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Isabella paused. “Shit, I can’t remember the next line. We’ll just skip it and hope the rest is enough.”
Figuring there wasn’t much else they could do, Kate nodded for Isabella to continue.
“Shadows form, protect my being.
Safe from harm, danger freeing.”
When Kate finished repeating the spell, she pushed some more power to her hearing to see if she could tell what was happening in the front of the restaurant.
“Check under the tables,” one of the men said.
They were coming for them.
Flash. She threw the word into Isabella’s mind with a sense of urgency.
With a nod, Isabella acknowledged that she heard her, but before Kate could do anything, their table disappeared.
The extra light that suddenly surrounded them froze Kate for a fraction of a second. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Isabella disappear and pulled on her magic to do the same right as something clamped onto her arm.
Ignoring the hold on her arm, Kate tried to flash but nothing happened. The grip on her arm tightened.
“Not so fast, bitch.” She turned her head to look at her captor. Standing Guy dragged her to the front of the room. “She’s the last magic, but her friend got away,” he said, pushing Kate toward a line of five people.
She reeled, stumbling forward and almost falling into a pillar before she straightened. It was then she saw four bodies on the floor.
Her entire world shrunk down to those lifeless bodies. Their eyes were closed like they were sleeping, but the gaping, charred holes in their torsos told the true story. A frisson of fear shot through Kate. It started at her toes and snaked upward until all she could feel was a sense of debilitating horror. A few minutes ago, those bodies had been people having dinner. Maybe laughing with a loved one. Was that going to be her fate too?
Somewhere in front of her, one of Maverick’s minions said something. She looked at him but couldn’t understand what he was saying. It felt like her fear had taken control of her senses. Her hearing felt like it shut down while at the same time her sight felt enhanced and ensured she didn’t miss a single detail of the macabre sight before her. She saw it all—from the way their faces had paled when their life force had left them, to the torn and burnt skin like a distorted maw that once held the beating organs of a person just like her.
Wrenching back control of her senses, she tore her eyes from the bodies and looked over at the people in line. Something was wrong. They were standing as stiff as surfboards stuck in the sand. Their eyes were open but glazed over, as if unseeing what was in front of them.
Kate had already experienced robotic-like magics when they’d attacked her in her workshop a couple of weeks ago. This could be the same. Eddie was the only one of the group who hadn’t been a zombie. Like the two goons in front of her.
Crouching Man moved in front of her but didn’t touch her. “You have a choice to make,” he said, repeating the same words she’d heard him say to the people in the line. “You come with us and serve Maverick, or you’ll end up like them.”
Kate didn’t look where he pointed, the images of the bodies already imprinted in her mind. Something she would likely never forget. Looking him directly in the eyes, her choice was easy. She took a step back. If he touched her, he could block her magic like Standing Guy did before.
Not only did Kate not want to be a zombie, she was fucking sick and tired of men telling her what to do. She hated being bossed around. Being told what her choices were. And she hated being treated like she was less than. Her apprenticeship gave her enough of that for several lifetimes. Years ago, she’d promised herself that no man would ever make a choice for her again.
Pulling as much energy from her surroundings as she could, she made her own choice. “Go fuck yourself!” she yelled.
“Your choice, bitch!” he said, and she flashed.
As she disappeared, a searing pain cut through her torso.
7
Isaac landed in the boardroom and quickly side-stepped to avoid knocking into Damon as the other man landed beside him.
Scanning the room, Isaac realized that the wall between the two large boardrooms had been removed since he’d last been there. Several of the council members had already arrived, as had some of the other regulars from the Williams’ weekly family dinners. The place was filling up quickly.
Someone touched his arm, and he turned and noticed Isabella had come up beside him. “I’m so sorry,” she said as she leaned into Reece, whose arm was around her shoulders.
Fear crawled up his spine and his stomach wanted to leap into his throat, but he forced down the panic. “For what?” he asked Isabella, hoping it was something like forgetting to tell him about a cupcake sale. He knew it wasn’t, but he could hope.
Twice now he’d rushed to Kate’s side because she’d been hurt, but he refused to think the worst.
“When I flashed out of the restaurant, I thought Kate was right behind me. She told me to go. I flashed here, but she didn’t come. I should have waited, but she told me to go,” Isabella repeated, and suddenly, she was wringing a small cloth between her fingers.
