by Sarra Cannon
Tears flowed down my cheeks as he turned to face me.
I had waited my whole life to hear a man say he loved me, and I wanted so badly to tell him that I felt the same way.
But there was too much to take in right now. I still didn’t trust him completely.
And I wasn't sure my heart could take it if I admitted to loving him and was betrayed by him in the end. I couldn’t let my guard down completely, no matter how much his words meant to me.
“I know it isn’t fair to ask you to forgive me. I’ve done horrible things in my life, and I wouldn’t blame you if you never wanted to see me again once this is over,” he said. “But if this plan works and we are both free at the end of this, I would just ask that you please give me one more chance. At least promise me you’ll think about it.”
His blue-grey eyes searched mine, and I realized that even though he was the one who had started off with a guarded heart, we had somehow switched places over the past twenty-four hours.
His heart was wide open—maybe for the first time in his life—while mine was closed off. I was too scared. Too upset.
If he had told me last night that he was falling in love with me, even though we’d only just met, I would have flung my arms around him and asked him to stay with me here forever.
But now…
I didn’t know what I wanted, except that I wanted all of this to be over.
He released my hand and stood, sorrow in his eyes as I walked him to the Jeep.
I wanted to at least tell him something, but I was so mixed up, I didn’t know what to say or how to put words to the emotions warring inside of me.
“I guess this is goodbye for now,” he said as he opened the door to the Jeep and threw his bag inside.
“Please, be safe,” I said, my voice wavering.
“We’re going to put an end to this, Anna. One way or another, Elisha is done hurting others,” he said. He ran his thumb across my cheek, his eyes full of words he couldn’t say.
And somewhere deep inside me, my heart was screaming at me to speak up. To let him know how much I cared for him. How much I loved him, too.
I ached for him, my breath coming faster as the moments slipped away.
What if I never saw him again?
What if everything fell apart and this was our last moment together?
But I couldn’t find the courage to speak the words I knew he wanted me to say.
When he turned to go, the walls around my heart crumbled and the truth broke free.
I grabbed his shoulder and turned him toward me. The right words might not come, but I still needed him to know that a part of me was still hoping there was a brighter future for both of us.
Together.
I pulled him toward me, and his eyes widened as I pressed my lips to his.
His arms circled around me, pulling me closer as our bodies confessed the things we were both too scared to say.
I poured all of my love, all of my sorrow, and all of my hope into that kiss, telling him the only way I could that I wanted him to come back to me when this was over.
That I was willing to forgive.
When I finally pulled away, I knew there was nothing left to say.
All that was left now was to wait and see.
Slade got into the Jeep and closed the door, his eyes lingering on mine for a long moment before he finally drove away.
The plan was set in motion, and the outcome was no longer ours to control.
But I sent up a prayer that someday, Slade would return to Willow Harbor.
And that next time, he would stay.
Twenty-Five
Slade
The second time I left Willow Harbor, my heart was filled with hope and determination, rather than sorrow and bitterness.
I had no idea if any of our plans would work or if I would be strong enough to help defeat Elisha when the moment came, but the fact that I had finally changed from being his slave to fighting against him in some way made me a different man.
The kind of man my mother would have been proud of.
She had never wanted me to follow in my father’s footsteps and become a recruiter for the Disciples of Light. She had been willing to lay down her life to get me to safety, the same way Anna’s mother had done years before that.
And I had taken my grief and shoved it so far down inside myself that I had locked away the person she wanted me to be.
I had dishonored her memory by living in fear and doing exactly what Elisha told me to do.
But I was done serving him.
Whether our plan worked or not, I would never take orders from that man again.
I would do whatever needed to be done to save my sisters and gain their freedom, and I would finally stand up to the man who had taken so much from me.
It was hard to imagine a life without the threat of violence hanging over my head, but Anna had taught me to see life as a joyful thing. An adventure. To embrace the moment and to dream of something better.
I held that hope in my heart as I drove out of Willow Harbor and set my GPS for home.
I went over the plan in my head several times as the town of Willow Harbor faded into the distance. With this, timing was everything. It was risky, trying to convince Elisha that he needed to come to Willow Harbor to help me get Anna away from her family.
But if everything fell into place, there would be a new life to build for all of us. A fresh start with possibilities I hadn’t even allowed myself to consider before now.
I found myself smiling as I thought of Anna. It might take her a long time to forgive me and trust me again, but if I could I would prove to her that I had changed. Once this was over, I would have all the time in the world to make it up to her, if she would let me.
But just a couple miles outside the city limits, I noticed several cars parked on the road in front of me. I slowed, thinking maybe someone had gotten into an accident or needed help.
Dread pooled in my stomach, though, as I approached the lights ahead and saw that a row of men stood before me, stretched across the road and blocking my way.
I shook my head, not wanting to believe it at first. There was no way for them to have found me here. I had never told anyone exactly where I was.
Yet, when my headlights illuminated the faces of the men, my eyes locked first on Elisha’s, standing there in the center, his white linen shirt and pants practically glowing in the darkness.
Second, I saw my father standing at his side, his face a solid wall of anger and determination.
What role did he have in all of this?
I stopped the Jeep just shy of the men and reached for my cell phone. I needed to let Anna and the others know that Elisha was closer than any of us ever could have imagined. I needed to let them know that I was not the one who had brought him here, and that our plan was in grave danger.
But the moment I took the phone into my hands, a bright light blinded me, and the phone fell to the floorboard.
I couldn’t move, and I could no longer see, but I could hear Elisha’s voice clearly as he spoke.
“Get out of the Jeep, Slade,” he said. “Get out and fall to your knees before your Master.”
I did as he said, hoping that somehow, I could still salvage my part of the plan. I needed to find a way to give Anna more time. They weren’t expecting us now, and if Elisha showed up now, they wouldn’t be ready for him.
Besides, we needed the light of the full moon to remove the curse of the mark. Elisha was here two days early.
“I don’t understand,” I said once I’d fallen to my knees. I blinked, hoping my sight would be restored once my eyes adjusted, but I could see nothing but pure darkness. “I was just on my way home to talk to you about what I found. Why are you here?”
Elisha moved past me, then threw something on the ground next to me. Seconds later, he crushed whatever it was beneath his shoe.
My phone.
My heart sank. No way to warn them now.
&nbs
p; “We’re here because you’ve been keeping secrets from us. Haven’t you, Slade?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said quickly. “I’ve been in contact with Dad the whole time, keeping him up-to-date on what I found since the day I arrived.”
“Yet you refused to tell him exactly where you were,” he said. “I find that curious, don’t you, Donovan?”
My father cleared his throat.
“I did think it was odd,” he said.
“See? Even your own father thought you were acting strangely. He did the right thing by coming to me with his concerns. Unfortunately, we were unable to track you through your mark like we usually do,” Elisha said, a hand absently touching a gold chain around his neck. “That is, until earlier today. You suddenly came into view in my mind, as if you’d been there all along. You disappeared right afterward, but we had your location at that point.”
I closed my eyes, my stomach tightening.
Elisha could track the mark, but the town had somehow hidden me from his view. That’s how Anna had been safe here for all these years. Why her grandmother had been so careful to keep her in town.
But I had left this morning. I had crossed the border for only a minute, but it had been enough.
“If your father hadn’t told me everything, I might not have even known how close you were to finding my daughter,” Elisha said. “But unlike you, your father respects me and understands what’s at stake. He has been loyal to me for a very long time, and unlike you, he will be rewarded.”
My jaw tightened. Dad had betrayed my trust. He’d specifically gone to Elisha and told him everything. Why would he do that to me?
“The last text you sent to your father proclaimed that my daughter was not here. That you had been wrong and were coming back to the compound,” Elisha said. “But that’s a lie, isn’t it?”
I took a deep breath, trying to figure out my next move.
If I told him that Anna was his daughter, he would invade the farm tonight. Anna wouldn’t have a chance.
But if I told him she was not his daughter, he would either invade them anyway just to be sure, or he would leave and refuse to come back. Our chance to destroy him would be gone.
I didn’t know what to do. I needed more time to think about it, but Elisha was not a patient man. If I didn’t answer him now, he would force an answer out of me.
“It wasn't a lie,” I said. “Not exactly.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.
My mind raced forward, trying to think through every possible outcome before I spoke.
“At first, I was sure it was her. The birthday and age matched up. This witch had also lost her mother at four. It all seemed to line up perfectly,” I said.
“That’s what your father told me,” Elisha said, and another flash of anger jolted through me.
Dad had been feeding Elisha all the information I’d given him right from the start.
“The problem is, this woman doesn’t bear your mark,” I said. “As you know, the mark can’t be glamoured away or removed. Everything else seems to match up, but without that mark, I had to believe she was not your daughter, after all.”
Elisha touched my forehead, restoring my sight.
I blinked several times, disoriented for a moment before I could finally see clearly again.
He then crouched down in front of me, looking pointedly into my eyes.
“You’re lying to me,” he said. “I just haven’t figured out which parts are the lies.”
“I’m not,” I said, careful to keep my voice steady and my eyes locked on his.
He studied me a few moments longer before finally standing and pacing the area in front of me.
“And your plan was to come home and leave this girl behind?” he asked. “Even though so many of the details matched perfectly?”
“I needed more information,” I said. “I wanted to meet with you in person and tell you what I’d discovered. To see if you knew of any way the mark could be hidden or removed. I thought that if we had a chance to talk it over, we could come up with a plan to either keep searching or to come back here to Willow Harbor and take the witch away from her family. I thought maybe if you saw her for yourself, you would be able to tell for sure if it was your daughter or not.”
Elisha seemed to think this over, and while he did, I looked up at my father. He stood there with his shoulders back, his head raised in confidence. He looked proud of himself. A faithful follower, willing to throw his own son to the wolves in order to move up in rank.
Who else had he betrayed over the years? Anna’s mom? Mine?
I stared at him, wondering if I’d ever really known him at all.
“The best way to know for certain is to go to her now,” Elisha said. “You can work your charm on her, convince her to accompany you somewhere for the evening, and bring her to me in private, away from this family you speak of. If she is my daughter, perhaps you’re right that I will know her right away.”
“We can’t go to her now,” I said as I searched my mind for any excuse. I needed to give them more time.
“And why not?” Elisha asked.
“There’s a huge festival in town tomorrow. Her entire family is there with her tonight, preparing for the event,” I said. “I could never convince her to leave her duties right now, and it would be foolish to try to attack her with all of those powerful witches at her side.”
A plan was forming in my mind, and even though I doubted I could hold Elisha off until the full moon, at least I would give Anna and her family a fighting chance by giving them tonight to prepare. There were other spells and rituals on those pages I’d gotten from the library. Other things that might work.
“There’s also a magical shield around her family’s property,” I said, creating the lie as the words came out of my mouth. “We’ll need to get to her when she’s sure to be off the property and unguarded. It’s our best chance if we don’t want to end up in a fight with her family.”
Elisha nodded. I knew he wouldn’t want to risk getting Anna’s family involved. My hope, of course, was to make sure the whole town was there to protect her and fight. Now that the original plan was already messed up, it was our best hope of still winning this battle.
“This festival,” Elisha said. “What time does it begin?”
“It starts at noon,” I said. “But it goes until evening. Just after dark, I think. If we wait and catch her as everyone is packing up for the night, I believe I could convince her to spend some time with me alone. Never give her a chance to go back to her family’s property.”
Elisha took his time thinking it over, and I held my breath, praying he would agree to wait until tomorrow night.
The witches would still be caught off-guard, but at least they’d have a fighting chance.
“No, I don’t think I’ll leave it up to you to lure her away,” he said. “I can’t trust you, anymore, Slade. And I think you’re lying about the witch’s mark.”
He touched the chain around his neck again, and my mouth went dry.
He kept touching that chain every time he mentioned the mark. How had I never noticed that before?
My heart raced as I thought of the spells and rituals discussed in that book.
In one passage, there had been a brief mention of a talisman used by some warlocks to control their coven. The talisman might be marked with the same symbol given to the members of the coven in the form of a tattoo burned into their skin.
Remove the talisman and the marks would disappear.
I couldn’t be certain, but if there was a talisman attached to that chain around Elisha’s neck, there was a way to end this.
I connected to a deep source of power within myself and stood, praying for just one second to control my power against him. There had to be a way.
But before I got the chance to even try to cast, Elisha turned toward me, his eyes glowing in the headlights. He lifted his hands and sent a flash of li
ghtning toward me that seared my insides and left me trembling in pain on the ground. Warm blood trickled down my side.
“Bind him in chains,” he said. “I don’t want him free to make any attempt to warn this girl of our arrival.”
Two of his men ran over to me, placing chains around my hands and feet, binding my magic.
As the men carried my body toward one of the cars, Elisha stopped them and hovered over me, his eyes meeting mine.
“Tomorrow, you will make payment for the sins of your mother, either with your obedience, or with your life,” he said. “In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy punishing you for your lies.”
Twenty-Six
Anna
The town square hummed with activity as the crowds gathered for the biggest Sunday on the Square event of the summer. At one end of the square, a relatively new band made up of some of the vampires who worked at the hospital finished up their final set of the night, and the crowd went crazy, demanding an encore.
Crafters from all over town had come to sell their art tonight, and the square was an explosion of color. There was everything from quilts to birdhouses to paintings.
Then, of course, there was the food. Ice cream. Cotton Candy. Freshly-baked pretzels. Even Cad had set up a stand to sell pizza by the slice tonight.
It would have been the perfect opportunity to introduce more people around town to my food truck business, but I had been too distracted to set it up tonight. I was too worried about Slade.
He should have contacted us by now. If he was going to have Elisha here by tomorrow’s full moon, we needed to know.
And if something had gone wrong, we needed to try to help him.
I was a nervous wreck, my normal smile nowhere to be found. Aunt Laura frowned at me from her spot on the grass, and I realized I still hadn’t brought her the cups and napkins she’d asked for.
I’d been simply standing behind the delivery van, staring at everything going on around me.
And it had been like this all day.
I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath.