Hell or High Water (Gemini Book 3) by Hailey Edwards Page A

sandwiched between near-strangers without a stitch of clothing between them, whose inner beasts were soothed by my presence. Humbling was another. The trust they extended to me hadn’t been earned. Yet. The pack bond hummed quietly in the back of my mind, utterly silent but present in a way that warmed me to my bones. Our lives were connected, our fates intertwined now, and I was done playing this game by Charybdis’s rules. I was finished waiting, fed up with him striking first.
    He had come after the people I loved, the people who were mine to protect. He had awakened my inner she-wolf by attacking my pack, by hurting my family. As she bared her teeth in a mental snarl, I read her intent and agreed wholeheartedly.
    For these crimes, Charybdis would die with our teeth buried in his throat.

Chapter 8
    G raeson’s ragged breathing was as shallow now as it had been two hours ago. Warg healing ought to have sealed the jagged wound made when Abram was forced to saw the blade back and forth in tiny increments to work the serrated edge free of Graeson’s chest, but his fever-hot skin told a different story. His body was fighting, but he wasn’t winning any ground that I could tell.
    “Do you think magic could be involved?” I voiced my worst fear to Abram.
    “It crossed my mind.” He rubbed behind his ear. “It would explain a lot.”
    I caressed the ridge of Graeson’s slick brow with my fingertip. “Would the Garzas help?”
    “No.” He shook his head. “They’re bound to the Chandler pack, and Bessemer made certain the witches got the memo about the pack separation. They can’t aid us without endangering their accord.” He cut me a weary look. “Enzo called me at the clinic and informed me he could no longer supply me with some of the rarer herbs his people specialize in growing. He’s good people, for a witch, but he’s loyal to Miguel. We can’t expect help on that front.”
    The Garzas were the only witches I trusted in the area. I doubted I had anything left of value to barter with them, but I’d had to ask.
    “Your five minutes are up,” he said gently. “Come back in thirty, and you can visit him again.”
    A rumble in my chest proved his caution wise. Any longer and my wolf got snarly and overprotective. Already I’d had to scour layers of skin to cleanse the overwhelming scent of Graeson’s blood off me. The fresh change of clothes helped smooth my hackles too. I was back in jeans, sneakers, a fitted T-shirt, and I was ready to get down to business.
    Picking up the reins as alpha, I went to check on Bianca, who I had isolated in my trailer after asking Haden to move it to an even more remote corner of the RV lot at the cost of losing the use of hookups for utilities. Charybdis had broken parts of her I didn’t understand well enough to guess at how to fix them.
    Jensen, her mate, the man she loved more than anything outside of the child she carried, and she had killed him while under Charybdis’s toxic influence. Was there a sliver of hope for recovery from that?
    “This isn’t your fault.” Dell leaned a shoulder against mine. “You know that, right?”
    The broken record played on… “Sure.” Agreeing with Dell was easier than fighting her for my portion of the blame. “Did you get the others settled for the night?”
    “Yeah.” She jerked her head toward the direction of my trailer. “Bianca is resting in there, and Nathalie is clearing out your bedroom to protect your things.” Her gaze slid to Theo’s trailer. As the home with the fewest possessions and most room to spare, it would act as home base for now. “Haden, Job, Moore and Zed are settled there.” Isaac’s trailer caught her eye next. “Isaac said I could stay with him, so I’m going to keep his place safe until he gets back.” Her voice went scratchy at the end. “That leaves you, Graeson and Abram at Aunt Dot’s place. Unless the rain they’re predicting comes in, Abram doesn’t want to move Graeson for