Griffin wasn’t going to open a door for her. But…
“Banished,” Valerie whispered.
“We’re not!” Rio instantly denied. “No one told us we were banished from this place!”
They weren’t. Carmichael was. That meant Griffin would be opening a doorway for his brother very, very soon. Only Carmichael wouldn’t be the only one going through that doorway. She schemed. She plotted. “You don’t have to come with me.” If she grabbed Carmichael when he went through the door, she’d still technically be with a shifter. “I can go with—”
Rio snapped to attention, standing up straight and tall. “A henchman doesn’t leave his witch.”
Her eyes were leaking again. “I think I’m also allergic to shifters who can’t shift.”
He smiled at her.
Her chin lifted as Valerie schemed a little more. “Before we go, let’s make sure they remember us, hmm? Give them a show they’ll never forget.”
Edgar gurgled.
“Exactly, my friend. You read my mind.” Her power had returned. The rage and pain she felt fueled her, and she knew just what she would do…
You don’t screw with me.
***
Griffin had opened the portal.
“This is a mistake!” Carmichael spat.
“You come back, and I will kill you. Blood or no blood.”
“I didn’t use the poison! It wasn’t me!”
No one else had known about the poison. Only his brother. Griffin shoved his brother toward the portal. Before Carmichael could go through that doorway, the ground trembled. A hard, wild shaking. What in the hell? Griffin whirled to face the castle. Flames shot from the windows. Smoke billowed into the sky.
“Valerie!” Griffin roared. She was in the castle. Had something happened to her? Were those flames coming from her? Without a hesitation, he tossed Carmichael through the portal, and then he ran toward the castle. As he ran, he transformed, shedding the body of a man and becoming a beast so that he could get to her faster. Faster.
His heart felt as if it were being ripped from his body. Nothing could happen to his mate.
Nothing.
***
“And that’s how you make an exit,” Valerie murmured. She watched as Griffin became a wolf, charging away from her. Warren and Elliott raced with him.
Elliott became a giant bear. Impressive. A grizzly, if she knew her bears. She did.
While Warren became a big, white wolf.
“Are you sure about this?” Rio voice’s held fear.
“Absolutely.” She looped her arm through his and then let out a dramatic cry. “Look, a portal! One that some nice person just conveniently left open for us.” Edgar landed on her shoulder. Valerie frowned down at him. “You think you’re up for the human world?”
Edgar just looked back at her with his black eyes.
“Fine. Whatever. Should be easy enough for you to find worms.” As long as the trip through the portal didn’t kill him. Valerie pulled in a deep breath. She would not glance over her shoulder at the castle. She didn’t need to get one last look at Griffin.
At the mate who’d been hired to kill her.
Why, oh, why was she surprised by another betrayal at this point in her life? She should really be used to them by now. The fact that her chest was aching—well, that was the least of what she deserved. She knew better than to let down her guard.
“I…I think it’s going to hurt you,” Rio whispered.
“It already does.” She gave him a big smile. “I’m used to the pain.”
“Valerie—”
“The human world is waiting for us.” She wouldn’t look back. “Let’s ditch this hell-hole.” They walked through the portal.
She glanced back.
***
The closer he got to the castle, the more the whole thing felt…wrong.
Why wasn’t he smelling the fire? The smoke? Griffin could see the flames shooting into the air, but he couldn’t smell them. And he didn’t feel the heat. He should feel the heat lancing his skin.
He didn’t.
It was almost as if—as if he were just watching video of a fire. Scenes of it. An illusion.
Fucking hell.
Valerie’s words rolled through his mind, her explanation after she’d scared the ever-loving-hell out of Lucinda. “I just made it look as if her hair had fallen out. A wee payback spell. She was being rather unkind at the time, and if she was going to worry so much about what people looked like on the outside, I thought it was only fair that I play around with her outside appearance.”
Valerie could work illusion spells like a true master.
There was no smell to go with the smoke. Because illusions didn’t contain scents. There was no heat from the flames. Because illusions weren’t freaking real.
He stopped. The fire illusion had obviously been created to pull him back to the castle. That meant—
My tricky, beautiful witch. You want me away from something else.
And there was one very dangerous thing out there…something she might want.
He whirled around. Warren and Elliott thundered past him. He didn’t care. He lunged across the earth, desperately trying to get back to the portal. Yet even as he ran, Griffin thought…
Surely she isn’t trying to escape.
She can’t get through the portal without a shifter at her side.
We just mated. She wouldn’t leave me.
Why would she leave me?
Then he saw her. She’d just walked into the portal. He opened his mouth, howling his fury. She was with Rio, her arm looped with the younger shifter’s arm.
That’s how she’s leaving! Dammit.
Another howl burst from him. He surged ahead faster and harder.
Valerie glanced over her shoulder. Her gaze met his. He expected to see satisfaction in her dark eyes. Rage. As if she’d been playing with him all along. As if she’d just been jerking around the desperate, obsessed shifter king.
But…
She was crying. Tears were on her cheeks, and pain was in her eyes.
The portal closed.
He howled again, because suddenly, her pain was his.
Oh, the fuck no, baby, you aren’t getting away. Not that easily.
***
“Please be okay.”
Valerie cracked open one eyelid. She found an upside-down Rio staring at her.
“You’re okay!” A wide smile split his upside-down face. And then—then he hauled her upright. So fast and so hard that her head nearly split open, and she seriously considered turning the guy into a frog, just for shits and giggles. But he wrapped her in a giant bear hug, and she decided to forgive him.
“You were out for hours!” Rio squeezed her harder. “I was afraid you were going to die. I tried to go get help, but any time I walked away from you, Edgar started pecking at me.”
She slanted a quick glance at Edgar. He seemed to preen. Good boy. If her enemies had found her while she was weak and unprotected, well, that would have been a shit storm. “You can stop hugging me.”
Rio pulled back. Flushed.
“I’m fine.” Total lie. Who cared? She heard the roar of waves. The pounding of the surf. And beneath her feet—ah, yes, that was sand. Wonderful, wonderful sand. She’d been trying like hell to work her location spell before she’d been knocked unconscious, and if the spell had worked, then the precious sand beneath her bare toes—where were her shoes?—well, the sand meant she was in Key West. Exactly where she wanted to be.
Humans didn’t know it, but paranormals liked to party in the Florida Keys. The Lord of the Dark, the ruler of all the very baddest things out there—he even had a private island close by. She was counting on Luke Thorne to help her out because Valerie suspected she’d soon have an angry shifter king on her trail.
“What are we going to do?” Rio glanced around, as if he expected an army to appear on the deserted beach and attack them. Hardly going to happen. Hopefully.
>
She wiggled her fingers. The magic flowed so much better—stronger and cleaner—now that she was away from the shifter realm. She wouldn’t have ever told anyone the truth but…her powers had been hampered in the other realm. Now, though, she was back to full force.
Watch out, world. I’m back in action. “First, we get clothes. We blend.” A finger wiggle in his direction had the guy getting jeans, a black shirt, and a seriously stylish pair of kicks. She also went ahead and gave his hair a new cut. Makeover time. Now he looked more like a young heartthrob and less like the sad shifter who’d died for her.
Then she wiggled her fingers toward her own body. Hello, sex appeal. She went for a tight top, one that revealed her belly button. A miniscule pair of shorts. Sandals that showed off what she thought were precious toes.
Edgar cawed.
“Yes, go have fun. I’ll call you if I need you.”
He shot into the sky.
Valerie sucked in a deep breath. A breath of free air.
“What…what’s next?”
Ah, now things were going to get fun. “I kill some witches. I take over the council. And I rule the world.” She shrugged. “It will be epic.”
He didn’t look epically thrilled. “What about…Griffin? You’re mated. He’ll come for you.”
Her fingers wiggled. Sparks danced in the air. “Let him come.” He’d find she wasn’t quite so agreeable to him any longer.
Poison her?
Try to kill her?
He’d been working with her enemies all along. What he didn’t know…she had her own allies. Always had. And she would not let his attack go unavenged.
“I hear music,” Rio mumbled.
Her smile stretched. “Of course, you do, darling. When I arrive, there is always a party.”
He blinked.
“Follow me.” And she headed for the music. She loved the Florida Keys. The roar of the waves. The scent of the ocean. The sand beneath her feet.
And the bars that always seemed to be open.
She’d picked this place in particular, though, because it was a hangout for her kind. The bad ones. The ones who didn’t give a shit about anything or anyone. Daybreak. Her favorite dive bar. She could see the ramshackle building with its torchlights glowing. The bar was hardly anything fancy. Why waste time and money on being fancy when the place was right on the beach? No sense competing with that kind of beauty.
She sashayed past the bouncer. Waved her fingers back toward Rio. “He’s with me.”
Rio straightened. Tried to look tough. Actually succeeded a bit when he hardened his jaw and narrowed his eyes.
Then they were entering the club. Music pounded. Bodies gyrated. Voices rose and fell and then—
Silence.
She did know how to capture everyone’s attention.
Rio sidled closer. “You sure I shouldn’t be standing in front of you?”
The not-so-shifter had definite protective instincts.
She patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’ve got this.”
A heavily muscled, heavily tattooed man pulled himself from the crowd. His eyes were pitch black, and his hair was a thick, wild tumble around a face that could only be termed dangerous. “Valerie.” His booming voice shook the bar as he closed in on her. With every step he took, his tattoos seemed to swirl and move. Most of his tats were of snakes. They seemed to practically slither. To hiss.
“Oh, shit,” Rio whispered. It was the first time she’d ever heard the guy curse.
The man approaching them raked a quick glance over Rio, then focused back on Valerie. “You dare to walk into this place? My place?”
Rio tried to slide in front of her. She shoved him back. Smiled at the bar owner. “Of course. Don’t I have an open invitation?”
The whispers came, as they always did.
She’s the witch. They say she’s crazy.
Valerie Storm made a deal with the devil. Lost her soul.
Only works black magic.
She’s such a badass.
I would totally fuck her.
“Stefan?” Valerie prompted when the tattooed, muscle man just stared at her and his snakes slithered.
“Are they supposed to do that?” Rio whispered. Only his whisper was, as usual, really, really loud. “Since when do tattoos move?”
“They do that,” Stefan replied, his voice sinister, “right before they get ready to strike.”
“Oh God.” Rio’s Adam’s apple clicked. “Can they do that?”
“Hell, yes, kid. Want to see?” Stefan’s rumbling laughter came just before one of the snakes leapt right off his arm and shot toward Rio’s terrified face.
Bored now, Valerie’s hand flew out. She caught the snake right behind its head. The creature’s fangs were open, and its elliptical eyes locked right on her. “We don’t bite friends,” she chided the snake. Her gaze slid to Stefan. “You should know better.”
Stefan smiled at her. A grin that was killer. “Had to make sure it was you.”
The snake hissed.
She hissed back.
“There are stories, you see.” The crowd was dead silent. “Rumors. You’re supposed to be dead.”
“Do I look dead?” She let the snake go. It vanished in a blink, then reappeared on Stefan’s arm.
His gaze raked her. “Dead sexy.”
She would not smile at the charmer.
“Stories say you’re dead…” Stefan paused. “Or mated to a shifter. Mated and trapped in his land. Your power is gone.”
Oh, now that was just insulting. “Want to see some power?”
Everyone held their breath.
She wiggled her fingers. Fucking blew the roof off that bar. Stunned silence and then…
Cheers. Laughter. Applause.
“She’s back,” Stefan called out. Then he was grabbing her, pulling her tightly into his arms, and whispering in her ear, “And just in time, Valerie. Because we’ve got trouble. Terrible fucking trouble.”
She kept her expression haughty. Satisfied. He pulled away from her, and Stefan wore a similar mask. Immediately, his fingers linked with hers. And he began to pull her through the crowd. Drinks were pushed toward her. Hands reached for her.
Stefan’s snakes hissed. “She’s with me.”
Everyone backed away.
Rio had followed. “Um, Valerie—”
They were at the back room. She looked up. The stars were quite lovely overhead. Stefan should thank her for the sky view.
“Put it back,” he ordered. Not a thank you.
Her fingers wiggled. The roof came back. After all, it had only been an illusion. Just like everything else in her world.
“Valerie,” Rio announced again.
“Guard the door,” she told him. “I need to get reacquainted with my previous henchman.”
Rio’s eyes doubled. “He’s a henchman?”
Stefan swung around and glowered at her. “Him, too? Seriously?”
“It’s a very exclusive club. You’re both welcome.”
Stefan turned back to the crowd. “The kid is part of my nest,” he bellowed. “If he gets so much as a bruise on him, my snakes will bite every single one of you bastards.”
Rio’s shoulders straightened.
“Very exclusive club.” Valerie nodded again.
Stefan dragged her into the back room. Slammed the door shut. Locked it. He immediately put his shoulders against the wooden door and crossed his arms over his powerful chest. “Where the hell have you been?”
No one could overhear the words they said. A helpful witch—her—had enchanted the place long ago for him. “In shifter land.”
He cursed.
“Mated to the king.”
His eyes closed.
“So…I guess that part of the story is true.”
His eyes remained closed.
“But I’m back!” Ta da.
Stefan didn’t appear excited. His eyes opened. For a moment, his eyes looked just like a snake?
??s. Elliptical pupils. Ice cold. Evil. “They’re going to kill you. You should have stayed with him.”
“He was going to kill me, too.” Her voice was low, and for the first time in—hell, she couldn’t remember how long—some of her bravado faded. After all, this was Stefan. “He was hired to assassinate me. I thought he was different, but all along, he was just one in a long line.”
A long line of people who hated her. Who wanted her wiped from the planet.
Who thought she was nothing but an evil monster.
“I need the others,” she said, straightening her spine. “We’re going to take down the council. I won’t hide what I am any longer.”
But Stefan gave a slow, sad shake of his head. “You don’t know…” His voice trailed away.
She got a really, really bad feeling in her stomach. “Know what?”
“Fiona is dead.”
Fiona…a wonderfully bad witch known as Fiona the Grim. Fiona had earned the moniker because she spread sadness and sorrow everywhere that she went. Not that Fiona could help it. That was just who she was.
Fiona had also been part of Valerie’s secret team. A team she’d carefully assembled. One that would take out the council. “How?”
“No one knows who the attacker was, but he took her head.”
Valerie sucked in a sharp breath.
“Hurst is gone, too.”
Hurst? He’d been one of the oldest witches to ever walk the earth. “No one could catch him off-guard.”
“Someone did. He burned in his bedroom. Tied to his bed.”
No, that didn’t make sense. “He would have just used magic to cut any ropes.”
Stefan’s eyes flared, the pupils shifting between those of a snake and those of a man. “Not if the ropes themselves were magic. Not if a very powerful witch was the one who imprisoned him.”
She sucked in a sharp breath. “Someone is killing my allies.”
His face tensed. “It’s not safe for you to be in the open. We need to hide you.”
Her chin lifted. “I hide from no one.”
“They got to Hurst. They took out Fiona. You were counting on their magic to help you, and without them, you’re going to be weak.”
“I am never weak.”
He stepped away from the door. His hands fell to his sides as he closed in on her. She wouldn’t stiffen. Wouldn’t.