Chapter One
Renault Duchanes wouldburnfor this.
Gabriel could scarcely see through the haze of his red-hot fury. His hand trembled, the phone clutched inside it seconds from cracking.
“You’ve just signed your death warrant, bloodsucker,” he warned, but the line had already gone dead. Duchanes had made his singular demand—hand over the witch, or the wolf dies—and that was that.
They had until dawn to comply. And in the scant few hours remaining, Gabriel was certain Cole would endure the kind of torture that would make hell look like an amusement park.
Fuck.
Gabriel closed his eyes, trying to focus.
Plan. He needed a fucking plan. But even if Duchaneshadn’twarned them to come alone, they were out in the middle of the woods, hours away from anyone who could’ve helped. With Cole’s life already in mortal danger, Gabriel wasn’t about to put Dorian, Aiden, Colin, or Isabelle in the line of fire.
Beyond that, there was no one else he trusted to outmaneuver Duchanes, rescue the wolf, and keep his woman safe.
Gabriel sighed. In this, he and his witch were utterly on their own, which meant it would all come down to him. He didn’t give a fuckwhatDuchanes had demanded—Jacinda wasn’t getting anywhere near the bastard.
For a moment, the world fell silent, the only sounds the frantic pounding of his heart and the echo of Duchanes’ threats.
I want my witch returned to me…
The thought of that wretched vampire putting his hands on Jacinda, using her, tormenting her, feeding from her…
The phone exploded in his hand.
By the time Gabriel saw the blood and felt the sharp bite of broken glass and metal, the wounds were already healing.
If only he could say the same for his heart.
“Gabriel,” a soft voice broke through the tempest of his thoughts. Almost a whisper. Almost a prayer.
Jacinda…
The lightest touch of her hand against his face brought him back from the precipice.
His vision finally cleared.
His rage, however, did not.
If anything, looking into her bright blue gaze only further stoked the flames.
“It’s okay,” Jacinda said gently. “We’ll figure this out.”
“Nothing to figure out. I told you I’d destroy anyone who dared to touch you, did I not?”
The faintest smile lit up her face, and she slid her hands behind his neck, her warm body pressed firmly against his. “Actually, you said you’d bleed and burn them. Monster, man, or mage.”
“Brilliant. That’s precisely what I’ll do, then. In that order.” He brushed a quick kiss across her mouth. The contact was all-too-brief, but if Gabriel lingered so much as anotherminuteover those soft lips, the courage to walk out that door would surely abandon him. “I’ll call you when it’s done.”
She glanced down at the shattered phone still gripped in his hand. “Right. And while you’re off vanquishing the enemy, I’m supposed to just, what? Netflix and chill with my knockoff Irish coffee?”
“Yes.” He turned away from her to hunt down his clothes. He found them on the floor, half-buried by the comforter he and Jacinda had been wrapped up in most of the night, and quickly changed. “I’ll find a way to get in touch. Just… just lock the doors and windows and lie low until I or one of my brothers comes back for you.”
Ignoring his protests, Jacinda retrieved her clothes from the floor, tugging on the jeans she’d worn earlier. Dirt from the Enchanted Gardens still clung to the bottoms, a stark reminder of their passionate tumble beneath the rose bushes that stirred Gabriel’s cock to rapt attention.
But when he met her gaze again, it wasn’t lust he found there.
