Shattered Souls by Delilah Devlin

glared. “I hate it when you do that.”
    Her “aunt” smiled. “Someone has to see inside your head. So much goin’ on.” Her eyes narrowed. “Is it smart gettin’ so close to your ex again?”
    A flush of heat filled Cait’s cheeks. Her relationship with Sam was not up for discussion. “Time to go,” she said, pushing up from the table.
    With a graceful move, Celeste plucked a purple satin bag from a cupboard. “No time for me to read your cards?”
    “We’re wasting daylight.”
    Ignoring her, Celeste spilled the tarot deck into one hand and fanned them out. “Choose one. Let’s look ahead.”
    Cait had never liked the cards. Never trusted them, because the meanings seemed to change at the reader’s will. And yet she found herself tapping the edges of the cards until she found one that felt right. She slipped it from the deck and laid it on the table, her finger holding it down. Her stomach knotted as she recognized the picture.
    “ La Roue de Fortune. ” Celeste slid the card from beneath Cait’s finger. “Reversed. It’s not all bad, chérie .”
    The Wheel of Fortune, reversed. It meant bad luck.
    “A reversal, yes,” Celeste murmured.
    Cait glared. “Misfortune. Failure. A dead fucking end.”
    Celeste tilted her head. “But also a chance to test yourself. To find your inner strength.” Her gaze narrowed. “Were you thinkin’ ’bout the case or your ex?”
    In playing along, Cait hadn’t been thinking about anything other than humoring Celeste. Or had she? Did some part of her, deep inside, really hope for a better answer? An omen that things—the case, her involvement with Sam—would somehow turn out all right? “I wasn’t thinking about anything at all.”
    Celeste laughed. “Jus’ be sure you guard your heart, ma petite .” Her pointed look swung to Jason. “She needs someone who believes guardin’ her back.”
    Jason nodded and stood. He bent to kiss Celeste’s cheek.
    The medium gave his cheek a fond pat.
    Cait shook her head and walked straight out the door without a farewell. She was too angry, too hurt to muster up a gesture, even though she loved Celeste like family.
    Her PI job had been a total setup—something no doubt engineered by Morin and carried out by her mother’s best friend. Morin had looked out for her even after she’d spurned him.
    Warmth spilled into her chest, but she didn’t trust the accompanying emotion. Too much hurt lay in her past, and she was far from ready to forgive.

Chapter Ten
     
    Sam ran up the stairs to the Delta Detective Agency, heart pounding in his chest. Something in Cait’s voice when she’d called to say they had a development in the case set the hairs on the back of his neck rising. She’d been cagey about details. A little breathless. Said he needed to come. Just like that, he’d hauled ass to get here.
    At the frosted glass door to the agency he paused, pulled on his neutral game face, and pretended he hadn’t had his heart in this throat. Then he reached out and turned the knob.
    Inside, he strode through the tiny reception area where no receptionist had ever sat, down the tacky olive-green-carpeted, wood-paneled corridor, to Cait’s cubbyhole of an office. But he heard her voice, farther down, speaking softly in bullet-like gusts.
    The words “wraiths” and “Worthen family” drifted through the closed door of Jason’s office. He rapped twice on the wood and then twisted the knob.
    Inside, Cait stood behind Jason, who was seated at his desk, a Google screen pulled up on the computer. Her hand was on his shoulder, and she stood close staring at the screen. Closer than Sam liked.
    Cait glanced toward the door. Her face was pale, her mouth set in a grim line. She was dirty and disheveled but seemed well enough.
    Internally, he drew a deep sigh.
    “You finally made it,” she muttered. A small frown drew her brows together.
    If she could muster a complaint, she was doing just fine. “I’m kinda busy,” Sam said,