by D. N. Hoxa
Man, was it hot in here suddenly? “You could have just said this that night.” If he had, I’d have stayed.
“Yes, well, you have a way of making it impossible for me to maintain my control.”
I raised my brows. “I didn’t even do anything.”
“Not on purpose, I don’t think.” He came a little bit closer. My body knew it all too well. It felt him like heating pouring out of the sun. “Apparently, I’m still just a man, even after all this time. If I smell another man’s perfume on you, or if I see another man willing to lay down his life to protect you, I get jealous.” He was right in front of me now. “You have to understand, little thief, I was never a jealous man. But I can’t seem to help myself with you.”
“If you’re talking about Carter, he just thinks he likes me. He’ll get over—”
Wait a minute. What the hell was I doing? Ugh! I shook my head.
“You can’t just do this. You can’t tell me you lied to my face then make it impossible for me to stay angry at you.” It wasn’t fair. Where the hell did all the anger go? I was in control, damn it. And we had set up a freaking date to talk about all of it, and I was planning to be in control the entire time.
So why was I practically drooling now?
“You asked for truths, didn’t you?” He came closer and I leaned back, trying to save myself for one last time, but it was no use. My back hit the wall, and he was all over me, but not as close as I’d like. “Are you enjoying this, little thief? Are you enjoying my telling you all my weaknesses?” He rested his hand on the wall right next to me and leaned down, closer and closer…
“Just as much as you’re enjoying knocking down all my defenses.” Poor, pathetic defenses.
His smile turned brighter. God, I was dying to touch him.
“You never did say sorry for trying to kill me. You must regret it, don’t you?”
I reached out my hand to touch his face, mesmerized, but he grabbed me by the wrist and didn’t let me.
“Apologize,” he demanded.
“No.” I wasn’t going to apologize, not until he did. But I’d be damned if I didn’t kiss him right now.
“Apologize, Sinea.”
Like hell. “No,” I said and stood up, taking him off guard. I grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him against the wall, and he wanted me to; otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to move him a single inch.
Then, I kissed him.
His lips were cold and he stood perfectly still, just like the wall behind him, at first. I didn’t give a shit. He kept taunting me and teasing me and never letting me close. Well, to hell with it. I wanted to kiss him, and I would.
My tongue slid out of my lips and pried his open. A growl left his throat. He grabbed me and spun me around before I even realized it, and my back hit the wall. His hands cupped my face and he kissed me back, rendering me defenseless in a fraction of a second. The world really disappeared around us, and my whole being existed just to feel his lips on mine. My skin tingled as if I were being electrocuted in the most magical way, and a miniature sun burned in my stomach, filling me with warmth. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him to me with all my strength, never wanting to get away. At some point, he pulled me up and I wrapped my legs around his hips. His hard erection pressed into my center, making me cry out. Pleasure ripped through me while he kissed my chin, my cheek, my eyes, leaving fiery imprints all over my skin. My fingers grabbed his smooth hair and I held him to me, afraid he’d break contact. I didn’t want this to ever end.
But reality is a cruel bitch.
The humming began a split second before the wall to our side moved, slow at first, then all at once.
We stopped moving. Our thirteen minutes were up.
Focus, I told myself, when I thought about letting go of him, and my body didn’t obey. It didn’t want to be away from him, and I understood, but it was not the time. We still had people to kill, plants to destroy. So eventually, I did force my arms and my legs from around him.
He let go of me, too, his hands pressed against the wall to my sides, his eyes still closed.
“You’re making a boy out of me, little thief,” he whispered, and his lips were so close, it took all I had not to kiss him again.
“This isn’t over.” We still needed to talk. About things. Because there were other things to talk about, weren’t there? And they were probably important, too.
Kit squeaked happily when he slipped out of the room and into the dark corridor illuminated by the glowing ink moving on the walls. Damian finally moved away and went to get his sword, and I had just a second to take in a deep breath.
“Let’s go,” I said and followed Kit out of the room.
Chapter Twenty
Sweat dripped down to my brows. The air was getting thicker the deeper we went, but maybe it was just me. Every time the humming began and the ground shook, we froze and waited to be thrust into one of those puzzle rooms again, but it didn’t happen.
Ten minutes must have passed.
“Can you smell anything?” I asked Damian, but he shook his head.
“I can’t hear anything, either. The walls are too thick,” he said, his voice strained. Wiping the sweat off my brows, I continued walked by his side.
When Kit squeaked from somewhere ahead—it was too dark to see, but he didn’t go very far—I knew he had something. Damian and I looked at each other, then started running forward. The glowing ink on the walls moved with us, illuminating only a couple feet ahead, so we didn’t slam into a stone wall by mistake.
Suddenly Damian grabbed me by the arm and stopped me. His dark eyes were focused as he watched me, then he flinched. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him flinch before.
“What? What is it?”
“The wolf,” he said, almost in a growl.
I narrowed my brows. “Nikola?”
He raised his head and looked ahead, as bright blue light slipped around the corner and onto our wall, meeting with the ink that illuminated our way.
The next second, Malin stepped into view, with Kit in her arms, and behind her was Carter Conti.
At first, I was sure that this place was playing tricks on me. Maybe it was part of the game to make people hallucinate? I wouldn’t put it past the fae. They had a pretty weird imagination, apparently.
But then Malin pointed her finger at me.
“You filthy liar!” she hissed, and it sounded just like her.
I blinked and she didn’t disappear. Heart in my throat, I felt my legs move, taking me to her. My mouth opened, but it was at least a couple seconds before I found my voice.
“What the hell are you doing here, Mal?!”
“I can’t believe you lied to me!” she said, completely furious, the whites of her eyes almost completely red. My God, she was really here.
“I’ve lied to you since I met you,” I spit and grabbed her by the arm, but she jerked away. This wasn’t happening. What the hell was I going to do now?
“You know what I mean!” she shouted.
I shook my head. “What the hell, Carter?” How did they even get together? What the hell was he doing here?
“It’s not his fault you’re a filthy liar,” Malin said. “He was worried. We both were.”
I closed my eyes and let out a long sigh. I’d been so stupid. I should have never come to the casino with Carter the night before.
“Just helping out a concerned friend, that’s all,” Carter said, and for once he wasn’t grinning. Instead, he was looking at Damian. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced before,” he said and walked over to Damian, holding out his hand. I cringed. “Carter Conti.”
“Damian Reed,” Damian said. They held hands for far too long, and the way they were looking at each other made me want to crawl right out of my skin.
“If you’re done with the pissing contest, we need to get going,” I said and grabbed Mal by the arm again. “What the hell, Mal? You shouldn’t be here.” And more importantly, how was I
going to send her back?
“That’s what happens when you lie to me,” she said. “I was worried, Sin. I thought something happened to you. We called a thousand times and you didn’t answer.” Shit. I’d put my phone on silent in the car.
“You didn’t need to be worried. I was fine!”
Carter was suddenly by my side. “You’re not fine. This is a fae game,” he said. “And we’re stuck in it.”
“We’re not stuck. We’ll find a way out,” I said, but to be honest, I wasn’t so sure anymore. Just how big was this place? We kept turning corners and every wall looked the same, so I had no idea if we were going in circles or if this place went on forever.
“We need to keep moving,” Damian said from behind us.
“Yes, and you two need to stay here,” I said to Malin and Carter.
“Like hell,” Malin said.
“I think it’s best if we stick together.” Carter leaned close to my ear. “Can I talk to you for a second?”
He couldn’t be serious. He wanted to talk here? I squeezed my eyes shut for a second, but then walked ahead a couple feet, and he followed.
“I need you to be honest with me. Is what Malin told me true?”
I had no idea what Malin had even told him, but I nodded. “Yeah?”
“So this is not the Uprising?”
Oh, really rich. I squinted my eyes at him. “So that’s why you followed me here? Because you thought this was the Uprising?” This guy! “And you brought my friend?”
He looked ahead at the darkness, scratching the back of his head.
“It’s not the Uprising, Carter. But when we’re done here, you and I are going to have a talk.” And I’d be damned if he didn’t tell me what his deal with the Uprising was. He was after them, which was the reason he’d followed me last time—and apparently this time, too. By God, I was going to find out why.
I turned to Malin and Damian, who were staring at us, meaning to tell them to keep going, when the humming began. It happened even faster than last time, and even though I thought I would be prepared this time, I wasn’t.
Before I knew it, a wall materialized right in front of me, and the ground tilted up, sending me back. I hit the floor on my ass and slid back until my head hit a wall. Bright stars covered my vision and darkness called out my name. It wanted to pull me under, but by some miracle I managed to stay semi-awake until the humming stopped and the ground fell into place.
Complete silence around me. I blinked my eyes as I fought to sit up, to see what the hell had happened this time. I was sure Carter would be there—he’d been right behind me, but he wasn’t.
The room came into focus little by little, and I realized that I was all alone.
“Fuck!” I shouted at the empty room. It was identical to the last, down to the seat made of stone across the wall of glass. Golden symbols came to life in the squares, but I couldn’t tell if they were the same as last time. Against my better judgment, I went to every corner of the room and slammed my fists on the walls, hoping it would let me out. It was useless.
“Calm down,” I told myself and stopped to take a deep breath. It was fine. Just thirteen minutes.
Thirteen minutes in which Malin could be killed—or worse, lost in this fucking place.
But it was fine. If Damian wasn’t with her, Kit was. He’d been in her arms, and he knew how to find his way out of anything.
With a sigh, I sat on the ground. It was going to be a long thirteen minutes.
When the wall opened, if felt like an hour had passed. The complete silence had suffocated me, and it had all felt like a dream, rather than real. I’d even tried to press on the squares with the gold symbols, but nothing had happened. I couldn’t do anything but sit there and wait.
But the wait was over. I stepped into the labyrinth again, daggers in hand. The wall behind me closed instantly, taking away all the warm light. The glowing blue ink moved lazily by my sides. I stood perfectly still and tried to strain my ears. Nothing moved around me. I let out my magic to search for essence, but I couldn’t pick up on anything.
“Damian!” I shouted at the top of my voice. “Mal?!”
Nothing. No response, no footsteps—just silence.
Cursing under my breath, I turned to my right and started walking ahead, this time not bothering to take it slow. The ink kept up with me, illuminating a few inches ahead, but it was enough. Before long, I was running. I’d find the others eventually, or they would find me.
With every step I took, I searched with my magic for anything it could pick up. It was exhausting but necessary. Completely worth it when I finally felt just a tiny spark of essence somewhere to my left.
I stopped moving and held my breath, focusing all my attention on my ears, but I couldn’t hear anything. Ahead, there were three separate corridors, each one darker than the last, but the essence was coming from my left. Breathing slowly, I moved closer to the wall, close enough for my magic to pick up whoever was there with clarity. The deeper into the corridor I went, the brighter the essence burned. And I saw it completely, as clear as day. A wizard, and he was all alone, which was how I knew that this was Helen’s friend. Possibly the guy whose silhouette we’d seen on the camera.
I stopped moving again and tried to think of the best way to take him out. I didn’t want whoever was inside that door to know that I was there. Not yet. I didn’t plan to go in there all by myself, but I did want to take out the guard as soundlessly as possible. I put my daggers in my pockets once more and proceeded slowly. The glowing ink was my biggest problem. It would give me away as soon as I was close enough to the wizard, but I had no idea if it could even be turned off.
Lucky for me, the corridor turned right, and as long as I kept two feet away from the corner, the ink would stay on my side of the labyrinth. There was no other way.
Taking in a deep breath, I began to whisper the words of a spell—one that electrocuted the opponent instead of attacking him. An attack spell would have sent the man flying against the door, and I didn’t know how close his friends were. No, I needed him stuck in place just for a couple seconds, until I reached him. Then, I could stab him in the heart and let his body down gently.
It wasn’t the perfect plan by any means, but the walls, the blue light, everything about that place was driving me insane. I couldn’t think straight and I’d run all out of patience. So before the last words of the spell left my lips, I ran to the corner, and the blue ink shot before me. I didn’t need to see with clarity where the wizard was—my magic had showed me his essence, and I knew he was to my right. Purple light shot out of my fingers before I even saw the wizard’s face. I hadn’t seen him before, I was sure of it. He was shorter than the others had been, and he had a gun in his hands, too. It was pointed right at me, and I only saw it when the light of my magic hit him in the chest and disappeared under his skin, freezing him in place.
My heart froze, too. I kept waiting to hear the gunshot—his finger was on the trigger—but it never came.
Instead, the gun hit the ground with a loud thump, and the wizard began to shake. Pulling one of my daggers from my pocket, I ran to him with my arm outstretched. I grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and sank my dagger right into his heart in one motion before I wrapped him in my arms. The magic in him died and he no longer shook.
He no longer moved at all. Fuck, he was much heavier than he’d looked. My muscles ached while I tried to lay him down quietly, and when I finally did, my back hurt like hell. I looked at the gun on the floor—black and big enough to cause damage, but I’d never learned how to shoot. The Guild didn’t allow the use of firearms for killing hellbeasts—or maneaters—so I’d never seen the point. Plus, guns don’t work in the Shade, but maybe it was time to rethink my fighting strategy. Wards could hold off bullets, but bullets were fast. Bullets could kill from a good distance.
I put that thought on hold for later.
Half of the door the wizard had been guarding was made out of frosted
glass. I couldn’t see clearly, but I could see the warm yellow light coming from the other side.
And I could feel them all.
Eight people were somewhere behind that door, close enough for me to feel their essence. A vampire, a witch, two ghouls, two wizards, and a sorcerer. It was them. Fucking hell, I’d actually found them.
But where were the others?
I walked to the corner again, the glowing ink following my every movement, and stared at the darkness. Four separate corridors led to me, but all of them were empty. I sent my magic forward once more, knowing full well that I was spending all my energy, but I couldn’t pick up on any other essence. The ground shook under my feet and the humming came from somewhere ahead. I held my breath and waited for a wall to open up, and someone to come through.
Nothing.
Impatience already had the best of me. There were reasons why it wasn’t a good idea to walk in there all by myself, and one of them was that there were eight of them and only one of me.
But I was an Alpha Prime, right? A Level Five magic wielder. And I knew how to make wards. I knew how to lock them tightly all around me, so that no bullets and no spells could reach me.
Except a ward would keep me from attacking them, too. Shit.
Something moved behind me. My body froze, my hand almost on the door handle. Had I made it up?
Another footstep. My magic let itself out in search of essence, and if I wasn’t so scared, I’d have been proud of myself for using it on instinct like I’d been training to do.
There were two people coming my way, their essence burning brightly in my mind’s eye. A werewolf, and…a werewolf.