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The moment fresh air washed against my flesh, I sucked it in greedily. Rushing down the porch steps, I rushed toward the wrought-iron gates as wind whipped my hair against my cheeks. The weeping willow trees’ billowing limbs created a haunting tune as Nyota’s shocked features came into view.

Nyota, who’d been leaning against the hood of her car, straightened. Shock distorted her delicate features as she watched me rushing blindly toward the closed gates. Her mouth formed an O as dainty, dark brows pushed up on her forehead.

I didn’t waste time opening the gates. I’d have gladly climbed them if necessary to flee the House of Witches. The moment I reached the fence, both sides flung wide open as the soft sound of Talia’s amusement flowed on the breeze as I bolted from her property.

“We’re leaving, Nyota!” I ordered, breathless from the dash through the mansion. “Now!”

The horror stamped on Nyota’s face almost brought a hysterical bout of laughter to my lips. If I hadn’t been in a dead panic, I’d have stopped and captured a picture of the way her entire face contorted from shock to horror as Rhys’ thunderous bellow followed behind my dread fueled mad dash to the tiny but fast as fuck Aston Martin DB12 she’d driven here.

She remained frozen as her dark head moved between me and her belligerent brother. Wide, horrified eyes grew larger, if even possible, as Nyota realized I was serious. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, drowning out all the other sounds as I moved as quickly as my legs could carry me.

“Nyota, now!” I shouted, then realized why she wasn’t moving. Rhys had issued a direct order, which meant she wasn’t coming. It should’ve stung to know she chose her family over me. It didn’t. I was never anyone’s first choice, not even when it came to friends.

With the passenger door of her car unlatched, I saw the keys dangling from the ignition. When she stepped out of the path of the vehicle, I dove over the center console. Turning the engine over, I smashed my foot on the gas, flooring it.

The rumble of the engine tore through the silent neighborhood as the vehicle shot forward. As I accelerated down the street, Nyota’s cry of anger was drowned out over the hum of the sleek machine. Turning onto the next road, I felt the raw horsepower beneath the hood of the sleek vehicle as it zipped past houses and four-way stops, none of which I stopped for.

I didn’t need to look in the rearview mirror to know Rhys was already giving chase. He’d made his intentions rather clear before the witches had entered the chamber earlier. The bastard wanted to hold me prisoner. I had no intention of allowing it to happen.

A horn blasted as I tore through an intersection. I swerved, narrowly missing a car, only to slam on the brakes as Rhys materialized in front of me.

The harsh lines of his face sent fear crashing through me as he stared through the windshield. A cold sweat spread over my overheated flesh as my heart thundered violently against my ribcage. Peering through the back window, I glanced in the direction I’d come from, finding Cole standing inches from the back bumper.

Rhys’ stare darkened as he placed both palms on the vehicle’s hood, leaning forward. The side of his mouth curved upward in a devilish smile, like a cat who’d cornered a mouse. With a smug grin, he waited for me to react.

My jaw clenched as I closed my mouth, fighting against the urge to run the bastard over and back up to do it all over again. My shoulders sank with defeat, and I exhaled before stepping outside, awaiting my fate at his hands.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” he spat out, venom thick in his words.

I placed my hands on my hips before I arched one eyebrow. Rhys’ lips twitched with suppressed amusement. I watched as he pushed off the hood, then strolled toward where I stood with the door protecting me. Instead of moving towards me, he placed his hands on the hood, caging me against the vehicle with his body. His massive frame made the sports car appear small and insignificant.

Sounds pricked my ears as the thud of a car door closed. Nyota and Cole’s voices erupted next, then hushed as Rhys and I glared at one another in challenge.

“Home,” I snapped, then glanced beside us to determine the other two’s location. “Where will I not be going today? Anywhere with you.” With my arms folded across my chest, I tapped a foot impatiently, somehow ignoring the panic swelling within my chest.

“Is that so?” Rhys challenged, his eyes sparkling with amusement. Lifting from the car, he wordlessly dared me to move.

“Damn right.” Dragging my teeth along my bottom lip, I held his hypnotic gaze. “I am not beholden to an archaic law that has yet to catch up with the modern world. I may be your silver, but, as far as I’m concerned, it means nothing. No, it means less than nothing to me.” The muscles in his jaw flexed as he mirrored my pose. I stepped back, turning from his angry face, but his hand seized my shoulder, pulling me forcefully against him.

“It matters little what you or I think about our connection. You belong to me, and our souls are intertwined. Ask your sister what it means to give your silver to another. If she tells you she doesn’t know, she’s fucking lying to you. Once she explains it to you, I expect you to fall into line like a good girl for me. If you make me chase you, you won’t like me, Silversmith.”

“You assume I like you?” I questioned through clenched teeth. “Very conceited of you to assume anything about me, Van Helsing. My sentiments toward you aren’t gentle. It’s a little vicious and a lot more malicious, I fear.” The smile that spread over his face gave me a moment of pause.

Ian warned me against raising Rhys’ ire since the three of them wouldn’t be able to intervene on my behalf without starting a fight. As alphas of respected houses, I valued their advice, even if they couldn’t protect me from Rhys or my stupid, na?ve choices. If they intervened, it could be seen as a slight against Rhys. Taking sides in a battle was never ideal, not when you’d vowed or aligned your houses with another.

“Until the threat to you is handled, I suggest you get control of your emotions,” he rebuked, as if I were a petulant child throwing a fit over a lollipop.

“My emotions aren’t your concern, and neither am I,” I hissed between clenched teeth. His hands balled into tight fists at his side, as if he wanted to grab and shake sense into me.

“If you’re not staying inside my house tonight, you’ll be with the other Silversmiths, Remington. I’m not asking you. This is me telling you. You’re not safe inside that shithole you’ve been calling home.” His cheek jerked, then a tic started pulsing in it.

“I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing it since the day I left home.”

“This isn’t a debate, Love. You either come with me or join your family in the chateau on the edge of town. If you won’t do what’s best for you, I will.”

The way he spoke about my home sent anger scorching through me. Not that I could argue against what he’d said. The house was a work in progress, one we’d done our best to fix up with what we had on hand. But it was still my home.

Snorting, I stepped closer as the anger percolated like a kettle brewing early morning coffee. “If you hadn’t frozen every cent Nyx and I had, we’d have a place safe enough for us to stay. If you truly cared about my safety, you wouldn’t have ensured I had nothing. Why did you freeze our accounts?” The fact that I was able to conceal the pain I felt in my chest from entering my voice was a miracle.

“Because I could. I fucking wanted to. And I enjoyed it,” he shot back, eyes thinning. Rhys stepped closer, aggression hovering thickly in the air with his presence. Fingering the lace of the thin camisole shirt I wore, he smirked. Noticing the shiver rushing from my head down to my toes, the smile grew wolfish. “You should probably stop by your house and get dressed in something less . . . simple.” Spinning on his heel, he shot off orders to Nyota and Cole over his shoulder as he walked toward the waiting vehicles. “With me, both of you. She can walk home and beg someone to transport her to her family’s estate. Neither of you is to go near them, no matter how much she begs. I’ll not give them a chance to hurt our line more than they already have.” With that, Rhys slid into the passenger side of a waiting Land Rover, slamming the door behind him, leaving me gawking at his commands.

I spun on my heel and stared around at the faces of those who had emerged from their houses, watching what was being said between us. Comforting myself, I rubbed my chilled arms while beginning to walk toward my house.

“Other direction, Remington,” Nyota muttered with tension straining her delicate features. “Five blocks south, then three to the west.”

“Nyota,” Cole growled in a stern tone. “He’s spoken. You gave your vow. Don’t make us question where your true loyalty lies.”

Cole’s gaze slid to mine with a blank expression on his face. Without a single word, he strode toward the driver’s door of another waiting SUV. Nyota followed directly behind him, glancing back with regret in her stare. Once both were inside, it sped off, leaving me to turn, eyeing the one Rhys occupied.

Swallowing down the uneasiness at finding the seat he’d sat in empty, I turned at the sound of masculine laughter. Dark, wispy tendrils slid around my wrists, then covered my mouth as I was hoisted into the air. Floating over the pavement, I felt nausea churning in my abdomen.

The tendrils caressed the exposed flesh they touched, like a lover. The sound of a vehicle’s door opening jerked my gaze to it. The driver’s, along with the passenger door, was open. Whatever held me drifted my squirming form toward the waiting SUV, planting me into the passenger seat. It yanked the seatbelt over my chest, pressing against the swell of my abdomen as it secured me into my seat.

Turning to the driver’s side, I watched in shock as Rhys materialized in it with a smug, condescending smile on his sensual lips. Both doors shut, then locked as he pressed his foot down on the gas pedal.

“You didn’t honestly think I’d let you walk home alone,” he stated in a raspy tenor.

My lips parted as I tried to form words. I knew Rhys was powerful. I never imagined he was this strong. I should’ve expected it after he’d kept it hidden. It still sent me spinning about how to respond.

“Why?”

“Are you not paying attention? Or do you just lack a fucking brain to compute how dangerous this town has become for you?” Rhys was gifted. Gifted with the ability to make my temper go from zero to sixty in seconds. It was a talent he excelled at.

“I’ve tried to leave this place.” That caused his attention to abandon the roadway and focus on me. “Did you expect me to sit on my porch sulking, waiting for you to realize you’d made a colossal mistake by leaving me? Or maybe you thought I’d be a good little bitch and sit around, waiting for you to come fetch me?”

Rhys exhaled slowly, his knuckles whitening from his grip on the steering wheel. “It wouldn’t matter where you went, Remington. I’d find you and bring you back.”

“You assume I’d be that easy to find? If I wanted to disappear, I’d vanish without a trace. I’m trained in doing so. Remember?” Turning his dark head, he glared at me as he came to a stop in front of my ruined house.

The entire front porch had collapsed. In front of the large picture window, limbs from the oak tree had fallen, breaking through the window. The roof looked deflated, as if it had collapsed.

“Call your family. I’m not leaving here until they arrive.”

Licking my suddenly dry lips, I did my best to ignore the panic squeezing my heart. Rhys obviously wasn’t afraid of my siblings. I’d assumed they’d be able to hold up against him and his friends, but I wasn’t sure of that anymore.

Rhys had the entire town at his back, all of whom wanted us removed by any means necessary. My siblings were immortal, but there were worse things than death. Things that I was sure he’d considered several times since my mother’s miraculous return from the grave.

“I’ve instructed them to remain out of sight until I can discover how to leave with them.”

“There’s no world where that happens, Remington. You’re not leaving me or this town. I forbid you from doing so.”

“You forbid it?” Anger snarled its head, rising with a vengeance. “There’s no world where I give a flying fuck what you think or want. If I could escape you, I’d already be gone.”

Without warning, my seatbelt vanished. I was lifted, then sat in his lap. Palm landing on my throat, his thumb ran along my jawline as he studied me from beneath his ink-colored lashes.

“What the hell . . . how the hell?” The words slipped past the trembling of my lips as the grip on my jaw tightened.

“Call your fucking sister or you can ride home on my lap. I don’t care which you do so long as you do one or the other. Now.” He rolled his hips, revealing his hardened cock against my need. A tremor rushed through me as heat blossomed in my abdomen.

Rhys’ thumb brushed over my trembling lips as his face darkened. My nipples pushed against the thin top I wore, hardening. Tongue snaking out, I wetted my lips. The chemistry we shared was unstable, fragile like a bomb about to detonate and leave the lab in disarray.

Rhys leaned forward, forcing my hands to his shoulders as our chests went flush against one another. Reaching over, he turned the music up. ‘Granite’ by Sleep Token flooded the cab of the Land Rover.

“Should I take your inability to call your family as permission to drive you . . .” rocking his thick, hardened length against me as he spoke, “. . . all the way home?”

A breathy whimper broke from my lips as my eyes closed. “I don’t have a phone.”

“Pity,” he uttered hoarsely.

Vessel’s voice drifted through my ears like he was making love to my mind. Rhys’ warmth created a turbulent storm raging against every nerve ending, igniting a fire between my thighs. It scorched through my center, spreading to my abdomen. It was too much and yet not enough to ease the desire coursing through my veins.

“Would you like to use mine, or am I taking you with me?”

“Please,” I whispered as I fought to remember why this was a really bad idea.

I despised how easily Rhys made me forget how angry I was at him. One moment, I wanted to murder him. In the next, I wanted to murder him and take his very nice, very satisfying cock to use on myself.

“Which are you asking me for?”

“Phone,” I managed past the need humming through my system. Giving myself a mental shake, I accepted the phone he produced. Dialing Winchester’s number, I sent a text message explaining who it was and what was occurring, then blocked the number. “Let me go.”

“Never,” he growled as he opened the door. It forced me to wrap my legs around his narrow waist. “Curl your head into my throat, Love. I’ll ensure you make it inside before I leave you here.”

“You don’t need to wait for my family to get here. There are wards inside . . .” Wards that had already failed to prevent the knights from entering. His soft expel of breath told me he’d been thinking the same thing.

“I’m not leaving until I’m sure you’re safe. Don’t worry. I won’t murder your bloodline tonight. If I wanted them dead, you’d be wearing black, mourning their loss already. Rather tempting, considering how lovely you look in black.”

Opening my front door, he made a strangled sound as he allowed my body to slide down against his until my feet planted on the solid ground. Swallowing past the need thickening in my throat, I parted my lips to speak, but he emitted a hiss, akin to what a snake sounded like before striking, silencing the plea perched on the tip of my tongue.

“If I were you, I’d pack a bag. Go before I change my mind and take you home with me,” he ordered roughly.