[Southern Arcana 3.0] Deadlock Read Online Free PDF

try to force her into.
    She glanced at the door. She didn’t have a clue how Uncle Cesar felt about the Jacobson family, but if there was the slightest advantage to be gained, he’d probably jump at the chance to throw her at Alec.
    Which only reinforced the fact that she had to stay far, far away from him.

Chapter Three
    Alec didn’t bother looking for Jackson as he eased his truck into the small parking lot in front of Kat’s apartment. No doubt his partner had hidden himself behind his favorite spell as soon as his girlfriend had dropped him off, which meant Alec’s best bet was to park his truck and wait for Jackson to make his presence known.
    He chose a space a few doors down from Kat’s, a spot next to a compact import that gave him a fair amount of coverage without sacrificing line-of-sight on Kat’s door.
    There was a sudden thump on the passenger door of his truck, and Jackson stood there. Instead of motioning for Alec to open the door, he grinned and passed his hand over it. The lock disengaged with a dull snap.
    “Got you a soda.” Jackson tossed a can at Alec as he climbed up into the truck.
    Alec barely managed to catch the damn thing before it smashed into his face. “While you were invisible? If Kat hears rumors about a haunted snack machine, she’s gonna yell at us both.”
    “Nah, I delurked long enough to hit the vending machines over by the laundry room.”
    He didn’t have the faintest idea where the laundry room was, since his experience with Kat’s apartment building began and ended with the parking lot in front of it and a nagging concern that security there wasn’t nearly tight enough now that Kat’s cousin had married into the most important shapeshifting family in the country.
    A worry for another time. Alec cracked open the soda and watched two teenagers stroll down the sidewalk in front of them. “I left Kat with the doctor at the clinic. The new one Franklin hired a few months back.”
    “I remember.” Jackson snorted. “You’ve already bitched my ear off about how Franklin’s compromising his clinic’s neutrality by hiring on a member of the Mendoza clan.”
    Alec fought a flinch. “It’s a valid concern. Her uncle’s spent the last six months putting his ducks in a row so he can get his hands on that empty Conclave seat. For all I knew, she was one of his ducks.”
    “For all you knew , past tense?” He squinted at Alec and chuckled. “She’s cute, isn’t she?”
    Smooth dark hair, smoky brown eyes, curves to make a pin-up jealous… Cute was puppies and kids. Carmen Mendoza was a guilty fantasy come to life. “Sure. Sending hot women to spy is pretty much an institution, isn’t it? Or is that just in movies? I can’t remember.”
    “Oh yeah. I’m sure, between the sprained ankles and the nasal allergies, she’s gathering some fierce intel over there.”
    Appearing casual was vital, since Alec had given Jackson hell over the man’s descent into idiocy whenever Mackenzie Brooks blinked those big blue eyes at him. Unfortunately, appearing casual had never been his specialty. “Fuck off, Holt.”
    “Jesus, have a sense of humor.” Jackson stretched his legs out as much as the cab of the truck would allow. “Mackenzie said Kat liked her a lot. The doctor, I mean.”
    It figured that Jackson’s girlfriend had already retrieved Kat. For all the complaints Alec got about his lead foot, everyone knew Mackenzie was the one who drove like she was looking to run the NASCAR circuit. “Not surprising. Doctor’s an empath. Low level, I think, but still.” He hesitated, but setting Jackson on the case of future trouble might mean he wouldn’t have to deal with it. “She also has a smarmy telepathic brother who’s already wheedled Kat’s phone number out of her.”
    “Smarmy?” Jackson considered that for a moment. “From what I’ve heard, that’s par for the Mendoza course.”
    “You mean the shit with the oldest one? Julio?” Alec couldn’t help but