I wanted to do the same, but I couldn’t. Not until Mira was in the car and I had a look at her.
Kerry stopped the parade when the little skeleton dashed over to him. He patted the thing on the skull.
“Look, Kerry made a friend,” Jax said.
“Pop the trunk,” Kerry called as he brought the girls over, skeleton in tow.
Curious now, I turned around, but couldn’t see much. I had to content myself with listening as Kerry opened the trunk and shuffled things around.
“What took you so long, Kerry?” I didn’t recognize that voice and figured it was the skeleton. “You said thirty minutes.”
“I had to talk to Robideaux.”
“Did you kill him?”
“Not yet.”
“What do you have for me? It had better be something good since I waited so long. What is it? Tell me! Come on!”
“Gah! You’re so annoying! Here.”
“Gremlinteeth?” The skeleton screeched with what I could only assume was joy. “Thanks, Kerry!”
“Yeah, yeah. Go show Bit.”
“Right! I’ll catch you later.”
“Stay outta trouble, you little monster.” Kerry slammed the trunk closed.
Then the back door opened and he told Mira to get in. She obeyed without a word, her face blank and eyes dull. A bruise spread across her cheek and she panted in short, shallow breaths.
“Mira?”
She didn’t look at me or respond.
Did Kerry enthrall them to keep up his ruse?
I didn’t like it, but knew he wouldn’t have done that if it hadn’t been necessary.
“Chance, I’ll drive now,” he said. “You need to do some healing.”
The bottom fell out of my stomach. Kerry’s driving was … exciting. In the way that an earthquake is exciting.
Under Kerry’s direction, Mira got in and sat next to me, and Chance followed her in. Up front, Gigi slid across the seat next to Jax, who started talking to her in a low voice. Kerry got behind the wheel, pulled his door closed, put the car in gear, and drove out of the parking lot before speaking again.
“Gigi, Mira, take off the slave bracelets and drop them on the floor.”
Almost immediately, Gigi climbed into Jax’s lap with a sob, but I was more concerned about Mira. As soon as she removed the bracelet, her head fell on my chest and she squeezed her eyes shut.
“It hurts,” she moaned. “Rome, ithurts!”
For the first time since I was kid, my control slipped and power began to frost my skin. It took way more concentration than it should have to pull it back in before it could bite her.
“What’s the worst?” Chance asked.
“Ribs.”
“May I?”
