Priceless

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 moved around. Every once in a while, I heard them over their walkie talkies, heard the rev of an engine start up.
    Leaning back against my bedroom wall, I closed my eyes, letting the sweat dry on my skin. A cold nose pushed into my face and woke me up as the sun climbed 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 meant 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 leaned 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 besides 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 leaned 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 trembled, and I turned to face where he was looking. There, galloping across the burnt 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~
    “T ime to go.” I said,