I’m sorry,” the woman finally mumbled as Chad’s head lowered in submission. “Did you say ‘witch’?”
    Luka returned his focus to the woman before him.
    After a beat, she shook her head with a disbelieving laugh and said, “Okay, this is crazy. I don’t know what lines you’ve fed these people, but I’m not falling for that. I’m here in reality and witches are a thing of fiction. So I’m just going to leave, like you said I could.” She was walking even before she’d finished, boldly striding past him and entirely unaware that he could smell her building fear.
    What, exactly, she thought they would do to her, he didn’t know. Nor did he know why the scent of her fear upset something inside him. Something he had neither the time nor the interest in understanding. Instead he turned his head just enough to be sure she heard him and asked, “So how do you explain the fire?”
    As he’d expected, she froze. Her spine stiffened and he distinctly heard the sounds of fingers sliding over sweaty palms.
    “Hallucination,” she finally said. Even without his nose, he’d have picked up on her uncertainty. It weighed heavily over her voice. “I was hallucinating somehow. Maybe he’d released an airborne hallucinogen right before I got there.”
    “Then are you hallucinating right now?” Luka challenged with a patience he didn’t feel.
    “Probably,” she replied.
    “Then why are you afraid?”
    At this she turned back around, one hand landing on her hip, and returned, “What, you’ve never had a nightmare?”
    For the first time in months, Luka felt his lips twitch with amusement. She could think on her feet, at least. He could admit that much. Unfortunately, he didn’t have all night to mince words with her. And since she wasn’t playing along with the macho angle, he opted to try for another in the hopes of speeding the conversation up. “I tell you what,” he said, gesturing toward a rock a couple of feet away. “Sit down and wait it out, then. If you wake up in the hospital, you were right and all’s well. If you wake up out here, you might want to start paying attention.”
    She narrowed her eyes at him, obviously disliking his suggestion. But she didn’t immediately shoot it down or resume walking away. Instead she slid her gaze to the rock, possibly expecting it to grow horns or something, and then slowly looked around at his small pack one more time. “Fine,” she said at length. She pulled in a breath and added, “But don’t expect me to drink from your water supply.”
    Torn between wanting to laugh and growl in frustration, Luka settled for grinding his teeth. “Your call. I’ve got things to deal with tonight, so here’s what you need to know. The man you saw tonight was a witch. An evil bastard who’ll kill you just for having seen his face. If you choose to stick around later, we can go over the details.”
    “A witch,” she muttered as she sat, shaking her head. “What a trip.”
    Luka opted to ignore her last comment, instead turning his attention to his pack. He could sense their growing confusion, and increasing concern for their missing Beta. He would’ve