Magic spread along my body and it felt like slime. Disgusting. Evil. Very possibly deadly.
So what was this? A spell? From who? A witch? Had some fey captured me? Questions raced through my mind at a million miles an hour, and I didn’t have any answers.
I couldn’t smell any sulfur. Which was good, but when I thought about it, I couldn’t smell anything at all. So, ruling out a demon wasn’t smart. At least not yet.
I reached for my bond to Dastien, and suddenly the air grew too thick for me to breath as my panic amped up.
No. This was bad. Really fucking bad.
If I couldn’t reach Dastien…
I could still feel the bond, but it was usually like a thick rope, bigger than my thigh, that tied us together. Here it felt like dental floss—so thin and fragile. So far away I could barely reach it. The only other time this had happened was when I went to live with Claudia on la Aquelarre’s compound. The boundary of the coven’s land had been warded to keep anything from crossing. It’d cut Dastien and me off from each other, nearly driving Dastien mad.
This wasn’t as bad, but it sure as shit wasn’t good either. The bond was too thin for me to tell if he was freaking out or losing his mind or…
My mouth grew dry and I tried to control my panic spiral. I had to find a way out. I had to get back to Dastien.
I got off my ass and walked, holding my hands in front of me. If I was in some kind of room or chamber, I’d hit a wall eventually. If there was a wall, then there had to be a door. If there was a door, I could try to break it down either physically or magically.
That was a lot of if’s, but it was a theory. My best one so far.
I walked and walked and kept walking for what felt like hours. After a while, I started counting my steps. When I passed ten thousand, I growled. Fur rippled along my arms and I closed my eyes as I fought for control.
I gritted my teeth as I tried to think through my frustration. Losing control to my wolf wasn’t going to help. What I needed was a plan. If I had that, then I had a goal and I could figure this out. I was smart. I wasn’t going to be stuck here forever.
I let out a breath and the wolf settled down.
I needed to get out of here—wherever here was—but walking clearly wasn’t working. I was stubborn enough to keep trying to reach a wall, but if I hadn’t reached one yet, I had to assume that this place didn’t have them. And if there weren’t any walls, then there probably weren’t doors either. It had to be a magical holding pen of some sort.
I had to try some magic to counter it. But what spell? What did I need most?
To see. I needed to see.
If I could see, then I’d have at least some sort of an answer as to where I was.
Since something had put me here, chances were good I wasn’t alone. But I had to be able to see who to kill.
Just thinking that made me feel a little better. Not as good as I’d feel when I actually got back to Dastien, but I had a plan. I was thinking it through. Step by step.
First, I needed a light spell.
I tried to remember that it didn’t matter what I said exactly, just my intentio
n and force of will. I had to believe in my spell.
I held a hand out in front of me and pictured a ball of light forming. “Bring me light. Bring me light. Bring me light.”
Light flared for a split-second, but it only made me see spots.
Damn it. I hadn’t believed in my spell enough.
I blew out a slow breath as I tried to center myself. I can do this. This is easy. Just say the words and it’ll work. No problem.
I lifted my hand again. “Bring me light. Bring me light! Bring me light!”
The light flared brighter this time. I did a little happy dance and started to glance around, but beyond a little halo of light around me, there was nothing to see. The floor somehow absorbed the light, making it look like I was floating in an endless pool of black even though I could feel the firm ground under me.
I froze as a draft rustled strands of my hair against my face.