Wicked Curse (The Royals: Warlock Court Book 4)

by Megan Montero

  I closed my eyes, thinking about that mountain where we’d come in. The smell of the sulfur from the volcano, the cold and hot at the same time, the rain of ash. I visualized it all and then I felt my magic move in my body, burning through my chest and stomach. Everything moved and jumped, and suddenly I felt myself standing on uneven ground with the wind whipping around me.

  “That one hurt.” Kylian placed his hands on his knees, sucking in deep breaths.

  “We’re here, though.” I spun in a circle, looking for the entrance, that glowing veil that would put us right back in the lava monster’s world. I would rather face that sword-swinging monster than spend one more second in this hell hole.

  Soto dropped to her knees and pressed her forehead to where the opening should have been. She shook from head to toe. “It was here.”

  Logan’s eyes widened and his face paled even more. “What do you mean ‘was’?”

  She smacked her hand against the stone. “Gone. Closed.”

  Panic flooded my body. “Are you saying we’re trapped here?”

  “I’m saying unless you plan on making a five-day hike across Unseelie to get out, then we are screwed.” Her silvery eyes shimmered and her face fell into a scowl.

  “Five days! We don’t have five days. I don’t even think we have five hours!” Matteaus was right… This was a one-way trip.

  Nova sighed and shook her head. “I have an idea… but you’re not going to like it.”

  Chapter 39

  Astrid

  “What do you mean we have to die?” I shook my head and turned away from her. “No way. No. Then what was the freaking point of coming here, of running this far and this fast, if that’s what’s going to happen?”

  “I didn’t say it was the best idea. I said it was an idea.” Nova argued, “But from where I’m standing, if we don’t make it back before Zinnia gets those walls up, that’ll be the outcome anyways.”

  The rest of them stood there silently, staring at the two of us. I kicked at a stone on the ground. “There has to be another way. Soto? Kylian? Anything.”

  “The closest opening is five days away,” she whispered.

  Kylian sighed and shook his head. “I always knew I’d get myself killed… I just didn’t see this coming at all.”

  “Guys, come on, no. We can’t give up.” I wasn’t trying to be Polly Positive here, but that was not the answer.

  “It’s not giving up. It’s just a really shit solution to a really shit problem.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “If it makes you feel better, I’ve kind of done it before.”

  “That is not comforting. I wonder if I can portal us out of this world?” I mumbled to myself.

  Nova shook her head. “Try it first. Then take us. My insides feel like mush and I’m so freaking dizzy.”

  “Fine.” I closed my eyes, calling on that power deep within. I pictured my room back at Warwick. I visualized every detail of it. I felt myself moving through the air. Then, WHAM, I bashed into something hard, cracking the side of my head against it and falling to the ground. “What the hell?”

  Beckett chuckled. “You can only portal in one realm at a time, like me. I can do it back home, but I can’t do it here. You can do it here… Well, we might not find out if you can do it back home.”

  He was so cold, so casual about what was happening. I needed the old Beckett, the smart one with thoughtful solutions, not a cold power monger. This Becket was a royally dark asshole. I rose to my feet and dusted myself off. “Okay, Nova, how does this go?”

  She tucked a strand of her long hair behind her ear. “Technically speaking, if we all die by my magic, I’m pretty sure I can get us sent to the underworld and to Hades.”

  “Pretty sure doesn’t sound like any guarantees,” Kylian snapped. “If you’re going to kill us for a specific reason, then you need to be damn sure.”

  “Fine, yes, I can get us sent to Hades. He wasn’t happy the first time I did it, but he did send me back for my mortal life. If we die and get to him, then we can get him to send us back to the mortal world and it will be like we never died at all.”

  “Do you realize how insane you sound?” Beckett crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’d rather go into that Unseelie castle and take over as king than stand here and die on a whim in this shit hole.”

  In the distance, the ground started to rumble like a stampede was coming our way. I knew that sound. I’d heard it twice before. I gazed out over those flat, deadly lands, watching as he approached with more men to fight. “Nylore is coming.”

  Beckett shrugged. “Let him.”

  “You forget he fought off our powers… easily.” I shook my head. “Does anyone else have any other ideas?”

  Soto sagged onto the ground. “They’ve seen me on your side. I am a dead woman walking anyways if they get me.”

  Logan slid down the wall next to her. “I would rather die than be a prisoner for one more minute.”

  “Ash, Kylian. What do you think?” I didn’t want to make this decision alone. Their lives were in their own hands. It wasn’t for me to decide.

  They shared a single look and Kylian turned away from us to sit down next to Soto. “You have been a good friend to me.”

  She bumped him with her shoulder and swiped at the tears rolling down her cheeks. “The best of friends.”

  Ashryn raised her chin and squared her shoulder. “We will take the risk to get back to the ones we love.”

  Beckett threw up his arms. “Well, I’m not.” He turned and started to walk away from the rest of us, leaving us all behind. This wasn’t Beckett. It was this wretched world affecting him.

  I turned to Nova and swallowed around the ball in my throat. I’ve died once… I can do it again. Except last time, I had Beckett to bring me back. “Do it.”

  “What about Beckett?” She gazed after him.

  I licked my lips and brushed at the tears running down my face. I never thought I’d do this. Never thought I’d hurt him this way. My heart tore in two and I whispered, “Kill him too.”

  “It’ll only hurt for a second.” She raised her hands over her head. Her fingers ignited so brightly it was nearly blinding. And then all I saw was a bright flash of purple light…

  Chapter 40

  Piper- Salem, MA

  I glanced over my shoulder for the third time. The hair on the back of my neck stood on edge like someone was watching me. I wrapped the handle of the plastic bag around my hand again and gripped it tightly. If someone was coming after me, I would swing this bitch for their head, hoping the glass bottle and heavy food container would make an impact. Well after midnight in Salem turned this place into a ghost town. Usually when I ended my shift at the local pub, I didn’t care. But tonight, when all I had was the whipping wind to comfort me, I minded a whole hell of a lot.

  I slid my phone from my pocket and hit the number for the one person I could always count on. One ring. “What’s up?”

  “Dice?” I lowered my voice to a whisper and looked over my shoulder again to the empty streets and dark storefronts.

  “What’s going on? Are you okay?” Her voice rose with alarm.

  “I’m being followed.” Even though I couldn’t see anyone or anything, I felt it in the shadows and the cold chill on my skin. Salem after nine at night was dead. There were no lights, no passersby, only the cold, whipping wind that chilled me to my bones.

  “Okay, where are you?” I heard her crashing through our house, the scrape of the closet door where we kept our bat, and her heavy footsteps down the hall leading toward our front door.

  “Essex. I’m on Essex.” The street was wide enough that I could walk down the center of it and not be too close to the storefronts of any place I could get grabbed. Yet when I looked around again… nothing.

  “I’m coming. Stay on the phone with me. Just keep moving.” The sound of our door creaking open and closed filled the line, and I knew she was already on the street headi
ng toward me. We lived so close to town, we both walked to and from the pub for work. “Can you see them?”

  “No.” There was nothing but the sound of my own breathing. I knew I wasn’t crazy. There was something here, something dangerous.

  “How many?” Her breaths were coming in quick puffs now, and I got the feeling she was running.

  “I can’t see anyone. I just know.” A low hiss came from a few feet away and I spun in a circle. “Shit! Who’s there!”

  “Stay with me, Piper. Keep moving. Run if you have to. I’m almost there!” Panic rose in her voice and my own strangling heartbeat matched it.

  I didn’t want to run, didn’t want to seem crazy. But something or someone was following me. I took a running step forward and was instantly yanked back. A vise-like grip crushed my wrist, sending shooting pain through my arm. Something ripped through my jacket and dug into my skin… Knives?

  A scream ripped from my throat and I was shoved to the ground. My face slammed onto the cobblestones and I felt my cheek split open. Warm liquid seeped down my face. Dice screamed into the phone, but it was too late. I was being dragged down an alley into thick darkness. I held that damn phone like a lifeline, like if she could just hear me, she could find me. “Dice! Help!”

  The stone scraped across my skin from where my shirt rode up. I pulled back, fighting for my arm, fighting the hold. I glanced up, trying to fight my assailant, yet my mind couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing in the darkness. This figure, this shadow couldn’t have been more than five feet tall.

  I pulled back on my arm hard, yanking it free. I scrambled to my feet and swung out the bag of food. It connected with the dark figure. The sound of shattering glass filled the air and the bagful of contents exploded wide open, littering the area with food and glass. The thing moved so fast I could barely see it. Cracking pressure smacked into my chest and I went airborne. Another scream ripped up my throat. I slammed into the brick building behind me and my elbow went through the glass window, cutting my jacket to shreds.

  I sucked in a gasping breath as I slouched to the ground in a balled-up heap. This was it. I was going to get raped and die here in an alley like some freaking statistic. My arm was yanked away from my body and then a set of sharp teeth sunk through my jacket into my skin. I groaned, my head spinning and swirling with black dots. Yet that pain brought everything into sharp focus for a split second. My hand flexed and I dropped both the food and the phone.

  “Dice,” I whispered in a voice that didn’t sound like my own.

  My body slumped to the side and my gaze fixed onto two glowing points in the darkness. They moved closer and closer, yet I felt no fear, only comfort. A low feral growl filled the air and it sent tingles down my spine. I wanted to move, to get away, but I couldn’t. I felt broken and bloody. Bruises were already forming, and I was sure my arm was broken. Yet the assault had stopped.

  Those glowing eyes came closer, and I drew in a sharp breath. This wasn’t right. It couldn’t be right. I’d cracked my head too hard. I was hallucinating. A lion, a freaking lion the size of a hippo emerged from the shadows. Its mane was so thick and full with deep browns, sandy blondes and striking black. Every muscle rolled and moved like the predator that it was. It rolled back its lip, exposing its long fangs. Whatever my attacker saw had it scrambling back against the brick wall at the very end of the alley, trapping it there.

  I dragged myself a few feet away off to the side. The lion moved past me with not so much as a look. Its tail swished and flicked from side to side and that continual low growl rumbled deep in its chest. When it got closer to the huddled ball that was my attacker, it froze, the growling going completely silent. I glanced from the lion to the shadows. Please eat it and not me… please, please, please. Just when I thought it would spring forward, a gust a wind came from just above me. Not the kind that came off the water. This was like I was being fanned.

  My eyes snapped up to find a man with hulking black wings landing just beside the lion. “What are you waiting for? Kill it.”

  He was beautiful, more beautiful than anything I’d ever seen. I found myself wanting to get closer, like with him here nothing could or would touch me. His hair was a silvery color that seemed to catch the moonlight. His body was all long, lean muscle and there were long swords strapped to his back between his wings. Loose leather pants hung from his slender hips. He was shirtless and even in these freezing temperatures, he didn’t look cold.

  He held his hand out toward the lion. “Slow down. I can’t understand you when you go that fast. No, my lion does not suck! Maybe you just speak to it like shit.”

  Then the lion’s body seemed to melt into a ball, contorting and twisting into something else. Gone was the lion and in its place was a huge man. He was taller than the other, with bulkier muscles and even larger wings. His hair fell in a sandy mess over his eyes. He motioned to the ball against the wall. “Taliam, look!”

  I followed his gaze and for the first time I really looked at my attacker. This wasn’t some big man. This was girl. A tiny girl, with wild blond ringlets falling around the sides of her angelic face. Small fangs bit into her bottom lip and her eyes glowed an emerald green as she cowered away from them. She wore nothing but an oversized t-shirt and a thick black trench coat that was about five sizes too big. Mud covered her feet and up her legs.

  The slim, silver-haired one, Taliam, eyed her closely for a second longer than I had. “Well, shit. Collias, what the hell are we going to do?”

  The other one, Collias, ran his hand through his hair. “Shit.”

  “Just… really… shit.” Taliam nodded.

  A gust of wind filled the alley once more and another angel landed beside the two of them. She was much smaller. She’d be almost delicate looking if it weren’t for the swords strapped to her back, the knives on her hips and thighs… and boots. She wore a dark brown leather bustier that had crisscross straps down her back and across her stomach that matched her brown leather plants. She drew one of the swords from her back and spun it at her side. “What the hell are you two waiting for? We’ve got heirs to watch over. Kill the demon and be done with it.”

  Collias pointed to the small girl. “Shiiiitttt.”

  The woman’s eyes widened, and she drew a phone from her pocket. With the flick of her thumb, the phone rang once, then a deep voice rumbled something. She cleared her throat. “Matteaus, we’ve got a problem.”

  I hope you all enjoyed Wicked Curse. I am giving away a FREE scene to all my readers! The Death of Dario in Astrid and Beckett’s point of view.

  CLICK HERE for the FREE scene!

  But wait there’s more FREE stuff. I posted a FREE Maze scene in my FB Group Megan Montero’s Wicked Readers on release day.

  CLICK HERE to join my group and see a side of Maze you’ve never seen before.

  To find out what happened for Beckett and Astrid pre-order “Wicked Warlock” the epic final book of The Royals: Warlock Court Book 5.

  CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER WICKED WARLOCK

  Only my power will rule them all...

  If you haven’t checked out my awesome new series The Night Realm co-written with Chandelle LaVaun check out the links below.

  Midnight Mage (Book 1)

  Marvel Mage (Book 2)

  Pre-order Master Mage Now (Book 3)

  One spell to save us all…

  No more miss nice mage. This is war. This is survival. This is my destiny.

  I am the Stone Keeper and I will win.

  No matter the cost.

  Don’t miss the epic finale to The Night Realm: Season One: Magic Marked Trilogy!

  Copyright © 2020 by Megan Montero

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Abou
t the Author

  Megan Montero was born and raised as sassy Jersey girl. After devouring series like the Immortals After Dark, the Arcana Chronicles, Harry Potter and Mortal Instruments she decided then and there at she would write her own series. When she’s not putting pen to paper you can find her cuddled up under a thick blanket (even in the summer) with a book in her hands. When she’d not reading or writing you can find her playing with her dogs, watching movies, listening to music or moving the furniture around her house…again. She loves finding magic in all aspects of her life and that’s why she writes Urban Fantasy and Paranormal.

  Learn about Megan and her books by visiting her website at:

  Www.meganmontero.com

  Also by Megan Montero

  The Royals: Witch Court

  Wicked Witch

  Wicked Magic

  Wicked Hex

  Wicked Potion

  Wicked Queen

  The Royals: Witch Court Boxset

  The Royals: Warlock Court

  Wicked Omen

  Wicked Wish

  Wicked Hunt (A Warlock Court Novella: Ophelia)

  Wicked Lies

  Wicked Curse

  Wicked Warlock