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The eyes of the lion and the bobcat, and globes of blood on their claere the only uns left of the exquisite tattoo In the n, and distorted colors, I could make out the shape of the teeth that had bitten hi to tear the tattoo froht lit on the irises I touched one My fingertip stilled as the texture of witch lowed hotly, as if throwing back the flaic sparked, tart, citrusy

I lifted old of expensive ink I tapped it again and the glow returned The tattoo had been put into his flesh by a witch, a spell that had been interrupted, but I didn’t know the whole story "The witch whoa tattoo" Rick ement, the sound half purr My heart ha needy or whiny or stalker-nuts? "Was she a seer?" Which washim if she saw me in his future How else would he have my two cats on his body? I wondered if--

"I don’t think so"

My heart plummeted Of course not That was stupid

"Her na the dirty work of a half-crazy vaet"

I settled deeper in the pillows and pulled the coet soether But then no one ever does

"Isleen wanted scions, but there was so with her blood Hers either never rose or died while chained So she found herself an old witch, a crone, living out on the bayou with her two grandchildren, and tried to force her to create a spell of binding When Gramma refused, she killed the old woman in front of the kids and told the eldest, Loriann, she’d kill her brother, Jason, if she didn’t do the job"

I flinched slightly One side of Rick’s mouth quirked up with an expression that said, Yeah, life’s a bitch "Then she fed from Jason and took him away He was seven"

I watched his face "She fed fro was al all the pleasure centers in the body and working on the brain like a drug Feeding froainst the Vahts later, Isleen and I met up in a bar And I spent the next few days in an abandoned horse barn, stretched out on a black marble square, chained inside a witch circle as Loriann’s spell was built into me Then, just like in the movies, at the ninth hour, I was saved and Isleen died"

Rick had been tortured before, long before the wolves got to him But he wouldn’t want pity His eyes held mine, and the breath I took was steady and slow as I forced my emotional reaction to his tale deep inside "You were saved?"

"Yeah, I was partially free by day and I ht, and I was losing just when Leo and Katie blew the barn doors in and finished her off"

"Spells of binding Rick, that’s why the moon can’t call you You’re already partially bound to so else" At his expression I said, "And you knew that" He nodded "But did you think that Molly and her sisters"--I stopped for a heartbeat Not Evangelina I have to be sure of that I found ht be able to break it for you?"

"It crossed oes active when I change, it ht keep me in cat form, which is not hoant to liveit out See what happens at the full e Had to be

I thought about that for a while, about not knohat your bodyforever in Beast fored me "Okay I can see that So What did Ke, Rick lowered his head and touched hed into his ," Ithrough ic and energized all at once I watched from beneath half-closed lashes as Rick dressed and left the room I heard hiht the tenor of the exchange, one of those manly tones that said they knee had been up to for the last few hours, which they would Blood-servants can hear better than hu Yeah For hours Still s, I rose and made my way to the bathroo "Yellowrock," I said, cutting the water