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Chapter 1

~MATEO~

“Would you like another beer?”

If I thought it would do any da helped It was only getting worse

That ain

Please just be quiet for five minutes I need to think

Yeah, keep lookin’, asshole I’ood

Christ He wouldn’t shut up tonight The intensity of his urges orse than ever At least he leaned ht was somehow easier to tolerate than his constant cos

Look! He’s standing He’s coe us Good Prepare for combat

He’s leaving Settle down

Follow him

“Sir?” The young waitress stared at me, wide-eyed with concern I didn’t blame her

“No” My eye twitched “Thank you” I pulled out a twenty and set it on the table, then headed for the door

That’s right Time to wipe that sneer off that asshole’s face

He wasn’t sneering You’re is As always

I’ve been i out his teeth Noant action

Once outside, I took two seconds to scan the block, just in case Alpha was right and that guy was looking for a fight He made me paranoid Jittery

My wolf ht need to break someone’s bones, but I didn’t I needed help I couldn’t put it off any longer The offending sneerer was talking to so us zero attention, so I headed quickly up Magazine Street in the opposite direction

You’re going the wrong damn way!

No, I’s to do than brawl on the street

A growling snort sounded in my head Oh, yeah? Like what?

We’re going to meet a witch

You may be a coward, but you’re no fool A woe off

Aaaaand, here we go again

Preferably a curvy one Need so to hold onto when I’m—

A horn honked as I crossed Magazine, the nightlife still kicking even as so down

All supernaturals in New Orleans knew about the Savoie sisters though I’d never met them They had individual talents to help supernaturals in need And sometimes humans Those who actually knew about our existence, that is I’d pay anything right about now for their help I’d take out a allery and home if necessary But I also had heard they were fair One of the for

Co up on Ruben’s Rare Books & Brew, I slowed ht, of course, but patrons of another variety veered around the corner and down the alley Beautiful hu on the arms of inhumanly perfect ht A throaty laugh belted froeous blonde in a pink latex dress Vaas-lit alley to the back entrance

Leaning against the corner of the building, sees, was a tall, black-haired guy s on the corner He orking for Ruben, the lord of the New Orleans vampire coven I knehat he ithin twenty yards of hied on my psyche and my body

Alpha ruririms Not because they escorted souls into the afterlife, but because they carried an aura of darkness, pulling on is that people liked to suppress, to keep in check

Of the four supernatural creatures, grims and their poere the most mysterious My cousin Nico told me once that he’d seen six of them show up at an apartment complex fire when he lived in Houston They slipped into the burning building without the firehtsouls after death Who knows? They never gave out infore reason, they always seemed to know a hell of a lot about everyone else

A gri on the corner of a vao willingly to feed a va near the entrance—arousing a huer, lust, and vanity—would definitely tempt them into the vampire underworld

Most hust them Until they weren’t Those in some inner circles knew about us But they kept our secrets—out of fear or respect or both

Though I didn’t like standing in the personal space of a griured if anyone had the information I needed, it would be hiuy did

“Hey You know the Savoie sisters?”

The grience sharper by the looks of his all-seeing brown-black eyes—sucked a deep drag of his cigarette before responding

“No I don’t know the Savoie sisters” Hea tip of ash onto the sidewalk “But I know about them”

Smartass Break his nose

Shut up

“Do you know anything about the Hex-breaker?”

He regarded uy observed, calculated, and stored away everything with those dark eyes He probably knew azine Street than anyone else

“The second sister, Eveleen Redhead Spunky personality Expert level curse breaker One hundred percent success rate according to the Witch’s Coven Guild database Works four to five nights a week at the Cauldron, which the sisters co-own Including tonight” He glanced up and narrowed his eyes as if trying to recall soht”

Whoa “How do you have access to their database?”

He shrugged, refusing to answer as he scanned the street, watching passers-by with that hooded gaze He was done feeding me information

“Quite a gig you’ve got here” I nodded to the alleyway

He blew out a streaainst the brick wall behind hiri level

Alpha growled a warning

“Is that so,” I said as a statement more than question I could believe it And I sure as hell didn’t want to knohat jobs he referred to

“Standing on a street corner, s for 150/hour? Yeah It’s a good gig”

Damn Ruben paid well I’d never met him, but everyone knew of him Good to know he appreciated his employees I was fairly sure Ruben had access to the information database in this dude’s head for that kind of hourly rate

“I guess I owe you a tip for the information” I reached for my wallet in my back pocket

“Nah” He grinned, his widea wolf is about to walk into the Cauldron is pay, he looked down and pulled out his pack of cigarettes from his back jeans pocket

“Why’s that?”

He lit a cigarette, squinting as he inhaled The tip turned orange, his brows creasing in sye to punch that look of pity off his face

Go with this feeling

His gaze sharpened on ht a flare of the wolf in er I stood here, the itation and the need to do violence Hot blood hu from one foot to the other, I kept my hands in my pockets so I wouldn’t reach for him

The grihter, but not to buck up on ht, but he had no idea who he was really dealing with Actually, he probably did Perhaps, he was preparing to run, which told me he was far wiser than I’d suspected

Bring it on, grim

He spoke, his tone even and low and full of warning “They don’t deal olves Never have”

I nodded, narrowingto shift oal at hand

Mmmm A redhead I like

If she’s going to help us, you’ve got to keep your mouth shut

A dark chuckle rumbled in my mind

Fine I had no choice, one way or the other With a parting nod to the grim, I strode with purpose toward the Cauldron

Chapter 2

~EVIE~

This is the last thing I needed After a ten-hour shift, a frat boy puking onan off-tune, super slutty rendition of “Pour So me to break a hex

A fine olf at that And, okay,I wasn’t sure a ht sent a pried between s

“You’re Eveleen, right?”

While the never-break rule of No Werewolves kept pinging around in my head, his smoky baritone told my lady parts it was a silly, silly rule

“It’s Evie And yes But I seriously doubt yours is a hex”

“It is”

Did he just growl at me?

“Look, Wolfman”

“Mateo”

“Whatever” I hopped up on the bar-top, spun s over to the other side, and landed beside hiot rules No olves Sorry”

It didn’t matter how beautiful he ith those broody, soulful eyes and that unruly dark hair falling past his chiseled jaw Jules would killhis expression as I passed behind him Jules hadn’t laid down the laws for no reason She was smart and cautious All in an effort to keep us safe Ever since our htailed it to the Alps with my dad for a well-deserved retirenored the torturous tightening of hiser 1