Dazed, Wynter would have fallen if strong hands hadn’t caught her. Then she was being hauled out of the stall. A familiar male voice spoke to her. No, hissed words at her. She couldn’t understand them. Couldn’t focus. Couldn’t really think.
She felt completely disconnected from the situation as the male huddled her against him like they were a couple, supporting her weight while walking out of the restroom and over to the side exit. She didn’twantto walk alongside him, but her legs moved without direction. She didn’twantto stay silent as he led her out of the door, but no words escaped her when she parted her lips.
Outside, he lifted her into a van and roughly dumped her on the vehicle floor before leaping into the van. Laying on her side, she saw someone further down the alley staring at her, looking stunned.Grouch.
Hope spiked in her chest, clearing away some of the fog in her mind. A smug little smirk twisted his mouth, and then he casually strolled through the side door of the nearby pub.
That motherfucker.
“Go!” ordered a voice, slamming the sliding door of the van closed, and then the driver peeled out of there.
Again, her monster went to rise in a fury. Again, the breeze urged it to wait.
Fuck waiting.
Wynter ground her teeth, anger coursing through her. Her ‘daze’ was wearing off now. She knew who’d taken her. Knew she was gonna rip off his cock and—
Hands rolled her onto her front, making her face scrape along the rough floor.Ow.Cuffs were snapped onto her wrists, and she felt power buzz against her skin. They were bespelled to keep her from using her magick, she realized.Fuck.
Again, hands roughly dragged and shoved until, finally, she found herself plopped on her ass with her back pressed against the side of the van.
Squatted in front of her, the male who’d snatched her smiled. “Hello again, Wynter.”
Blanking her expression, she stared at the man who looked so much like one of the boys who put her through hell. “Phineas.”
Her monster stirred once more, impatient to act. She didn’t really have a choice but to release it at some point. She couldn’t use her magick, so there was only one way she was getting out of this situation. The monster would easily escape the cuffs. But it wouldn’t move until the deity gave it Her permission.
“Your old coven thought you’d be hard to capture,” he said, cocky. “Can’t imagine why.”
Darkness fell over them, and she knew they were now driving through the tunnel that led out of the town. She stilled as she heard the rumbling of more engines and the screeching of tires.
“Those three vehicles you’re hearing aren’t driven by people coming to save you,” said Phineas. “Nah, they’re filled with people from Aeon. Each vehicle will head off in a different direction, which means anyone who tries saving your ass will have four trails to follow.”
Clever. Didn’t matter, though. It was really all for nothing. Because neither he nor the driver would live much longer.
“People will realize you’re gone soon, but they won’t find it so easy to track you.We’regoing off-road and taking a little detour that’ll make it simple to lose whoever might follow. We’ve been driving around these parts for days familiarizing ourselves with the territory.”
Pausing, he cocked his head. “You’re remarkably calm for someone who’ll be delivered to the Aeons soon. They are pissed at you. Were you this calm when you killed my boy?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You think I believe you were really in some kind of shock-induced trance?” He sneered, his eyes blazing. “You killed him in cold blood.”
Her monster most likely did—Wynter truly wasn’t sure how it all went down. “That’s kind of what he and his buddy did to me.”
“And what does that matter? You’renothing. A mere witch from a weak-ass coven. You can’t be easy prey and expect predators to not come sniffing around. That ain’t how it works. My son … he was meant for great things. You took his future from him.”
“He got overpowered by a ten year old girl, Phineas. Not so sure you can claim he was meant for greatness.”
The mage clenched his fist and raised it, but he didn’t slam it into her jaw as she’d expected. No, he just snickered like she was too pathetic to be worth the blow. “It was your dark magick that overpowered him. Not you.”
“It wasn’t dark until he did what he did. When you think about it, he instrumented his own destruction.”
He squinted. “I’m going to enjoy watching you die. That’ll have to wait a little while, though. The Aeons need you to fix your mess first.”
“They can’t even combat a little soil erosion, huh?”
“It’s not mere soil erosion. And only dark magick can fight dark magick. The Aeons’ power is too pure to counteract it.”