Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
We make it maybe ten minutes from the warehouse before a very obvious thought smacks me upside the head.
“You’re from New Orleans, right?”
“Born and raised,” she replies.
“How are we gonna get there in an hour?” I ask. “You said I’m going to your home.”
She chuckles as a smile spreads across her face. “Honey, portals don’t work that way.”
“Portals?”
She reaches over and pats my knee.
“You are in for such a treat. I’m so excited I get to be the one to show you all this.”
I look at the black screen of my phone in my hands, my mind whirling over what to text Xavier. I haven’t heard from him since he left, which means whatever he’s dealing with isn’t good. With everything else going on, the fact that I’m married to the boss of a supernatural mafia is almost lost on me. Xavier and Theo keep a precarious hold over a group of very different, very powerful individuals.
They’ve kept peace and order for centuries, and losing that order could be catastrophic for the entire city.
Marie pulled off the interstate several minutes ago, and now we’re driving down a road in serious need of repaving. There’s a motel at the end, and the “T” in the neon MOTEL sign is burned out.
“No, I’m not here to murder you,” she says, glancing over at me with a smirk. “This is a cover. Just a place for us to park our cars so we can walk to the portal.”
“Oh.”
I realize there are a significant number of cars here compared to the number of rooms the place seems to offer.
“Does anyone actually stay here?” I ask.
“No,” she tells me. “It’s warded to keep humans away. They’ll pull up and feel the urge to just keep driving. Plus, the fact that it looks like you’re guaranteed bedbugs and a staph infection doesn’t exactly make it the most desirable location.”
I laugh. “Yeah, this place definitely looks like a rent-by-the-hour kind of motel.”
Sucking in a breath, I unbuckle my seatbelt and swipe up on my phone, opening a text to Xavier.
With Marie. I’m looking for answers. Love you.
I hit send, then quickly silence my phone.
I open the group chat with my brothers and send one word. Here. Then I put my phone in my purse and get out of the car, following Marie toward the main entrance. Dim light glows through the curtained windows, and I can hear old-timey music playing from a radio inside the office. Marie waves her hand in front of the door, whispering some sort of incantation.
The door opens on its own, and we step through. The office fits the time period of the motel—early nineties with doctor’s-office waiting-room vibes. But it’s clean and carries the calming smell of lavender and sage. There’s no one at the front desk, and Marie doesn’t hesitate. She motions for me to follow her through the office. We go around the desk, through a door, down an empty hall, and emerge outside into a courtyard.
The whole thing is startling and makes absolutely no sense in terms of how a motel should be laid out. But again, she said this place is just a cover. The courtyard is pretty and well-kept. A cobblestone path leads away from the exterior door and stretches several yards toward a large, round garden bed. Two trees stand in the middle, their branches arching toward each other. Pretty white flowers adorn the branches, and normally by this time of year, they would’ve already fallen. Something tells me these trees always look like this.
“Come on,” Marie says softly.
She takes a small onyx brooch from the strap of her purse, pricks the tip of her finger, and steps right between the trees.
“So,” she says, squeezing her finger until a single drop of blood falls in front of us. Almost instantly, energy swirls through the air, creating a door between the two trees. My mouth actually falls open in shock. I stand there unmoving, blinking several times because I can’t believe this is real.
Marie reaches behind her for my hand. “You just step right through,” she tells me. “You might feel a little dizzy since this is your first time, but you get used to it fast.”
“And if I want to leave?”
“Then you just leave.” She shrugs. “Simple as that. From the inside, the door is always open. From the outside, only someone who has been accepted by blood into the coven is able to open it.” She holds up her finger. “Hence the pinprick.”
“Okay.” I force myself to take a calming breath, take her hand, and step through.
Chapter
Five
It’s exactly like she said. I’m hit with a sudden wave of dizziness, like every single cell in my body has been rearranged. But it dissipates quickly.
And then I’m standing inside another courtyard. This one is quintessentially charming. It’s like I’m on a little corner of New Orleans Square. A large, white plantation-style home looms in front of us.