Page 31 of Bound In Inked Flame (Of Crows and Thorns Saga #1)

31

Graysen

W hen I got my hands on Wychthorn again, I was going to toss her over my lap and spank the fuck out of her ass—punish her as the sly disobedient child she was.

Fucking Wychthorn!

I wanted to throttle her.

At first, I thought she’d simply run away, gone back into the city to disappear and have fun.

But that wasn’t Wychthorn. Well, it was, but I just sensed there was more to it than that.

And that bag of hers. It was huge and stuffed to the brim. I knew little about girls’ handbags, but even I should have suspected something was up, especially when I’d heard the constant rustle of plastic from its depths.

Think. Fucking think!

I stalked the last platform we’d departed from. My long strides were furious and my heavy footfall rang against the walls. Mortals drew away and averted their glances, knowing without fully realizing the darkness pacing back and forth within their midst.

Wychthorn had been down here for a reason. She’d been riding the lines in a seemingly haphazard route. I sorted through my memories. We’d kept crossing this line. This one in particular. Several times.

Her scent still lingered. That fragrance of sweetness and flames…

And something else…

It smelled of blood. Pig’s blood.

Pig’s blood… pig’s blood …and these tracks…

What did I know about them?

Ah hellsgate !

She didn’t… She wouldn’t… Surely not…

Unless she has a death wish.

A sinking feeling fell through me like a stone falling through water. I knew without a doubt why we were here, what she sought—the catacombs.

And in the catacombs, an ancient creature…the Uzrek.