“Okay. Is there anything else you can tell me?”

“No. I’ll let you know if I think of anything.” He shifted on his feet, and I reached into the pocket of my sundress for the cash I owed him and handed it over. Three hundred dollars, gone just like that. And I was no closer to whoever had been killing my marks. It pissed me right off.

Selina called when I was halfway home.

“Hi Danica, listen, I examined the body.”

“What did you find?”

“Hold on, I’m putting you on speaker.”

Nathaniel’s deep voice came over the line. “Danica.”

“Nathaniel.”

He chuckled. Glad I could amuse him.

“I examined the body,” Selina said. “Whoever killed this wolf was a black witch. The magic is so dark, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Cause of death?”

“Some kind of spell. You told me the McCormick coven had one of the black books. If I had to guess, I’d say something like this could’ve been found in one of those grimoires.”

Son of a bitch.

“Okay. Nathaniel… tell your wolves to be careful. If this witch knows her spell worked, she could decide she’d like to get her hands on more werewolf eyes.”

“The wolf was feral, Danica. My wolves can handle themselves. But I appreciate your concern.”

I had no idea what that meant so I shrugged and hung up.

Vas was waiting for me in the parking lot when I arrived back at my apartment. His feet were spread, hands on hips. Uh-oh.

I got out of the car. Where was my sister?

“What were you thinking?” Vas snarled. I gaped at him.

“I was thinking I had something to do. Something that definitely didn’t need to involve Samael.”

“So you let your sister pretend to be you.”

“Well, yeah.”

“Do you know where I found her?”

“In Hope Valley, I’m assuming.”

He flashed the edge of his teeth. “Curled up in the drivers’ seat of your car a few streets from Mariam’s.”

I froze. “What?”

“Yeah. She’s obsessed with making you proud and helping you out, she sucked herself dry.”

The thought made me shudder. My sister was beautiful, and I could just picture her after the spell had dropped, looking weak and vulnerable in the car.

“I told her to head home before the spell dropped.”

“Yeah, well she didn’t listen.”

Jesus. I could’ve gotten her kidnapped or killed. I’d told her to go straight into fae territory, for fuck’s sake. The thought made nausea sweep through me.

I was so focused on figuring out who’d killed my mother, that I’d risked my sister’s life.

Vas shook his head at me. “Now you’re getting it.”

“How did she get home?”

“I drove her.”

“Thank you.”

Vas studied my face. “Was it worth it?”

I swung my leg back and kicked the tire. “No.”