Incantations and Inmates - Helen Scott Page 0,1
the way she was now, she reminded me of my own grandmother, strangely enough, even though my grandma was neither a werewolf nor a convicted felon.
“You don’t have to worry about the little things,” she chided me, “because you have big things to worry about.”
Her voice had gone very soft, and I doubted anyone else could hear over the noise in the room.
I released the tray and raised my hands to my shoulders in a gesture of surrender. She shook her head at me as she stacked my tray on top of hers.
“Was that a threat, Tisha?” I asked. I wasn’t sure how to read what she’d just said, but I hoped it wasn’t. I’d liked Tisha since my first night here, when she told Ambrose to leave me alone. She always said what she wanted to say, and damn the consequences. Tisha was apparently solidly into the “give no fucks” age span of a woman’s life cycle; I looked forward to that someday myself.
“No,” she said, with a shake of her head. “But Nasima, not everyone likes how Ambrose and Christian have allied themselves--for your sake--and there’s a power vacuum with Nana gone. You three need to be a united front, if that’s the choice you’ve made.”
“We are a united front.”
“Mm-hmm.” She stared me down.
When she didn’t say anything else, I gave up on the conversation and headed for the doors, but she came with me. I’d wanted to corner Bane, who was eating by himself at a table by the door. God, that man should have someone to watch his back. He didn’t look at me directly and I didn’t look at him, but I could still feel tension rippling between the two of us, coupled with a keen awareness of the other.
I tried to focus on Tisha as she dumped the trays, then joined me exiting the cafeteria.
“You know I lived my whole life as a loner, involuntarily,” I admitted. “Once my coven kicked me out. I’m not exactly a… pack type.”
“I understand that,” she said. “But whatever you do reflects on Ambrose. Makes him look weak. And if he looks weak, he might find himself fighting for his power.”
“I hate that,” I said, surprised by the vehemence in my own voice. The weight of those expectations felt as heavy as chains.
She snorted. “Of course you do.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, coming to a stop as she walked ahead through the empty corridor.
She turned to face me. “I like you a lot, Nasima. But you’re a hazard for Ambrose.” Her voice was blunt, but her dark eyes were kind in that wrinkled face. “You need to figure out if you want to deal with the pack--if you even can--and if you can’t, maybe you should just go back to that bounty hunter you like so much.”
“That’s not even an option,” I muttered. “And I don’t like him.”
“Mm-hmm,” she said, a spark of amusement entering her eyes.
“He betrayed me,” I said hotly. “He’s a worthless dickhead. He could crawl to me on his knees and I’d tell him to--”
A familiar intoxicating scent washed over me. Bane nodded to me coldly as he passed by, heading toward his own cell.
No wonder Tisha looked as if she were holding back her laughter.
“I hate you, Tisha,” I said. “You’re supposed to watch my back.”
“I am, I am,” she said.
And of course she walked me back to my cell.
I was the alpha’s woman now, after all. No one was going to let me get hurt again.
I stayed in the cell for all of ten minutes before restless agitation drove me out. Ambrose could find me when he was done with his business.
Right now, I had my own business to take care of.
With Bane.
2
Nasima
I wished I didn't know exactly where Bane's cell was. It would make it so much easier for me to not be able to do what I was about to do. I did know though, and as my feet carried me forward toward the slice of the prison he called his own I was filled with both fury and nerves.
The man had taken my heart and crushed it, even though I begged him not to. I almost turned around, told myself to forget it, but then I saw him sitting in his cage looking fucking miserable and I couldn't.
The bars were just the same as the ones on my cell, so I knew not to try and fuck with them, but his door was open so I didn't have