by Cherie Marks
A few minutes later, he was dressed with the scant clothing provided—no shirt and pants about two sizes too small—looking for a way out.
A few minutes after that, he was severely disappointed in his reality. No way out. Literally, not even a door to the outside. He’d never seen anything like it, but he was wily enough to know that where there was a way in, there was always a way out.
The one thing he was somewhat pleased with was warm, running water in a bathroom he could just squeeze into. It was enough for him to take care of his needs.
But he was caught slightly off guard when he turned sideways and exited the bathroom to find the elder and pretty witch standing in the center of the room waiting for him.
He nodded in acknowledgement toward Kresley, the elder witch, but his gaze was drawn toward the younger witch. Her hair was dark with a shade of purple mixed in that reminded him of the wildflowers that bloomed in the sunny spots of the forest. Just as he’d imagined, her eyes, like bright sapphires, were her best feature. They were large and tipped upward at the corners. They were surrounded by thick lashes and practically glowed as she stared right back at him. Her nose was straight, and her lips were bright red and full. He regretted the snugness of the sweatpants suddenly as he began to take in her full figure. She wasn’t thin, and he liked that. She was curvy in all the right places, and he fought the idea that he’d like to run his hands over every inch of her.
Dammit! These were the witches who had drugged him and put him in a prison. He really needed to get his head on straight.
“So, what’s it going to be? Are you just going to go ahead and tell us what we want to know or are we going to have some fun?”
He moved his gaze to the elder witch who had spoken and crossed his arms in answer to her question. His training kicked in. He knew how to play this game well.
She clapped her hands together and grinned wickedly. “Oh, goodie! Fun it is then.”
Without any warning, he was suddenly flying through the air and slammed against the concrete wall. His vision went black for a moment and returned slowly, quick prickles of lightning firing in his sight like stars shooting across the night sky. As his focus returned, he regretted the fact that his head was still pounding from whatever she’d put in the brownies, and the concrete was cold and digging into his back as she pinned him above the bed, arms outstretched. The only part of his body he seemed to retain any control over was his head. He glanced once more at the pretty witch, meeting her concerned gaze before his attention was drawn back toward the elder witch.
“Now, make this easy on yourself and just tell me who you are and who sent you.”
He just stared back at her in silence.
Pain shot through his body when she lifted her hand. Every muscle in his body tensed as hot lava seemed to roll through his veins. He gritted his teeth to keep from crying out.
Slowly, the pain subsided, and he dropped his chin to his naked chest.
“Feeling like you want to have a little chat now?”
“I’m good.” He heard the remnants of pain in his raspy voice, but he wasn’t going to give in so easily.
Once more, pain assailed his entire being. His skin felt like it was completely on fire as a loud cry involuntarily escaped in reaction to the blinding, hot agony taking over every inch of his body. This time, it felt like it would never end, but finally, when he thought he couldn’t take any more, he slipped into oblivion.
He sensed that little time had passed before she revived him with a physical slap to the face. She was standing on the bed, and apparently, one well-timed jump had put her hand at his face-level where she’d walloped him across his cheek.
“Are you feeling talkative yet? Who the hell are you? And who the hell sent you, wolf?”
He so wanted to give in. He wanted the pain to end, but his training kicked in, and he rolled his head up to look her in the eyes as he said, “More.”
A small, humorless chuckle fell from her lips as she hopped to the floor, cracked her knuckles, and lifted her hands. This time, he actually saw the spark in her hands before he felt the searing intensity of the pain that wracked every part of him. In that moment, he couldn’t form thoughts, matter alone, words enough to beg her to stop, but he was on the verge of doing just that. It was the worst pain he’d ever experienced, and he had given up all pretense, yelling out at the top of his lungs with the torment of her magic coursing through his entire body.
“Stop! That’s enough! You’re going to kill him!” The young witch’s voice was filled with panic. He was surprised by her pity. Clearly, she wasn’t as hardened as most.
His muscles continued to spasm as the magic faded from his body. He couldn’t lift his head to read the situation, but he felt the change in the atmosphere.
Suddenly, he crashed awkwardly to the bed below, bouncing once before rolling off onto the cold floor. She was suddenly beside him, on her knees, hands hovering, seemingly afraid to touch him. He just watched her as she chewed her full, bottom lip with worry...for him.
She looked like an angel as the overhead light was blocked by her head and a halo of light surrounded her. It occurred to him he was probably just delirious from the brownies and the pain, but she seemed to be the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. He just wanted the rest of the world to fade away until it was only the two of them.
She was his!
His mate. She belonged to him, but as obvious as it was to him, she clearly didn’t know it.
“Hmm. Interesting.” At the sound of the elderly witch’s voice, he knew he wasn’t going to get his wish. He was just going to get more pain. “I just love when a clear plan forms so well.”
He didn’t like the sound of that.
“Come on, Mez. Let’s let our friend here recover. We need to see what Noxy was able to find out.”
“Is he...is he going to be okay?”
Her name was Mez. He liked it. He wondered if it were short for anything.
“He’ll recover. After we leave, though, I hope he takes a shower. He smells like a man who’s been hanging out with the wrong crowd in the woods for weeks.”
His angel finally ran a soft hand over his hair a few times before getting to her feet and stepping away from him. He had the strangest sensation of wanting to keep her nearby, like she belonged next to him. He knew it was the need to protect his mate, and he had to suppress a growl when Kresley stepped toward her.
“Very interesting.”
The elder witch was plotting, of that much he was sure, but in that moment, he didn’t care. His gaze never strayed from Mez.
“Let’s go. There is much to be done.”
The elder witch folded her hand in Mez’s and in an instant, Spanned them both out of the room.
The minute she was gone, all the ache from the torture he’d endured came rushing in like a tidal wave. He rolled to his side and gagged, but his empty stomach produced nothing.
He’d survived without giving any information away, but he wasn’t sure he could do it time after time. What worried him most, though, was that he knew the witch was planning something even worse than what she’d already given him. Of that, he was sure.
The question was how much more could he resist. One thing he knew for certain—he’d find out.
Chapter 7
“Noxy, she was so cruel. I was sure she was going to kill him.”
“I mean, he is the enemy.”
“Maybe, but I got a vibe from him.”
“You got a vibe? What the hell does that mean?”
Mez wrung her hands together nervously and shrugged her shoulders. “You know, like a feeling that he wasn’t such a bad guy.”
Noxy sighed dramatically. “He’s been hanging around the place for days, clearly spying. What more do you need to know? He’s gathering information, and we need to know who he’s working for.”
“You’re right, but shouldn’t we have at least given him the opportunity to just talk face-to-face?”
“Did she just go in magic blazing? Or did she try to get him to just be real first?”
“She did ask nicely once, but how would you respond to waking up in a prison cell, weakened by a drugged dessert, and two strange women coming at you threateningly?”
“Sounds like a typical Saturday night for me, but...uh...it’s possible he felt attacked.”
Mez rubbed her hand across her forehead a few times. “I just don’t know what to do. I know Kresley has a reputation for being the witch with the answers, but right now, she’s scaring me. I don’t know if I can continue to follow her lead.” She began to pace back and forth. “You have to admit, it’s been days that she’s searched for the door to her library, and she doesn’t seem concerned that the left half of the house has remained frozen for at least a solid half a week—another one of my magical accidents. Do you think she might not be the witch she once was?”
“What do you want to do, Mez? We don’t have any other options, do we?”
“You’re right. I don’t know any other way to fix my bad juju. But I just feel like she’s different from what I’d heard about her. She’s different from what I remember, too. I just expected her to be...less heartless.”
“At this point, I say we stick it out until she finds the book. Then, we can bounce. Until then, suck it up, buttercup. We’ve got to get you well or we’ll never find Peps. You do want to find him, don’t you? That was the whole reason we needed you to get better in the first place.”
“Of course. It’s what’s most important. I just need to trust the process as hard as it seems. I just wish...”
From somewhere upstairs, Mez heard Kresley’s voice call out, “I’ve found it! I found the door!”
“You were saying?”
They took off, following the celebratory cheers until they found Kresley standing in front of a tall, red door that hadn’t been there when Mez had searched this room earlier.
“This is the door to your library?”
Kresley nodded slowly. She didn’t seem entirely sure. “Either that or it’s the door to my stash of chocolate. I’m just going to warn you now, if it’s the chocolate, I’m going to have to kill you. No one can know where I hide my chocolate because it’s mine and nobody else’s. Do you understand?”
Yeah, Kresley was not sounding sane, and Mez just stared at her until she laughed and said, “I’m just kidding! Although someday I will come across my chocolate stash. I’m sure of it.”
With a shrug, she spoke an incantation aloud and a click sounded, like a lock popping free. The door swung open, and Kresley waved them inside. Noxy and Mez stepped through, and Mez felt her jaw drop. From ceiling to floor, three stories worth, as far as the eye could see, books lined the shelves against the walls. Now, this was a library.
Yet, the reality of the task ahead of them hit hard, as if a whole shelf of books had fallen down on top of Mez. How would they ever find one single book? If they had a hundred years, it wouldn’t be enough time.
“What now?” Mez tried to keep the hopelessness out of her voice, but she didn’t think she was very successful.
“I’ll start at the back and work my way forward. You two start here.”
“How will we know when we’ve found the right book?”
“Oh, you’ll know. It will talk to you to let you know when you’ve found it. You’ll see.”
Yep. Completely insane.
For the next few hours, they pulled books from the shelves, making stacks all around the warehouse-sized room. In all the time they searched, not a single book said a word, and Mez began to doubt the possibility that she was ever going to find a cure.
“This isn’t working, Noxy.”
“You don’t think she’s stalling, do you?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, she’s known throughout the kingdom as the witch with all the answers, and yet, she can’t find the door to her library? Something just doesn’t seem right.”
Mez had never considered that Kresley might be faking her insanity. It was possible. But why would she do that?
“Should we just ask her? I mean, maybe a direct approach is the right one to take.”
“No, Mez. I don’t think a direct approach is the way to go. I’m just going to do what I do best. I’m going to hang back in the shadows and watch her.”
“That reminds me. Did you happen to find anything out about the shifter?”
Noxy nodded her furry head slowly. “I followed him and watched him until he went for the brownies. He just seemed curious. At one point, he almost lost interest and walked away.”
“Maybe it would have been best for him if he had.”
“After he took the bait, though, I followed his trail back to his campsite, and that’s where things got interesting.”
“How so?”
Noxy’s eyes lit up, and she opened her mouth to speak, but before she could explain, Kresley was suddenly there.
“Any luck?”
They both shook their heads no, and Kresley confirmed the same. She shook her head and asked, “Were you about to say something, Noxy?”
“No. It can wait.” Noxy met Mez’s gaze with a promise that they would talk about it later in her eyes.
“Well, I don’t know about you two, but I’ve worked up quite an appetite today. Anyone want some dinner?”
Noxy shrugged. “I could eat.”
Kresley clapped her hands together and rubbed vigorously. “Great! I can tell you all about how Mez is going to seduce our shifter friend.”
Mez felt all the breath exit her lungs in a hurry with her words as she asked, “Wait! What?”
She couldn’t have heard that right. Yet, her excellent hearing was confirmed as Kresley continued, “That’s the new plan. Mezmerelda is going to seduce the wolf.”
Chapter 8
His cell was way too tiny for him, but it had allowed him to test every inch of the small space. So far, he hadn’t found any obvious weaknesses. Yet, escape from hard places had been his specialty when he’d been at the academy. This was challenging, but he knew nothing was impossible. He just had to find a weakness. It was there. He just needed to uncover it.
He let his gaze travel the room once more, focusing on the ceiling for a length of time. When he lowered his gaze, the pretty witch was suddenly in his room, staring at him with an uncertain look in her eyes. She looked...nervous.
And delicious. Thoughts about her that he knew he shouldn’t be thinking came to mind, and he had to remind himself that she was holding him prisoner. Yes, she was his mate, but she didn’t know it, and she had taken him captive.
“Back for more, are you?”
She was chewing that lip again, giving him all kinds of ideas, which he quickly squashed. This was the time to keep his head about him. If he played his cards right, she might be his ticket out of here. And maybe he could take her with him.
“Actually, I messed up.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I told her she shouldn’t treat you the way she did.”
He stared at her. Did she really expect him to believe that she defended him? Why would she have done that? The short answer was that she wouldn’t have. She was lying. But why? And how far was she willing to take it?
“And why would you do that?”
“Because you’re a living, breathing being who deserves to be given a chance to explain himself without torture.”
And now it was clearly time for the hard sell. She was going to play the good cop to the elder witch’s bad cop. He knew this game well, and he knew not only how to resist it, but also how to have fun with it.
“Thank you, I guess?” He crossed his arms, and she shifted her feet nervously. “So, you’re being punished. Doesn’t she worry about your safety...with me?”
She swallowed—hard—and he almost felt sorry for her. Almost.
“Actually, you should probably be more worried about yours. I don’t exactly have control over my magic right now. It
comes out erratically, usually without my even trying, and it can either result in a frozen wonderland or total transportation into a different dimension. It’s not fun, and I can’t say that it won’t happen while I’m here. My lack of control over my magic is why I came to see Kresley in the first place.”
Now, this, he believed. He’d seen it for himself. A simple sneeze or cough could set her off, and the strength of her magic was not in question. She really was powerful. Yet, why tell him that?
“It’s Mez, isn’t it?”
She seemed hesitant, but she nodded and said, “Mesmerelda, actually, but most people call me Mez. Although, sometimes Noxy calls me Mesme.”
“Well, Mez, I’m willing to bet this room renders magic useless. It probably has a way to block powers. So, you’re not a threat to me.”
She swallowed again, this time it seemed to be a little more difficult. “Are you a threat to me?”
His training kicked in. This was the opening he had been waiting for. He uncrossed his arms and sat down on the bed. “No, Mez. I am not going to hurt you. Right now, I just want to get out of here and go home.”
The look in her eyes still seemed skeptical, but she nodded and took a step toward the middle of the room, veering away from him toward the bathroom area.
“Did you get a chance to take a shower?”
He chuckled. He had spent months in the wilds of Linwyn, collecting information to pass on to his superiors. All during that time, he’d done just fine without the comforts of civilization, but the minute he’d gotten the chance to stand under a faucet of hot water, he’d taken it. Sure, he had been a little concerned that the elder witch was waiting for just such an opportunity to catch him unaware, but he’d been willing to take that chance to wash the filth from his body.
“I did. Do I smell any better?”
She peeked into the bathroom before facing him once more. “I thought you smelled fine before.”
Okay. That was an unexpected answer. Was she still playing good cop? Probably. Maybe she was more aware of his tactics than he realized. Mate or not, he still didn’t know anything about her. She had just shown up out of nowhere and left the place an icy mess. Maybe she was one of the High Priestess’s devoted followers or maybe she really was just here for help, but either way, he needed to stay on guard around her until he had more information.
