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normal.
    Help was coming. Tomorrow.
    Cassie sucked in a breath. “It hurts,” she moaned. “Trying to keep it out.”
    Luke had to lean close to hear, her words slurred and quiet. “What are you trying to keep out?” he asked.
    She opened her mouth, but shuddered again before she could say anything. Luke didn’t try to make her talk, it would only hurt her more.
    He should have forced the thief to come back with him.
     

Chapter Five
    Mel knew to avoid the demon horse statue at Denver International Airport. As far as she knew, it wasn’t actually a demon, and she didn’t think it was cursed, but plenty of lore surrounded it and she was already in enough trouble. She met Krista in the arrivals terminal. The witch’s flight from Washington D.C. had arrived and the petite woman was already waiting for Mel.
    Krista was power and pain in concentrated form. She stood barely over five feet tall and her spiked hair gave her another inch. If not for the perpetually confrontational look on her face, she might have seemed sweet. And Mel knew the woman would punch her if she ever called her a pixie out loud. Krista wore skinny jeans and an oversized t-shirt. She had a backpack slung over her shoulder and could have easily been one of the college students travelling over their autumn holidays.
    Not even the silver protection charm she wore on a necklace that dipped to her mid-chest suggested that she was merely an adept witch.
    They took a seat on one of the benches outside baggage claim and Krista put up a sound ward. “Usually when someone asks for five minutes, they don’t make you fly halfway across the country to use them.”
    And Mel was glad that she’d come. She knew that Krista didn’t have to, that the bond between them was battered on the edge of being completely torn up. But twice now she’d come when Mel called. And that meant something. “You know as well as I do that there are ears everywhere.”
    “You’re lucky I wasn’t busy,” was all she said. “Now, why aren’t you tied up in some lion’s basement having your entrails slowly pulled out? You’re too close to his territory for them not to know you’re here.”
    “And you still came?” Mel smiled. She couldn’t help it.
    “Wouldn’t be my first time pulling your ass out of the fire. Now talk, your time is almost up.”
    Mel pulled out the printout she’d made of the picture from her phone. She’d dumped the phone in a mall outside of the city after popping out the battery and sim card. So far, the tail that Luke had put on her hadn’t been able to catch up. “This is a hex, right?”
    She’d spoken with certainty to the alpha, but a witch would always have more magical knowledge. Krista held the printout close to her face. The quality wasn’t great, Mel had used the hotel business center, and their printer had been purchased shortly after the printing press went out of style. But it should have been good enough to give Krista an idea. After a few minutes of studying the design on Cassie’s back, Krista looked up, her face pale. “This was on someone? That is some person’s back?” She sounded horrified.
    And that scared Mel. Krista didn’t freak easily, and her skill with magic was some of the best for her age. “An eighteen year old girl. I’ve been hired to find out how it happened and fix her.”
    Krista raised an eyebrow, she knew all of Mel’s tricks. “Hired by who?”
    There was no use in hiding it. “Luke Torres. The victim is his sister Cassie, it happened sometime after she was kidnapped and before she was returned safely yesterday night.” Mel watched Krista carefully while she spoke. From the slight fist she made, Mel knew that Krista would have punched her in the shoulder – hard – if it weren’t for the audience. “I happened to be in the area to see the markings. Luke and another one of his pack mates thought they were just bruises. I snapped a picture and they could see the hex after that.”
    Krista took