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“Ella can break through traps,” he tells me, looking down at me. “Gage is strong, but Ella is stronger. She can be as dark as she wants or as good as she wants. Can I offer you
some advice?”
“Let me guess, don’t ask about things you don’t want to know the answers to?”
I smile, but his serious expression remains in place.
“Actually, I was going to tell you to accept him no matter what he tells you. Once upon a time, Alyssa was struggling with the truth about who she is. She wasn’t crazy about her darker side. We all have secrets. We all have crosses to bear. And we all need to feel accepted. If you persecute him for the person he was, then you really shouldn’t be with him. If you live long enough, you make choices you regret. But go mad if you spend an eternity dwelling on those regrets.”
That actually has me thinking it over, and as disturbing as it sounds, I doubt there’s anything I couldn’t accept. I’ve heard about Drackus’s dark past. I’ve heard his horror stories, and I still love him because he’s the only father I can remember. Kane’s shady history is rarely spoken of because he was under the influence of his sire, but I still love him. Zee’s history is the least disturbing, because he found a coven and his sire was killed early on, but it’s still a past he likes to keep buried.
The deeper we get into the woods, the darker it becomes. “How big is the damn perimeter,” I ask, cursing the moon for hiding its glow. Even my immortal eyes are having to strain.
Chaz smirks, but then a golden orb appears about thirty feet in front of us as he lights the way. The orb floats like a duster’s lantern, and the gold glitter flakes in its wake. I can’t believe Karma acted so odd around him.
“It’s a big patch of woods. Before they can spell it to ensure no one can get in, we have to make sure no one is already in.”
It’s funny how they still feel the need to explain everything to me, but I smile and take it in stride. Suddenly, a bright, redheaded doll appears in our path, and I bite back a grin as Karma walks alone in the doll she has possessed.
I suppose you don’t need a perimeter buddy if you’re wearing a form where you can’t be harmed. I wonder where her actual body is.
“For the record,” Chaz says, cocking an eyebrow as the doll continues on, barely glancing in our direction, “she’s creepy.”
That has me laughing and shaking my head. “Dice said the same thing. Then he screwed her.”
Chaz watches her disappear from sight, heading deeper into the woods. “A demon hybrid and an incubus. I hope they don’t reproduce.” I snicker as he looks down, his eyes appreciative as he takes me in. “By the way, nice dress.”
Chapter 15
GAGE
A motherfucking blood oath tied to Kimber’s health. I really wish I could dismantle that psychotic witch piece by piece. I see her dark hair, and then my hand goes to her shoulder. Her gasp never hits the breathing plane.
She struggles uselessly as we travel within the threads of the living and the dead, and I have to use a lot of power just to tunnel deep enough.
As we rematerialize inside the concrete structure, the witch turns and tries to use her powers, only to find them absent.
“What are you doing?” she growls, probably trying to vaporize.
“Your powers won’t work inside here,” I tell her before the cuffs spring out from the stone floor and snap to her wrists and ankles.
Fear takes over her anger, and she panics as she tries jerk free.
“And those are obviously magical cuffs. They’re strong enough to hold someone like me, so you’ll find that you’re struggling in vain. My magic is the only magic that works down here. It’s easy to spell a room as small as this. Especially since it’s surrounded by the earth.
She looks around at the windowless prison as I stride toward the edge. No doors. No exit. Even without the cuffs, she’d never get out. But the cuffs are a little bit of punishment.
“I’m trying to help you,” she says as the first tear falls, but I can be a cruel son of a bitch.
“You see, you say that, but now you’ve tied your life to my girlfriend’s. And since I need you to stay alive for her safety, you’re going to stay right here.”
She cries a little harder while struggling again, but I’m cold an indifferent to her pleading.
“You would have already killed me if I hadn’t tied my life to hers.”
I prop up against the wall, and I watch her as she tries to plead for mercy. “She was a baby when you killed her family and locked her away for your twisted family reunion plans.”
“No!” she yells, still struggling. “We bought her. That’s it. Amari came to us and said she knew where to find what we needed. Kimber was already in the slave rings. It wasn’t us who killed her family.”
