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Behind us, the hired goons surrounded Zayn. We’d given them a good fight, but now they were ready to truss him up and deliver him to Avalon, the rich witch bitch.
I had recognized Avalon right away. She came from a rich family and got social media famous when The Wall fell. She was the reason some non-magic folk thought all witches were rich AF and sat around all day taking photos of their crystals and doing yoga. So annoying. And so untrue.
(Nothing wrong with crystals or yoga, I loved those things myself, but I also worked my ass off to keep Sylvana’s business going.)
Avalon stood lounging against her Mercedes, a scowl on her perfectly made-up face. “I don’t care what you do with her as long as you get rid of any evidence after. If anything gets traced back to me or my family, it’s your hide on the line.”
One of the mercenaries stepped into the van and came out with a length of rope that glowed with magic. He’d never get that around Zayn. I was exactly where I wanted to be.
I started the spell in my mind, thinking back to when I first met Zayn’s snake. Then, as the asshole dragged me past Avalon, I reached out and touched the back of her arm.
Just as I thought. The amateur had cast a physical barrier around herself but wasn’t protecting her magic. It only took her a fraction of a moment to realize what was happening, but by then, I’d siphoned enough of her energy to cast the biggest sleep spell I ever had. Time for a little nap!
The man holding onto me fell first, relaxing his grip and sinking to the ground. Next was the one holding the magic-infused rope. One by one, Avalon’s little army fell.
The only person immune to the sleep spell was Avalon herself, who’d wised up and blocked my magic just in time. I grabbed the gun from Mister Mullet and pointed it at her.
“You have three seconds. One…two…” I counted slowly, purposefully giving her plenty of time to focus her magic on creating a physical barrier to repel my bullet.
“Three.” I shot at her leg, and she threw all her energy into the barrier, stopping the bullet. I took that moment to hurl my sleep spell at her. She could only focus on one barrier at a time.
She blinked a few times, realizing she’d been duped, then sank to the ground.
She wouldn’t stay asleep for long. I’d had the element of surprise on my side, but she was still a pretty strong witch, despite her lack of real-world experience, and would wake soon. I grabbed the magical rope on the ground. It took several tries, but I got her tied up. I didn’t know anything about knots, so I just freehand it. She woke up just as I was tying the last one.
“You bitch,” Avalon spat. “Do you have any idea who I am? Once my family discovers what you’ve done, they’ll come after you. You’re going to regret this.”
I couldn’t stop my eye roll. “Yeah, whatever. I’msoscared.”
Not to mention, I highly doubted I’d regret being alive, considering she’d told the men to get rid of me.
I should never have stopped Zayn from destroying Nigel when he had the chance. He’d gone to this witch and promised her an enslaved naga in exchange for a baby. What utter pieces of crap they both were. They deserved each other.
Ignoring Avalon, I picked my way over to Zayn, who had fallen asleep on top of two of the mercenaries. He wasn’t squeezing now that he was sleeping, but they were still trapped under his considerable weight.
I found my phone. It was still connected to Gunnar. I’d called him when Miss Social Media had been babbling away, and he was on his way back here with Mason. Since she attacked me with deadly force in the form of a group of armed men, I was perfectly within my rights to reciprocate in a similar vein. But that would be letting her off too easily.
And besides, she had mentioned a collection, so she must be one of those weirdo collectors with a private shifter zoo somewhere. Those poor souls needed to be saved. The EA would get the location out of her and free them.
“Gunnar?”
“We’re almost there, Sybil.”
“Good. I cast a sleep spell on everybody, but I don’t know how long it will hold. Did you hear everything she said?”
“I did. And so did Mason. The EA will want to investigate if she really has a collection of enslaved shifters, so they’re on their way too. I hope you don’t mind.”
“I’d much prefer just being able to go home with Zayn, but getting those shifters freed is important too. I’ll see you soon.” I hung up.
“You’re going to pay for this. I won’t see a day behind bars.” Avalon cackled.
The worst part was, she was probably right. Total bullshit, but her family was loaded and could pull some strings.
As I grabbed all the weapons and put them into a pile, movement in the corner of my eye had me turning to see Zayn returning to his human form. It released the two men, who woke when they fell onto the ground. They looked around, confused.
I pointed my gun at them just as Mason’s Jeep rumbled into view.
“Damn it! Everyone’s asleep,” Gunnar grumbled as he approached the scene. “I was itching for a fight.”
