Page 108 of A Token of Blood and Betrayal

“Check on them,” Christian grated out.An instant later, his hand was on my shoulder.“Don’t move yet.”

Blake’s phone call.His words of warning.His demand that I get the hell away from Melissa.

A delayed shot of adrenaline cleared my mind.My gaze swept the clearing and landed on Melissa.She stood with her hands clenched a step away from Garion’s token.

Shakily I rose to my feet.Christian steadied me with a hand on my elbow.

“Did it work?”I asked him.If it did, I didn’t have to worry about Melissa grabbing the token.

“I think something went wrong.”He scanned me from head to toe.“The magic didn’t look… right.Your nose is bleeding and the coven…” His gaze swept over them.

“We shouldn’t have been knocked off our feet.”The witches were moving now, thank God, probably as dazed as I was.Most were smarter than me, taking time to regain their equilibrium.They didn’t have a potential crisis to handle though.

My nose twitched.I wiped my arm across my face, streaking blood across my skin.I’d smelled copper before.Now I tasted it.

“Here.”Christian took off his long-sleeved Henley and handed it to me.My nosebleed was more of a waterfall than a trickle, so I appreciated the gesture and tried not to stare at him too much.He was a good guy.I didn’t need to be suspicious.He wasn’t diverting me from Melissa.

Keeping the shirt pressed against my nose, I walked toward the vampire.Blake could be wrong.I shouldn’t sling around accusations just yet.

“Hey,” I said, no urgency in my voice.“Are you okay?”

Melissa scooped up the token.

I froze a step away.

“Did it work?”Her question was terse.She’d never held the token before.She wouldn’t know its weight and feel, but wouldn’t she sense the magic?

“Let me see it.”I kept my tone light and didn’t look directly at the black disk.My peripheral vision didn’t pick up a glow.That was a good sign, right?

Her eyes narrowed.Was she suspicious of my suspicion?I thought I was hiding it pretty damn well.

“She had everything she needed.”Melissa’s words were harsh and accusatory.“The spell should have worked.”

“I’ll be able to tell.”I held out my hand.

“Did you do something to it?”she demanded.

“Yeah,” I snapped.“I placed it in the center of a coven’s circle to null it.That’s the whole point of this.”

She tightened her hand around it.“The ground should be nulled.It’s not.”

“Just give me the token.”Out of patience, I stopped stanching my nose with Christian’s shirt and attempted to grab it.

She easily kept the token away.

“Mel,” Christian said.“We’ll figure this out.Just calm down.”

Melissa whirled on her brother.“That’s easy for you to say.You get to see the sun rise whenever you want.You’re not the weakest of your kind!Your time isn’t running out!”

What?Iwas the one running out of time.Melissa could wait for another midnight or two or ten as long as the coven was willing to try the spell again.

Astrid was sitting up a few paces behind Melissa.She looked okay but confused.

“Let’s talk to Astrid.It looks like she’s waking up.”I nodded toward my friend, hoping Melissa would glance that way so I could make another attempt to take the token.

She didn’t.

“We’re using this,” she said.