Chapter 13

I’d broken into dozens of homes, but no other job left me as swimming in nerves as this one. I wasn’t even stealing anything, just doing a recon. Yet the whole magic protection spell had me on edge. Not even the lord’s home had such security. While this ward wasn’t created to keep me out, what exactly were they doing in here to keep shifters at bay? Usually, before breaking into any place, I did my homework, watched the area for a week or two to determine the routine of the occupants, how many lived there, their behavior, and even what day they visited the markets. I constructed a complete pattern of who I was dealing with.

This is why you shouldn’t have rushed into this.

“Quiet,” I whispered.

I stepped on a twig, and it crunched. Panic struck my chest, and I froze in place, waiting for someone to come rushing outside from the mansion. No one did. I glanced over my shoulder but could no longer see the three men beyond the thick shrubbery and trees backing the property. Perhaps I’d stick to exploring the yard and home from outside, then leave. I could return once I’d worked out what was going on and come up with a clearer action plan.

But Reed would protest, and how could I blame him? His sister and pride members were captured. A single day’s delay might lead to their deaths.

Hunched low, I ran to the back of the house just as the lights to a room on the bottom floor illuminated. Luckily, a curtain covered the window. My breaths died as I flattened myself against the wall.

Muffled noises streamed out, so I moved closer and peered inside through a tiny gap at the corner of the curtain. A hooded man sat in a chair on one side, his arms folded, his face concealed by shadows. One leg crossed his other, his ankle resting on the thigh. Why was he concealing his face?

Because he’s a psycho, clearly.

Two nude men stumbled into the room as if shoved from behind. Both were riddled with cuts and bruises. One swung around and slammed a fist into someone behind them. The other leaped for the hooded man. But four guards in black attire jumped after him, hammering punches and kicks into both of the men.

I cringed on the inside, stiffening at seeing their suffering.

Yet the hooded figure sat there, unperturbed, watching the fucking show like a monster. He’d done this before.

If you get close enough, jab him with your knife right in the eye.

My pulse pounded through my veins. What the hell was going on in this house?

Both victims heaved for air on their knees, bleeding from new injuries. Hooded Man got up and kicked one in the face with his boot. I gasped and hugged my stomach. He snatched the second man’s arm and cracked it over a knee, snapping the bone. The victim’s howl reached me, and my chest constricted. I reached for my blade, my arm twitching with the urgency to slam my blade into his throat. His cape slipped open, revealing a solid body wearing all black. He clenched the victim’s neck in a vise-like fist. He said something, but I couldn’t make out the words. He then tossed the innocent to the ground.

Rage boiled deep in my core, scorching hot as bubbling lava. I clenched my fists, hungry for destruction. I stood no chance against the number of men inside, but the image in front of me sickened me. The same darkness that had swallowed me whole each time the gargoyle had beaten me now fueled my rage.

A bluish energy line surged from across the room and struck both naked men in the backs. They screamed and convulsed on the floor, frothing at the mouths. A surge of blue energy coiled around their necks like a noose. I shuddered, tensing all over. Was someone killing them? I inched sideways to see who’d cast the magic, but my viewing range was limited.

The victims’ bodies elongated, their skins tearing and black fur spreading over their bodies like an army of ants on a rampage. They weren’t dying, but the ring around their necks must be forcing them into a transformation. I watched, mesmerized, and within moments, two panthers stood in the room.

They staggered as if still dazed. The tiny flickers of energy jumped across their flesh. Must have been how they controlled the shifters, or was it to keep them in their animal form? But why?

The panthers lowered their heads in a submissive manner and slinked toward the hooded figure. They sat at his feet, as if nothing had happened. Was he the dick in charge, using a witch to control shifters? I trembled with anger that this fuckhead dared to take it upon himself to treat others like slaves. At the same time, it scared me to go up against someone with such powers. I stepped closer for a better look, but a branch snapped under my boot.

One of the guards whirled in my direction and marched toward the window.

All the warmth drained from my body, and I jerked away, pressing my back flat against the wall, still as a statue. Bright light streamed out of the window, illuminating the grassy yard from the fabric being drawn back. One movement or sound and I’d give my position away.

The light faded, and in haste, I sidestepped, keeping my back to the wall, my heart in my mouth. I tensed, desperate to run.

A faint rattle came from behind me. I snapped around to find myself standing beneath a darkened window. Hanging inside was a chime made up of three strings tied with bones. They swayed and clung to each other, as if a breeze moved them. Yet the window remained shut.

My chest turned to stone. A trespass detector—and it had just gone off.

I backed away, my feet growing sluggish. I stared toward my shifters but couldn’t see them past the shrubbery as I hurried toward the fence.

When the screech of hinges from a door sounded, I rocked on the spot and jumped behind a tree, holding my breath. The thing about witches was that running from them was useless, and I’d always found negotiation the best course—playing into their egos. Sweat trickled down my back as fear squeezed my lungs.

Stay silent until they leave. Then run.

A breeze sailed past, shaking the leaves and branches overhead.

“Elliana.” A female voice sang my name as if it were a lullaby, and goosebumps rose along my flesh at the magic in the air.

My arms trembled at my side, and I bit down on my tongue to stop from screaming.

The soft susurration of her footsteps approached. “What’s my little bird doing out of her cage?” Her words hummed and calmed me like a hot bath on a winter’s night. My feet were frozen in place with shock, my heart drumming inside my chest.

Was this the witch who’d imprisoned me in the tower?

Everything swam too fast in my mind. Every inch of me thumped with an urgency to discover why the fuck she’d left me at the mercy of a gargoyle.

Don’t. You. Dare.

I reached for the blade on my belt. The only chance I stood against a magic caster was to make the first move. Hit her in the throat or chest. Startle her long enough for me to escape. But then what? If this was the witch who’d destroyed my life, she’d come to the tower. And I had to return by sunrise, or the gargoyle was coming for me. Terror sunk through me because I felt trapped, cornered, and now the predator had found me.

I swallowed past the rock in my throat and raised my knife, listening. Where was she?

Not a sound.

Something crunched to my left.

Do it now!

I jerked around from behind the tree, my sight on a figure closing in, and tossed the dagger. But my blade swished past the woman’s head.

Shit!

I sprinted back around to put distance between us. Calling for help was out of the question. I didn’t need to put the men out in the woods in danger.

Something snapped around my legs, and I yelped as I fell face-first into a shrub. The prickly branches jabbed my cheeks and neck, catching in my short hair.

Wrenched backward by my feet, I slid over the bumpy ground, grasping for anything to stop me moving. A boot connected with my ribs, and I cried out, curling in on myself.

“Elliana. You’re smarter than I gave you credit for. How did you escape and cut your hair? That explains a few things,” she said. “Doesn’t matter…but you broke into the wrong property, child.”

I glanced up at the witch, who held a glowing white rope, and with a whisper from her lips, it moved of its own accord, slithering through the air between us, striking my wrists. I bucked and flung my arms about, trying to shake off the restraints.

“What do you want with me?” My attention fell to her purple irises. “You locked me up for all these years for no reason. You killed my father! And now you’re controlling shifters?” I shuffled backward on my ass.

But the magical rope wound tighter over my wrists, wrenching them together. Another whipped around my ankles, and I thrashed, screaming louder. But the cord lengthened and slid around me like a constricting python, covering my mouth. Immobile, I lay on the ground, wriggling, glaring at the witch. Fear threaded through me, shaking me at the core. Perspiration drenched my skin, and the ringing inside my head vibrated in my ears.

This is fucking terrible. What if she kills you or feeds you to the gargoyle?

Those thoughts weren’t helping, yet they swarmed though me like a locust plague. I writhed against the cord.

Last time I’d seen this witch, I’d been eight, and she’d had no front teeth. Now her golden teeth seemed to glow. She gave a whistle and a hulk of a man with yellow eyes stomped toward us. Not yellow, but amber eyes with vertical irises, just like Reed’s back in the tower. Except this man held his human form.

I moaned behind the ropes, a paralyzing dread spreading through my body like ice.

The witch glanced back to the house, then back at me, worry marring her face. What could possibly concern a witch with such power? The Hooded Man?

“Pick her up,” she said to the guard. “We’re going on a quick trip.”

I bucked on the ground.

“A trip?” The guard’s soft voice didn’t match his brawn. “Faye, we were told not to leave the property.”

Faye! Too nice of a name for a bitch like her.

“Don’t use my name, buffoon. Take her to the basement.” She sighed and shook her head.

The man picked me up and slumped me over his shoulder. I jostled about with each heavy step, staring at the fence amidst the fruit trees. Three figures stood in the distance. They must have heard me screaming, but the barrier kept them out, and I was alone. Always alone.

Reality tapped into my brain. I was caught and I could die. Helpless. That was all I was.

We didn’t enter the house, but rather hurried to the far end of the property. The world was upside down, but the witch opened basement doors at the side of the home, revealing a faint light and descending steps.

Fuck! They were going to kill me and dump my body. I squirmed and kicked my legs as we headed underground.

The shifter shoved me higher on his shoulder, his arms like belts around my legs, pinning them to his chest.

The heavy stench of fresh dirt and mustiness assaulted my nostrils. Each moment seemed an eternity as I waited for someone to finish me.

But rather, we traveled down a sloped passage through a tunnel, leaving the basement behind. Ahead of us, the witch lead the charge, gripping a burning torch.

Tiny fragments of soil rained down from overhead. No one said a word, but we moved fast, and I bounced in the man’s arms, my gut aching from the angle of his shoulder digging into me. My head swam from the repetitive sway of my body, as if I were sailing on a boat in rough seas.

Fear sat in my chest, eroding every inch of confidence that I’d survive the night.

I closed my eyes and tried to remind myself that I had to live. If I’d made it through all these past years, I would do it again. Whatever the witch had in store, I’d…I hiccupped a breath all the way down to my lungs. Who was I kidding? How long had I been searching for a solution, and just as I’d closed in on finding the dragon-tooth dagger, this had happened?

Tears stung my eyes. I’d been running my whole life, searching for escape. Maybe that had been my mistake. Believing I would ever escape.

I shouldn’t have taken this job. Should have told Reed and Kahlo I’d watch the house first for a few days. Now I was useless to them and me.

We moved for what seemed a lifetime and my mind swayed in and out of consciousness. But when fresh air stroked my face, I stiffened and glanced around the woods. It was too dark to recognize the area. But we never stopped.

Soon, the dense woodland thinned, and we entered an open field. I lifted my head. A granite wall stuck out of the ground, the base encased by weeds. And up ahead stood my tower. I was back home.

My pulse raced. The witch had no intention of killing me but imprisoning me once again. Best news ever. Imprisonment was better than dying.

He tossed me off his shoulder. I rolled off and hit the ground with a thud. The air expelled from my chest, and I arched from the sharp pain zapping across my shoulder blades.

The witch stepped closer, her disgusting grin widening as she drove the stick end of the torch into the ground near my head.

“Now, let’s fix this, shall we?” She raised both arms over me and mumbled something under her breath. She kept chanting, her eyes rolling upward to white pupils.

The ropes melted off my body. I scrambled backward, terror clinging to my chest, making breathing deeply impossible.

“Take her into the tower now!” she bellowed.

“No!” I cried out. “Please, just tell me why you’re doing this. What have I ever done to you?”

She tilted her head sideways, studying me with the curiosity one offered a dying animal they’d tortured. “You, little sparrow, helped your father steal my golden wig. So now you’re paying for your mistake.”

I crawled farther away, patting the ground for a weapon, and found a rock. “You killed him!” I bellowed. “That was punishment enough.”

The man by her side removed his shirt, revealing a barrel of a torso covered in excessive hair. Gross. He grunted, his shoulders curling forward. Then at once, his wings spread out from behind his back, wide and covered in feathers. Brown feathers spread over his shoulders and chest, while the rest of him remained human. He’d only partially shifted into his eagle form. I’d never seen one of his kind, as they were rare and lived high in the mountain peaks.

“It’s never enough.” The witch hissed. “For your father’s thievery, I own you.”

“Fuck you!”

She flicked a finger at the Eagle-Man, who marched toward me, and I scrambled to my feet. When he got close, I slammed the rock in my fist against the side of his face. The shifter snarled, smacking my arm aside, the rock falling from my hold. Blood dripped from the cut beneath his eye.

But he swooped closer, his body a blur. His arms clasped around my waist as he dragged me into the air, his wings flapping.

I screeched in fear, floundering against him, throwing punches into his head, but he didn’t flinch once as he dragged me toward my prison. When I grabbed his magic choker, a zap jolted through me. Spams shuddered through me, and blackness crept around the edges of my vision.

Within moments, he’d tossed me through the open tower window, then vanished out of sight. I staggered to the kitchen, flung open my drawer, and plucked out the biggest fucking knife I owned.

I turned, but the witch already stood on my windowsill, the Eagle-Man hovering behind her. “You’ve been dabbling in magic. I taste it on my tongue like dirt.” Her nose scrunched. “But no matter. I’ll fix that now and return later to ensure you never escape again.”

Stab her. Kill her.

Rage scorched me, and I charged at her, my blade raised.

The Eagle-Man snapped an arm around her waist, snatching her out of my reach, heading toward the heavens. Two sets of footfalls sounded overhead, and I gasped for each breath. She would bring the gargoyle to life.

I had to circumvent her before it was too late. Kill the witch before she reawakened the gargoyle, end my spell, help the shifters. So I tucked the knife into my belt and scrambled out the window while my skin prickled like it did every time the gargoyle came back to life.

Hatred fueled me to move faster, and I climbed the outside wall. My scalp itched and I fought the urge to scratch it until I drew blood. But then I scratched, unable to sate the agony.

My hair cascaded around me, dropping fast, and dragging me backward from the weight.

My breaths raced too fast, but I scaled up. My arms shook from the strain. I couldn’t ignore this opportunity. One hand over the other, I grasped the roof’s edge.

A gush of air blew across my back, and I turned just as the shifter sailed past, his arm looping around my waist.

I yelled and flailed my arms and legs as he dragged me away. “Release me!”

He hurled me back into the tower, and I rolled forward, tangled in my ever-growing hair. I hit the back wall and came to an abrupt stop.

Tears blurred my vision, and an inferno chewed me up with fury.

A shadow fell over the window. “Now be a good girl and stay put until I get back.” The witch flew away in the shifter’s arms. Moments later, the gargoyle swept after them, chasing them away from the grounds.

I collapsed on my rug, devastated. It had taken me years of escaping and getting beaten to find a spell. Now all my attempts lay wasted and futile. I’d drawn the attention of the witch who’d imprisoned me so long ago, and she was coming back to ensure I never escaped again. The world had shattered around me yet again.