Chapter 22
Chapter
Twenty-Two
REID
“Won’t you come and help me in the garden?” Jessie asked for the second time today.
“I don’t feel like going outside,” I replied without raising my head from the book I was reading. “It’s cold.”
She huffed. “You could wear a jacket, hat, and gloves. We have a communal supply if you don’t have enough of your own.”
“I don’t have the energy. The baby has been keeping me awake.” That was a blatant lie. While I did feel a bit flat, it wasn’t because I was pregnant.
Still, it didn’t matter what the reason, I wasn’t interested in venturing outside. I was comfortable right here on the sofa with a book and a soft place to lay my head.
Here, it was safe.
The last time I’d left the house, I’d freaked out in the supermarket and lost the use of my magic for days.
Being without that security blanket had scraped me raw, and I didn’t think I could handle going through it again.
Especially not when there were two of us I needed to protect. I couldn’t afford to take any risks.
Jessie padded closer and knelt beside me. “The house will be in view and the garden is within the wards you set. That makes it pretty safe, right?”
“Ish,” I mumbled, reluctant to acknowledge that she might have a point.
The garden was beyond the more intensive wards surrounding the house. Honestly, as comforting as I found my wards—which were definitely still in place because I’d powered them up as soon as my magic returned—each day I grew more worried that they wouldn’t be enough.
All it would take to dismantle them would be a moderately powerful warlock with more training than me.
That was most of my former coven.
It was better to stay inside. Part of me knew I was being illogical, but my emotions weren’t being logical right now. I felt safer inside—like my relative freedom and my magic were more protected—so inside I stayed.
Jessie sighed. “You know where to find me if you change your mind.”
I kept my gaze firmly on my book until she walked away.
I tried to continue reading but images of Jessie exposed and vulnerable kept popping into my mind.
Reluctantly, I closed the book and walked through the house to the kitchen, through which I had a better view of both the garden and the street beyond.
Hamish glanced at me as I sat in the corner and I pretended not to notice the disappointment etched into his expression. “Didn’t want to go out?”
“Not today.”
Hamish was quiet for a long moment before asking, “Would you like to peel some carrots for dinner?”
“Sure.”
I stretched and wiggled from side to side—my hips were a little achy—then went to the sink and rinsed the carrots.
I made sure to check on Jessie through the window every couple of minutes.
After I finished peeling the carrots, I started cutting them into slices.
I was nearly done when I looked out the window just in time to see a black SUV cruise slowly past.
I stiffened. Something about that vehicle didn’t feel right. When it disappeared from view, I told myself I was being paranoid and started washing broccoli to go with the carrots. But when the SUV drove past again, this time from the other direction, I froze and peered closer.
I recognized the driver. And Jessie was out there, all alone.
With a shout, I dropped a potato and raced through the house, flying toward the back door. I lunged through it, preparing my magic. As soon as I was outside, I flung blue sparks at the SUV.
They missed.
Tires squealed and the vehicle peeled away. I threw more sparks after it, hoping to burst one of the tires or prevent them from escaping, but they turned a corner before the sparks hit them.
“What the hell?” Jessie demanded, running over to me.
“That guy knew Trent,” I said, bent at the waist, hauling in mouthfuls of air. “He shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t be here.” My fingers sank into my flesh hard enough to bruise. “Why is he here?”
“Reid?”
Hauling oxygen into my lungs, I looked toward Hamish, who’d appeared in the doorway, a phone in his hand.
“You need to call the police,” I gasped. “That man is a criminal. They need to catch him.”
A couple of the other residents appeared behind Hamish, who was entering a number into his phone. One of them sheltered behind Hamish’s larger body and the other peered around him, obviously curious about what was happening.
Hamish began talking to someone.
“Is that Zander?” I demanded.
He shook his head. “It’s dispatch.”
“You need to take a breath.” Jessie touched my shoulder lightly. “You’re hyperventilating.”
“I have to call Zander.” It was all well and good putting in a generic call to the police but this needed the big guns. Someone who would actually care and not write me off as being paranoid.
“You can talk to him in a minute.” She moved closer, her face filling my vision. Her dark eyes were worried, her mouth twitching as if it wanted to turn down but she was trying desperately to keep it curved up. “Let’s make sure your brain has enough air for you to think clearly first.”
Irritated, I tried to brush her off, but her grip tightened. Bright spots of light appeared in my vision.
“Breathe in for the count of four,” she ordered.
Sensing that she wouldn’t let me escape otherwise, I tried to draw in a deep breath, struggling because my chest was burning for oxygen.
“Hold it for seven seconds,” she continued.
I only managed five before exhaling sharply and gasping for breath.
“I can’t.”
“Yes.” Her jaw firmed. “You can. In for four.”
I tried again and, at the top of the breath, slowly counted to seven.
“Now breathe out for eight seconds.”
That was even harder than holding it, but I did my best.
We repeated the exercise several times over, until my vision cleared and I was feeling a bit more together.
“Thank you.”
She nodded. “Go make your call.”
I hurried into the house, snatched my phone from the kitchen counter where I’d left it, and found Zander’s number. The call went straight through.
“Is that you. Reid?” Zander’s rough voice wrapped around me like a hug.
“Yeah, it’s me. One of Trent’s friends just drove past the Omega House. I saw him through the window of his car. He was looking for me—or maybe someone else. He went past twice, so it wasn’t a coincidence.”
“Are you okay?” Zander asked, his tone sharper.
I took a moment to assess myself. Surprisingly, the breathing exercise had taken the edge off my panic. “Yeah.”
“Good. Thank you for calling me. I was already on my way to see you, but I’ll bring a uniform along. Are you certain it was someone Trent knew?”
“One hundred percent.” I’d only met him a few times but I’d committed every face to memory in case I ever escaped.
He hesitated. “Are you sure? This isn’t because you’re worried about that magic you felt the other day?”
My heart sank. Gods, he thought I was paranoid too.
Poor, broken Reid, too badly damaged by the Red Moon Pack to trust what he saw with his own two eyes.
“You don’t believe me, do you?”