Chapter Twenty-Two
Another day, another dungeon.
Her luck was shit.
“If you want to kill me, you shouldn’t lock me up. That’s like…a fatal mistake.”
Devon glowered at her words. “If I had my way, I would have slit your throat right in front of your shifter.”
Well, wasn’t he the bloodthirsty one? “And I’m supposed to be bad?”
“Genevieve wants to make an example of you. The other witches need to see that the council is the highest authority. That there is no one stronger. Certainly not a witch on her own.”
“Ah…so that’s why you killed Hurst, Fiona, and Calliope. You figured if I had my own coven, I’d be too strong to stop. Even with these beauties.” She banged her bracelets together. “Probably right, by the way. My coven would have found a way to free me from these stupid bracelets.”
He laughed. “Hard for the dead to help you.”
Her lips curved. “Don’t be too sure.”
He stepped closer to the bars of her cell. “It didn’t have to be this way.”
She gave a disgusted sigh. “Okay, look, I’m in a dungeon, I’m really pissed at my shifter ex, and I am not in the mood to listen to some sob story about how everything could have been different. The whole world would have been different if I’d just—what? Not fallen in love with a human? Stayed in good witch line and followed orders?”
“Loved me.”
What?
“I was right in front of you, Valerie. And you never saw me.”
He was right in front of her then, separated only by the bars of her cell. She could see him perfectly.
Devon’s smile was pure evil. Damn him. “Guess you see me now.” He held her gaze a moment longer. Then he vanished.
“Devon!” she screamed his name. “Get your sorry ass back here! Devon!”
But he didn’t appear. And she was trapped in some dank, dark dungeon. She could smell death and rot all around her. It was hell. Or, well, close to it. Valerie had the feeling she’d be seeing the real deal very soon. Like as soon as Genevieve managed to organize a public enough execution. With the bracelets around her wrist, would fire take Valerie out this time? She didn’t know, and she certainly didn’t want to find out in a terrible, burning way.
She was so fucked.
And the thing about this whole situation that sucked the most…her heart hurt.
Valerie rubbed her hand over her chest. It hurt.
Because Griffin had said he loved her. Then he’d locked binding bracelets around her wrists.
***
“Stefan!”
When he heard the roar of his name, Stefan stiffened. His gaze was on the sad remains of his club. Not much left of the place now. Because of one angry ass dragon. “We’re closed,” he snapped. Humans were still buzzing around the scene. Like they were going to do something with their official looking uniforms and their red fire trucks. “Get lost.”
“Valerie sent me.”
Now he did turn around, and Stefan felt relief sweep through him. “She’s alive? I knew she—” He was staring at a guy holding what looked to be a dead woman. A guy who’d visited his club before—a shifter. “Are you freaking insane?” He grabbed the fellow’s arm and shoved him—and his dead chick—into the nearby shadows. “Human cops are everywhere! And you’re going to bring me a dead woman? Go bury her and get the hell away from me.”
But the man didn’t move. Jaw locking, he gritted, “Valerie sent me to you. You can’t turn me away.”
Stefan’s nostrils flared. “You smell like shifter.” He’d noticed that during the guy’s first visit to Daybreak. The fellow smelled just like a too-familiar shifter. “Is the dragon with you?”
“No, I don’t know where my dumbass of a brother is. He betrayed Valerie and then—dammit, stop!”
One of Stefan’s snakes had just lunged for the fool. “Griffin betrayed Valerie?” He’d thought…no, he’d hoped the shifter loved her. Valerie needed someone to love her. She deserved for someone to love her.
Not that Stefan had ever made the mistake of telling her that.
“Griffin put some kind of magic bracelets on her wrists. She stopped being able to cast spells, and then that dick Devon took her away.”
Not good. Stefan’s snakes hissed. “One bite from a snake,” Stefan warned him, “and you’ll turn to stone. You won’t be able to breathe. Won’t be able to move. Your heart will stop. But you will feel everything that happens to you. My venom can take down anyone. It will take down you, your brother, it will—”
“A witch?” the shifter asked, voice tight. “Can it take down a witch?”
“Yes.” He’d use his snakes on Devon. He’d track the fool, let his snakes attack, and he’d free Valerie.
“I think…I think someone used it on Calliope.”
Calliope.
Finally, Stefan glanced at the witch in the man’s arms. Hellfire, it was Calliope. Lying as still as death. As stone. She was as beautiful as always, her hair long and thick, her skin a smooth ebony, her cheek bones high and sharp. But there was no life to Calliope. No spark.“I…didn’t do this.”
“No, someone fired a dart at her. One laced with poison.”
Someone had shot her with Medusa venom? Impossible. Yet…
“Can you heal her?”
He pulled the witch from the shifter’s arms. With a hiss, Stefan let his fangs slide out.
“Fuck, man, are those snake fangs in your mouth? And what is up with your eyes?”
If Medusa venom was holding Calliope immobile—frozen, not dead but not quite alive, either—then a bite from Stefan would wake her up. Only he could heal those who’d been poisoned by the venom of his snakes. He put his mouth to Calliope’s throat. Bit.
She moaned.
It had been Medusa venom that took her out. Oh, hell.
Calliope shivered. “Wh-where am I?”
Stefan lifted his head.
She blinked at him. “Stefan?” Her head turned. “Carmichael?” A smile came and went, lighting up her eyes. “You came back? I thought you weren’t, I thought—”
The one she’d just called Carmichael pulled her away from Stefan. The shifter held her as tight as he could. Stefan easily read the expressions crossing the face of the shifter called Carmichael. Relief. Love. Desperation.
He gave them a moment. After all, Stefan had a heart, even if legend said it was encased in stone. He tapped his foot, waited and then… “Ahem.”
Carmichael lifted his head.
Stefan smiled. “Hi. Remember me? The one who just saved the day?” Dammit. He almost sounded like Valerie. Her traits had rubbed off on him over the decades.
Calliope gave a weak laugh. “That sounds like something Valerie would say.”
Carmichael stiffened. And his expression went straight to—Sorrow.
Stefan tried to keep his snakes under control. “Where is my witch? Tell me everything again. Very slowly.”
“Devon has her,” Carmichael said, voice grim. “She…Valerie was trying to help Calliope. Trying to bring her back from the dead.”
“She wasn’t dead,” Stefan cut in. “Obviously. Just petrified. Big difference.”
Carmichael nodded. “One that Valerie eventually realized, but not before some crazy shit went down. Fire erupted from her, her skin was torn open as if invisible claws had sliced her—”
Yes, he’d seen that particular horror a time or two before. “She plays too hard with dark magic.”
“My brother, Griffin, he was there. He went insane when he saw her pain, and he put these gold bracelets around her wrists.”
Gold bracelets and a witch? Meant one thing… “He bound her?”
“Then Devon appeared. Did that witch vanishing thing and took her away, but not before Valerie told me to find you. I brought Calliope here as fast as I could.”
In and out. In and out. Stefan tried to breathe and not go ballistic. “Where is your bastard of a brother right now?”
“Last I saw, he’d shifted into a dragon and was chasing after…um, a raven.”
Stefan remembered a raven, one that had clung to the shoulder of Valerie’s young henchman right before she’d whisked him away so he could stay with trolls.
“My brother isn’t evil, so stop looking that way,” Carmichael snapped. “He’d said something about Valerie nearly dying on him already, because of some magic bullets—”
Calliope gave a quick gasp, then muttered, “Oh, shit. My bad.”
“So he might have overreacted with the bracelets,” Carmichael continued doggedly, “but you didn’t see the fire. Or the way her skin was sliced open. You didn’t—”
“I’ve seen it before.” And yeah, it was a nightmare to watch. His gaze darted to Calliope. “You know what Devon is going to do.”
Her eyes were huge. “Public example. He’ll want all of the other witches to see what happens when you try to overthrow the council.”
Exactly. “Put word out with your witch contacts.” He figured she had to have them. “Find out where the execution will take place.” He spun around, heading for his car. He’d get reinforcements. Call in his own allies to help.
But Carmichael jumped in his path. “How’d you heal Calliope?”
He should probably answer that. “She’d been injected with venom from my snakes. My bite counteracted the venom. Simple.”
“Devon is the one who injected her, right? I found a dart, like he’d shot it into her.”
Probably exactly what he’d done.
“But my question…” Carmichael rolled back his shoulders as Calliope crept closer. “If it was your venom, then how did Devon get it?”
Stefan glanced between the increasingly angry shifter and the frowning witch. “Medusa venom has long been used on witches.” He raised one brow. “It’s what was used on the witch who killed your parents. Haven’t you put the puzzle pieces together and realized the poisons are one and the same?”
Shock flashed on Carmichael’s face. Okay. Obviously, he was not the puzzle type. Squaring his shoulders, Stefan informed him, “I’m not the one who gave Devon poison. I haven’t given anyone so much as a drop of my blood since the day a band of vampires attacked me and tried to drain me.” Since he’d been a kid. “Want to know who sent those bastards after me way back when?”
“Devon,” Calliope answered.
He nodded. “So it stands to reason that one of them gave him the blood. I thought Valerie had killed them all, but one bloodsucker must have escaped. And knowing Devon as I do, I’m sure he’ll be using that poison on Valerie, too. Just in case the bracelets don’t work.”
Hope lit Carmichael’s eyes. “They might stop working?”
It was Calliope who answered. Carefully, she explained, “Valerie is the strongest witch I know. If anyone can break them, it would be her.”
She was the strongest witch Stefan had ever met. “So that’s why Devon will dose her. He’ll wait as long as possible because he doesn’t want the other witches to know he has the poison. That’s witch 101—never use Medusa venom on your own kind.”
“I didn’t know there was a witch 101,” Carmichael muttered.
“There is. I’ll give you lessons.” Calliope never glanced away from Stefan. “If the others realize he’s got the venom, they’ll turn on him.”
Stefan could see the plan spinning in her devious mind. He smiled at her. “I knew there was a reason Valerie liked you.”
“And you.” She inclined her head. “Tell me what you need.”
“First, get me the location of Valerie’s execution.” He’d already said that, and the woman showed no signs of getting the intel. She needed to hurry that shit up. “And second, I’m going to need you to bring in a few people for me.”
“People?” Carmichael shook his head. “No way, man. Humans are off-limits. They can’t handle this—”
“Rio,” Stefan announced, ignoring the clueless shifter. “He’s the first one I need. The shifter boy Valerie raised from the dead.”
Calliope nodded.
“Then I’ll need a vampire named Magnus. The angry Scottish bastard has to pay his debt.”
Carmichael frowned. “A vamp? I thought you hated vamps.”
“I do. So does Val—most days. But once, Magnus was dying, and a beautiful witch saved him.”
Carmichael just shook his head. “Why?”
“Because that’s what she does.” Stefan tapped his chin as he figured out who else they should pull in for the battle. “We’ll also need a djinn. Ellya is conniving as the day is long, so just get her here before she can trick you.”
“Again…why?” Carmichael demanded.
Calliope smiled. “Valerie saved her life. She brought Ellya back from the dead.”
Carmichael’s worry was apparent. “It doesn’t sound like she should have come back.”
Maybe. Maybe not.
“You want them all here, don’t you?” Calliope said. “Because Valerie would want them? For the end?”
She’d finally caught on. “Use a locator spell. Get them here. It’s time for them to pay their debts.” Because this was it. The end. Valerie wasn’t going to die. Devon wasn’t going to win.
Today was the day that the wicked, dark queen…well, it was his favorite witch’s turn to rise.
***
“The only time he ever gave me jewelry,” Valerie lamented as she glared at her wrists, “and it was to bind my ass.” Not romantic. Not awesome.
And her chest still ached. She kept having to blink because her vision was all blurry. She was hunched on the floor, her head bowed like she’d suffered some great and tragic loss, and this was not her.
Her hands slapped against the stone floor. She wasn’t the type to give up. She never gave up. So she needed to think shit through.
She couldn’t pry the bracelets off her wrists. Only the person who’d put them on her could remove them, so the story went. That meant she had to find another way, another—
The ceiling caved in—no, it crashed in. Valerie gave a sharp cry and her hands flew over her head as she tried to protect herself from falling debris. From stone. From dust. From whatever hell else was raining down on her. Smoke seemed to fill the cell.
Smoke?
Heavy, oppressive silence settled around her. The place was as dark as a tomb. Ha, so fitting. Even with her enhanced vision, she couldn’t see anything in the darkness. She couldn’t see anything except—
Glowing, green eyes.
Her breath caught.
“My…my…” His voice came out of the darkness. Deep and gravelly, more beast than man. “What beautiful eyes you have…”
She scrambled back. She couldn’t see him clearly, but he could obviously see her perfectly. Only she didn’t know if he was there to help or…Valerie cleared her throat. “My eyes…they make it easy for me to see what a lying asshole you are.”
She heard the faintest tread of his footsteps. Or was that the scrape of claws? Crap.
“My…” His voice rumbled. “What a gorgeous mouth you have.”
Her mouth pressed into a thin line. Did he think she didn’t know what he was doing? She’d teased him this exact same way the first time they’d been in a dungeon together. “This shit isn’t funny.” She swiped at the stupid wetness on her cheek. “My mouth—it’s this way so that I can tell you to go to hell.”
A rush of wind battered at her. Valerie gave a quick scream, but he was already in front of her. His hands—tipped with claws—grabbed her. “Already there,” Griffin rasped. “Been there, will be there forever…if I’m without you.” Then his mouth crashed onto hers. He tasted like paradise. Like her every wish.
And her every bad dream. Because he was what she couldn’t have. A taunt. A joke. She’d wanted a lover, a mate, a man who’d have her back and always choose her, no matter what. Only he hadn’t been that guy. He’d been the one to bind her. He’d been the one—
Something snapped.
Shit. Was it her heart? Did a broken heart actually snap?
Valerie wrenched her mouth away from him.
“You’re free.”
The bracelets clanged against the stone floor. Valerie flexed her wrists, twisting them around, and making sure this was real.
“I’m so fucking sorry.”
He was warm and strong and solid in front of her.
“I couldn’t stand to see you in pain. You were bleeding and burning, and I lost my mind.”
Sparks danced around her fingertips, lighting up his face. Hard planes. Square jaw. Bright eyes. Testing herself, she fluttered her fingers, and jeans appeared on Griffin’s body.
“I love you. I would give my life for you in an instant. I would do anything. But, Valerie, I can’t watch you hurt. Your pain tears me apart. I just want you to be safe.”
Her hand lifted. Her fingers touched his cheek. “You can’t protect me from everything. I don’t want to be protected from everything. I have to be able to fight my own battles.”
“You don’t have to fight them alone. Can’t you see that? You never have to fight alone again. I will always be at your side.”
Footsteps were racing toward them. Guards coming in fast.
“I love you,” Griffin told her, his voice so deep and hard. “And I’ll love you until I die.”
“Griffin!” Devon’s snarling voice echoed around them. “Get the hell away from her!”
Griffin put his body in front of her. He was protecting her, again. Valerie stood on her toes and peeked over his shoulder.
“You obsessed sonofabitch.” Devon stood on the other side of the bars. “You just couldn’t let her go, could you? I gave you a chance. I told you I’d break the mating bond, but you still flew here, determined to get her. Determined to save a witch who should have burned years ago.”
A team of witch guards stood just behind Devon’s glowering form.
“She can’t get out.” Devon gave an evil grin. “You think I didn’t consider that you might fly to her rescue, shifter king? Here’s the thing…you could get in, but she can’t get out. This cell is witch proof. You try to take her out, and lightning will hit her body, the volts pumping through her over and over again. That particular punishment will also happen if you sprout your wings and try flying through the fucking hole you left in the ceiling or if you use your enhanced strength to try and break these bars. I made sure Valerie can’t leave, not until I give the command.” He straightened his shoulders and glowered. “I have the power here.”
“You have nothing.” Valerie moved to Griffin’s side. She stared at her enemy and crushed the golden bracelets beneath her feet. “Soon everyone will know it.”
He smiled at her. “You’re dying at sunrise. I’m getting everything ready. It’s almost time. The witches will see you fall. Then no one will ever try to question the council again.”
Valerie peered at the guards behind him, then glanced back at Devon’s gloating face. “Where is Genevieve? Don’t you need to find her, and you know, ask permission for every single thing that you do?” She fluttered her lashes at him.
Devon slammed his hand against the cell bars. “You’re dead!”
“Not yet.” Valerie smiled. “I’m not.”
Devon lifted his right hand. At that command, every guard stepped forward and aimed their weapons.
Griffin immediately leapt in front of her.
“Stop doing that!” Valerie snapped. It was a fatal flaw far too many were exhibiting and—
“The silver bullets in these guns are for him, Valerie,” Devon told her with a satisfied smirk on his fat face.
She grabbed Griffin, used an enhanced strength no one had known she possessed—another secret I have and, yes, I did lie about that one—and she shoved him behind her back.
Griffin snarled.
But Devon just grinned. “Won’t do you any good to take the bullets this time, Valerie.”
And Griffin—damn him—had already moved to her side.
“Too many of them.” Devon shrugged. “And all the silver bullets are bewitched to find their target. You can’t block them all.” His laughter rang out. “You see, this scene was a trap. And, you, Valerie, were the bait.”
Valerie glanced at Griffin, her stomach tensing.
“I couldn’t kill him back at Calliope’s place. Not when it was just me. He was too strong. But I did learn from Calliope and that now dead vamp Enzo. They gave me a great idea. I just had to get Griffin in a confined space. Draw him in. And he’d be a sitting duck.”
“Because he came for me,” Valerie whispered. Oh, this was not good.
“I was curious, though…” Devon tilted his head as he studied Griffin. “Would he still be as crazy for you when your powers were bound? Had you put a spell on him?”
Her shoulders stiffened. “No.”
“Right. Of course, not. Because you wanted him to love you for yourself, didn’t you? I figured that out. You always wanted someone to see past your wicked ways.”
Griffin’s stare was on her. Heavy. Considering.
Her gaze cut back to Devon. “You didn’t put shit together. You had someone feeding you intel all along. You think I don’t know that?”
“You were caught far too easily the first time I had you.” Devon nodded, as if he’d gone over all of this in his mind, numerous times. The guards kept all of their weapons trained on Griffin. “You wanted to get caught, didn’t you? So once I figured that part out, it made me wonder…why? And then I realized—”
“You realized you were an asshole. Check.” Valerie was seething. And getting desperate.
Griffin caught her hand in his. Brought it to his lips. Kissed her knuckles. “He’s going to be a dead asshole,” Griffin promised.
A warm glow spread through her. A glow that calmed some of her desperation. Griffin could say the nicest things.
Devon’s eyes turned to slits. “You let yourself get caught the first time because you wanted to be close to Griffin.”
She smiled. “Did I? And here I thought putting me in the cell next to the big, bad dragon was your idea. Because you thought he’d toast me.”
Devon lunged toward the bars. Spittle flew from his mouth. “You already knew you were his fated mate, didn’t you? That’s why you allowed yourself to get caught, why you wanted to be in the cell next to his. You were fucking two steps ahead of me!”
“Um…” She squeezed Griffin’s hand. “Fated may be the right word.” She gave her mortal enemy a wide grin. “Have you talked to Fate lately, by the way? Because she is a fountain of information. I bet if you talked to her, she’d say something like…oh, I don’t know…you’re going to die at sunrise, burned by flames that are hotter than hell.”
Devon glared.
Valerie kept her smile in place.
Then Devon pointed at Griffin.
Her smile faltered.
“The dragon’s scales may very well be strong enough to stop the bullets, but he won’t have time to change before the silver hits him…so I guess we’ll never know for sure.”
Bastard. Bastard—
“I could shoot him now. Let him die right in front of you.”
“I’d just bring him back.” Her chin lifted. “Your mistake.” She could feel the sparks rising from her fingertips. Those wonderful sparks wrapped around her hand and Griffin’s. “I can’t get out, but I can work my magic inside this cell. If Griffin dies in here, then I’ll just bring him back.”
“But you’ll be weak, won’t you? Weak and helpless…” Devon’s eyes gleamed. “So very easy to kill.”
And that was his plan. To kill Griffin. To make her watch him die. She would save him and by saving him…
Well, guess my number will be up.
“Of course, you don’t have to save him,” Devon murmured. Sly as the devil. “You could just let him die. That way, you keep your power. And if you’re strong enough, then maybe you can find a way to defeat me. To take over. To win in the end with some crazy plan that you probably have spinning in your head.”
Valerie glanced at Griffin. His gaze was on Devon. Griffin’s profile was so strong.
“I mean…he has betrayed you,” Devin pointed out in a helpful tone. “Griffin slapped the binding bracelets on you, and come on, we both know that he had plans to ditch you as soon as he could. Griffin didn’t want a permanent mate. When he first took you to the realm of the shifters, he wasn’t going to sleep with you. He was going to cast you aside—”
Griffin’s head turned. He stared into Valerie’s eyes. “Do not save me.”
Oh, no, he had not just said those words to her.
But Griffin wasn’t done. “Don’t even think of bringing me back. If their bullets kill me, you let me die. Our mating bond will end. You won’t be hurt because witches don’t react the same way to the bond as shifters do.” His smile was heart-breaking. If she’d…had a heart. “That’s why I never expected you to love me.”
“She can’t love,” Devon threw in. “Dumbass.”
“Stay strong,” Griffin urged her. “Don’t you dare fucking save me.”
Valerie licked her lips. “You have…” Now she turned her head to focus on Devon and his goons. “You have incredible intel. Intel that I suspect a traitor gave you.” She pretended to think about it even as her nostrils flared. “Griffin, do you smell that? It’s not just witches here any longer…”
The soft tread of footsteps came closer.
She felt Griffin stiffen. Then he was lunging for the cell bars. She jumped in front of him. “No, don’t give them what they want.”
Rage.
Pain.
Death.
Griffin’s eyes were burning with emerald fury, and his incisors sprang to razor-sharp points.
She schooled her features and turned to face another foe. “Ah…you were on my suspect list. My top three, in fact. It feels good to be right.”
The traitor glared at her. Then he lifted his claws—and Elliott rushed toward the cell.