Priceless (19 page)

Milly
’
s tears dried up.
“
You can be such a bitch, Rylee.
”

“
At least I
’
m not a whore.
”

The world still
ed
around us. Never in all our time together had we let it go this far.

She spun and stomped upstairs, the guest bedroom door slamming behind her. I let out a sigh and slumped into my kitchen chair. I needed to apologize.

“
Milly stay?
”
Alex asked, his tongue stained by the black colouring from the ice cream.

“
No, I don
’
t think so.
”

Slowly
,
I made my way up the stairs and tapped on the door to the guest room.
“
Milly, I
’
m sorry, I shouldn
’
t have said that.
”

No answer.

Trotting back down the stairs
,
I made my way into the kitchen, glanced at the dirty dishes
,
and then decided to leave them.

My bed call
ed
to me and I still had to practice. Here at home I had
a
large punching bag, weights, medicine balls
,
and a climbing rope, all set up in my bedroom
, what had previously been three bedrooms until I knocked the walls out
. The rope was one of the things I hated most. When I
’
d bought the house, what was currently my bedroom was open through both floors
,
which meant I had a ceiling about
twenty-
five feet
high
.

I had two ropes hanging about five feet apart. I climbed the first one all the way to the top, reached across and slid down the second one. Then repeated the
routine
three times until my breath hitch
ed
in my chest. After that
,
came the punching bag
,
where I slid through my Muay Thai training. Then onto weights, then the medicine ball, and finally back to the ropes.

The final climb burned my hands, the rope fibers stinging, the cut in my forearm aching, sweat dripping into my eyes. But I couldn
’
t stop, not until I
’
d done the whole routine.

Finally, I slid to the floor, body exhausted, heart tired, mind nearly numb enough for sleep.

Outside, the police still mov
ed
around. Every once in a while
,
I hear
d
them over their walkie talkies, hear
d
the rev of an engine start up.

Leaning back against my bedroom wall, I closed my eyes, let
ting
the sweat dry on my skin. A cold nose pushed into my face
and
woke me up as the sun climb
ed
the eastern horizon.

“
Alex hungry.
”

I stood, stiff from the position I
’
d slept in,
and
headed to the bathroom.
A quick shower and change of clothes left me feeling more optimistic. I
’
d apologize to Milly again, then things would be okay.

Within
an hour of me waking up
,
the
last of the forensics team,
police included,
had gone
,
leaving a smoldering wheat field, some yellow tape and a slew of tire tracks.

Milly came out to the back porch, a cup of coffee in her hand. Her eyes were cool, and wouldn
’
t meet mine.

“
Look, Milly, I
’
m sorry about last night. Really, I don
’
t think of you that way
.
”
I mean
t
the words. Sure she got around, but she always believed she was in love.

“
I still think you can be a bitch
,
”
she
said, but a smile was at the edge of her lips.

“
Well, we both know that
’
s the truth
.
”
I lean
ed
back against the porch railing.
“
Are we okay then?
”

She nodded. Neither of us spoke again until she
’
d finished her coffee. The obvious question had to be asked.

“
Okay, Milly, time to confess. What
’
s going on?
You said you couldn
’
t be around me, yet here you are
.
”
We
sat
on the back porch, staring out at the burnt field.

She took a deep breath
,
then
laced her fingers together and placed them in her lap.
She studied them carefully
.
“
I
’
m to be your
liaison
. The people who took India are breakaways from the main
Coven
.
”

I flicked a piece of
imaginary
dirt off my jeans
, giving myself a moment to think.
“
Why send you? I mean, no offense, but aren
’
t you the baby of the group?
”

High colour flooded her cheeks.
“
Yes.
”

There
was only one reason they would send a
lesser-
experienced witch after a group that broke away from the
Coven
.

“
So are they trying to get rid of you by sending you after the rogues?
Because that
’
s what I see.
”
And I didn
’
t like it, not one bit.
I might fight with her, but I would never deliberately try to hurt her
;
she was the closest thing beside
s
Giselle that I had to family.

Milly
’
s fingers tightened
and
she
clenched her hands until the knuckles turned white, then slowly she relaxed.
“
They think I
’
m trouble. This would be a good way for them to use me up
without just making an arbitrary decision to have me removed
.
”

“
How many rogues are we dealing with?
”
Together, we could take this group out, no problem.

“
We aren
’
t dealing with them. I am. I am to be your
liaison
while you rescue India, that
’
s it.
I will handle the black members
,
”
she
said.
We both knew Milly was good
—
very, very
good—
at what she did. She had to be to have survived this long without a
Coven
to back her up. But no matter how good she was, even she couldn
’
t handle more than a few black witches at a time.

“
Who
’
d you sleep with that you shouldn
’
t have?
”
I lean
ed
back against the porch pillar.

She stood, her eyes flashing,
and stomped her way into the house, yelling over her shoulder
through the open door
.
“
Shut up! You don
’
t know anything!
”

“
Do you love him at least?
”
I yelled back.

She paused in midstride, turning just her face back toward me
, one hand on the kitchen table
.
“
Yes.
”

“
Is he worth it?
”

“
Yes.
”

I shrugged.
“
Well, then at least we
know we won
’
t both die in vain if
it
’
s
for true love.
”
I was betting it was anything but love. More like a serious case of the lusting hormones
;
that was Milly.
She was a good friend, but I would hate to be one of the men who thought she loved them, and only them.

“
Okay, so it was a fling
,
”
she
said with a huff.
“
But seriously, how was I to know he was engaged to the
Coven
leader
’
s daughter? He wasn
’
t wearing a sign or anything.
”

I groaned
.
It couldn
’
t get any worse.

Nope, wrong again. Alex tremble
d,
and I turned to face where he was looking. There, galloping across the burn
t
field was the werewolf pack, teeth flashing as they howled their intent.

“
They come to kill Alex.
Stay till Alex is dead
,
”
he
whispered.

16

“
Time to go.
”
I said, leaping to my feet and running through the house.

Milly trotted after us.
“
What
’
s happening?
”

“
Pack, come. Kill
,
”
Alex said.

No more questions, we piled into the Jeep and spun out as the first of the pack hit the edge of the lawn. Snarling and howling, I knew they could scent not only Alex, but the blood from my stitches
too.
Not to mention the pool of blood from Martins
’
death.

Alex lay in the back of the Jeep, panting with fear. Milly stared out the window as the front runner hit the side of the vehicle, almost tipping us over.

“
Milly! Do something!
”
I yelled, battling with the steering wheel to keep up from going over. That would be bad on so many levels I didn
’
t even want to consider.

“
I can
’
t. The pack has nothing to do with this case
,
”
she
whispered, staring straight out front.

“
And if they attack you?
”
I snapped, finally gaining some distance
from
the pack as we sped down the road, the tires squealing as they
went from dirt to
the tarmac of the paved road le
a
d
ing
into town.

Milly started to cry.
“
I can
’
t defend myself unless it
’
s directly linked to the case or I
’
ll be removed from the
Coven
and will be considered a rogue worthy of decapitation.
”

“
Shit
,
”
I muttered.
“
That
’
s just freaking fantastic. So you mean you
’
re basically just a throwaway?
”

She stiffened in her seat.
“
What did you call me?
”
We both knew she
’
d heard me
;
we
’
d been friends too long not to know exactly what was going down.

I took a left and headed toward Bismark. We needed more than just a motel to keep the pack off our scent
,
and I needed a place I could get some info. I didn
’
t have time to pamper Milly, much as she was my friend.