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And would you look at that?
There’s my fist, grabbing a chunk of her hair and yanking her head backward.
I’m not ashamed to admit the startled, gurgling sound she makes as I rip her head back makes me smile.
“If you don’t stop…”
I hover over her, watching her eyes go wide and innocent. “I’m performing the retrieval spell.”
I sneer at her. At the facade of innocence she so easily painted on. At all the times I believed it before. “I know your tricks, Belle. Stop it, or I will.”
Her manufactured doe eyes vanish, and she greets me with her true self.
The cold-hearted snake whose only interests are herself and accruing more power within the coven. “And just what do you think you can do about it, mage? You’re a male. Your power pales compared to mine.”
I nod, expecting her to make that very argument. She used it countless times before to keep me convinced I was her best option. Convinced that I wasn’t worthy of something more.
“Yeah, you’ve said that before, but I don’t think you know what you’re talking about.” I lean in close, and I don’t know if it’s my tone or my expression, but Belle sees something in me, and for the first time, there is genuine fear in her gaze. “Do the retrieval the way it’s intended, and you’ll be lucky if Emilia lets you keep your teeth.”
Belle’s face pales, and I release her before opening the rift and stepping through to meet my pack mates on the other side of the circle.
The moment I’m next to Rafe and Jonah again, Willa takes a strangled, choking breath.
But it’s a breath.
And that’s all she needs.
WILLA
Air rushes in my lungs,and suddenly, the inferno in my insides quiets. It still hurts, and I’m shaking and covered in sweat, but I’m not wishing for death anymore.
Hell, compared to what it was, I could fall asleep to this.
I roll my neck a few times and watch my claws turn back into hands as I settle in for as long as it takes.
You doing OK?Jonah asks in my mind.
Think so. It was real bad at first, but I think I can handle it.
Yeah, Rook says that was Belle trying to steal the knowledge from you for herself. She was working against the entire coven, and I guess that must have not felt very good.
Fucking Belle. Does Emilia know?
Rook doesn’t think so.
Well, she’s about to. As soon as she’s done and the witch magic is back where it belongs, that’s the first thing I’m telling her.
I know, I know. Snitches get stitches, right?
But the woman almost killed me.
And it was probably exactly the kind of thing Emilia needed to formally punish Belle. Maybe it was a big enough deal to get her kicked out of the coven or her power stripped.
I don’t know what witches do for punishment, but it kinda feels like getting Al Capone on tax evasion.
And that feels like a win to me.
My gaze goes to Drago a moment before he explodes in my head.
