AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Shit,” he hissed.
Before either of them could move, the witch stepped back, uttered a word—and power punched into the symbol, making it flare bright neon red. The glare illuminated the witch’s face, and Hazel gasped.
“Selene,” she whispered, barely audible. “I thought—” She shook her head, collecting herself. Her eyes met his, and she said so quietly only he would hear it, “The clock is ticking. I’ll try to stun her with a spell. Remember, I need her alive.”
He nodded and made space for her to step out first, then Hazel eased around the edge, hand raised and muttering a spell, her eyes trained on Selene.
He saw the plank of wood, half-hidden in the dirt, a second before Hazel stepped on it. His hiss of warning came too late. Her shoe crunched down on it, breaking the thin plank, and the crack of it echoed loudly in the arena.
Several things happened at once.
Selene whipped her head around, her eyes locking on Hazel. Tallak rushed forward, intending to lunge at Selene. Hazel stumbled over the plank, the spell she cast missing the other witch.
And a gunshot rang out a split second before pain exploded in Tallak’s side.
The impact of the bullet hurling him to the side, he tripped over a dent in the floor and went down hard. Hazel’s scream filled the air. Lifting his head, he saw her throw a powerful spell at the figure who’d stepped out of the shadows, holding the gun she’d shot him with—Juneau.
That fucking bitch.
The old witch jerked as the spell hit her, dropped the gun, and keeled over, landing with a thud on the ground.
“No!” Selene screamed.
Her face contorted with hatred, she lashed out with her magic—throbbing with the residual power she’d raised with the blood sacrifice—and struck at Hazel. Uttering a grunt, Hazel fell to her knees, gasping for air as if hit in the solar plexus.
Tallak’s vision drowned in red-hot rage, his demon nature roaring at seeing his mate hurt. The adrenaline surge gave his body the push he needed to get up off the ground, to move past the pain eating at his insides and the blood spilling from his wound.
But Selene reached Hazel before he did. The blade of the dagger in her hand glinted in the light of the candles as she brought it down on the witch he loved, still choking on air and unable to defend herself.
He had to watch, in fucking slow motion, how the bitch stabbed his intended mate, once, twice, three times. Hazel’s eyes flared wide, drops of her own blood sprinkling her pale face.
Then he was at her side. Was close enough to lunge at Selene, slap the dagger out of her hand, and slam her to the ground with his fingers wrapped tight around the bitch’s throat. Selene made a grunting-gurgling sound, her face turning red, her hands flailing and blindly grasping at Tallak’s, trying to dislodge him.
The way he held her, she wasn’t even able to utter a sound to say a spell, the panic at being choked probably erasing all thoughts.
I need her alive.
Hazel’s words resurfaced and pierced the red haze of rage in his mind.
Selene had laid the last sigil, starting the ward spell. The only way to stop it now was to kill her in a blood magic ritual. And Hazel needed her alive for that.
Still strangling Selene to within an inch of her life, he glanced at Hazel, lying three feet away with her face turned to him, her eyes closed, one hand on her chest. Between her fingers, blood ran down in a steady stream. Her aura pulsed dimly, weakly.
His heart, it tore wide open.
It wasn’t even a choice. There just wasn’t one, except to do the only thing that made sense.
His eyes flicking back to the witch in his grasp, he ground his teeth together, flexed his fingers—and broke her neck.
Reaching out with his demon magic at the same time, he pulled and drew Selene’s power into himself, taking her magic, her memories, her witch’s essence. It all flowed into him as the light left Selene’s eyes, as her body slackened in his grip.
Hatred. Such hatred. For demons, those abominations, the bane of any witch’s existence. For those of her own kind who’d betrayed their own community, for those who’d killed her aunt, bound her grandmother, and would rather side with a megalomaniac wanna-be god than stay true to the code witches had lived by since the dawn of time.
They shall all die. I will make my grandmother proud.
Her magic, twisted and foul-tasting, filled him to the brim, so incredibly powerful, even though she’d used so much for creating the sigil. Trembling under the onslaught of Selene’s sick thoughts and memories, Tallak dropped her like a piece of rotten garbage and crawled over to Hazel.
His stomach churned, bile rising in his throat. He’d felt some nasty emotions and had to sort through the minds of some seriously warped motherfuckers as a hæmingr, but nothing had ever made him want to vomit as much as Selene’s magic.
