“Don’t worry. Dastien is committed to you. It’s just because you’re apart and you’re an emotional person. Don’t give it a second thought.”

For the first time since I woke up, I finally felt better. This was totally fine. My fears were taking me for a ride at night, but I just had to tell them to shut the hell up, and all would be good.

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My parents got up, and I stood.

The floor came up to meet me. Or more accurately, I met it.

“Whoa.” Dad crouched beside me. “Are you okay?”

I sat up and shook my head. “God. What is wrong with me? That’s the second time I’ve tripped. And I threw up last night and dropped a plate. What is up with me?”

“You didn’t trip. You fainted,” Dad said.

“Is it your wolf?” Mom asked. “Do you need to shift?”

“No. I should be okay. It takes weeks for that to happen.” I paused to think.

Something changed two days ago. I’d been feeling weak ever since. What had changed?

I’d gone to Rosa’s. Learned some things.

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And Luciana had been in my room.

There were times that coincidences were simply that. But for me lately, nothing was a coincidence.

Luciana had spelled me. Or cursed me. Or had done something else invasive and unforgivable.

I had to fix this. Now. It was time I dug around in her place.

“Mom. Dad. Thanks so much for coming,” I said as I stood again and managed to stay on my feet. “But I think it’s best if you go now.” The both started protesting as I hustled them out the door. “I’m serious. Things are about to get ugly here, and I think you should go. It’s safest.”

“But what about you?”

“Don’t worry about me. It seems like someone around here has forgotten that I’m an alpha. I’m a bruja. And I’ve been bullied too much in my life to take it anymore.”

“Luciana cursed you. They’re not just dreams,” Mom said. She was a smart lady. I hoped that when I grew up, I was half as good as she was.

“Don’t. Just go. I’ll be okay.” I wasn’t so sure about that. Luciana had spelled me twice. This time she was completely out of line. She’d broken her side of the bargain, and now I could break mine.

Chapter Nineteen

As soon as my parents were gone, I went to my room. I’d known as soon as I fainted that something was wrong. That was what happened to Meredith when she’d been cursed. It wasn’t the same, but it didn’t matter. I hadn’t gotten a vision from anything that was in my room.

When I was searching my room, I’d been looking for something missing. But what if she’d planted something?

I started digging around. I tore apart the room inch by inch. I emptied the closet, knocking on the walls and floorboards, looking for some place she could stash something.

It wasn’t until I moved the mattress that I found it. She’d cut a hole in the box spring so that it wouldn’t make a lump. I pulled apart the torn material and reached between the springs. My finger brushed against something and a dirty, oily feeling came over me.

I jerked my hand back, cradling it against my chest. I knew exactly what it was.

No. She couldn’t have. No one would mess with magic that dark.

A gris-gris.

A few months ago I hadn’t even known what a gris-gris was, but after Imogene accused me of cursing Dastien and using one, I’d done some research. It was a little pouch that carried a curse and was usually inscribed on the outside. Sure, they could be used for good, but I’d bet everything I had that this one was evil.

I didn’t want to touch the thing again. I grabbed a discarded sock from the floor and stuck my hand in it. I picked up the little pouch between two fingers. Whatever was inside jangled as I moved, but I didn’t want to open it. Messing with one of these was dangerous, and letting anything out of it could release a whole world of hurt.

I placed it on the bedside table and stepped back.

As shocked as I was to see it, it didn’t entirely surprise me that Luciana had sunk to this level. What surprised me was that I hadn’t noticed it sooner. Only now did I smell the rotten stench of whatever nasty ingredients were inside; Luciana must’ve warded the pouch against my Were senses.

No wonder I’d slept so well in Claudia’s room. She didn’t have a curse under her mattress.

The front door slammed shut. Raphael and Claudia’s voices were muffled by the distance. Daniel said something, too.

I thought about telling them about the gris-gris, but my gut was telling me that I needed to deal with this alone. If Rosa was right, I needed to start listening to my instincts.

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