A Witch's Fury

by Kim Schubert

  I grunted.

  “What happened to them?” Logan asked.

  “He took them,” I whispered, clearing my throat only to find my fear. “Luharposn.”

  I felt Mark’s hands still on me. “Is he gone?” he asked, his terror evident.

  “I think so. Bob said the Queen would only allow him to either take me or the witches, not both.”

  I felt Mark’s squeeze on my hand.

  Chapter 17

  “I’m coming with you,” Logan growled. I was able to score a few hours of sleep before I had to do Angelina’s dirty work.

  “The hell you are,” I responded, quickly walking away from him. Mark and Jerry were renting a car for their trip back to St. Ann.

  With little difficultly, which annoyed me, he stopped my progress, spinning me to face him. “It wasn’t a request.”

  While I could play the bitch card here and tell him it wasn’t any of his damn business, and what I did to tie up loose ends with an ex and his deranged mate was my problem, there was a bigger issue.

  “You can’t, Logan.” I softened my eyes and my stance. Something about having a near death experience with the man had changed our relationship, or maybe it was what The Oracle had said, either way I wasn’t dwelling on it.

  “I am going to take out an entire vampire House, without permission, to save Blake’s niece. You, as Alpha of the entire US, cannot be involved. The risk is too grave.”

  He moved his sexy self mere inches from my face, breathing out warm and fragrant breath. “You are part of that leadership as well, not to mention you have your own Supernatural Council to attend to.”

  Mesmerized by those tawny golden orbs, I confessed, “They’ll be fine without me. They won’t be without you.”

  He pulled back, a half smile on his lips as his fingers trailed down the side of my face, sending warmth to places it shouldn’t. “I’ll never understand why you don’t value yourself.”

  I shrugged, his words tossing cold water onto me.

  “You are still—“

  He moved faster than I had given him credit for, pressing those blush colored lips against my own. Shock stole my breath and stilled my movements, before firm pressure had me returning the kiss with equal enthusiasm.

  One swipe of a tongue against my lips had me opening, allowing him passage as we twined around each other. My hands stroked the well-defined muscles under his shirt without my permission and I really wanted to sling a leg around his hip to bring our pleasure parts closer together.

  I could feel his smile under my lips and I pulled back, my breathing annoyingly irregular.

  “What the fuck was that?” I asked breathlessly.

  “You might not remember our first kiss, but you will remember that one.”

  I could only huff as an answer. I had seen The Oracle; stolen memories are kind of her thing.

  “Not to mention I just won the fight.” I swear he fucking preened.

  “Asshole,” I hissed, my eyes narrowed, despite the smile tugging at my lips.

  “I’m driving,” he announced, loading up our bags.

  …

  She was waiting for me, well us, the vampire bitch. Someone had tipped her off and I was going to take one guess as to who.

  “Angelina.”

  The blonde smiling before me was Patricia Bellarosa, the color of her hair clashing with the amber of her eyes. Her perfectly white fangs bit delicately into her full bottom lip.

  “Very good,” she said, bouncing her foot crossed over her knee, examining her perfectly polished nails. She was giving me a break, considering two of my wounds had opened up and the split lip she had given me was also bleeding freely. I wasn’t ashamed to say I was taking the reprieve. I leaned heavily against the wallpapered wall.

  “Now, I bore of this.” She stood, smoothing her skintight suit. “The sooner I kill you, the sooner I can get out of this horrid state.”

  The dwelling she was currently kicking my ass in was not the farmhouse I had envisioned. Nor would I call it horrid. Wait a minute.

  “It wasn’t your idea to come here? Angelina orchestrated the pet problem?” I tapped my head against the wall behind me.

  The goon next to Logan relaxed slightly. He and Logan had come to unspoken agreement on not getting involved.

  She scoffed, “Of course, she wanted Blake and she was going to have him. You were a mere stepping stone to securing him. Although I will say you dispatching Gregory in such an effective way surprised us all. Don’t think she has forgotten about that. Once you are gone, the rest of your vile line will pay for it.”

  I laughed.

  “You think this is funny?” she yelled at me, using her vamp speed to yank my head by the darkly dyed roots.

  “I do,” I admitted, blood dripping into my eyes as I stayed against the wall.

  “You are beaten, bloody, and near death. Admit defeat.”

  I laughed again. She wasn’t wrong, but she didn’t know me very well.

  “I tire of your games.” Snarling, she revealed her pearly white fangs, angling her head to slam into my jugular.

  Silently thanking Tommy and his movie obsession, I pushed the toe of my boot against the floor before kicking the blond in the chest with the dagger hidden there.

  It wasn’t a killing blow, but it bought me the time I needed. Her grip relaxed in my hair enough that I could push my body weight against her, causing her to stumble and lose her hold on me entirely.

  Breathing heavily, I stood over the injured blonde. Her shock made me smile.

  “I’ve never believed in giving up,” I explained, before cleaving her head from her shoulders with my blade.

  …

  “This is a bad idea,” Logan told me as I stormed up the steps of the manor to Tommy.

  We’d had the conversation over and over on our way back here, but I didn’t care. I needed answers.

  “Pull it up,” I asked softly in Tommy’s room. I had called ahead to tell him what I wanted.

  He was staring at me and I wasn’t looking at him.

  “Olivia,” he whispered.

  I turned to the sound of his voice. He never called me that, ever.

  “Are you sure?” he asked again.

  I nodded, the muscles of my throat having locked down from the threat of tears.

  Tommy nodded, hitting play on the video on his computer. I recognized the venue instantly, the elegant and upscale restaurant from a night that had replayed over and over in my mind. The noise was gone and I could only see the diners from a far off distance.

  Tommy pointed at a table in the corner before zooming in on the image.

  The tears I had been holding at bay trickled down my face. Suddenly, my publicly humiliating breakup made perfect sense.

  Angelina had wanted a front row seat.

  I slammed every door on my way out.

  …

  Blake’s niece was still passed out in the backseat of my SUV, though my shifter helper was gone. Sliding behind the wheel, I fought my instinct to crush the gas pedal to deliver her.

  I was stopped at the new guard station, demanding to see Tate when the bastard pulled up behind me. The guard said something to him quietly and he got out of his hundred thousand dollar car, walking to my open window.

  His sigh of annoyance said it all before he spoke. “Olivia, what do you—“ he stopped, his eyes on the form in my backseat.

  He gave orders in a language I didn’t understand, and the burden was taken out of my vehicle.

  Tate looked at me, wide-eyed. “My debt is paid,” I said softly. He nodded and I turned and drove away from all of it.

  I wanted to say more. I wanted to tell him he fucking drew the god damn line in the sand and I was going to kill them all. But he wasn’t the cause of my pain. Angelina was, and I wasn’t done with her. I believed what Patricia had said, that she would come after those close to me.

  The good news was, I planned on taking her and her House out first.

  Ch
apter 18

  It was a peaceful evening on the porch of the manor, which undoubtedly meant someone was up to no good. I lacked the motivation to investigate further, pulling another long drink of my wine.

  “You really are better off without him,” Kass reassured me, patting Harrison’s back as he slumbered against her.

  I saluted her with the bottle.

  Shaking her head, she laughed at my attempt to change the delicate subject of my broken heart. I wasn’t doing too well with dealing with it, actually I wasn’t dealing with it or even allowing myself to think about it.

  I was absolutely drinking about it, however, when I was supposed to be watching the kids and Mindy while Grams enjoyed a date night with Mercer.

  “You weren’t yourself with him.”

  “Who was I?” I slurred out.

  Kass leaned back in the wicker chair, staring up at the stars, taking her time to answer. My eyes drooped from excessive alcohol consumption.

  “You were the girl you thought you should be,” she finally answered, turning to look soberly at me.

  I gulped, knowing I wasn’t going to like this probe into my emotional state.

  “You were happy and giddy and overlooked a lot for him because you thought you should, because you wanted to be loved.“

  I pulled a long drink, not looking at her before I answered, “You shouldn’t know me so well.”

  Standing carefully with her precious cargo, she put a hand on my shoulder, gently squeezing. “You are not alone in wanting to be loved, Olivia.”

  I huffed a non-answer as she went back inside to check on the kids.

  I might not be alone, but I don’t deserve it. I do not get a happy ending. My job, my one sole purpose, was to protect those like me and my ending would be bloody and slow.

  Mindy wandered out a few hours later, crawling into my lap.

  “I hate myself,” she confided in me.

  Hello, prodigy.

  “No, you don’t. You hate not being strong enough to get out of a bad situation.”

  “I hate everything,” she whispered tearfully. “No one could possibly understand. They try in that stupid victims class Grandpa makes me to go, but they can’t possibly.”

  I turned to her, setting the cold beer down. I had to help her.

  “It will get better.”

  “No, it won’t. Don’t lie to me.”

  I cringed. She was right. “Fine, here’s the truth. The nightmares will wake you for the rest of your life, innocent moments will flare painful memories, and you are right, no one fucking understands.” I sighed.

  “Isn’t there a ‘but’ coming?”

  I looked over at her with a raised eyebrow.

  “You feel that? People have called it different things over the years, fight, attitude, determination, but I’ve always called it hope. The simple truth is, though they abused your body, what they did in no way diminished your power. You are not less because of what happened to you, if anything you are more. You have gained a strength many will never have, a resiliency unknown before, and while you will always fight the demons that now have free range inside of you, you will do it with skills and power few can share.

  The tears slipped down her cheeks, soaking into her cream shirt.

  I slipped an arm over her shoulders, not drawing her close.

  She leaned into me, securing her small arms around my waist.

  “It gets better?” she asked, muffled.

  “Yes,” I answered, stroking her hair, “and someday you will find someone who can love all the pieces of you, even the broken ones.”

  She nodded, taking comfort in my words. Hopefully for her it would end better.

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  Other books by Kim Schubert:

  Dead Shifter Walking, The Succubus Executioner Book 1

  Demigod Down, The Succubus Executioner Book 2