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“There is no explaining yourselves,” the councilman says. “You will be held until your punishments have been decided.”
“You’re not fucking holding us for shit,” Rainey growls as she unholsters her firearm. “I know how this is going to go down, and this is not it.”
The man chuckles and raises a hand to snap his fingers. Witches behind him part as two drag an unconscious form forward. It’s not until they drop Walker at our feet that we even recognize him. Face bloody and swollen, he looks like a completely different person.
Rage sends my magic snapping around me, sparking from my body like fireworks seeking something to blow the hell up.
“What the fuck did you do?” Rainey roars as she drops to her knees beside her partner.
The councilman takes a step toward Rainey, and we all move closer. Elijah snarls, standing beside his mate with two silver blades drawn. Willa and Cole both growl. Tarnley bares his teeth while Delaney and I make a show of our magic. Not that any of it will do any good.
I’m damn willing to bet they ripped the information out of his head, giving them exactly what they’d need to counter our plan. Which means we’re winging it. Everything else they’ll see coming.
“Your psychic here did it to himself. When brought in for questioning, he put up quite the fight. It was rather frustrating, but we eventually took what we needed. Surprising, really—we didn’t know there were any of his kind left.” The councilman looks back at Chasin. “Not until the warlock Chasin informed us.”
Guilt slams into me, and Rainey glares back. “I wonder where he got that information.”
I swallow hard. I would apologize if I thought it would do any good. But I was a different person then—literally—and now it would be a waste of breath. “You have us. Let him go.”
“Not a chance. He is nearly as guilty as the rest of you. We discovered he aided in the murder of Councilman Maxil Ross as well as the death of Councilwoman Lucy McClough.”
“Lucy was an evil bitch who deserved a hell of a lot worse than she got,” Willa growls.
“Yes. I imagine you would see her that way as she killed the late Jack Keller,” the councilman says with zero emotion. “But you see, to us, he was the real traitor. As are the rest of you.”
Willa lunges. I raise my hand, and magic wraps around her, yanking her back into the safety of our group. “Let me go!” she screams.
“You’re going to get yourself killed.”
The growl that leaves her chest makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. However, letting her go so she can lunge into a battle she will not win will not just be the death of her—it will be the end of us all. At that point, there’s no more stalling until our fae escort arrives. We’ll be dead on arrival—literally.
“I’m sorry,” Walker chokes out as he rolls onto his back and gives us a full view of the broken detective.
Bile rises in my gut as rage spreads through me, infecting every rational thought. His shirt is shredded, and beneath the torn fabric are dozens of lacerations. Broken nose, eyes swollen shut, lips split open; even his fucking eye socket looks misshapen. He was tortured. Endlessly, for what must have been hours.
Which means the text message Rainey received earlier was a fake. They’ve been on to us this entire time. How, though? Chasin?
Rainey pushes to her feet, and in the blink of an eye, she’s raised her pistol and aimed it directly at the councilman. He doesn’t even flinch. “Tell me why I shouldn’t pull this trigger and end you right the fuck now.”
“Because,” a female voice says as the witches part again. Her voice slides up my spine, sending my heart racing.Where have I heard that voice before?“Doing so would mean the immediate termination of you and your comrades.” A white-haired woman steps forward, wearing a pristine white pant suit. She glides across the floor with complete and total confidence, making me wonder whether she belongs to the witches or to the immortals.
Or, perhaps something else entirely.
The sight of her slams a memory into me, and suddenly I’m a child, staring up into the eyes of the woman prepared to murder my mother.
“Odette,” Rainey growls.
“Odette,” I repeat.
“You know her?” Rainey asks.
“We’ve met,” I snap, tears burning in my eyes.
“Yes, I suppose we have.” She grins. “It is so nice to see you again, Bronwyn.”
Her tone is so calm, so neutral, it sends my rage into overdrive. She murdered my mother. Executed her right in front of me, and then offered to kill me too.
“How poetic is it that you’re now going to suffer the same fate as your mother all those years ago. At least, your father bought you a few hundred years, though, right? I, however, knew from the moment I saw you that you were going to be trouble. After all, you are the bastard daughter of a hunter and a witch. A scourge on our kind.”
