Page 128 of Dark Flame

“Magick leaves signatures; it’s how I found Harlow the other day.” The sudden silence is deafening, atick, tick, tickfrom across the room telling me how little time I might have. After an agonizing moment of planning two deaths, Morgan opens her eyes with an irritated huff. “They’re not anyone from the coven, which means they’re outsiders and I can’t sense them. It’s Dark, though. And strong.”

“So she was taken?”

The thought shifts to the primal side of me. The side where every thought shuts down, leaving me with a very basic focus: to hunt the bastards, to destroy them, and to reclaim my Bride.

Harlow. Hellion, answer me. Be okay.

The bond is silent. No emotions. No thoughts.

Fuck.

It unlatches the final switch, freeing the monster within—and his determination to kill.

Whoever thought to take my Bride is fuckingdead. They’ll be destroyed, ripped apart, and I will bemerciless.

I head out of the back room. I’ll trace her scent. I’ll follow the bond. I’ll find her.

The witch calls after me, running to catch up, but the monster doesn’t care. She’s a witch and any witch outside Harlow is the enemy.

“I’ll contact the coven. We’ll find her. We’ll get her back.”

I don’t reply, my mind already gone, searching.

By the shop’s entrance, utter and complete loss punches me in the stomach. Grief without an explanation, a cruel twist of the empty cavity where my heart once beat. Now, a useless organ long inoperative and only brought to life by its mate.

Fifty

HARLOW

Every flashof my childhood flits through my mind. I focus on the way I felt during them—happy—and the devastation when learning they were a lie.

Darkness slinks up my spine, curling into me.

The memories that the coven pulled out come up. Therealmemories with myrealfamily. I focus on the relief at having them returned. At reclaiming the past and realizing the present I should be having, and my rage toward these two for taking that from me.

Darkness coils around my neck like a weighted necklace containing all my possibilities.

I recall Alec finding me, hunting me through my hometown, and how terrifying it was being chased by a killer.

Darkness twists down my arms, toward the cuffs.

Then there’s memories of a similar hunt, this time before claiming me. The way I was both turned on and frightened.

Darkness manifests into a slimy, slithering snake-like substance, wrapping my arms of sleeves made of tar.

I focus on the feeling of learning I was his Bride.

Darkness unlocks my fire and my hands warm, responding to the storm of emotions about to take me out.

“That’s impossible.” Not sure who says it, but the two words simply add to the feelings coursing through my body. Thevictoryoh so close. The way it drives me to prove myself to be the monster they insisted on creating.

And now they’ll have to deal with their creation.

Both kinds of magick twine, working together—black and elemental—fusing into one thing—onepowerfulsensation overwhelming my mortal body, my arms now vibrating.

No, wait… It’s not only me. The entire room vibrates. This little cavern they’ve dug out, likely utilizing their earth magick to create a holding cell for a terrified eight-year-old child.

Destroy them. Save yourself