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She fell forward, her strength drained now, and I gasped in horror as her shroud of protection fell away.
Etta laughed, rolling away at exactly that moment, as if she had merely been biding her time.
“I really don’t know what Orson saw in you,” she sniffed, jumping to her feet, her fingers extended to paralyze me again. “But some men have such bad taste.”
Chapter46
Elijah
Once my head cleared enough, it was simple to follow the trail of blood from the warehouse, back to Orson’s house, where I heard voices from the garage.
Instantly, I smelled my mate inside, her pheromones driving me full force inside. The mysterious woman who had located me in Seven Rock doubled over on the ground as Etta shot magic outward in Abby’s direction. My mate turned her snout toward me at precisely that second, shame in her eyes.
Hissing, I lunged for Etta, and she screamed, releasing the spell as quickly as she had started it, shocked by my appearance. With surprising nimbleness, the fae took off through the open garage door.
“Abby!” I breathed, rushing to her side.
“Abby’s fine!” Maisie wheezed as my mate shifted back into her human form. “Go get Etta!”
“Go get her!” Abby agreed. “It was all her, Elijah! Don’t let her get away!”
Reassured that my mate was unharmed, I flew toward the street where Etta had run. At the far end of the road, her wings sprouted, and she moved to fly off.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” I snarled, racing to catch up with her, my legs becoming paws, jaws unhinging to lock around her ankle as she took flight.
Etta’s screams echoed through Pario City, but not a soul ventured out of their house to observe, their sense of well-being far overtaking their curiosity.
Dragging her back to the ground, I shifted back again, my paw forming a hand around her throat.
“Tell me everything,” I told her flatly. “From the beginning.”
She wriggled weakly beneath me, and I could tell she was trying to coax a spell forward.
“I will snap your neck if you try,” I explained conversationally. “Tell me how you stole my life.”
Etta whimpered. “It was all Orson’s idea!”
I smiled thinly, my grip tightening as I stared at her.
“I’ve been through it over and over in my mind,” I said. “Trying to think of times where Orson showed any signs of ambition.”
I shook my head.
“Orson was many things. But smart was not one of them. He was a fighter, a solider, but this… this was the mind of someone else. Someone much brighter. Don’t you want to take credit for all your hard work, Etta?”
As I suspected, appealing to her ego worked, but she still stared at me suspiciously.
“I was only trying to survive, Elijah. Not all of us were blessed with immortality. I don’t expect you to understand.”
She was trying to play me, even now.
“Why don’t you try me?” I asked without releasing my hold around her neck. She exhaled and tried to look at me demurely.
“I’m not bad, Elijah. I just wanted to preserve my place in this world.”
“Tell me how,” I pressed. “I want to know how it came to this.”
“You won’t let me live if I do,” Etta challenged.
