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If I could get the gag off, I could command Phaidros to take me home. There were just two small issues with that plan. One, I had no way to remove it. And two, even if I did, I’d be in the exact same place as before. No, I needed to do something while I was here. But if I was being taken away from the Moon Goddess, then I couldn’t even engage with her or figure out what she wanted. Well, aside from absolute control of all the shifters and killing me and everyone I loved.
The undead wolves continued to reach out, their cries turning to whines.My soldiers are as numerous as the stars themselves. As much as I wanted to believe it was an exaggeration, I suspected she was being quite literal. If she could raise the undead wolves from the stars and form an army, then we would be in big trouble. She had control of Moon-Ghost as well. Soldiers who could hurt our armies without consequence. She had a demon who could jump through portals with little more than a thought. And if we met on her home turf, she could lock away our magic. She wanted me and Cole back in the pits, and if I had to guess, the only reason I wasn’t there now was because she had something even worse in store for me.
This did not look good.
It looked even worse when I saw where Jett had led me.
Chapter XXI
For a moment, Iwas brought back to those months ago during my training with Cole. The day he showed me the silver box. What was in front of me was a smaller version of that, a silver cube with a door swung wide in ominous invitation. It wasn’t big by any stretch of the imagination. Small, infrequent air holes dotted the bottom. It would be completely dark, so dark. And unlike when Cole had trained me, there would be no crying for mercy.
The Moon Goddess might not intend to kill me yet. But if I stepped foot in that box, I would wish she had. There would be no escape. Memories of drowning, over and over again, swelled in my mind. It was hard to breathe—on my gasps, I inhaled silver.
No. I wasn’t going in that box. My mind spun as Jett shoved me forward, a maniacal grin on his face. I planted my feet to try and resist, but he was having none of that, a yank of the chain dragging me closer.
“Like your new home, mate? You’ll be staying here for a while.”
My gaze flickered from Phaidros to the box. A half-formed plan came to me, borne of desperation. It was stupid. It would take a dangerous amount of luck to work. But the alternative was the box. A box so small I’d have to be on my hands and knees to fit in it. The metal would burn every inch of my exposed skin. A cage that would prevent me from protecting my people. There was no time to hesitate.
My wolf was suppressed by the silver and the Moon Goddess’s magic, but I was a queen and Alpha in my own right. No one would take my wolf from me. In a split second, I focused and managed to shift my hands. Not even my full hands, just a few fingers, my nails lengthening to sharp, deadly claws. Jett paid no notice. He was having too much fun carrying out his mistress’s bidding.
My hands were shackled. My skin rebelled at any movement, but there was no choice. If I wanted to escape, I had to strike now.
I lifted my clawed hand and slashed.
Right through my own throat.
Blood choked me. With the silver gag, it had nowhere to go. Flashes of my previous torture slammed me as the air cut off. The coppery taste was the only way to tell the difference.
My eyes rolled back. I’d had a plan, but all I could do was panic and flail like an animal.
“What are you doing?” Jett growled.
Hands wrapped around my neck. “Getting this gag off, you fucking idiot. Can’t you see she’s choking?”
Someone tugged me away. “Let her die.” I half agreed with the voice, butno. I had to fight. Had to stay alive.
“The Moon Goddess doesn’t want her dead, not yet.” I was snatched back, and then the metal gag fell away with a loud snap. “If she dies, you’ll be following her.”
Blood flew from my mouth, spilling all over me. I tried to breathe, but I couldn’t. My throat was punctured.
“The Moon Goddess will fix this,” Jett said, yanking at the chain that still collared me.
No. Not back to her, not in this state.
It took everything in me, but I forced the three words out of my broken windpipe between mouthfuls of blood. “Take… me… home.”
Phaidros’s starry eyes snapped to me.
“Don’t listen to her!” Jett yanked on the chain again, and I nearly blacked out as the silver rubbed against the exposed wound.
But the bargain compelled Phaidros to act as soon as the words were spoken. And though he might have indulged Jett enough to think they were equal in power plays, portal-making demon trumps brainwashed-alpha-asshole.
His star-skinned hands wrapped around my wrist, and he pushed us through a portal.
I didn’t care where we landed. All I needed to feel was the barest flicker of my magic come back as we returned to Hell and I began to heal my throat. The skin mended under my magic, but if it had taken even a minute more… I’d have been back in the pits.
Cole would have been alone again.
