Chapter 60 Raven
Raven
Willow looked different, her hair no longer a warm pink color.
Since the mage stole me from the market, she’d gone back to her natural dark brown, and instead of the floaty floral dresses she favored, she wore a drab knee-length dress that hung from her slender frame.
Stars above, had she stopped at a funeral on the way here?
Adam pulled me into his arms and held me so tightly I swore I heard my ribs crack.
“You look well, child,” he said when he finally let me go. “We’ve missed you.”
I opened my mouth to say I’d missed them too, but the words died on my tongue when I realized I hadn’t, in fact, missed home. Being here had become my new normal, and though I was loath to admit it to Adam, I didn’t want to leave.
“Where did you get that dress from?” Willow asked, her eyes narrowed as she stared at my gown. “You had nothing when they took you.”
“The school gave me everything I needed.” I smiled and hoped she didn’t quiz me further. Yes, the school had ensured I had basic items like a uniform and stationery, but a designer dress? Nope.
“Wow, it’s way more than I ever got when I attended magic school,” Willow muttered, sounding jealous. The Willow I remembered, my best friend since childhood, had never acted jealous. She’d always been happy and smiling. My partner in crime.
“Enough,” Adam snapped. “We need to leave before the speeches end and someone notices Raven is missing.” He tugged me into a pocket of shadow.
“Wait!” I cried. “Why do we need to leave? I don’t understand!”
I tried to yank my hand free, but he held me firm. “You’re not safe here, Raven. Once the wards revert to normal in a few hours, it will be harder to pull you away.”
“You still haven’t explained why I’m in danger! I like it here. I have friends and a—”
Before I could finish, something large and demonic crashed through the distant treeline. Adam snarled a curse and threw me behind him while Willow cast a protection spell.
“So much for Montgomery’s wards. He always was a useless fuck.”
“Is this why I’m in danger?” I’d assumed the hellhounds from a few weeks back were a one-off. Not now. Two groups of hellhounds showing up in a matter of weeks was more than a coincidence.
“Yes.”
That told me nothing useful, but I wasn’t keen on the idea of hanging around to ask the hellhound why it had appeared. Those creatures scared the living daylights out of me.
The hellhound stalked closer, burning my nostrils with the scent of sulfur. I wished now I hadn’t asked Maverick to stay away. An awkward conversation about my bear-shifter mate would be better than being eaten by a hellhound.
A fluttering of wings distracted me temporarily, and in a flash, Zane appeared, pulling me from Adam’s grasp.
“I’ll keep her safe,” he told Adam. The mage I’d always thought of as a father turned away from the hellhound to argue, and in that split second, the demonic beast charged at us.
Willow screamed as it leaped into the air with unnatural speed. One minute Adam and Zane fought over me, and then, a second demonic creature appeared from nowhere and knocked both of them away.
This demon walked on two scaly legs and had wings, horns, and red glowing eyes. My knowledge of demons was basic, but the ugly bipedal demon seemed more intelligent than the hellhound.
The magic in my chest sparked to life but refused to behave when I tried to use it against the demon. Instead of violet flames, nothing but thick shadows appeared around me, shielding me from the others.
Screams and yells echoed, but they sounded faint, like I’d crossed into a different plane of existence. I heard Zane calling my name, but I didn’t dare take my eyes off the horned demon.
The creature grinned at me, baring fangs large enough to tear me apart.
“Princess,” it purred in a rasping voice, reaching for me with a clawed fist. “It’s time to come home.”
The end…for now!