Chapter Twenty-Two

 

“Ace said she’d have something for you to give to the feds in a few hours,” Blade said. “I need access to the girl’s work space if you want me to keep her safe.”

Blade’s brown eyes were hidden behind shades, but her brows lifted over the top edge.

“You’ll need a cover story,” Sabrina said.

Blade grunted. “Tell her to work from home. It’ll keep her family safe.”

“I’ll suggest it,” she replied.

“That way we can truly protect her,” Blade told her. “Feds can’t be trusted. Ace almost lost her woman in care of the feds, and Jasmia’s brother had helped arrange her protection detail.”

“Yeah, I know. I think Agent Crow is trouble.”

“We’ll see after you hand over the intel,” Blade replied.

“Come meet her,” she said.

Blade followed her to the car and Sabrina opened the door. “Veda, this is Blade, your bodyguard.”

“Hi.” Veda smiled.

“Veda, can you work from home until Friday?”

“No, but I’ll tell my father, she’s doing a piece on me,” she said. “When he asks about it, I’ll tell him there were creative differences.”

Sabrina looked over her shoulder at Blade. “Can you dress the part of a reporter?”

“I can pull it off tomorrow, but not right now,” she replied dryly.

“Veda’s hungry, right? We’ll go grab something to eat and you can change. I’ll call you in an hour?”

“Make it two hours, and I can bring that info with me,” Blade replied.

“Done.”

“See ya.” Blade turned and headed back to her car and Sabrina climbed back into the driver’s seat. “Trellis?”

“Why don’t we go to my place?” Veda asked. “It might be safer for now.”

“Hiding from daddy?”

“My place is the first place he’ll look,” she said with a rueful grin. “So how about it?”

“Okay,” Sabrina agreed.

“What are you going to do about the feds?” Veda put her hand on Sabrina’s thigh and stroked lightly.

“Nothing. Once they get done tearing my life apart and don’t find anything, they’ll move on.”

“I heard you say something about a card. What kind of card?”

“SD card with some information on it,” she said as she backed out of the parking lot. “I’m going to give it to them.”

“What about the cartel?” she asked hand stilling.

“They’ll each get a copy,” Sabrina told her calmly. “Hence the need for protection for you. This cartel has already proven to be pretty willing to go after anyone for even a minute amount of information.”

“I don’t know anything.”

“They won’t care,” she murmured and put her hand on Veda’s.

Veda relaxed against the seat enjoying the quiet as they sped along. She should probably have gotten her own protection and distanced herself from Sabrina, but what good would it do if the cartel still came after her?

Plus, she’d miss Sabrina too much. She was falling for her in the worse way and all she wanted was to be near her. Veda felt more alive now than she had in her entire boring little safe life.

She needed to do a protection spell to keep Sabrina safe. Had to be something unobtrusive. She had a few objects at home already loaded with protection magick. All she had to do was get Sabrina to accept one, but how did she do that?

Magic?

Nothing overt just a little seduction and Sabrina wouldn’t know what hit her.

They pulled into the driveway of the complex where Veda lived, and she focused on her next move. The words she needed to use flitted through her mind and Veda debated the ethics and decided keeping Sabrina a little safer was worth dipping into dark magic a little.

“That’s my spot,” she said caressing Sabrina’s thigh.

Sabrina whipped into the spot and cut the engine. As she did so, the words Veda were about to utter stuck in her throat. She released her seatbelt chastising herself for not getting the ball rolling, but it wasn’t right.

She had no right to interfere with Sabrina’s free will no matter what she thought.

She climbed out and the wolf rubbed against her leg. Veda heard the warning growl and turned her gaze to the street. She didn’t see anyone this time, but she felt danger and scanned the parking lot. Something smelled different.

Cigarette smoke?

“Let’s get inside,” Sabrina commanded.

Did Sabrina feel the danger?

A little bit of magic would aid in her safety, she mused as she took a step and a black cat ran toward them. The wolf growled but before Veda could react, the wolf became visible before her and the cat stopped its stride and hissed. The wolf started forward and the cat changed course.

“Veda,” Sabrina said, her tone urgent.

Veda took a step and something heavy landed on her back seconds before claws sank into her. She let out a cry and Sabrina whipped around. She grabbed the cat by the neck and jerked it away before turning it to face her.

“Listen asshole,” she said coldly. “Tell your fucking boss if he pulls something like this again, he won’t get jack from me. Got it?” She shook the short-haired pale gray cat hard.

Veda winced thinking how she was rattling the animal or human’s brain’s around in their head.

“Next time we cross paths like this I’ll break your neck first and ask questions later.” Sabrina threw the cat toward the nearest car and it hit the trunk with a thud before rolling to its feet to hiss at her.

Sabrina sneered at it and grabbed Veda’s arm and took off at a clipped pace.

“Was that a shifter?” Veda asked.

“I’m glad I don’t have to explain that to you,” she murmured.

“My question is how do you know about them?” she asked surprised.

“I saw more than my share of strange things in Central America and Africa,” Sabrina replied softly. “Voodoo, Santeria, witchcraft, and shape-shifting, I saw and was victim to the good, the bad, and the ugly.”

“Do you practice magic?” Veda asked as they reached her door.

“Nope, but I’ve learned to recognize when magic is afoot and that wasn’t magic—in most cases. I’m no authority.” She looked up at the wind chimes and Veda waited for her to say something.

When she didn’t, Veda unlocked the door and stepped inside dropping her purse on the table next to the door. She faced Sabrina thinking she wouldn’t be able to use magic on her and get away with it, but she was even more convinced that she’d need some extra protection.

“Are you afraid of magic?”

“No. It’s like a loaded gun. It doesn’t kill people on its own. A witch still has to cast the killing spell.”

“Killing curse,” she said moving toward her as Sabrina studied her.

“You’re a witch.” It wasn’t a question. It was a simple cool statement.

“Pure-bred like both of my parents which means my magic is stronger than a simple practitioner, one who practices magic but doesn’t really live the magic.”

“I haven’t seen you use magic unless I’m here because you put a love spell on me that night.”