Chapter Twenty-Three
Griffin hauled Valerie away from the bars just as Elliott’s claw-tipped hands reached for her. Elliott strained, but the fool couldn’t reach either of them.
Griffin glared at the man he’d considered to be his friend. “You sonofabitch. I’m going to make your death slow and painful.”
Elliott snarled. His bear was close to the surface. Not close enough, though. “You fucked her. I knew you would. You came in, spouting BS about it just being a temporary mating, but I could tell the truth just by hearing the way you said her name. You were going to bring the witch into your life, into our lives, and you were going to keep her.”
Hell, yes, he intended to keep Valerie forever.
Elliott had jerked his hands back through the cell bars. His body vibrated with fury. “I was at your side. For years. I was waiting, biding my time. I knew I’d have the chance to take over. I just had to wait long enough. Then she appeared. My moment. Finally.”
“Uh, yeah,” Valerie cleared her throat. “I’m not your moment. I’m not your anything.” Her hand went to Griffin’s chest. “I’m his.”
Damn right she was.
“Told you,” Valerie muttered to Griffin. “In my top three. He was too flirty. I mean, I’m awesome, but not that awesome. He was obviously trying to seem too friendly.”
Elliott’s face was changing. His jaw hardening. His nose flattening. The guy could barely contain his shift.
“You never had any real control.” Griffin glanced over him in disdain. “You think you can rule all the shifters the way you are? Chaos, that’s all you’ll bring.”
“No.” A frantic shake of Elliott’s head—his hair was getting thicker. “Devon has promised to help me. He’ll give me—”
“A spell?” Valerie supplied helpfully. “And then you’ll be able to keep your control.” She made a tsk, tsk sound. “Oh, Devon, must you lie to everyone?”
Valerie didn’t sound afraid. They were facing really shitty odds. Guns were trained on them. They were trapped in the cell. But his witch sounded brave. She was all but laughing in the face of death. And he had never loved her more. “You own my heart, love,” Griffin told her. “And you always will.”
Her gaze slipped toward him. “Griffin?” Her eyes widened.
“How sweet,” Devon drawled. “And that is the perfect note we should end on.” A pause. Then, “Shoot him.”
“No!” Valerie screamed. “Don’t, don’t you—”
The bullets fired. Griffin pulled up his beast, calling for the dragon because he knew that he needed his strongest monster. Scales burst onto his skin. The bullets were rushing toward him.
“Stop!” Valerie screamed. Sparks flew from her fingers, hitting the bullets, but they didn’t stop. They were all trained right on him.
Valerie leapt toward Griffin, but he wasn’t going to let her take bullets meant for him. Hell, no. Not again. Not ever again. He grabbed her in his arms and twisted, shielding her. Hunching his back—
His wings burst out.
The bullets tore through them. The bullets ripped through his wings. They slammed into his back. Into his sides. Into his legs.
The gunfire sounded like firecrackers exploding, over and over again.
Then there was only silence.
“He’s still on his feet.” A hushed announcement that came from one of the guards.
Another demanded, “How in the hell is the bastard on his feet?”
Blood poured from Griffin’s wounds. He could feel the burn of the silver inside of him. Griffin couldn’t lift his head. It had sagged forward, but he felt his witch’s fingertips tracing over his cheeks.
“You own my heart, shifter,” Valerie whispered.
He forced his eyes to open. He was still shielding her with his body.
“And you always will.” A tear leaked down her cheek. “I will bring you back.”
He wanted to speak. Wanted to tell her how much he loved her, but his legs wouldn’t hold him up any longer. He fell to the side and crashed onto the stone floor. Valerie fell with him, scrambling to hold him in her arms.
Darkness grew around him.
“Well…” Devon’s grating voice rang out. “Guess we have a new shifter king in town. Congratulations, Elliott.”
Elliott. His friend. His enemy.
Since Griffin had banished Carmichael, Elliott was the next in line to rule.
“I’ll bring you back,” Valerie promised again. Her lips pressed to Griffin’s.
Funny. He couldn’t feel her kiss any longer. He couldn’t feel her at all.
Don’t bring me back, baby. Don’t. That was the only rule that mattered.
***
Griffin was dead.
Elliott stared at his friend’s body. So many bullets had torn into Griffin. Too many to count. And they had stayed in his body. He could see the smoke rising from the silver bullets buried within Griffin.
Valerie was crouched beside Griffin’s broken body, and tears streamed down her cheeks. She was whispering to him. Kissing his face. And he’d never seen such pain before. It seemed to ravage her.
Devon clapped his hand on Elliott’s shoulder. “Was it everything you wanted and more?”
What? It was—he shook his head. What was happening?
Soft laughter reached him. Taunting laughter. Familiar, female laughter. His head turned. The guards moved back, and there she was.
Genevieve. His Genevieve. The witch who’d come to him months before. Offering him every desire. Offering him a kingdom. If he’d just take it.
But Griffin is bleeding. Griffin is dead. And he was my friend.
Genevieve seemed to glide toward him. A faint glow lit her features. She looked more like a perfect princess than a witch. So heartbreakingly beautiful.
But…
Griffin was my friend.
And Elliott found his gaze sliding back to the cell. His head pounded. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. “Griffin?”
Valerie’s head snapped up. “I am going to rip you apart.” She swallowed. “After I get him back.”
Elliott’s hands locked around the bars. “Griffin!”
Valerie’s hair whipped around her face. She grabbed for Griffin, held him tight, held him close. His blood covered her as she chanted.
Deep claw marks ripped into her arms. Into her face. Fire burst around her.
“Quite the show,” Genevieve murmured. “Do we really have to watch it? Can’t we just poison her now? I mean, we have the Medusa venom.”
Her perfume seemed to fill the air. Elliott’s temples throbbed harder. His chest ached.
“I told you already,” Devon sighed, “we need her weak. She’ll bring him back, she’ll be weak, and then we can take her out.”
“The Medusa venom will take her out. It takes out every witch.” Annoyance snapped in Genevieve’s voice as she stroked her hand over Elliott’s arm. “We just need someone to go in that cell and dose her. She’s distracted right now. It’s the perfect opportunity.” Her fingers slid to his cheek. “Elliott, darling…” She smiled at him. “Take this poisoned knife. Go in that cell and plunge it into Valerie’s back. She’s distracted, and she won’t see you coming.”
Valerie’s body was being clawed by something, but she was still clinging tightly to Griffin. Holding him as if she’d never let go.
Because she loves him.
“Elliott, did you hear me?”
His gaze slid back to Genevieve.
“Plunge the knife into her back.” She pushed the knife into his hands. “Devon and I can’t go into the cell. If we do, the magic will trap us, too. No witch can enter. That’s why it has to be you.”
He shook his head. It hurt. Everything hurt.
But he was shuffling toward the cell. She’d opened the door for him. He stepped inside.
Blood. So much blood.
And why was he going to stab Valerie? Why?
“Do it for me,” Genevieve called out. “Because you love me.”
Right. He loved Genevieve. He shuffled forward. The flames around Valerie burned his arms, but Elliott didn’t care. He had one goal. Valerie’s back was to him. She was right there.
She was…
Fighting to bring back Griffin.
Because she…loved him?
What am I doing?
“I think your love spell is breaking,” Devon’s voice seemed overly loud. Worried.
“My spells don’t break,” Genevieve snapped back. “He’s done everything I asked, hasn’t he? And he’ll put that knife in her back. He will do it.”
Elliott was lifting the knife. He didn’t want to lift the knife. He wanted to drop it. He wanted to help Griffin. He wanted to stop Genevieve.
Because he didn’t love her. He’d…thought he did. He’d thought she was his mate. That they would have a life but—
Spell.
“V-Val…” Elliott tried to speak her name, even as his hand kept rising.
She didn’t look back at him. She was too intent on Griffin. Far too intent.
“V-Val…” Please, look at me.
And she did. She whirled toward him, surged up—and the knife sank into her shoulder. Her lips parted as she gasped. As she shuddered. Then she fell. Just fell right there, her body as stiff as a board. Her eyes were wide open. She stared straight at Elliott’s face.
And a tear slid from her eye.
“She’s out!” Genevieve’s voice shouted. “Get her!”
The witch guards rushed into the cell. Guards who’d shot a shifter with magic bullets. Guards who grabbed Valerie and dragged her stiff body out of the cell. Elliott turned to follow them, his body lurching as he thought…I can get her. Stop—
Genevieve slammed the cell door shut. “Darling, he might wake up.”
Griffin was dead. Lying in a pool of his own blood.
My friend.
“I lied about no witch being able to enter the cell. Sorry. I was just afraid Valerie might kill whoever entered. You were expendable.”
He’d stabbed Valerie. His shifter king was dead.
Genevieve gave him an admonishing glare. “I don’t know if she finished the spell or not. You took your sweet time stabbing her.”
Valerie.
Valerie cackled when she laughed. And when she looked at Griffin, when she thought no one was watching, her eyes would light up.
“Take this gun,” Genevieve ordered as she shoved it through the cell doors. “It has bewitched silver bullets in it. When you aim at the target, it will sink into the prey, no matter what. Aim for Griffin’s heart. Just in case, you know. Wait and see if he wakes up, and if he does…shoot.”
He pushed against the cell door. It was locked.
She smiled. “I’ll come back for you as soon as Valerie is gone. You haven’t killed her, you see. You just paralyzed her. That’s what Medusa venom does. It paralyzes the prey. I’ll kill her in front of the assembled witches so they can all see that I was always stronger than she is. That I was always meant to rule.”
“You…” Why was speaking so hard? “Spell…”
“Oh, right. Of course, I put a love spell on you. How else would I have gotten you to do my bidding? You were drunk one night, hanging out at some human bar in Vegas. The alcohol made you easy pickings.”
“Hurry up, Genevieve,” Devon urged.
She gave Elliott an encouraging nod. “Make sure the shifter king stays dead. And you know what? You won’t get me because, well, I’m not really into the whole beast thing, but I’ll let you keep the shifter kingdom. How about that? We’ll both win.”
She was lying.
She was also leaving him. Trapped in the cell. With witch guards watching him. Witch guards who were probably armed with silver bullets. If Griffin came back and Elliott didn’t shoot him, those guards would.
They’ll shoot us both.
In moments, Genevieve was gone. Devon was gone. Valerie was—well, about to die.
Elliott shuffled back to his friend. Fell to his knees. “I’m sorry.” His hoarse whisper filled the cell. “So fucking sorry.”
Elliott lifted the gun. Pressed it to Griffin’s chest. Tried to make himself squeeze that trigger.
And then Griffin opened his eyes.