Page 3 of Wicked Ends

Not quite the dungeon I was expecting. There are no manacles, no chains.

It’s a conference room. Big, full of leather chairs and a huge table. The windows are shuttered, but the room is lit by the recessed pot lights in the ceiling.

Helena enters, the others right behind her. They close the door, lock it, and fan out to stand guard.

I’m trapped. Outnumbered, outgunned, and out-magicked.

Helena takes a seat at the head of the table, steeples her fingers, and studies me. “You’re valuable, Rose. You have more power than you know.”

“Please say, ‘Together we could rule the galaxy’. Please.”

Helena leans forward. “Once I’m the head of the Blood Moon Coven instead of Ash, I will have the Accord. I will control the blood contract.”

“Good luck with that. Ash put you down once already. Or did you forget?” Reminding Helena of her humiliation in the dining hall is probably a bad idea. But I still need to stall, to give Ollie enough time to get to Ash.

She shrugs. “He won’t have a choice.”

It’s then that I realize I haven’t felt anything from the mark on my arm. It’s been still this whole time. And since Ash can apparently feel what I feel, I’m certain he would know what’s going on, or at least that I’m in trouble. He’d be here already, wouldn’t he? Maybe he doesn’t care. Maybe he’s running to save himself. But Ash doesn’t strike me as the kind who runs.

I force myself to look casual. “What are you going to do? Or did you already do it?”

Helena’s smile is deadly sweet, like white oleander. “Something like that.”

Two

Rose

“So, what’s the plan?” I ask. “You’re going to hold me here while you go after Ash? Gotta admit, it’s not exactly the evil mastermind move I expected.”

“I don’t have to explain myself to you.” She stands. “Ash has already been incapacitated to a certain extent. Long enough for us to take you into custody, Then there’s nothing left but to finish the job.”

Custody. As if she’s some power-tripping cop. Except I haven’t broken any laws, and she’s about to commit murder. A couple of times. Because there’s no way she’s going to let me live.

She sweeps to the door, then turns back, eyeing me up like a fly she wants to tear the wings off. “Don’t bother trying to escape. This room will hold you.” She twists her wrist, murmurs something, and my skin feels like tiny needles are pricking it all over.

Helena’s lapdogs follow her out, leaving me alone in the room. The door slams, clicking shut behind them. The lock engages,and the door starts to glow with magic, covering the seams of the doorway.

I just sit there, staring at the table, trying to think, but my heart palpitations are making it difficult.

I push up to my feet, fighting through the panic. The first thing I do is try the door, but of course it doesn’t budge.

I press my ear to the door, listening, hearing nothing other than my own breathing.

Except as I listen again, now there are voices. Loud, angry, and not Helena’s.

“Let us through!”

Lucien. I’d know that icy rage anywhere.

Another voice, deep and angry. Soren. “You really want to do this right here?”

A third voice, shaky and female. One of the witches from Helena’s crew. “No one gets in. Not even you.”

There’s a scuffle, muffled thuds, something heavy scraping against the wall. I imagine Lucien’s marble-cold hands around someone’s neck, Soren smiling and getting way too into it, like the demon he is. If I weren’t currently the damsel in distress (kill me now), it would almost be hot.

“Lucien!” I yell, pounding on the wood. “Soren! I’m in here!”

The mark flares faintly, then goes quiet. I can’t sense Ash, wherever he is.