Daphne
Travis cut through the water like an Olympic gold medal swimmer after the final turn.Myman. And he was coming for me.
He made it to the boat, hopped aboard and pulled me into his arms. He kissed my face, my lips, my hands. I didn’t care that he was dripping wet. The only thing that mattered was that he was here with me and I knew who he was.
“Are you all right, Daphne?” His voice was raspy with emotion.
“I’m fine,” I said, laughing through his kisses.
“I thought—” Travis’s words caught in his throat “—I thought you might not remember me.”
I lifted my wrist and the charms tinkled. “Cassie’s magic held.”
He looked around the yacht, evidently deciding we should finish this conversation later. “Where’s Griffin?” he growled.
I pointed below deck. “In there. I tied him up.”
The look on Travis’s face was priceless, making me laugh. I loved surprising people with unexpected badassery.
“How?” he asked.
I gave a nonchalant shrug, but to be honest, I was pretty proud of myself. “He wanted me to make him some tea. So, I scoured the galley kitchen and came up with a concoction of herbs and spices that I knew would make him sleepy. As soon as his eyes got heavy, I conked him over the head with a wine bottle and tied him up.”
Travis’s deep baritone laugh thrummed through my body like a tuning fork. “You and your herbal skills never cease to amaze me, Daphne.”
After a quick check to make sure Pharma-Douche was still firmly secured, Travis went to the bridge and took over the controls. Besides piloting planes, it was clear he’d driven a boat or two. It was a marvel to watch him dock it. He circled expertly around the marina and came at the pier from a different angle. Then he activated some thruster thingies that made the vessel go sideways. I’d never have known to do that on my own. I’d have crashed into the dock, damaging it and countless other boats.
Sheriff Aldrich, Xavier and several of his men jumped aboard the vessel. They wasted no time escorting a furious, though somewhat sleepy, Pharma-Douche out of the cabin. A fifth man stood waiting on the dock, a melancholy but pleased expression on his face. He looked a little like Travis. Was this his half-brother Merrick?
As Pharma-Douche was being led off the boat, he sneered at me with contempt. “I can’t understand why the book chose you. You’re nothing but a stupid human girl.”
The hackles on the back of my neck raised. “Guess it’s better than a lying sack of shit who only gets someone to blow him if he threatens to fire them.” A lame comeback, for sure. No doubt I’d come up with a snappier one in an hour or so.
“The choice was simple,” Travis told him. “It’s obvious the magical spell book prefers the light to the dark.”
Griffin made a low growl. If I hadn’t known he was into dark magic, I’d have thought he was a shifter.
He was fast.Lightning fast.I hardly saw him move when he lunged at me. Even the sheriff was caught off guard.
Griffin’s hand closed around my wrist like a vise. “This wasn’t the revenge I had planned on taking. But it will have to do.” He hooked a finger under my charm bracelet. “Thanks for the memories.”
The next few seconds played out in slow motion.
Travis’s hands on my shoulders, pulling me backwards.
Pharma-Douche flailing.
The sheriff activating a pair of glowing handcuffs.
The delicate links of the bracelet cutting into my skin.
“Nooooo!” I screamed.
Then the bracelet broke, scattering the charms—and my memories—everywhere.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Daphne
