Free Misfortune Cookie by Casey Wyatt Page A

hadn’t mashed Luca into mincemeat. The thing’s massive body was three times Luca’s size, but it was slow and couldn’t dodge his fists.
    Sirens sounded in the distance. I prayed that everyone had already left the building.
    “Radiance. You back on your feet yet?” Luca nimbly darted around the draugr and headed toward me.
    “I’m over here. Shit. Is this my car?” Of all the cars in the parking lot, I had to land on mine.
    “We’re leaving.” Luca swept me into his arms and ran. The axe landed behind us. A deafening blow split the remains of my car into two halves.
    “Bastard!” I shouted right before we winked out of the parking lot, sucked into whatever space Luca traveled through. This time I kept my eyes open. A parade of colors, shapes, and lights whizzed by so quickly I couldn’t process it all. Then, we were on my front lawn.
    “We can’t leave that thing to attack people.”
    “It won’t. It’s after you. Grab Brody and anything you can’t live without and let’s go.” Luca carried me up the front steps.
    “Why?” Every bone is my body ached as Luca set me on my feet. My keys and gym bag had been left behind. With muscles protesting, I slipped the spare key out of its hiding place in a planter. A single overriding thought bugged me as I opened the front door. “It can’t follow me here, can it?”
    “The draugr has your scent. It will track you here. We don’t have time for stubbornness. Get what you need quickly.”
    Right. The last thing I wanted was for my neighbors to witness a monster trashing their street. “I’m going.”
    “I’ll find Brody.” Luca assured me before bounding up the stairs.
    I ran to my desk and retrieved a file of papers: my passport, family photos, and other important documents. In the kitchen, I unplugged my cell and charger, then grabbed Brody’s favorite mouse toys and his bed.
    The ground rumbled. Water in a half-empty glass on the counter swished back and forth. Pulse in my throat, I ran down the center hall.
    “Brody. Here, boy.” I prayed this one time he would listen and not go all feline on me or worse run out the cat door and into the yard. Then we’d never find him. And I couldn’t leave him behind.
    “Got him.” Luca cradled my unhappy cat in his arms. Brody wailed, but didn’t claw the crap out of Luca. “Help me cover his eyes.”
    I draped a kitchen towel over the cat’s head. He didn’t like it, but he stopped squirming. The floor rocked under my feet.
    “We must go.” Luca swept us away, the cat sandwiched between us.
    Brody howled the entire time. I buried my face against his head and whispered to him. The motion stopped. The fragrance of green vegetation permeated the air. I re-opened my eyes and discovered large leafy plants. Moist humidity clung to my hair. Brody wiggled, his sharp hind claws digging into my tender chest.
    “Wait. Where are we?” I didn’t want my cat running loose in some forest. Brody growled low in his throat and squirmed harder.
    “The arboretum.”
    I stared at him. I must’ve been hit harder than I thought. “Come again? Whose garden is this?”
    “Yours. We’re at Ashworth Manor. Your new home.” Luca plucked Brody from my arms, taking advantage of my shock.
    Brody sniffed the air then stopped struggling as if accepting he was stuck in Luca’s grip. I wasn’t about to capitulate that easily.
    “This is not my home.” No way, no how, would this monstrous manor ever be my home. Only problem was, I had no car and I wouldn’t risk anyone else’s life, so I was kind of up the creek for the moment. “Is that draugr thing going to follow us here? Are my neighbors safe now?”
    “Yes, on both counts.” Luca scratched a now-contented Brody under the chin as he led me out of the arboretum. “The draugr has followed us here, but it can’t breach the grounds. Sebastian ensured this place has serious magical protections. It’s locked down like a supernatural fortress.”
    Once in the main