Page 36

And in the distance, I heard the sound of running feet and familiar voices calling my name.

"What's going on here?" A young man from the college group pushed forward, his friends flanking him. "Miss, are you okay?"

"She's fine," one of Xavier's men said smoothly, intercepting him. "Just a family disagreement."

"I'm not fine!" I shouted, my voice cracking with desperation. "They're trying to take me against my will!"

The college student's face hardened. "Hey, back off. She said no."

But even as more people gathered, I could see how this would play out.

Xavier's men were professionals–they'd have some story ready, some explanation that would make this look like a domestic dispute rather than an attempted kidnapping.

My mother would use her charm, maybe even some subtle magick to convince everyone I was having some kind of breakdown.

And I'd disappear back into the life I'd died escaping.

That's when the shadows deepened.

Not gradually, but all at once, like someone had dimmed the streetlights. The gathering crowd shivered and looked around in confusion, an inexplicable chill running down their spines.

"I believe," a voice said from behind Xavier's men, smooth as aged whiskey and twice as dangerous, "the lady asked you to let her go."

Pride materialized into the circle of light cast by the streetlamp and everything about him screamed apex predator. Gone was the vulnerable man from the café, replaced by something timeless and lethal that made the hired muscle take an instinctive step backward.

"Sir, this is a private family matter," one of them started, but Pride's gaze silenced him mid-sentence.

"Family?" His lips curved into a smile that held no warmth whatsoever. "How fascinating. And you are?"

"Her fiancé," Xavier said, puffing out his chest in that alpha posture that had once intimidated me. Now it just looked pathetic compared to the controlled menace radiating from Pride.

"Fiancé." Pride repeated the word like it tasted foul. "To a dead woman?"

The words hit the gathering crowd like a physical blow. Several people gasped. My mother blinked with confusion.

"She's not dead," Xavier snarled. "She's standing right there."

"Oh, but she is." Another voice joined us–Lust appearing at Pride's shoulder with that predatory grace I'd come to recognize. "Or rather, she was. I have it on excellent authority."

"What are you talking about?" My mother's voice was sharp with alarm.

Pride advanced on Xavier, and I watched the alpha werewolf instinctively shrink back. "Hazel Blackwood died several weeks ago. Murdered, in fact. Strangled and buried in a shallow grave."

"That's impossible," my mother snapped, but her voice wavered.

"Is it?" A third voice, lazy and amused, came from the shadows near the fountain.

Envy materialized like smoke, his casual posture belying the danger in his eyes.

"Because last I checked, murder tends to void most legal contracts.

Something about the victim no longer being available to fulfill their obligations. "

The college students were backing away now, phones out, some filming. This had gone from a family dispute to something much stranger and more threatening.

"You're lying," Xavier said, but sweat was beading on his forehead. "She's right here. I can smell her, touch her–"

His hand reached for me again and that's when Lust moved.

I didn't even see him cross the distance. One moment he was standing beside Pride, the next Xavier was on his knees, Lust's hand wrapped around his throat with casual, terrifying ease.

"Touch her again," Lust said conversationally, "and I'll tear your throat out with my teeth."

The air itself seemed to thicken with supernatural energy. Several of the bystanders fled, suddenly convinced they wanted to be anywhere else.

"Enough," my mother commanded, her own magick beginning to gather, silver light wreathing her hands. "I don't know what game you're playing, but that is my daughter, and she's coming home with me."

"Your daughter?" Pride's laugh was like breaking glass. "Your daughter died because of the contract you forced her into. The magnificent woman who stands before you is something else entirely."

"I brought her back," he continued, his voice carrying an authority that made even my mother hesitate. "From the Underworld itself. Which means any earthly contracts binding Hazel Blackwood died with her."

The words hit my mother like a physical blow. Her carefully composed features cycled through disbelief, fury, and something that might have been fear.

"That's not possible," she whispered.

"I am Pride," he said simply, and suddenly the very air around him seemed to thicken with otherworldly power. "I am the Undersecretary of Hell, and I am telling you that your daughter fulfilled her contract in the most final way possible. Death."

One of Xavier's men made the mistake of reaching for something inside his jacket. Envy was on him before he could complete the motion, moving with inhuman speed to pin the man against a tree.

"Weapons?" Envy asked with mock disappointment. "How ridiculous."

The remaining hired muscles exchanged nervous glances. Whatever they'd been paid, it wasn't enough to face down supernatural beings who could move faster than human eyes could track.

"This is insane," Xavier gasped, Lust's grip still tight around his throat. "She's my mate. My property."

"Property?" The voice that spoke was new, deeper, carrying the weight of centuries. I turned as a pale figure approached from the street, moving with fluid grace despite his imposing frame. Even in the dim light, his presence made the other sins look like children.

Gluttony had arrived.

"Did I hear correctly?" he continued, his voice deceptively mild. "Did this...creature...just refer to a person as property?"

The remaining bystanders fled. Whatever supernatural instincts humans possessed were screaming at them to get as far away as possible.

Xavier's face was turning purple under Lust's grip, but he managed to choke out, "Ancient...rights...pack law..."

"Pack law." Gluttony smiled, revealing teeth just a little too sharp to be human. "How delightfully primitive. But the Sins are older."

He gestured almost lazily, and Xavier's remaining men simply...left. Not running, not fighting, just walking away with blank expressions as if they'd suddenly remembered urgent appointments elsewhere.

"Compulsion," my mother breathed, recognition and fear warring in her voice.

"Vampiric persuasion," Gluttony corrected gently. "Though I prefer to think of it as...aggressive suggestion."

Lust released Xavier, who collapsed to his knees gasping. The alpha looked around wildly, realizing for the first time that he was completely outmatched.

"You can't do this," my mother said, her composure finally cracking. "She's bound by sacred contracts. The coven's survival depends on–"

"The coven's survival," Pride interrupted, "depends on you finding a new plan. Because Hazel Blackwood is dead, and Juniper Grey owes you nothing."

"She's still my daughter!"

"Is she?" Gluttony drew nearer, and even the streetlights seemed to dim in response to his presence. "Because from where I stand, I see a woman who was murdered for trying to escape the life you forced on her. A woman who clawed her way out of her own grave to build something new."

His pale eyes fixed on my mother with predatory intensity. "A woman who is now under our protection."

"You can't–" Xavier started to say, struggling to his feet.

"Can't what?" Envy appeared behind him, moving with that unnatural silence. "Can't protect someone from her murderer? Can't ensure she's safe from people who view her as property?"

Xavier spun around, and I saw something that looked like genuine fear in his eyes for the first time. "I didn't murder anyone. She's standing right there!"

"Breathing," Pride agreed. "But not because of any kindness on your part."

The crimson energy that had been building in my chest throughout this confrontation suddenly flared brighter, visible to me if no one else. But the sins...they all turned to look at me at the same time, as if they could sense it.

"She's unstable," Lust murmured, and there was concern in his voice. "The emotional trauma, combined with the magickal confrontation..."

"Get her out of here," Gluttony ordered. "Now."

But Xavier wasn't done. As the sins focused on me, he made his move–lunging not for me, but for the nearest escape route. His werewolf speed carried him past the fountain and toward the street before any of them could react.

"Let him go," Pride said when Envy started to give chase. "We know where to find him."

“No,” I grit out, unable to stop the pressure in my chest, and no longer caring what the consequences were. Ever since the incident with Lust—and the others—my body felt like an overcharged battery, sparking and sizzling with too much power.

“Juniper?” Lust asked. “What–”

Hot magic spiked in the air, standing the hairs on my arms up and freezing me. It was familiar magic, and yet not. What was going on?

Xavier felt it too. He tried to bolt, but Envy and Greed grabbed him, twin shit-eating grins on their faces.

Panic twisted Xavier’s features as Greed twisted one of his arms behind his back.

“Haz …? Help me?”

How dare he. How dare he.

Had he stopped when I’d begged for mercy? Had he stopped when his hands had choked the life from me?

It was too much.

His pathetic groveling.

My mother’s smug superiority.

Something inside of me broke.

The air cracked.

Not loud. Not thunderous. Just...final.

It rippled out from me in a wave, in a pulse of something red and jagged and primordial.

The kind of power that doesn’t ask for permission.

It punished. It took. This kind of magick should have been impossible–I hadn’t had penetrative sex yet.

My powers should still be under lock and key.

But they’d been growing, ever since I’d met the Sins.