by May Dawson
For some reason, I’d felt like I could trust him when we met in the cemetery. Fuck my intuition. He hadn’t given me this cruel, psychopathic vibe.
He gripped the glass tightly, but his expression was amused as he regarded me. “I’m sure you’re thinking about grabbing the glass and slamming it into my face. I’d prefer if you didn’t. I don’t want to leave you here alone until your spark flickers out.”
I had to get out of this room, to win the witches over enough to get as much information about the Cure as I could.
“Friends?” I said.
His lips tilted in a faint disbelieving smile. “We’re not friends,” he said. “No witch is going to be your friend until you prove yourself, Maddie. Did you really think it would be that easy?”
Dread curdled through my stomach. “And what kind of proof would that be?”
“Echo.” A feminine voice curled through the hall outside.
Echo stiffened. He backed toward the door, never taking his eyes off me.
“Don’t leave me,” I said, surprised by the emotion in my voice. I didn’t want to be alone in this windowless room anymore. I’d rather have Echo’s company, no matter how evil he was.
He winked at me, right before he closed the door between us again.
Chapter Nineteen
Echo
When I came back to the house later that day, the Everly sisters were rolling bones, kneeling on either side of the trunk that served as a coffee table. Jane’s chest fluttered with a bit more effort than a fortune-telling trick would seem to require.
Protectiveness flared through my chest. They needed to stay away from my girl.
My footsteps hurried as I headed up the stairs. When I reached the stairs, Alice was heading down the hall to her room, her face faintly flushed.
“Alice,” I said. My voice rolled through the hall, full of command, and she stopped, surprise written across her face as she turned to me.
“Yes?”
I crossed the hall to her in a few quick strides. “Did you and the Everly sisters—or any permutation thereof—visit my prisoner?”
“She’s not your prisoner.” Alice’s chin rose as her gaze met mine defiantly. “She’s ours. All of ours.”
“Winter left her to my care.” My voice came out soft. This close to Alice, I could see her breath hitch in her chest.
Alice’s desire irritated me, but I always hid that from her, and now I stroked my hand over the back of her cheek. Wide brown eyes met mine, her pupils dilated with some mix of desire and fear.
Though she didn’t feel enough fear, apparently, since she was messing with my girl.
I only wanted one woman to look at me that way, and she might hate me for what happened in that room. I’d happily make her hate me, if it kept her alive.
“What’d you do?” I asked her evenly.
Her lips parted, but I paused her with a thumb on her lower lip. “Don’t lie to me,” I warned her.
Her lower lip trembled faintly under my touch, and her shoulders sagged back against the wall, as if I made her weak.
“I just checked on her to make sure she was all right,” she whispered. “You were running errands for Winter and she was all alone…”
My jaw stiffened. “No one is to go in that room without me. You brought Jane?”
“She stood watch.”
The Everly sisters would kill Maddie if they had the chance. They had the grudge against her and they had the means; the only question was if they were willing to defy Winter. Winter could be capricious. He loved the way the teenage witches in this house worshipped him; he was usually gentle, understanding, of their misbehavior.
I didn’t think anyone else had snooped around Winter’s forbidden workshop beyond the house as I had, though. I knew his tolerance only went so far.
“You’re going to get yourself in trouble, Alice,” I warned her. I placed my hand above her shoulder and shifted close to her. Her gaze was fixed on my face, and her pupils narrowed as she stared up at me. “What did you say to my little rabbit? What did you do?”
“Nothing,” she said. “I brought her a bottle of ice water. Asked her if she was all right.”
“You went into the room?”
She shook her head. “I can’t get past your spell. I rolled the bottle in across the threshold.”
“She’s dangerous,” I warned her. “I’m trying to protect you all from her.”
And I was protecting her from them. I frowned down at Alice, wondering if she was really so naïve she didn’t realize the Everly sisters were plotting Maddie’s death, if they could get away with it.
She stared up at me with big eyes, distress flickering across her face as if she was replaying what she saw. “I know that, Echo, but we want her to be part of the coven. This… cruelty…”
The Everly sisters wanted to murder her, and Alice couldn’t stand the thought of Maddie missing a few meals.
“How did you ever come here?” I asked. “What drove you into the arms of witches?”
Her cheeks flushed.
I stared into her eyes, caressing her cheek absently with my thumb, writing a rune across her skin. It was hard to pretend I felt the slightest stir of desire.
There was only one girl I was interested in, and it was the woman who pushed me away with fire in her eyes, even when I had control over her life and death.
“Don’t undermine me again,” I warned Alice.
Her eyes filled with tears. I pulled my hand away from her cheek, feeling suddenly stricken with guilt for toying with her feelings. The sudden loss of my touch made the tears spill over onto her round cheeks.
I tilted her chin up, raising her gaze to meet mine. “No tears, Alice. I know it might seem cruel, but she caused the coven suffering. For them to accept her, they have to see her suffer.”
“You think she’ll still want to be a part of the coven after this?”
“Yes,” I said. “Don’t be too afraid for her, Alice. I promise I won’t break her.”
Much.
Chapter Twenty
Maddie
When I heard footsteps outside my room, I jumped to my feet.
Echo opened the door, but he stood just outside, staring at me coldly.
“How many different ways have you tried to escape?” he asked.
The room seemed inescapable. There were spells on the walls, the floor, the ceiling. The entire room was warded against my magic. I’d moved the bed and broken through the drywall, only to encounter an impenetrable wall of Echo’s magic.
“I want to be here,” I reminded him.
His lips curled up on one side. “No, you don’t. You’re here for a reason, but it’s not your desire.”
He came into the room, his movements quick and confident. Part of me almost flinched back when he stopped in front of me; he towered over me, full of commanding presence. Instead, I raised my chin, meeting his eyes defiantly. The heavy scent of his aftershave, dark and heady, filled my nose.
“I want to see my father,” I said again.
He nodded thoughtfully. “You will. But he has better things to do than deal with brats. You’re all mine until he comes back from his mission.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re not making me feel very welcome in the coven, Echo.”
“I love the imperious way you say my name,” he murmured, leaning toward me. He didn’t touch me, but his breath grazed my ear. My heart beat faster, my traitorous body responding to something about him, no matter how awful he was. “I wonder how many other ways you could say my name.”
I glanced over his shoulder at the door. I already knew I couldn’t make it past him, not until I figured out how to break his enchantment.
Kneeing him in the crotch would be fun, but it wouldn’t get me anywhere.
And even so, something about his body near mine made my breath stutter in my chest in the strangest way.
He held his hand out. “Give me your watch.”
“What? Why?”
I glanced down at my watch, confused. I’d have lost track of the passage of the time, since there was no natural light, without it. The thought made my heart race in my chest. I already felt discombobulated in here.
He gave me a long look. “Give me your watch, now, and I’ll come back with food. I might even let you use my bathroom if you’re an exceptionally good girl.” A faint smile played over his lips. “If you’re capable of being good.”
Irritation flared in my chest. My watch kept me grounded in this windowless room, it felt like I could lose my mind.
“Why are you doing this?” I demanded. “I thought Winter wanted me here.”
“He does,” he said. He skated his fingertips over the bare skin of my arm. His touch raised goosebumps in a strange sensation that was pleasant and alarming in equal measure. I shuddered as I stared over his shoulder, resolutely avoiding those dark eyes.
“Your fellow witches do not, however,” he murmured. “Do you know how many of our kind—our friends, our families—you killed on your way out of the cage?”
God, that was terrifying. I was dependent on the psychopathic leader of the Day for my protection. This might be a record low.
“I didn’t have a choice,” I reminded him.
“Mm.” He studied me, his face unsmiling. “I’m sure you’d have mercy on someone who killed your sister, her cubs, wouldn’t you?”
My lips parted.
“That’s what I thought,” he said. “Your watch. I won’t ask again.”
Reluctantly, I released the clasp on my watch and placed it in his outstretched palm.
“Thank you,” he said. “I don’t want to make any of this harder on you than it has to be.”
“I thought you were going to show me around the coven,” I said, as he placed his hands on my biceps and gently moved me to one side so he could take a step past me, further into the room. “I thought you were going to teach me how to use my magic.”
“That’s Winter’s job,” he said. “Mine is to make sure that you don’t kill any more witches, and they don’t kill you.”
“I’m not here to hurt anyone. I’m here to become one of you.”
“Then this is the price you pay.” He leaned down, his hand sliding across the wall behind the nightstand, and I frowned.
The lamp blinked out as he tore the cord out of the wall. The room was plunged into darkness, except for the soft light that radiated into the room from his bedroom beyond.
“What are you doing?” I demanded. There was an edge of fear that broke through my voice. “You said you were going to be back with food.”
“I am,” he promised. The lamp dangled from the long fingers of one hand as he faced me. “I’m the only one you can trust here. If Alice comes to you again, you will not speak to her.”
“She came to my room,” I said, my brows arching. “You can’t just make up rules and take my light, my watch, the only things that are keeping me from going crazy in here.”
He crinkled his nose at me. “I can, actually.”
“That’s not fair!”
It only took him a few strides to reach the doorway, and then he turned. Incredulously, he asked me, “You came to the evil coven—the one you almost single-handedly destroyed—and you expected things to be fair?”
It was only when he had gone and when my heart finally stopped racing that I realized that something about that nose crinkle felt familiar. But laying there in the darkness, trying to stave off panic, I knew it must just be my mind playing tricks on me.
I just had to last until Winter came. None of the small miseries that Echo inflicted on me would kill me. They were just a test—likely the first of many—and I’d survive them.
Still, in the darkness, the walls seemed to press in on me. I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes, trying to stave off tears.
When I was alone in the dark, I couldn’t stop seeing the faces of my men. Did they miss me?
They weren’t supposed to, but I hoped some part of them still longed for me, still felt the bond…
Just not strongly enough for them to come to my rescue.
I’d done the right thing.
Sometimes the right thing leads to suffering.
The room was pitch black, except for the faintest bar of light along the bottom of the door, where the light from Echo’s room leaked into mine.
I was left alone for hours, or days… I couldn’t tell. I sang songs to myself until my throat went hoarse. I did push-ups to keep my body moving. I ran my fingers over the invisible runes tattooed on my arms, knowing I could bear this, I didn’t need to call for help.
Left alone in the night for long enough, the darkness seemed to come to life and move around me. I caught flickers of movement from the corner of my eye. Just an optical illusion.
What kinds of strange magic might there be a witch’s house? Could something come for me?
As more time slipped by, the shadows seemed to whirl around me.
I pressed my hands over my mouth, choking back a scream.
I wouldn’t let them hear me screaming, not when I knew it would only make them smile.
Chapter Twenty-One
Penn
Dinner was quiet at our table, even though everything bustled around us in the cafeteria. We ate without speaking much; there wasn’t anything to say.
Chase threw his fork down. “Well? Does anyone know if she made it home safely to her own pack? Or are we just going to pretend there’s nothing fucked up here?”
“Oh, it’s fucked up,” I agreed. I met his gaze, and Chase frowned at whatever he saw there. “You weren’t there.”
“Clearborn said she’s fine,” Jensen said abruptly. He hadn’t talked at all that night, which for Jensen was truly bizarre.
“He must have heard from her pack. He’s keenly aware she left,” I said. “Given that she knocked down part of the gate on her way out as a final fuck-you to the academy.”
If I hadn’t been so pissed at her, I would’ve admired her style.
“Our team’s dropping like flies,” Chase muttered. “We lost Silas, now Maddie.”
“Before that we lost Beck,” Jensen said.
“You haven’t missed him,” I reminded him. I still hated Beckett.
Jensen shrugged. I had a feeling that maybe now he doubted whether Maddie was worth some of the friendships he’d thrown away when he took her side. She never seemed to notice what it cost him, but then, that wasn’t her style.
There were empty seats at our table, which meant there was space when Smith suddenly sat down opposite Jensen.
Jensen raised glittering golden eyes to face down Smith, and if I were Smith, I might’ve reconsidered flashing that giddy grin in Jensen’s direction.
“How are you guys holding out?” Smith asked, pretending sympathy as two of his buddies joined us at the table.
Oh, forget this guy.
“How are you all holding out now that Clearborn’s slaughtered your alpha?” I asked. “Wasn’t much of a fight, from what I heard.”
“Keep talking.” Smith gave me a hard look. I grinned back at him. People loved to underestimate me. Smith was welcome to make that mistake.
“How’s Duncan?” Jensen asked.
“He’s doing just fine. Our pack’s glad to have him home.” Smith flashed Jensen a smile. “Just like your girlfriend’s pack must be glad to have her back.”
“Yeah. Duncan ran home to pack territory to escape a trial, didn’t he? Very brave. You must be so proud of him,” Jensen said.
The alpha council could force the issue, but they wouldn’t. Duncan wasn’t worth a war.
Chase stood from the table, gathering his tray.
“Mad, big guy?” Smith stood too, and slapped his shoulder. “No holding a grudge, huh? What happened wasn’t about you. Just the witches.”
Jensen was suddenly on his feet too, even though his face didn’t change.
Fuck. I was pretty pissed at Maddie at the moment, but I still rose to my
feet too.
Apparently, we were going to brawl if someone called her a witch. Even if it was true. I was in it with my friends, if throwing some punches would make them feel better.
“This isn’t going to be a school for witches,” Smith said. “No matter what Clearborn thinks.”
Lex strode across the dining hall and stopped at the edge of the table, his arms crossed. “Are we done here, gentlemen?”
Smith and Jensen exchanged a long look, as if they were seriously considering jumping across the table at each other and starting a fight, but then Smith said, “Yeah. Guess so.”
As soon as they’d cleared out, Lex said, “Back to the barracks. Let’s go.”
“We don’t need a bodyguard,” Jensen assured Lex.
“I’m not your bodyguard, I’m your babysitter,” Lex said. “I know how you hooligans like to deal with your feelings.”
I glanced at Lex. He was the one who had the most feelings to sort through, didn’t he?
“What is it, Penn?” Lex asked as we moved across the cafeteria to the door.
I stopped to dump my tray, my back to him. “Nothing.”
When I turned back, he looked at me as if he saw right through me, but he didn’t say anything.
I’d watched over the past few months as Ty hurt Maddie. I’d been so angry at him for the distance he put between the two of them because I saw the toll it took on her.
Ty had skipped dinner—again—and I was pretty sure it was because he was angsting that he’d played a role in driving her away. I should talk to him, but honestly, I’d been a pretty big asshole to him lately because I was so frustrated with his behavior. I didn’t know how to begin to fix that.
Maddie was a force of destruction.
I didn’t know why I hadn’t seen that before until she literally took out part of the school’s gate, part of the very thing that kept us safe from the witches. It was almost as if she wanted to leave us in danger, or just didn’t give a damn. Maybe she just didn’t think about anyone else.