The Assassin and the Bear by Elizabeth Kelly

Author:Elizabeth Kelly [Kelly, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781774461617
Publisher: Elizabeth Kelly

CHAPTER 15

“You didn’t kill Edgar. Francis killed him.” Judd paced back and forth in the motel room, Linda at his heels.

“Francis was trying to kill me and killed Edgar instead. That’s my fault,” Tori said.

“No, it isn’t,” Judd said. “You’re not a killer, Tori.”

She hugged her knees to her chest, staring at him from her spot on the bed. “We both know that it isn’t true, Judd. You saw exactly what I was last night.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “You were defending yourself. There’s a difference.”

“Is there?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. “You didn’t kill Francis that night.”

“I should have,” she said bitterly. “But I was weak.”

“That wasn’t weakness,” he said. “You couldn’t find a witch or warlock to break the protection spell on the machine?”

“No. But I didn’t have a whole lot of time to find one. Francis was hunting me, and he has a lot of connections in the city. I was almost caught three times with the device before I finally hid the fucking thing, had an amnesia spell placed on me, and got the fuck out of the city.”

Judd stopped so quickly that Linda ran into the back of his legs. “What about your family? Did Francis go after them?”

“I took a page from Francis’s book and had a protection spell put on them.”

“All of them?”

She nodded, and he let out a low whistle. “I didn’t even know that was possible.”

“The witch used my DNA as part of the spell. Anyone with my DNA is protected,” Tori said. “Half siblings only share about twenty-five percent of their DNA, but it was enough.”

“Christ, that must have cost a pretty penny,” Judd said.

“All of my life savings,” Tori said. “But I had to do it. I knew Francis would go after them to force me to bring him the device, and he did. Thanks to the protection spell, he failed.

“How long does it last?” Judd asked.

“Ten years. After that, I have to… renew it, I guess you’d say.” Tori laughed, but it had a hollow sound that made Judd’s chest ache.

“Where did you go when you left here?” Judd asked.

“Winchester,” Tori said. “It wasn’t far enough. Francis found me, and I almost died getting away.”

Nausea infused Judd’s body, and Linda, sensing his distress, whined softly and pawed at his shin. He picked her up, petting her soft fur. “Exactly how close did you come to dying, Tori?”

She picked at the quilt on the bed. “It was a long time ago, and it doesn’t matter now - I survived. After that, I left the country. I bounced around Asia for a while and then moved to Europe. I ended up in Italy. I lived there until….”

“Until what?”

“Until Tamatha and Dan died.”

The grief on her face had him hurrying to the bed. He sat beside her, dumping Linda on the mattress, and took Tori’s hand. “I’m sorry, baby.”

She smiled at him, rubbing her thumb over his knuckles. “Thank you.”

“Tamatha and Dan… you mentioned them earlier,” he said.

She nodded. “Tamatha and Dan were brown bear shifters.

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