Johanna threw the car in park and bounded up the stairs. She went to grab the handle of the front door but paused. Luke and Mya had trained her for things like this. She couldn’t just go barging in. She needed to be logical first and push her emotions to the side.
She took a deep breath. Johanna couldn’t smell anyone else outside, nor could she see anyone, but she could feel something or someone trying to mask their energy, and it wasn’t Luke.
Johanna opened the door to their house. She let the mate bond pull her to Luke, but as she got closer, she heard a laugh, a voice that chilled her to the bone.
No.
Her eyes locked on Luke when she stepped inside the room, but his expression was blank as he stared at her. Beside him she saw the one man she hoped to never see alive again.
Zachariah.
“Hello, pet.”
That word triggered such an adverse reaction in her that she nearly vomited on the spot. Instead, Johanna swallowed back the bile and stood taller. She would not let him get to her. She would not be a pawn in his games ever again. “What do you want, Zachariah?”
“That answer should be obvious. You.”
Johanna laughed, cackled at the fucking audacity of this godforsaken creature. “I’m not sure what level of delusion you’re on that makes you believe that’s ever going to happen, but the answer is no.”
“Aw, pet.” He held his hands out to her, an evil grin on his face. “Didn’t you miss me? We did such great things together. You were a beautiful weapon, and since you had such a hard time staying away from your mate, I even brought him over to our side just for you. You’re welcome,” he spat.
Johanna didn’t have to ask what he’d done to Luke. It was obvious in the blood that marred his skin, in the way he didn’t move, barely even blinked when his nemesis stood beside him.
“Cat got your tongue? That’s alright. Today’s a celebration day for me so I’m willing to let impudence slide. But here’s the thing, either you come with me, or I’ll just find someone else.” He grinned. “Like your little sister, Tamara, or maybe your mother, Corrine.”
Her eyes widened at their names.
“That’s right. Luke tried not to give me the information, but in the end he was just too weak.” Zachariah shrugged. “Your choice of mate was honestly abysmal, Johanna.”
“Fine, I’ll go,” she said with a nod, a plan forming in her mind.
Zachariah smiled. “I knew I could count on you to make the right choice.”
She smiled back, feeling her grin grow. The rage that had been dormant within her came to the surface, and with it her powers. Johanna pushed past the magic Constance used to guard Zachariah, and dove into his mind. It was a place of nightmares and terror, covered in so much tar and darkness that she doubted anyone could stay unscathed for long. But that didn’t matter, because now that she had wormed her way inside, she could read him like a book.
Luke moved under Zachariah’s silent command. He lunged at her clumsily, a by-product of Constance’s possession, but Luke had trained her how to protect herself from anyone, including him. She grabbed hold of his arm and ducked, spinning underneath him. The momentum made him flip over her and crash to the floor. Instantaneously, she pulled out of Zachariah’s mind and into Luke’s, issuing a command to force him to sleep.
Zachariah appeared in front of her in a flash, a smile on his face as if he’d won his prize. She wasn’t surprised to find him crowding her space, nor was she fearful when he grabbed her. Instead, she let him.
“It’s cute that you thought that would work,” he said with a sneer.
She smirked. “Oh, I didn’t. I just needed to separate the two of you.”
“And what did you think that would achieve?”
“This.”
She spun. Using her momentum, she turned her hand to the side and struck his neck, directly on his carotid artery. His eyes grew wide as he staggered back from her, and it only served to make her smile larger.
“You see, I know your powers enhance your body, but that enhancement is triggered by your mind. Without that trigger, well, you’re just an old, weak sack of shit.”
“What did you do?” he screeched.
“Simply switched your power off. I’m giving you a dose of your own medicine, Zachariah. It hurts, doesn’t it, to feel less than.”
She kicked him in the ribs.
“To feel powerless.”
