Chapter 28
My head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, thoughts sluggish and disjointed.
Everything hurt—my wrists, my chest, my throat.
I blinked, trying to focus. Darkness surrounded me.
No, not complete darkness. Moving darkness.
Trees rushed past in a blur of shadows. Wind whipped my hair around my face, my skin stinging with cold.
Where—? What—?!
“Iris!” The word tore from my throat as my memory came crashing back. Meeting Iris at The Roost. Her betrayal. The tea.
I blinked, taking in my surroundings anew.
I was moving. In a vehicle. The engine rumbled beneath me, the ride rough and jarring as my neck lolled and my head jerked. I tightened my muscles to keep it steady.
“Ah, you’re awake.” My stomach pitched at the sound of the familiar voice and a dry heave worked its way up my throat. “Good. I was beginning to worry I’d miscalculated the dosage.”
Ambrose.
I whimpered and tried to move my hands but they wouldn’t budge. Zip ties cut into my wrists. I was secured to something—the seat? Yes, that was it. I was strapped into a harness, the belt tight across my chest. My legs felt like lead.
“What did you—where’s Iris?” The words came out slurred. Wrong.
“Oh, don’t worry about her.” Ambrose’s voice was light. Casual. Like we were having a pleasant chat. “She’s fine. Well, she’s a bit shocked and horrified by what she’s done, I imagine. But fine.”
I forced my head to turn toward him. He sat in the driver’s seat, hands relaxed on the wheel as the UTV bounced over uneven ground. But his eyes—
I sucked in a breath at the sight of them.
His eyes were glowing. An eerie silver-white that made them look almost metallic in the darkness. They reflected the headlights’ beam like an animal’s might, but worse. Unnatural.
“Ah.” He caught me staring and smiled. “Do you like my enchantment? Night vision magic. Quite useful for situations such as this.”
My stomach dropped at the reminder of magic, and that’s when the emptiness hit. That hollow space where my magic used to live. Gone. All of it. I’d used every last drop trying to—what? Defend myself? Escape? All I’d managed to do was destroy The Roost and exhaust myself.
All because of him.
“You’re a monster,” I hissed.
“I’m practical.” He turned those glowing eyes back to the path ahead.
I had no idea where we were going. The UTV’s headlights carved through the darkness, illuminating the forest in harsh white light.
Trees loomed on either side, their branches reaching overhead like skeletal fingers.
“And I’m strategic. All it took was a careful plan.
A few hints to a lovesick girl. And here we are. ”
“You manipulated Iris.”
“I inspired her.” He barked out a laugh.
“She was already jealous. Already resentful. I simply helped her see that you didn’t deserve him.
That she’d waited longer. Been more patient.
More devoted.” He laughed. “It was almost too easy. All I had to do was sympathize. Tell her how unfair it was. Suggest that maybe she should take action. That you belonged with me, and she belonged with him.”
My stomach heaved again. Bile rose in my throat. “I will never belong with you,” I hissed out. The UTV lurched over a particularly rough patch, and I bit back a cry as the harness dug into my chest. “And she’ll never be his.”
“She doesn’t need to know that.”
“You’re insane.”
“I’m ambitious.” His voice hardened. “There’s a difference.
The Supernatural Council has its eye on me.
As soon as my father retires, a seat will open up for me.
I need to prove I deserve it over the other candidates.
That’s where you come in.” He glanced at me, those glowing eyes assessing.
“Imagine how it would look if I not only secured a marriage alliance with the Miller family, ending our centuries old feud, but broke the curse on your family as well. I’ll be hailed a hero. ”
Disgust made my skin turn clammy despite the cold air. “So all this time, you simply wanted me to serve your own political agenda.”
“In part.” His jaw tightened. “I gave you a choice, Rebecca. We could have had a partnership. A marriage that elevated both our families. But you refused me.”
“Because I don’t want to marry you,” I spat. “And after this, how could you ever think I would comply?”
“Because after this, you won’t have a choice.” The words came out cold. Final.
“What are you talking about?”
He barked a laugh. “Once I have the witchbone knife, you’ll have no other option to break your curse. No magical solution to save you. You’ll come back to me because you’ll have to. And we’ll both get what we need.”
And that’s when I saw it. My own GPS unit. Mounted on the UTV’s dashboard, its screen glowing in the darkness. My stomach lurched as I registered what it was displaying—a route. To a saved waypoint. My waypoint. The one I’d carefully marked after Axel finally showed me the cave.
Horror washed over me.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Ambrose all but purred. “I borrowed that from your bag.”
My eyes tracked the route on the small screen, then lifted to take in our surroundings with new understanding.
The trees. The terrain. We were on Axel’s property.
Headed to the cave. To the witchbone knife.
The knife I’d put off retrieving Sunday, because I’d been growing comfortable with a certain werewolf.
“You won’t get away with this.” I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. “Axel will come for me.”
“By the time he realizes something’s wrong, we’ll be long gone.
I’ll have the knife, and you’ll be coming with me back to Walton.
Your wolf won’t be able to track us through the wards I’ve placed on our scent and trail.
” He smiled again. “And even if he somehow manages to surmise what we’re up to, what’s he going to do?
Fight me? He might have strength and speed, but I have raw power. He can never hope to best me.”
The threat against Axel made something sharp and desperate claw at my chest. “Don’t you dare—“
“Cooperate, and I won’t have to do anything to him.” Ambrose’s voice dropped lower. Dangerous. “But if you fight me. If you make this difficult...” He let the threat hang.
I wanted to scream. To rage. To do something.
But my body felt heavy and uncooperative.
The drug still clouded my thoughts, making everything feel more distant and sluggish.
And even if I could move—even if I could somehow break free of the zip ties and the harness—where would I go?
We were in the middle of the forest. In the dark.
On Axel’s property, yes, but miles from the cabin. From help.
“And once you bind me to you in marriage and break the curse?” The question tore from me, desperate. “Once I have my full magic back? What’s stopping me from seeking revenge for everything you’ve done? What’s to stop me from filing for divorce? What’s to stop me from leaving you?”
Ambrose laughed. Actually laughed. “You think having your magic back will make you my equal? Rebecca, I’ve been practicing blood magic for decades.
I’ll still be more powerful than you could ever hope to be.
And if you refuse to heel...” He paused, letting the threat hang in the air between us.
“Well, there are ways to ensure compliance. To break a witch who won’t submit willingly. ”
The words sent ice through my veins. He meant it. Every word.
The UTV’s engine growled as Ambrose navigated around a fallen tree. His enhanced eyes swept the terrain, guiding us with unsettling precision through paths that I couldn’t hope to make out.
Something wasn’t adding up.
“How did you know?” I heard myself ask. “About the cave? The knife?”
“I’ve been monitoring your communications.
Keeping tabs on your texts for weeks now.
” He said it so casually, like invasion of privacy was nothing.
“Those messages between you and Elle Kennedy were quite illuminating. The witchbone knife. A cave on your boyfriend’s property.
” He steered us up a steep incline, the UTV’s tires finding purchase on loose soil.
“It wasn’t hard to piece together once I knew what you were searching for.
I couldn’t let you break the curse. Couldn’t lose my leverage like that.
But mostly,”—he shot me a malicious grin—“I couldn’t let you win. ”
The UTV broke through the tree line, and there it was. The cave entrance. That dark, yawning mouth in the hillside.
Ambrose came to a stop and cut the engine. The sudden silence was deafening.
“Looks like we’re here.” He unbuckled himself, then reached over.
I flinched, but he was just releasing my harness.
His glowing eyes met mine. “Now, you’re going to behave.
Because if you don’t...” He pulled something from his jacket.
A gun. Small. Black. Unmistakably real. “I’d rather not hurt you, Rebecca.
But I will if I have to. Do you understand? ”
I couldn’t speak. Could only nod.
“Good girl.” The words felt dirty and degrading. Nothing like when Axel said them.
He reached for the zip ties on my wrists, cutting them with a knife he produced from his pocket. Blood rushed back into my hands, painful and tingling. “Out. Slowly.”
Did he know that I’d already used up what remained of my magic?
I’d never felt weaker and more helpless in all my life.
When I managed to step out of the vehicle, my knees nearly buckled.
Ambrose was there in an instant, one hand gripping my arm. Steadying me. His touch made me recoil.
So did the gun pressed against my side.
“Easy now.” His voice was almost gentle. “I need you walking, not crawling.”
The cool night air bit at my skin. My cardigan was still back at The Roost. I was in just my blouse and slacks, completely unprepared for a nighttime hike through the mountains. Especially in my flimsy flats. I shivered, though whether from cold or fear, I couldn’t tell.
“Move.” The gun pressed harder.