Exaltation (Insight #11)(37)

“What are you talking about?” Rydell asked with a shake of his head.

“What am I talking about? Raven BellaRose had you against the wall. I thought you were a goner, but then I saw you holding her and kissing back. I thought to myself damn that’s my boy, he’s going to take her down right here in front of everyone, but then you let her go. What was that, just a tease?” Dagen grinned. “I guess it’s one way to get her to trust you.”

“Raven BellaRose,” Rydell said in a lethal tone.

Dagen dipped his head and swayed back and forth to look in Rydell’s eyes. “You all right there, boss man? Did she jack with you? King, look at me,” he said when Rydell kept moving his stare to the distance.

“Where is Benjamin?” Rydell asked.

“Bout four dimensions away last I checked, keeping it on the down low.”

“Make sure he stays there.”

Dagen lifted his chin in question.

Rydell paused before he answered. He was struggling with what to say. The thing about fevers is that one of the first side effects after a claim is protection, to defend your fever. He felt that way now, and he knew he couldn’t feel that way, not when he had to kill her to survive, for all his people to do so. Right now he wanted to slaughter Benjamin for ever thinking of hurting Raven, and that was beyond f*cked. “She’s dangerous.”

Dagen looked at Rydell like he was insane and Rydell was sure at that moment he was. “Go. Make sure he stays away.”

“Where are you going?”

“To blow off some steam.”

Rydell was going to figure out if the little kiss of death had given him free reign in the Quarter, if all the spells had been lifted.





***

The only way for Raven to forget about how stupid and embarrassing it was to kiss that boy was to dance, and she did with the others in the Jeep. The music blared all the way back to the Quarter.

They had just crossed Canal and were trolling down Decatur Street when Soren’s cell started ringing. They only heard it because the song they had on repeat had just ended.

“Moms,” he said as he answered then listened for a second. “No, I don’t have an issue with that, but why? What’s up?” All the girls were staring at him now. “Which one?” he nodded. “All right then…no we’re cool.” He hung up the phone, looking perplexed.

“What’s wrong?” Ash asked him. His eyes moved over her before he spoke. “Mom told me to stay with you guys tonight.” Ash turned crimson. “And she said we were to go to Saige’s house, the one she has in the Garden District.”

“What?” they all said at once.

He shrugged. Raven started digging around for the phone they’d brought with them. They were abnormal teens meaning they could not seem to keep up with one even though they had three between them.

“We’ve got company,” River said.

Raven’s heart stopped. She looked up right as she found the phone which had twelve missed calls.

“Your dad is behind us.”

Raven glanced back. He pointed for River to turn on the next block, and when she went to slow down he waved her on.

“Your mom is with him,” Raven said as her mouth turned to cotton all of a sudden.

“What is going on?” Ash asked as she moved further away from Soren. She’d been leaning a little close most of the way home.

“I don’t know, but my mom called me six times before I heard it,” Soren said.

Raven slouched in her seat. Her bliss bubble had evaporated. She was in trouble again and didn’t know why. There was nothing worse than that feeling.

River drove like a saint the entire way to Aunt Saige’s. No music. No words.

When they got there each of them got out, stood behind the Jeep, and waited.

Jamison parked a good twenty feet behind them. “They’re fine. Not one scratch,” he said as his hand reached to the passenger seat and landed on Emery’s leg.

“They’re fine, but something broke ancient spells the most powerful coven in existence put in place,” Emery said with a hint of anger and doubt. She had dreaded this day for so long, put her life on pause, robbed years of bliss from herself and her girls because of fear. And now it was here.

Jamison’s fingertips moved in small circles on her leg as he stared forward.

“They’re the only ones strong enough to take it down,” he said in a low tone as his stare landed on Raven. He noticed how she was nervously fidgeting with her hands as she stood with the others in the distance.

“Why would they do that?”

Jamison clenched his jaw. He had a pretty good idea how it happened but wasn’t ready to tell her. Not when she still clearly had a fear he would fall into a fit of lust if he came across another female Escort.

“Jamison,” Emery said, putting her hand on his. He was driving her wild with his touch, and she didn’t have time to be spellbound, not when he took her so close to the edge then had to stop. Her body burned with want, her heart ached for family, and her head was spinning.

“The girls all have the energy of an Escort in them,” he said with a glance to his side at her. That was the life Jamison had before the Dominarum coven. Though he had stripped his bonds it was still in his essence, an essence which went into creating new life. In theory it was the reason the girls were so powerful at such a young age.