Page 212 of Claimed By Fangs and Darkness

My heart hadn’t stopped its pounding since the frying pan. We all gathered around the unconscious impostor.

“Evie’s still with them,” Idris whispered.

I was going to be sick. The woman I’d slept beside for the past four nights, the woman I’d held and kissed, wasJuliette.

Nausea churned, and I looked away from the convincing glamour. Gripping the back of the chair next to me, I slowed my breathing.

Thank Hekate I hadn’t fed from her or given in to her advances. My soul had known. I’d recoiled from her emptiness instinctively.

My lip curled. “That girl is sick in the head.”

I’d left her alone in our home. Who knew what she could’ve done or seen while snooping around.

“That’s how she infiltrated our spaces. She wore a turned glamour.” Harmony rubbed my shoulder.

“Changeling.” Idris glared down at her before meeting my eyes. “Don’t blame yourself, brother.”

“I just wanted her to be alive—to be safe—so badly…” I said. “It blinded me.”

“She is alive,” Idris said, his voice firm. “They broke the blood bond, like Juliette said. Lies are better told with grains of truth.”

I nodded, my chest tight.

Clarke rolled his neck. “They may have our witch, but we also have theirs.” He lifted a brow.

Harmony, Idris, and I exchanged a glance.

“This is Aster’swife. Surely that means something to him,” Idris said.

My head spun. Aster and Conrad had to know, right? It would’ve been reported to them by any born who survived my rampage—the fact that I left with a small blonde in my arms. Was this scheme their doing or Juliette’s?

The witch wearing Evie’s skin stirred. A hoarse cough left her lips. I gathered power, which wasn’t a hard task given my blinding, unquenchable rage.

I let my shadows crawl over her eyes, blinding her as a precaution until Blade arrived.

When she screamed, I let my shadows gag her and tighten painfully around her limbs. I stood over her. The desire to kill her was strong, but her appearance as Evie was a hindrance.

“Remove that fucking glamour or I will cut off a finger.”

Juliette struggled and screamed into the gag. The house rattled. I strained against her magick, blocking the sickly mist that left her palm with my own shadows.

I unsheathed my dagger and grabbed her hand. “Last chance.” I let the blade meet the base of her index finger.

Juliette chanted something into the gag.

Her hair darkened. Her form shrank slightly.

I released a breath, begrudgingly placing my dagger back in its holster. Only moments later, Blade returned with magickally binding handcuffs. I assumed Evie had been dealt the same.

As soon as they snapped into place, I removed the shadows from her eyes and mouth.

Her gray eyes darted around, and her lip trembled. “How did you know?”

“None of your godsdamned business,” Idris growled.

Juliette ignored him, as if no longer remotely interested in pretending to care about what herbrotherhad to say. She met my eyes immediately. “She’s Aster’s now, and he will never let her go.”

My laugh was humorless. I refused to give her the satisfaction of a reaction. Even though my body and soul surged with wrathful possessiveness, right on cue.