We should let her go. She’ll come back with the information we need, and we’ll have more witches in the fight.
Are you sure? What if she changes her mind? Or Luciana kills her?
She’ll be back.
“Take my number,” I said. “Call me when you decide.”
“I don’t need it. I’ll just scry for you. If what you said is true, we’ll help. But if it’s not…”
Sirens wailed in the distance. “Do you hear that?” I said to no one in particular.
Hearing what I heard, the wolves all started moving toward the car, but when the witches didn’t, I paused for a second to explain. “Cops are coming,” I said to Claudia. “We can’t stay here.”
Claudia nodded. “Let’s go.”
“I’m sorry,” the witch said. “My actions—If I’m wrong, I’ll make it up to you.”
I believed her. Maybe it was stupid, but I really did.
I believe her, too.
That made me feel better about my decision to let her go. “Better leave now. Or else we’ll spend our night answering the cops’ questions.”
She spun and started running, but then stopped. “I’ll be in touch. Either way,” she said, looking back at me.
It was a little bit of a threat, but we weren’t lying so it didn’t bother me in the least. “We’ll be waiting.”
Everyone piled back in the cars. I put the SUV in drive and exited the parking lot. Do we actually have a lead?
We do. Nicely done, cherie. I thought she was one of Luciana’s, but you talked her down.
“You did good,” Donovan said.
“Even though I let her go?” I was seriously hoping it wasn’t going to turn into a problem.
“No,” Meredith said. “You had to. If we forced her, she would’ve had that much more reason to believe Luciana’s lies. At least letting her go might gain us some allies. We’re going to need them.”
I rolled my shoulders back, letting go of some of the tension.
This was good. Everything was moving along, and we had someone who could lead us straight to Luciana. We were right, and she’d realize that.
As we made our way through the streets of Santa Fe, the window being gone was actually a good thing. We listened for the sound of sirens, making sure to keep them in the distance as I drove through the night.
The cops gave up after a few minutes. The sirens stopped, and the tension in the car eased. Dastien turned on the radio, and the group finally agreed that any motel would do at this point.
It was late by the time we found a place, and I was bone tired. I’d only had a few hours of sleep last night, and after so many in a row, I was well into the red zone of sleep deprivation. I parked the car, hoping no one tried to steal the SUV with the broken window.
While Claudia went to check us in, everyone piled out and started grabbing bags. By the time she came back holding keycard envelopes, we were ready to head inside.
“How’d it go?” I asked.
“No one recognized me,” Claudia said. “I paid cash for three nights. We’ve got two adjoining rooms on the second floor.” We’d decided to keep the rooms to a minimum so we’d be in the same place if any other disasters happened.
“Perfect,” Dastien said. “We’ve got the sleeping bags.”
I didn’t care what the room was like or the sleeping situation was. As we walked up the stairs, my muscles ached and my skin itched—a sure sign that my wolf was closer to the surface than I’d like. If I didn’t rest and eat soon, she’d take matters into her own hands.
Letting my wolf out now—when cops, witches, and Lord only knew what else—were hunting me was not an option.