Page 40 of Lunar Desires (Celestial Magic #2)

RILEY

T he damn inquisitor arsehole had betrayed us.

Scratch that. The High Coven had betrayed us, giving us up to the Kingwoods.

Unless this was part of some magnificent double cross to get Marcus out of the woodwork? To cut off his head and watch his house fall, throwing the shadow witches across the globe into disarray.

What if it wasn’t? What if we really were being sacrificed for the greater good?

My brother came to my side, his hands glowing with sunlight. “You ready to take them down, little brother?”

“More than ready,” I answered.

Marcus focused his gaze on us as he moved down the garden path with his daughter.

If it weren’t for him being head of an evil coven, I’d call him handsome. Buzzed silver hair, a chiseled jaw, a light golden complexion like Rihanna’s, and piercing green eyes that seemed to never miss a beat.

He joined Stefan, Rhianna glued to his side with a big pregnant belly and a smirk on her irritating face.

Every hair on my body stood to attention.

“So, this is what he looks like,” Isaac threw out.

Without a mask this time, unlike our first encounter at Aurora Mansion.

“This will bring peace for a while,” Marcus spoke in his unsettling, smoky voice. The arsehole put a hand over his heart. “I swear to not lay a hand on this city or any other as long as the conditions of this deal are upheld.”

What. The. Hell.

Rhianna joined in. “I like this fella.” She jutted a thumb at Stefan, who stared dead ahead, his face now unreadable.

Anytime you want to yank the rug out from under these scumbags…

Rhianna flicked her blonde bob. “But the minute the agreement’s breached, we push the big red button.”

“You need not worry about that.” Stefan finally spoke.

She stuck out her tongue out at me like a petulant child.

His child’s in her belly…

“You’re really doing this, sir?” Jake addressed his superior. “What did you do? Switch off the cannons and horns? Bow down and lick their fucking boots?”

“Mind yourself, agent.” A curt response indeed. “And if you try dissenting?—”

“It’ll be bad,” Rhianna cut him off. “After all, we control shades. We hold all the cards.” She flipped us the bird this time.

Fabulous. Just what we needed. Not only did her kind send shades into the world, but they were also wrangling the creatures into doing their bidding.

Oh, the grim possibilities. And I guess it was only a matter of time before this became a thing.

Isaac returned double middle fingers, then held out his hands, palms pointed outward.

The shades recoiled, hissing in panic at his marks.

“And we can incinerate the fuckers,” he countered.

“You’ll do no such thing,” Stefan cut in.

“Says who? You?” Isaac looked him up and down. “Fuck off. You’ve got no power over me. I was born to do this. You simply stole the job from my family.”

I firmly agreed, equally indignant.

“Oi!” Rhianna jabbed a finger in Stefan’s direction. “Tell these dickheads this is serious.”

“It is serious,” he said with gross compliance. “Do not condemn innocent lives.”

Rhianna nodded. “Listen to the ugly git.”

How did this happen? How did the High Coven go from hunting the shadow witches to being their puppets? I get they wanted to protect people, but to hand us over like this? To shift from one position to another within the space of day? Nah. I wasn’t buying it. There had to be more to this. A ruse.

Surely, the High Coven didn’t trust any word the Kingwoods spewed from their deceitful mouths.

All this time, Marcus kept his attention on me and Isaac. He applied pressure to my defensive layers, letting fear creep in.

Oh, God. We were screwed.

His presence brought extra shadows to the street, making the world around me wither, along with my resolve.

“You’re finally mine,” he said. “The Sun. The Moon.”

Drake growled. “You’re not touching them.”

“Amen!” Jake barked.

What about the city? I knew for a fact they’d make good on their threats if we didn’t comply. Unless, you know, Plan B was about to drop.

Please have a Plan B, I thought at Stefan.

He didn’t. He simply stepped back, gesturing toward us. “Take them. Stick to your promises. Agent Jake? Get in the car.”

Jake took a step back. “No.”

“Now. That’s an order.”

“I won’t leave them here, sir.”

Instead of repeating himself, Stefan shrugged.

No, no, no. He wasn’t leaving us here like this.

“Stefan, please…” I implored.

With the same unreadable expression on his face, he ducked into the car.

By Hecate, this wasn’t happening.

The white car drove off, leaving us alone on the street with the enemy.

“Now then,” Marcus said. “Time to go home. A glorious evening awaits.”

Before we could even think about fighting, Marcus summoned magic to his hands, shadows swimming in the blue energy.

“Paralyze!”

He clapped out the spell and my body froze.