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She let out a scornful chuckle. “Now if it were true that their power is pure, said power would actually be the perfect antidote for the decay, wouldn’t it? The Aeons aren’t truly so lily-white on any level. But you’ve already figured that much out for yourself, haven’t you? You knew Wagner would toss me over the falls.”
“What did you do to him?”
“I’m not entirely sure what exactly happened to him. I just know he’s dead.” She stilled as a breeze touched her face in what felt like a ‘right, you can reign fresh hell on the fuckers now’ message. “He never had a chance to do your dirty work, if that’s what you’re wondering,” she added, feeling her monster very slowly slink to the surface as it prepared itself to lunge.
“That’s all right. I don’t mind doing it myself. I won’t be dipping my dick in you—not inside the woman who killed my son. But everything else? Yes, I’ll enjoy doing …” He trailed off, his lips parting as black inky ribbons began to crawl over her eyes. “What in the hell?”
“You shouldn’t have come for me, Phineas. You see, this thing that lives inside me … itloathesyou. It always has. I managed to hold it back over the years, but only because I promised that it could one day tear you apart if the time was ever right. This moment, well, this feels kind of right. And I’d be a twat if I went back on my promise so, yeah, you and your friend are now gonna die.” Her vision went black.
*
“I want to be able to shift,” said the male sitting opposite Cain in the parlor’s manor. “My dragon … I feel it inside me. I hate that it’s trapped. I want to be able to shift.”
Cain inwardly sighed. The majority of the time, those wanting to sell their soul requested something reasonable. Cliché, but reasonable—fame, fortune, power. But then there were those who really hadn’t thought the situation through; who hadn’t considered the downsides to having their desire granted. The male in front of him was one of those people.
“You have no real idea what you’re asking,” Cain told him. “Draconian mages were stripped of their ability to shift because they were too destructive. Once they turned dragon, the mage stayed in that form and lost their humanity.”
“I don’t believe that. It’s just a story told to scare us. Dragon shifters—”
“Are different. You’re a mage with the suppressed capability to shift. You do not have a separate entity inside you, whatever you might think. It is thebestial magickthat is trapped. It has no personality, no wants, no likes, no dislikes. It is simply power. Once unleashed, it would destroy who you are. You wouldbecomea beast.”
He licked his lips. “You’re wrong. Look, I don’t even care what will happen. It’s my risk to take. I am offering my soul to you in payment.”
“You haven’t asked what exactly that would entail. It’s not a small price to pay.”
“It doesn’t matter, I—”
The door sharply opened, and Maxim stepped inside, his expression grim. “I’m sorry to disturb you, Sire, but it’s Wynter.”
Cain was out of his seat in an instant, assuring himself with one touch to her soul that she was in fact alive. Stalking out of the room, he clipped, “Tell me.”
“She disappeared from the ethnic restaurant above ground,” Maxim explained. “An unfamiliar black van was seen speeding out of town, so people are concluding that she was taken. Her coven are in pursuit, but they’re on foot; they asked someone to pass on the message to you. More of the townspeople have joined the search—”
Cain didn’t wait to hear more. He used the enhanced speed of his kind to rush out of the manor, through the town, and up to the invisible border a short distance away from the tunnel that would take him out of town … if only he could fucking get to it.
Vehicle after vehicle drove through the tunnel fast. He knew the people inside them would search for Wynter. Meanwhile, all he could do was stand in that very spot. It was as far as he could go. Literally.
Anger rumbled through Cain like a thunderstorm, and his hands balled into tight fists. Wynter was gone. Taken. And there wasn’t a single fucking thing he could personally do to bring her back.Nothing.
His creature went ballistic, thrashing inside him, wanting out; wanting to hunt and track and annihilate whoever took her. It took everything Cain had to contain the monster.
Azazel materialized at his side, his jaw hard as granite. “I heard what happened. She’ll be found, Cain. Whoever kidnapped her won’t get far with her. They don’t know this land like our people do, they’ll be caught.”
Cain didn’t speak. Couldn’t. A roar had built in his chest. He knew it would escape him if he opened his mouth.
“She’s not dead, right?” Azazel asked.
Cain only shook his head.
“Thought as much. In my opinion, her kidnapper won’t kill her. If that was their intention, they would have done it there and then rather than snatch her.”
But that brought Cain no comfort, because it meant they likely planned to take her to the Aeons, and those fuckerswouldeventually kill her if they got their hands on her. Azazel knew that as well as Cain did. If someone didn’t get to her before—
Movement caught his eye. He watched as Delilah and Xavier walked out of the tunnel, their faces hard as stone.
“I didn’t say it was your fault,” Delilah said to him.
“Well, it feels like you’re tossing the blame at my feet,” clipped Xavier.
