Read Online A Barrel of Whiskey - (An Urban Fantasy Whiskey Witches Novel) by SM Blooding - Free Book Online

dark brow, her lips quirked.
    “Look.” Paige squared her shoulders. “You want a pissing contest? Let’s do it.”
    Blondie smirked.
    “I could level this building with lava pulled straight from the mantle of the Earth. I can make plants stab you, killing you softly. I can drown you where you stand. I can strip the oxygen from right in front of your face.”
    Frumpy’s eyes and mouth widened even larger as he pushed his chair as far back as the desk behind him would allow.
    Light Eyes frowned, his lips rounding.
    Blondie licked her lips, her stance relaxing minutely.
    Kick-Ass, though? She took a step forward.
    Paige tipped her head to the side, her nostrils flaring. Something smelled a little different, a little off. She wasn’t entirely human. “What are you?”
    Kick-Ass stopped, her dark eyes wide.
    “What are you? You don’t smell like a shape shifter, or a vampire, or even a reaper. What are you?”
    She blinked, her breath coming in quick and shallow.
    “An elemental?”
    A tree , Cawli whispered. But not like Kris. I believe you would call her a dryad.
    “A dryad?” Paige asked out loud in surprise.
    Kick-Ass took a step back in surprise.
    Dexx’s mouth fell open. “You’ve had a paranormal on your team?” He turned to Henry. “Tell me you knew.”
    Henry’s hand balled up into a fist. “What was the very first thing we discussed when I brought you all on board?”
    Blondie stared at Kick-Ass and took a step away.
    “No secrets!” Henry pounded his fist against the nearest desk. “No fucking secrets! We’re fighting out there every day, risking our lives on things we can’t discuss and you want to keep secrets from us?”
    Time to intervene. “Look, Henry.” Paige swallowed. It felt so weird calling the man who had been her boss for years by his given name, but screw it. She had to show him and his team that she was his equal. “Dryads are a bit different. She couldn’t tell you her secret.”
    Henry clenched his jaw and turned his gaze on her. “What do you mean?”
    She had no idea. She was making it up as she went. “Dryads are easily manipulated by just about everyone in the paranormal society. They’re a plant. Witches, shapeshifters, vampires? We could control her if we knew what she was.”
    “Djinn,” Kick-Ass whispered. “If the djinn found us, my entire grove would be imprisoned.”
    “Gin?” Henry asked, dumfounded.
    “Like genies,” Blondie said.
    “ I Dream of Genie?” Light Eyes offered. “Only, I’m pretty sure Gomez is referring to the old demon kind. Arabic, right?”
    Kick-Ass, aka Gomez, nodded. “And we have one, several in fact, right here in Dallas.”
    Henry rolled his tongue behind his front teeth and expelled a breath. “Well, this is what I’d like you to head up. I want you to take this unit. Give it the foundation it needs to succeed.”
    “And if I don’t want it?” She needed a job, yes. But she needed one that took less time, not more.
    His lips clamped shut. He turned his back to the group of detectives and faced Paige directly. “Where else would you go?” he asked softly.
    “I don’t know.” She had to level with him, with them all. If war followed her, they’d be the ones to clean up the mess. “I’m in the middle of a war.”
    “We all are.”
    “A real one, Henry. One that could turn bloody if it’s not mitigated.”
    “Then do that,” he said, his hands wide at his sides.
    She licked her lips.
    Gomez glanced at her team members. “Does it have anything to do with the Eastwoods being in town?”
    Paige had never met a dryad, had never really heard of them except in myths. Was it good to see they weren’t out of touch with the paranormal community? “Yes. And no. That is the issue. They’re not here for me.” Yet.
    Blondie frowned.
    Henry slashed his hand, palm down. “I don’t care. We need you.”
    “So do a lot of other places.”
    “Hell’s Gate is here.”
    She’d have to look into that. “No. Hell’s