“Time is of the essence,” he drawled. “By my calculations, you have approximately three seconds to contemplate your desire to assist me before I make the decision for you and force you to do so.”

She straightened her shoulders and held his gaze. “You’ll need me to get to that coven.”

“And have you lead me to my burning?” he asked and shook his head. “I don’t fancy that.”

“Okay,” she said, throwing out a hand. “I’m not a big fan of vampires, and my mom would be, like, super pissed if she knew I was even thinking this, but for some messed up reason, I believe you.”

“That reason might be because I’m telling the truth.”

At his words, she smiled and he wished she hadn’t done that. It lit her eyes and made her smell like nothing but blood and sunshine and happiness, and he wanted that taste on his tongue so much, he felt it in his cock in a way it was not a desire, it was a need.

He made a warning noise in his throat.

She kept smiling. “And Mom would lose her mind if she knew I was gonna help you.”

“And you’ll be doing that by giving me the names of the witches in this coven and their location,” he prompted.

“Nope.” She shook her head. “I’ll be doing that by taking you to the witch who attacked the hybrid and helping you talk to her so you can get her story. Then I’ll be taking you to the coven and getting you in so they don’t burn you to oblivion.”

He opened his mouth to tell her she’d be doing nothing of the sort, but she kept going, lifting her hand to point her finger at him and assuming a severe expression that was far from severe and a lot closer to adorably amusing.

“No waterboarding,” she warned.

“Witch—”

“Or flaying, fingernail tearing, tooth pulling, or any of that other stuff you said. We talk, I do some hocus pocus, we get her story. But I’ll warn you now, she’s cuckoo.” She lifted her hand higher and circled her finger at the side of her head. “They did a number on her when she failed. But rumor on the witch vine is that she wasn’t all there before she went on that mission. So it might take some doing. We just have to do it without waterboarding.”

Yuri took a step back but didn’t retreat further. He simply did it so he could more comfortably cross his arms on his chest.

“And how am I supposed to trust you?”

“I don’t know. Isn’t that what trust is? You just give it and, abracadabra, it’s there.”

His brows snapped together. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

“It’s still true.”