Chapter 16 Snarl of Hatred
Casimir
The phone rang just as we were pulling onto the main road.
“Yo, Fosterella, what’s up?” Zane sang out first. “We just talked to you on Tuesday. What happened? Eluned finally figure out you’re not actually into her?”
“Focus, Zane,” I muttered, my hand finding Brumous’ ruff, knowing Foster wouldn’t have called for a friendly chat.
“Bro, that crazy ass bitch is on her way to Evermere,” Foster said, sharp and urgent, and my stomach dropped. “Whatever you’re doing, stop and go find your wife!”
The air in the SUV went cold. Koa’s hands tightened on the steering wheel, his knuckles white. Zane’s smirk vanished, replaced by a look of pure alarm.
“What? Just outta the blue?”
“She’s a demented Dark witch bent on dumbfuckery,” Foster snapped. “Everything’s outta the blue.”
“Turn around, Ko,” I barked. “Now.”
He didn’t need to be told twice. He jerked the wheel hard, the tires screeching as we swung into a U-turn. My heart was pounding, my mind racing.
Eluned.
At Evermere.
With Seri.
Alone.
No, no, no. This can’t be happening. I took a deep inhale. Focus. Think. Plan. Act.
“How long has Eluned been MIA?” Koa asked.
“Two hours.”
“She won’t be able to get in,” Zane told Foster with amused confidence. “We fixed the perimeter runestones. There’s a dome of wards over the whole fang-rotted estate now. Grounds are warded, house is warded, air is warded—”
“Is the lake warded?” Foster interrupted. “Because Amabel just confirmed that Eluned is at a water witch’s place right now, cashing in a favor!”
“Oh, hell, no!” Koa barked as a cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck.
“Stay calm,” I told them and myself. “No alarms or wards have triggered. We have time to sort this out.”
Focus. Think. Plan. Act.
But all I could see was Seri with her soft, honey-gold hair, her wide gray eyes, her quiet strength, her current fragility. She didn’t deserve this. She didn’t deserve any of this.
“Foster, let Arabesque know what Eluned’s up to,” I instructed.
“Arabesque’s still in Chicago until tom—”
“You can’t wait!” I snapped. “You need to cover your ass before she starts asking questions that end with you dead!”
“And Amabel? I left her alone in the kitchen to call you, but she’s plotting something. Knows what’ll happen when Arabesque comes home and finds—”
“Lay low until she shows her hand, then let us know her plan so we can prepare accordingly,” I ordered.
“Cruor!” Zane howled. “How can you think about that when Seri’s—”
“Phone’s alerting.” Ko took one white-knuckled fist off the steering wheel long enough to whip the vibrating device out of his pocket and toss it to Zane.
“Cas, I need help weeding through the spy eye feeds. Whether you like it or not, I’m training Addison.
I can’t keep up with the alerts, let alone watch hours of bitches bickering. ”
“Do it.” My fingers tightened in Brumous’ fur as he whined, obviously sensing something was wrong. “Z and I can help, too. You don’t have to monitor it all on your own.”
“Security room,” Zane said as he stared at Ko’s phone. “Mrs. Wentzel is beating on the door and screaming.”
Focus. Think. Plan. Act.
“Hit the audio,” I commanded, unbuckling and sliding forward to look over his shoulder.
“—me in if you don’t want to come home to a dead wife!” a bellow filled our ears.
“Shit shit shit!” Zane bellowed back, his fingers flying over the phone screen.
The second he unlocked the security room door, Mrs. Wentzel barged through it like a bull scenting heifers. Zane started to cycle through the thousand and one tabs Ko had open, looking for the security room cam, but I shook my head.
“Forget her. Find one of the outside camera views. Foster, we’ll talk later.”
“Good luck, boys,” he muttered and hung up.
As Zane searched, Ko pushed the SUV to its limits. Every second felt like an eternity. I clung to Brumous as my mind cycled through worst-case scenarios. What if we were too late? What if Eluned had already—
I wasn’t the only one spiraling. Zane’s mouth ran a mile a minute, and Koa’s eyes fixed on the road, his shoulders rigid. They were feeling it, too, of course. The fear, the rage, the helplessness.
We rounded the last curve in the driveway, and my heart nearly stopped. Mrs. Wentzel was running from the back door with… a gun? My brain short-circuited for a moment, trying to process the sight of our plump, grandmotherly chef sprinting across the lawn with my sniper rifle clutched in one hand.
Even as we watched, she dropped to a knee halfway down the slope, raised the rifle, sighted on something, and fired. My eyes followed the trajectory and found Addison first.
The boy was a blur of motion, moving with a ferocity I didn’t know he had in him. Two meat cleavers flashed in his hands as he hacked at… a crawfish?
A gigantic crawfish. Ten feet tall at least.
My brain struggled to keep up.
Focus. Think. Plan—
And then I saw her. Seri. Our wife.
Standing on the edge of the lake, her dress soaked under my sweater. In her hands was a stick. A stick. She was swinging it at the monster, her face pale. My heart stuttered, my breath lodging in my throat.
“FUCK!” Zane shouted.
Koa hit the gas instead of the brake, and the SUV shot forward, sailing off the slight rise that led down to the lake. The landing impact jolted us hard, the vehicle’s axle breaking and sending us careening into the golf cart. I barely registered the crunch of metal, my focus entirely on Seri.
We were out of the vehicle before it even came to a full stop, Brumous leaping out with a snarl. The crack of another gunshot split the air, and the crawfish reared back, its enormous body thrashing. Mrs. Wentzel had hit it square in the head, although the hard shell barely cracked.
Koa was a blur of black leather and raw fury, Zane right behind him, swan song rising in the air, a haunting melody that would disorient the beast even further.
Brumous lunged at the monster, and I absently noted that his serrated teeth ripped right through its armored shell, something the silver-jacketed ammo I’d left loaded in my rifle hadn’t been able to do.
Leaving the three of them to it, I turned to Seri.
Addison stood in front of her now, his thin body shielding her as he backed her toward the willow trees, cleavers held at the ready.
She looked so small and fragile, her face nearly white and her pupils dilated.
My chest ached, anger, fear, and relief flooding through me.
I was at her side in an instant, my hands gripping her shoulders as I scanned her for injuries. She was alive. She was okay.
Because of a stick. A stick.
“Are you hurt? Did it touch you?”
“No. I’m fine.” She shook her head, her breath coming in shallow gasps. “Brummy. He led me here, but then he was gone and— Eluned! Simmy, she’s here! She’s here!”
Her voice broke, and something inside me snapped.
Eluned. The name was a snarl of hatred in my mind. Her twisted, idiotic self nearly cost us our heart.
And she was going to pay for it.
The terrifying sound of Brumous’ teeth sawing through the crawfish’s carapace was like nails on a chalkboard, but I tuned it out.
My focus was on our girl. She was shaking, her hands clutching that stick like it was the only thing keeping her upright.
Addison wasn’t in much better shape, his chest heaving, his eyes wild, and his cleavers shaking.
“Get her to the house,” I barked at the boy, my voice sharp enough to make him jump. “Now.”
Addison nodded and guided Seri away without a word. She looked back at me, her gray eyes wide, and I gave her a curt nod. It was the only comfort I could give her right now while my brothers were a whirlwind of violence and brutality, Brumous in the thick of it.
Grim satisfaction filled me to see them dismantling the crawfish. That thing had dared to threaten Seri.
Because of Eluned. Who was here, actually here, somewhere.
I scanned the lakeshore until I spotted her, flailing in the shallows.
She was wearing a ridiculous wedding gown, now a sodden, muddy mess, and duckweed clung to her hair.
As she tried to stand, a small bass flopped pathetically, tangled in her veil.
The sight would have been comical if it weren’t for the absolute rage burning every other emotion out of me.
Dangerous for you to get this angry, I cautioned myself. Control it. Focus. Think. Plan. Act.
I was on her in an instant, my hand closing around her throat as I dragged her onto the shore. She sputtered, her eyes wide with shock and fury.
“You,” I sneered, leaning in closer. “You think you can invade our home? You think you can touch our wife?”
She laughed, a high, manic sound that set my teeth on edge.
“Your wife? Oh, please. She’s nothing. A pathetic little mouse who thinks she’s safe now. But she’s not. She’ll never be safe. Not from me. Not from—”
My hand tightened around her throat, the urge to squeeze until her smug laughter turned to gurgles almost overwhelming. But no. I forced myself to loosen my grip, my jaw clenched so tight that it ached.
Answers first. Then retribution.
And Seri wouldn’t want me to outright kill her. At least, not yet, logic whispered quietly.
My fist connected with her jaw, the impact sharp and satisfying.
Her eyes rolled back, and she went limp in my grasp.
Pulling an enchanted cord from my pocket, I yanked her arms behind her back and looped it around her wrists.
The cord tightened on its own. She wouldn’t be going anywhere. Not until we were done with her.
Standing, I took in the scene around me. The golf cart was a mangled wreck, half-crushed under the SUV. Koa was still hacking away at the crawfish, frenzied and unrelenting despite it being clearly unalive. Zane stood nearby, watching him with both concern and amusement.
“Yo, Ko!” Zane called, his voice light, but edged with warning. “It’s dead, man. Like, really dead. You can stop now.”