The Cat's Meow (4 page)

Was this warlock from a different world? He gave compliments? But intrigued by what—to ruin my career or simply for personal reasons? Unaware of which it was, I murmured, “Err…thank you.”

“Ah, not a snippy response.” He winked. “We’re getting somewhere.”

I rolled my eyes, frustrated he was right—I should’ve thrown a snarky remark his way. Forgetting about him for the moment, I grabbed my bottles of oil of bergamot and vetiver, and added a drop of each to the mixture. Once finished, I drew in a deep breath, collected myself away from the strong presence of Kale beside me, and focused on the magic simmering around me.

The sweet citrusy scent of the bergamot mixed with the woodsy hues of the vetiver engulfed me, and the hot burn to my veins indicated the readiness of the magic. “Goddess, force this warlock to tell no lies.”

I paused for a moment to allow the spell to absorb into the hairs, and then I grabbed a piece of black thread out of the hatchback and twisted Edwin’s hair with mine. I then used the black thread and tied nine knots to combine it all together.

After I formed the bracelet, I wrapped it around my right wrist and held out my arm to Kale. “Can you tie it?” It wasn’t often I had a sidekick, and this step always took forever when alone. Maybe his company wasn’t so bad, because I didn’t doubt I’d prove myself to my coven, and really, the extra hands did help.

Maybe.

Kale grabbed the ends and tied the bracelet, his fingers caressing the sensitive spot on my wrist. My breath became ragged. How did a man, filled out with a body like
that,
have a touch so soft?

When he finished with the knot to enclose the bracelet, I recoiled from his touch, trying my damnedest not to notice how my body yearned for his fingers to return. He looked at me in such a heated way, as if touching me affected him as much as it had me, and I shifted uneasily on my feet. As much as my head told me all the negatives about Kale, my body couldn’t ignore the magnitude of appeal he provided, and certain places long dormant ached.

He cleared his throat and his voice had lowered. “What next?”

I gulped and forced my voice not to waver, demanding that my body chill out and reminding myself who was in control. “I need to talk to him.”

Leaving all that nonsense behind, I opened the driver’s side door and dropped into the seat. Kale slid into the passenger side and his expression became questioning, but before I could provide my next steps, Edwin moaned.

I glanced between the front seats at him, and he stirred, rubbing at his nostrils, which were coated in blood. “Sit up. Listen to me,” I commanded.

Edwin sat up in a split second, stiff as a board and with his eyes glazed over. I’d seen it before while using this spell and I doubted it would be the last time I made a request of the Goddess in this manner. Truth spells came in handy often. “Have you heard of trouble in Charleston?”

In a robotic voice, Edwin replied, “Just recently, Bryon Holt contacted me in search of help. It looks like he’s gotten himself into a bind and joined some group called Sorcerers Rebellion. They
plan to revolt against the Alchemy.”

I seriously did a double take as slow horror drifted over my body. That name registered with such force I could only hope Edwin was wrong. If he wasn’t, that meant my ex-boyfriend was right in the heart of this trouble.

But for now I focused on the larger problem. “The Alchemy?” Where Charleston’s magical folk had the coven that led them, the Alchemy was the higher power—the leaders of warlocks and witches in the United States. “A rebellion?”

Kale frowned.

“From what I heard,” Edwin continued as if I hadn’t interrupted, “the leader of the Sorcerers Rebellion has a means to destroy the High Priests.”

I blinked. “Pardon me?”

“Bryon said the one who rules over the group is rich with power,” Edwin explained. “But Bryon got scared, wanted out, and he booked it.”

“What made him so scared?” Kale asked in a tight voice.

I repeated the question since Edwin wouldn’t acknowledge Kale under my spell, and he answered, “He said whoever this was—he didn’t know him by name—indicated that the time for new leadership in the Alchemy has arrived. He desires to destroy them all.”

My mouth gaped open, totally stunned speechless. In all truth, I had expected there to be talk about some warlock after a higher power, and the reasons the cats were killed had revolved around a mini-plan. I hadn’t once thought we’d hear of a huge plot to destroy the world as I knew it, and I wasn’t sure I wanted Edwin to proceed.

Kale’s lips thinned into a firm line. “Did Bryon say why he’s after this power?”

After I asked his question, Edwin said in the same bland voice, “Time for a new world. For a new power to reign over the covens.”

“Harrumph” was Kale’s reply.

I nodded in agreement. As much as I preferred to stay away from
this
kind of trouble, it seemed important to get as much out of Edwin as possible. I cleared my throat to remove my heart from it. “Are you sure it was the Bryon Holt from our coven?” At his nod, I shook my head. “No, that can’t be true.”

Kale studied me with a hard look, making me feel all too examined under his hard stare, and finally asked, “You know this warlock?”

“I do.”
I once loved him.
“He’s an ex-boyfriend.”

Kale’s eyebrows rose before his gray eyes blazed with a hot emotion. “When did you break up?”

I got stuck in his obvious wrath and tried to understand; was he angry that I knew the warlock, or was it the mention of an ex-boyfriend? Furthermore, why did he seem so interested in when the relationship ended?

Instantly, I chastised myself for thinking
those
thoughts when hell unfolded at the moment. “Years ago, and I haven’t talked with him since.” All this rubbed me wrong—Bryon had never been
evil
. A jackass, yes, but he worked for the Alchemy. Sure, we had bad history together, yet as much as I tried to believe this, I couldn’t. “He has to be wrong. Bryon would never be involved in anything like this.”

Kale studied me for a long moment before his expression softened. “You have done a truth spell on Edwin; he can’t lie to you.”

True enough, and that acknowledgment deepened the pain in my chest. Had Bryon gone bad? Even if I liked Bryon as much as I did Edwin, the thought of someone I once cared for being involved in this was a hard pill to swallow.

Kale nudged my arm—apparently I’d been lost in my thoughts. When I lifted my head, he asked, “Why did the relationship end?”

While I understood his need to drill me about my spells because
maybe
the coven had ordered it, my personal life did not concern him. Besides, I didn’t like how I could still feel the heat of his touch on my arm. “What business is it of yours?”

“It’ll give me insight into him,” Kale replied, all too coolly. “Perhaps your reasoning for ending the relationship relates to how he ended up going down this road.”

I supposed that made sense, though it seemed more than that. Kale’s intense regard of me appeared more personal, as if he wanted to know my history. He did have a point, though, and maybe my past with Bryon would cloud my judgment. “On my first case, I hunted a nasty witch who had been responsible for the death of one of the High Priestesses.”

On a deep sigh, I glanced down at my hands, pulled back into the horrible memory that had never faded from my mind, and my voice got quiet. “It was my assistance that led to finding her, yet Bryon had killed her. Seeing that the case was high profile because the death was a High Priestess, the Alchemy came to reward those involved in the case.” My heart still ached from that day he stomped on it, but my misery had long ago turned into hatred. “Bryon took all the credit, played up his part in it all, and never once told the Alchemy I had discovered the witch. They offered him employment in the Alchemy. He took it, and I’ve never seen him since.”

“You didn’t tell them?”

I blinked out of the memory because Kale’s question hadn’t been one I expected. “Pardon?”

Kale’s eyes were gentle, his voice equally tender. “You never told the Alchemy you were the reason the witch was discovered?”

Goddess, had I just told him—or showed him by my expression—how much pain the event had caused? How betrayed I’d been that Bryon, a warlock who said he loved me, put me down to the leaders of the magical world to look better than me? I fought with myself to shut back down, and shook my head. “I don’t need approval from anyone and I didn’t need a promotion. If he wants the glory, he can have it.”

Kale hesitated, his eyes searching mine, and his face was unreadable. Dammit, why couldn’t he share my flaw, show his emotions? He finally said, “From what you’ve told me, it appears you didn’t know him that well, and he’s after power.”

While I could agree that I thought I had known Bryon but didn’t after all, I didn’t see his desire for anything bigger than the Alchemy. “Power?”

Kale nodded. “Seems even then he sought to look stronger than the others around him and that’s why he showed you such disrespect. Maybe that need has grown.”

The statement appeared accurate, and all I could do was nod. For whatever reason, I didn’t mind hearing that Kale’s opinion on Bryon matched my own. Not allowing myself to go down that road of personal attachment, I focused back on Edwin. “What else can you tell us?”

Edwin still hadn’t blinked, and stared out the front window with a blank look. “Bryon said there’s quite the group that has rallied in this rebellion. It grows daily and now has hundreds of followers.”

Kale grunted. “Did he mention where they gathered?”

Once I asked Edwin the question, he said, “He never went into specifics. He appeared too frightened to say more than what he told me.”

I couldn’t believe so many had joined this crazy-ass plan, but knew with my magic Edwin couldn’t lie. Still, were warlocks really so stupid? To overtake the Alchemy was unthinkable. “What did you tell Bryon to do?”

“I told him to run and get as far away as possible,” Edwin answered. “After that day, he hasn’t returned, and I haven’t heard from him.”

Shit!
“Guess talking to him is out of the question.” At Kale’s nod, I exhaled a long breath, relieved Kale agreed since it meant I didn’t have to find Bryon. Truth was, if I wanted to find him, I could, but my emotions led the way and until I
needed
to, I would take an alternate route.

I pondered what else could help us and realized another matter still had to be dealt with. “Do you know if this rebellion has used cats to gain further power?”

He shook his head. “No.”

I sighed, irked that the seduction of Edwin had been a total waste of time, except the new trouble it brought. “Back to square one, but now things have gotten a whole helluva lot worse.”

Kale’s features tightened with a glint of…anger, maybe. “Indeed.”

“Do you think this threat to the Alchemy is real?” I asked in hopes he’d say no, though right now I had a hard time believing it possible. No one could honestly be stupid enough to take on the Alchemy, or maybe they could and were on a suicide mission. Going up against the strongest warlocks in the world—the ones who rose to that power because they were near unstoppable and protected to extremes—was insanity, at best.

Kale drew in a long breath and then blew it out on a slow exhale. “Right now there’s no reason to doubt what he’s told us, but without hard proof we can’t make assumptions.”

Made sense—at this point the new information was hearsay. I’d rather keep it that way, because if this turned out to be true, the person of interest right now had once been the love of my life. I had gotten over Bryon, forgotten about the pain, and I had no intention of hunting him down.

“All right.” I looked back at Edwin, who was still staring out into space. “Get out of my SUV.”

As Edwin scooted across the backseat, I exited the SUV and Kale followed. Once again at my hatchback, I removed the bracelet and placed it back in the bowl. I grabbed my lighter out of the compartment and lit the bracelet on fire. My nose scrunched as the scent of burned hair wafted through my nostrils, but I was distracted by Edwin’s gasp.

He blinked, a few times over, and after a long pause said, “What the fuck was that for?” He scowled at Kale, clearly brought back into the moment after the punch as he rubbed at his crooked nose.

“Libby is
not
going anywhere with you,” Kale stated, his voice low and threatening. “It’s best you go.”

Edwin hesitated, giving me a once-over, and then scoffed. “You’re not worth the trouble.” He turned and strode off toward the side of the building before he disappeared into the shadows.

“Not worth the trouble?” I folded my arms, glaring at the spot where he had vanished. “Now that was just mean.”

“The sun will rise soon,” Kale interjected into my hissy fit. “I think it’s wise if we go home, rest up, and start again tomorrow night. Are you agreeable?”

I was tired, but I was still pissed by Edwin’s words. I wasn’t worth the trouble? But Kale had it right—I needed to let this new information process. Maybe believing that it was true was a good place to start. I considered calling the coven to discuss the matter, but immediately refused the idea for more reasons than one. If I were being tested, I needed to prove I could handle the matter, not run to them for help. Also, I really did hate to approach the coven until I solved a case, because they tended to get into my business when I didn’t want them to. Only confirming another reason
why
they might be testing me to give me the boot. I had been told, excessively often, I needed to check in regularly.

However, right now I wasn’t in the right mindset to talk to the witches who might have set me up to destroy my current life. “Yes, I’m agreeable. Do you want a ride home?”

“I’ll walk,” he replied in a flat voice.

Why had I expected different? Moreover, why did I care? “How will I contact you?”

He considered me for one of those long moments he seemed to be an expert at, knowing exactly how to make a witch pay attention only to him. “I’ll find you.”