Page 88 of Mage Massacres

Each side of the room held a dark passage, though new fear flowed from the left side and the blank wall in front of us. The decision to choose made me pause.

Did I want to find Annette first or whoever was screaming?

Were they in the same place?

“Left,” Briggs decided. “Go left. The passages could lead to whatever is on the other side of the wall.”

I took a deep breath, gagging on the fear once more, but I rolled my shoulders back and kept moving forward.

There were no lights in the passage except the shine of orange under the door in front of us. It gave off enough illumination that we could see two more doors; one on the right and one on the left.

Palmer took a split second to unlock the doors. Stone positioned himself near the light, listening as we peeked inside the rooms.

The room on the right reminded me of the barracks that Satan’s followers had lived in, but worse. There was a filthy mattress and a bucket. Nothing more. The air inside smelled of death and decomposition.

The room on the left was much the same, except there was a shivering half-naked woman on the mattress. I ducked under Briggs’s arm, stepping into the room and placing my finger over my lips to silence her.

“Please don’t scream,” I whispered into her mind. “I need you to get out of here. Can you travel through the Void?”

She shook her head slowly, standing on shaking legs. She was weak, but I couldn’t see any visible injuries.

“I texted Miller in. She’s waiting at the top of the stairs.”

“This is one of my mates.” I pointed to Palmer. “He’s going to take you to the exit. Once you’re on the stairs, you’ll see his sister. Her name is Millie. She’s going to take you somewhere safe to clean up and rest, and then she’ll get you home.”

She nodded, glancing at the closed door as she left her make-shift cell.

“How long do you think she’s been in there?” York asked.

“Not long,” I replied, watching her leave with Palmer. “But I don’t know. Maybe Millie can get some answers.”

Briggs grunted. “Mills can get answers from anyone, even if she’s not trying. Let’s keep going.”

“Yep,” Novak called, though I wasn’t sure which part of my wolf’s statement he agreed to.

“You want to kick the door in?” Stone tempted. His grin was wicked and his black eyes flecked with sparks of hellfire.

“No.” I rolled my eyes. “Yes, but we shouldn’t."

I waved my hand over the lock, twisting the internal mechanism as delicately as I was capable of. I felt the click of the lock more than I heard it, and I looked back at my guys just as Palmer entered the passage.

Nerves thrummed through my system as I turned the handle. I didn’t know why I was on edge, but everything about Annette made me uncomfortable.

I let the door swing open on its own, surprised to find a regal woman with burgundy hair standing over John Moore’s lifeless body. She kicked his hand, muttering about how useless he was.

When the door hit the wall, her back tensed. “I wasn’t expecting you to stop by today. To what do I owe the pleasure of your early arrival?”

Vaughn met my eyes, and I shrugged.

“We were in the neighborhood,” I replied, smirking as her entire body grew stiff. “Not who you were expecting?”

“Where are my manners,” she replied tersely.

With a snap of her fingers, a plate of cookies landed in her right hand. Her appearance faded to the fragile older woman from yesterday as she smiled gingerly at my guys.

“Would you like a cookie?”

I snorted.