Page 97 of The Tracker's Revenge

“Sounds good,” Jake said, looking glad to have something to do.

“Yeah,” Rosalina said in a chipper tone. “It sounds like a great idea.”

I snorted. She sounded about as ready as Eric to get rid of them. Just then, Blaze meowed and jumped on Rosalina’s lap, surprising her.

“Oh, hey there!” she exclaimed, scratching his head. He purred and threw his head back, reaching his little nose toward her chin.

“He wants a kiss, Rosalina,” Jake teased.

“Aw!” She continued petting him until he settled on her lap and let her eat her food.

After breakfast, I followed Jake outside the cabin as he took a backpack to Eric’s car. They’d pack bullets for one of Rosalina’s guns, but mostly, the bag was full of snacks.Wolves!

“Hey,” I said, catching up with him. “What did the book say about breaking the pact?”

Jake grew serious again, his pupils dilating even in the morning sun, which seeped through the thick branches above.

“It’s complicated and dangerous.” He set the backpack on the ground and turned toward the woods, his jaw setting.

“Yes?”

“We’ll have to figure out how to make it work and—”

“Jake, tell me!”

He sighed and faced me, a resigned expression on his handsome features. “Well, since the pact is a blood covenant, and it burns in my veins, we need to root its magic out.”

“And... how do you do that?” I asked cautiously.

Jake swallowed. “We... let a... blood demon eat it out of me.”

“What?!”

With a frustrated grunt, he picked up the backpack and walked toward the Mercedes.

I followed in his heels. “How does that work? Where do you get a blood demon? And isn’t that like possession?”

“I have as many questions as you, Toni, and just as few answers.” He opened the sedan’s back door, threw the bag in, then faced me. “We’ll have to look further into it.”

I shook my head, at a loss. My throat grew tight, making it hard to breathe.

“Oh, Toni.” He gathered me in his arms and rested his chin on top of my head. “Let’s not worry about it right now, okay? At least I’ve found a way out of this.”

I nodded, then pulled away from him and stared him in the eye. “Promise me you won’t do anything stupid, that you won’t try anything without discussing it with me.”

A smile quirked his lips. “Don’t worry. I learned my lesson. It’s you and I together from now on.”

“Good.”

He kissed me gently on the lips, and we held each other, surrounded by the sounds of nature. A moment later, Eric stomped out of the cabin and climbed into the car without a word.

“Maybe he’ll lighten up once he has a bowel movement,” Jake whispered in my ear.

I snickered.

“I heard that!” Eric’s muffled voice called from the car.

Jake got in the passenger seat and they were off.