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    On the Cards Book Two: On the Cards, #2
    On the Cards Book Two: On the Cards, #2
    On the Cards Book Two: On the Cards, #2
    Ebook184 pages2 hours

    On the Cards Book Two: On the Cards, #2

    By Odette C. Bell

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    About this ebook

    The city's just gone to hell. Someone's tried to destroy the casino with Nadine in it.

    But she's still alive. For now. And Tom's still by her side… for now. The further she's thrust into this twisted game, the more she realizes he's not just her boss. He's playing her, and Nadine Russo isn't the kind to let others gamble with her life.

    ….

    On the Cards follows a snarky magical card shark and the lying detective she's indentured to as they fight to unify their broken city. If you love your urban fantasies with action, wit, and a splash of romance, grab On the Cards Book Two today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOdette C. Bell
    Release dateMar 18, 2019
    ISBN9781386488514
    On the Cards Book Two: On the Cards, #2

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      Book preview

      On the Cards Book Two - Odette C. Bell

      1

      I didn’t fall unconscious. I wouldn’t dare let myself. Even as Tom reached into me and used my magic to keep us safe, I held the hell on.

      Mrs. Owen’s necklace detonated with so much force, it took out half the corridor. Concrete rubble hailed down as fire blasted around us. It slammed into Tom’s magic-encased back, but that’s all it did. Rather than crush him and me as easily as an ant underfoot, massive chunks of ceiling larger than a small car simply dashed against him and slid off like nothing more than water down a windowpane.

      I don’t know how long it took until it was over and the dust started to settle. My concept of time became warped as my focus – every single ounce of attention I could scrounge – became locked on Tom.

      Despite the chaos, one thing was obvious to my tortured mind – Tom was reigniting the control spell he’d cast on my body back in Celena’s apartment. And somehow that control spell was doing more than locking my body on the spot – it was pushing past my every defense to activate the base of my magic.

      There was one last crash, and the wall beside us crumbled out, falling like a dead tree. Concrete dust erupted everywhere, chasing around us like fog clinging to a ship winding up a river.

      My eyes were open – they’d been open the second Tom had grabbed me and saved me.

      Sorry, not saved me. Used me.

      I shoved back into him. Get your hands out of my magic, I growled.

      Calm down, he spat. Until now, he’d had his hand clamped against the back of my head. It hadn’t been hard, just firm enough to keep my body locked in place as he used his body to keep me safe.

      Get off me.

      He shifted up. I could hear the creak of his joints as if Tom’s athletic form had been replaced with that of a wizened old man.

      As I pushed my hands into the dust caking the cracked floor, I turned over my shoulder, my messy hair bunching up around my pissed off expression.

      It ended when I saw Tom’s body. He was standing, but that’s all that could be said for him. His cheeks were so pale, it looked as if someone had drained all the blood from his body, and as my gaze slid down his torn shirt and chinos, I realized that wasn’t far off the mark. They were so splattered with red, it looked as if someone had thrown him at a painter.

      Even as he stood there and swayed on the spot, his cheeks paled further.

      My anger lost all its force as I bolted up. He might’ve barked at me previously not to care for him, but that couldn’t stop me from grabbing an arm around his elbow and holding him up. As my fingers pressed against his, I caught his magic ebbing away. It felt like a once mighty river suddenly turning into nothing more than a trickle. We need to get you to the hospital—

      Shaking, he reached up and placed a hand on mine. This isn’t over. He turned his gaze to the completely mangled corridor. He let it trace over the huge holes in the floor and ceiling Mrs. Owen had created when her necklace exploded. I’d been in some pretty harrowing situations before, but this took me right back to the breakdown of the Accords – when the streets had been nothing more than chaos; when I’d lost family day in, day out; when the solid ground I’d thought I’d stood on had crumbled beneath my feet.

      As if to underline that point, the section of the floor I was standing on started to give way.

      Tom might’ve looked as if he were on the edge of death, but that didn’t stop him from squeezing his fingers in, sliding them up my hand, grabbing my wrist, and tugging me back.

      He maneuvered me out of the way just in time as the floor I’d been standing on crumbled as easily as old icing hit with a spoon.

      But in pulling me toward him, I fell against his chest. His big, well-proportioned body could hold me any day of the week – but right now, he couldn’t hold a damn fly, and with the force of me pushing into him, his knees buckled.

      We were close to a wall, and I shoved my free hand out, pinning my sweaty grip behind him as it locked on the cracked concrete. I pushed forward. He still had a hold of my wrist, so I couldn’t grab him around his back. Instead, I used my body against his – my torso pressing right into his – to hold him in place. Slowly, I tilted my head back and looked into his eyes.

      They were still technically the same eyes – weeds flecked with gold – but why did I feel as if the man behind them was even more mysterious than ever?

      Blame it on the blood loss, but rather than shove me off, Tom seemed to take the time to stare at me. His eyes roved across my face. He wasn’t looking for an injury – there weren’t any. I’d got off scot-free. I’d been in two deadly magical explosions today, and I didn’t have a single scratch to show for them.

      No, as Tom’s stare shifted over my face, it was kind of like he was taking me in.

      It didn’t last. Hello, it couldn’t – we’d just blown up a chunk of the casino.

      I started to hear scattered footfall from behind us. It was coming from the card shark room.

      In the other direction, I heard far more pronounced footfall, and as a tingle escaped through my belly, it told me it was none other than Jason.

      Though all I wanted to do was remain there, pinning Tom against the wall as I stared at him and he stared at me, the corridor wouldn’t let us. I heard another chunk give way several inches past my boot.

      I didn’t need to wrap a supportive arm around Tom’s back and snatch him out of the way. He did it to me. Don’t ask me how he still had strength in his weak, wobbling muscles. Hell, don’t ask me how he still had blood. While everything was covered in grey concrete dust, the only color that made it through was the patina of Tom’s blood he’d left over the floor, the wall, his clothes, and me.

      Jason reached us first. There was now a megalithic hole separating his section of the corridor from ours. Not only had I carved out a chunk when I’d sent those two body magician bouncers down to the basement, but the explosion and ensuing damage had taken out a good 10-meter section.

      You think that would stop Jason? Heck no. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw he had his pack in his hands. Without spreading it out in front of him, he leaped the distance.

      I didn’t even know what spell he used. The next thing I knew, however, he skidded to a stop beside us.

      Tom still had a hand around my wrist. I wouldn’t shove him off for the world. Though I hated being grabbed, his weak grip and the way he pushed into my side were the only things keeping him standing.

      Jason’s face was plastered with total shock. What happened? His eyes skipped toward me.

      I opened my mouth to answer.

      There was an explosion, Tom explained without explaining anything at all. Because of course there was a frigging explosion. Unless someone had sneezed particularly hard and taken out a 10-meter section of corridor, then you could be confident in concluding something had gone bang.

      Jason secured a hand on his lips. I could see the sweat slicking his knuckles and slipping down his fingers. Concrete dust swirled through the room, and it collected along his hand. He was still holding his pack, and here and there, the concrete dust exploded into tiny sparks.

      There were screams from behind us.

      I turned, intending to explain what had just gone down. Tom tightened his grip on my wrist. Then he did something he shouldn’t. I might not have known him for long, but the intensity of our relationship was fooling me into thinking I understood exactly what kind of guy he was. Specifically, he was the kind of brutal agent who would take me back to the Federal Police, bandage himself up, then race back out and continue this investigation. So why did he shove me at his brother?

      I was so surprised by the move, my boots snagged against a section of concrete, and I lost my balance. No matter – Jason wouldn’t let me fall. He grabbed me quickly, securing me not just with his hand, but with his magic. And let me tell you, his magic was divine. Every card practitioner was different – heck, every magician was, too. There was a flavor to their force if you will. Some hardened mob card sharks tasted like that iron-tinged tingling that would flow through your mouth after you got punched. Others had this faintly earthy, musty taste as if you’d just licked a coffin dragged from the ground.

      And then there were people like Jason – card sharks that tasted like pure potential.

      What are you doing? Jason asked.

      It snapped my mind off his amazing feel and onto this crazy situation.

      The only thing Tom should be doing was getting to a frigging hospital. But it was the last thing on his mind as he turned, pressed a hand into the wall, steadied himself, then strode several steps forward. A whole host of bouncers ran into the corridor.

      A terrorist device was detonated, Tom began. You will call the Federal Police. I will wait here until they arrive.

      Tom, I began, voice so twisted and pissed off at his confusing behavior that it sounded like I’d swallowed a noose that would strangle me from the inside.

      I didn’t get a chance to bark at Tom that this was crazy – Jason wrapped a hand around my elbow.

      Yeah, so his grip was divine – yeah, so his magic up this close felt like being enshrouded in angel wings. But that didn’t stop me from trying to muscle out of his grip to get to Tom.

      Did the federal agent want to die? Because that was precisely what would happen if he just stood around waiting for reinforcements.

      Tom didn’t even bother to look at me. He started directing the bouncers. He also created a magical line across which he would let no one pass.

      I tried to muscle out of Jason’s grip again. He was holding me fast with his magic. I still had my pack. I’d shoved it into my pocket before the cavalry had arrived. Now I got the urge to dive a hand in, snatch it out, and use it to shove Jason off.

      He could obviously read minds – or he could see just how ropable I was. We need to get you out of here.

      Your brother is dying, I said point blank, hoping it was like a slap.

      We need to get you out of here, he repeated as if he hadn’t heard me.

      I was sick of the Walker brothers pretending they couldn’t hear me. Tom did it all the time. I was really not the kind of girl who would put up with juvenile bullshit like that – especially not after a day like today.

      I tried to wrench my hand free from Jason’s, and I used more than my strength.

      I still had magic left over – you might think that’s amazing, but it was a fact. Sure, it had taken it out of me when I’d defeated Mrs. Owen, but I always had more to give. As long as the situation kept going to hell, I’d keep digging deep to find a way to stop it.

      We need to get you out of here, Jason said one last time. Just trust me.

      Sorry, trust him? Okay, I was kind of done getting distracted by this guy’s good looks. Who the hell was he to ask me to trust him? We had literally just met. He was the brother of my torturer, and he clearly knew way more about this situation than I did. Trust was the last thing on my mind.

      Before I could wrench my wrist free from Jason and frigging punch him, Tom turned around. He clearly didn’t have the muscular control to just look at me over his shoulder – he had to plant a hand firmly into the wall, shift his whole body, and stare right at me.

      He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. You see, he used the same look he had when I’d pinned him against the wall. The look that roved over my face and seemed to go deeper. A look that felt perfectly programmed to pry into my every secret.

      Ordinarily, I didn’t like people making me vulnerable, but there was something about that look that shook my belly and shunted up my back.

      Go. I’ll be 20 minutes, Tom promised.

      I opened my mouth to scream at Tom that he didn’t have 20 minutes left. For the love of God, if he didn’t get emergency medical attention soon, he would die.

      He just held my gaze. And for whatever stupid frigging reason, I let Jason lead me away. With one hand on my wrist and the other on my shoulder, he turned me around.

      I had no clue what was happening. Guess what? I wasn’t going to find out anytime soon. Tom wanted it that way.

      2

      Jason led me down the corridor. Though I could sense the casino bouncers were itchy to lock this place off, none of them dared pass the magical security line Tom had erected.

      I turned right around and stared at Tom one last time as Jason led me up to the edge of the hole in the floor.

      Jason had shoved his pack in his pocket. Without a vocal command or a movement of his hand, several cards shot out of it. Two shifted under his feet, and two squeezed under mine.

      This was probably where I should allow myself to become distracted by his alluring magic once more. As his cards lifted me up, it simultaneously felt like being carried in his arms and yet lifted on the wings of doves.

      With those hovering, powerful cards in place beneath our shoes, we walked straight across the hole in the floor. More rubble and dust hailed

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