Chapter 36

L orenzo Crescent, most powerful mageri and sex on a stick, at least that’s how I’d always thought of him, was standing in reception looking slick and put-together as always. His dark, silver-streaked hair was usually brushed back, but the wind had tousled it so locks sat across his forehead, giving him a rakish look.

Our gazes locked, and awareness zinged between us. The familiar crackle and tension that always crept up on us when we met wasn’t shy today. It flared brightly, leaving me with flushed cheeks and him with bright eyes.

“You look good,” he said in a voice like chocolate and sin.

Hearing it over the phone didn’t do it justice.

“You too.”

He smiled, his slow-burn half-smile that left me wondering what thoughts were scrolling through his mind.

His gaze slipped over my shoulder, and I was suddenly aware of the others hovering in the doorway, watching the exchange.

Lorenzo smiled, charisma oozing from his pores. “Hello, all. Holly, you’re well?”

“I am,” Holly said. “Did you come to check on me?”

There was an uncharacteristic sharpness to her tone, and I tore my gaze from Lorenzo and fixed it on her.

Her jaw was tight, her fists clenched as if she was getting ready for a fight.

“Holly?” Merry nudged her.

She blinked and exhaled. “Sorry. Too much caffeine.”

“I came to see Orina,” Lorenzo said to her. “The blood results…” His gaze flicked back to me. “Is there somewhere we can speak in private?”

Private? He’d come all this way to deliver the results in private? A phone call on his secret line would have been private, but he’d made this trip. My scalp tightened.

“You can say whatever you have to say in front of my team. I’ll share it with them anyway.”

He seemed to consider this. “You trust them with your life.”

“I do.”

“Very well. I took it upon myself to supervise the analysis of your blood, and it was flagged by a code in our systems. Luckily, I was able to shut it down and pass it off as a glitch.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that there’s an alert for your kind of blood. I investigated further, and I’ve learned why. Orina, your blood holds a very rare, very specific genetic code. One that is only found in two bloodlines, Bloodmere and Rathmore.”

“I’ve…never heard of them.”

“You wouldn’t have. They live on an island beyond the Rim. But the issue we have is that there is a huge bounty set for anyone who can bring you in.”

“What? I don’t understand.”

“The older you get, the stronger the power in your blood, and it will be detectable by these bounty hunters. You’ll be hunted and taken back to the isle.”

My head reeled. “You’re saying I have family on this isle?”

“Not just family, Orina…parents. You have parents on the isle.”

No… “That can’t be…my parents…they died, they?—”

“Couldn’t have been your real parents.”

The breath whooshed out of my lungs. “No. This is bullshit.”

“I assure you it is not.”

“My parents died in a fire. I was their miracle baby, I…” The look on his face, patient and understanding and… “They weren’t my biological parents?”

“No. They couldn’t have been.”

“Oh God…The Order…did they know?” My mind went to Ordell and Hemlock, but no, they may have set up the Order, but they didn’t run it. “Someone at the Order stole me from my parents?”

“Yes, and we don’t know why. Orina, there is a conspiracy going on, and it revolves around you. I’m not sure why the Order took you, and I don’t know how, but I do know what you mean to your real family. The seventh daughter of a seventh daughter provides offspring to carry on this valuable gene.”

“Seventh daughter of the what?” Padma asked.

“It’s a witch thing,” Edwin said in a hushed tone. “At least it was before they were wiped out.”

“But they weren’t wiped out,” Padma said. “Were they, Mr. Crescent?”

“No. Not all of them,” he said.

“And what is this gene?” Holly asked.

“There’s a virus on the island where the surviving witches reside. One that infects humans and manifests in witches when they turn twenty-five. They call it the surge, and some are able to subdue it, while others succumb to it.”

“Did this virus wipe out the witches?” Padma asked.

“Something like that,” Lorenzo said.

I held up my hand. “Slow down. Let me get this straight. My parents aren’t my biological family, and I have family on an isle where witches live?”

“Yes,” Lorenzo confirmed.

“And my family are immune to this virus?”

“There’s more to it, but all that matters is your blood holds a gene that has the potential to produce witch offspring who also have that immunity and don’t need to go through the surge.”

“Wait, I’m a witch?”

He closed his eyes briefly as if gathering his thoughts. “No. Orina, you’re not a witch. You’re from a powerful human bloodline who is immune to the virus. They run the witch hunter institutes on the isle. You have the ability to produce offspring with a super gene that can pass that immunity to some witches through procreating with a male witch.”

“So they want to breed her?” Holly said.

My skin chilled. “No way.”

“We won’t allow it to come to that,” Lorenzo said, confirming Holly’s conclusion. “Holly and I will work on a serum to hide you from the hunters. They’ll be carrying bloodstones primed with the blood of the last seventh daughter to help locate you. We’ll need to work on a way to block them.”

Holly nodded. “I can do that. I can help.”

“The seventh daughter of a seventh daughter is highly prized because her firstborn always has a special ability.”

“What kind of ability?” Edwin asked.

“That is something that hasn’t been shared with the mageri high council.”

My head buzzed with all this information. I had a family, and they were looking for me, not because they loved me and missed me, but because they wanted to breed me like a fucking mare. The Order stole me, but maybe they’d been trying to protect me.

The bell above the door tinkled again, and I looked up, expecting to see Padma or Edwin returning with lunch, but a teenage boy wearing jeans and a puffy jacket stood there holding a small box. “Looking for an Orina?”

“That’s me.”

He held out the box. “He told me to give this to you.”

“Who?”

He shrugged. “Dunno. Some guy.”

I took the box.

“What did he look like?” Lorenzo asked.

The boy frowned then blinked sharply. “I…I don’t know.”

Goosebumps crawled up my arm as I set the box on the counter.

“Ezekiel, maybe?” Merry said. “He does like to send you stuff.”

“Yeah, in pretty boxes, but this…” It was a ratty brown box that looked like…I turned it over to find the logo for succulent delights. An ice block formed in my belly, and I tore off the tape and pulled it open. Something nestled inside, wrapped in tissue paper.

A note sat on top. I plucked it out and opened it.

I take no pleasure in this but you’re a difficult woman to get ahold of and I’m running out of time. Meet me at the warehouse on Slimstreet tonight at 8:00 p.m.

Come alone or they die.

Shay

“I smell blood,” Merry said, her voice quivering.

I unwrapped the package and stared at the contents. A square of paper with a pattern on it…no. Not paper…skin. Two squares. One dark brown the other lighter…Oh…Oh God…

Merry let out a cry and covered her mouth.

“Are those…blessing marks?” Holly asked.

Yes, yes, they were.

Shay had Edwin and Padma.

Shay was a fucking bounty hunter.

Orina’s adventure continues in Kiss the Dawn out Spring 2025

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