“But you would’ve eventually reported it, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes.” I risk a glance at Bast, catching a flash of hurt in his golden eyes before he looks away. The ache in my chest intensifies, and I’m not sure if it’s my pain or his echoing through our new bond.
“You really had no idea about the soul-mate magick?” Lila asks softly, her earlier aloofness tempered by something that looks dangerously like pity.
I shake my head, suddenly feeling very small and very, very lost. “I’ve never been to another Court. Never left the town of Salem until this mission. Everything I know—everything I thought I knew—comes from theMathairsand my trainers or what few bits of gossip and news I overheard when I’ve been able to walk around Salem in the real world.”
“And you never questioned it?” Lawrence’s voice is sharp, accusatory. “Never wondered if there might be more?”
I whirl on him, rage and despair tangling in my chest until I can barely breathe. “My sister questioned it.” My voice cracks on memories of Brianna’s cries for mercy when I watched them drag her away. “All it got her was beatings and isolation. So I became what they wanted—their perfect, obedient weapon. Because every time I succeeded, every time I pleased them, I bought her another chance. I kept us safe.”
Tears blur my vision, hot and useless. For the first time, I can’t save her. I’m trapped in this cabin, stripped of my magick, while she sits in that windowless cell believing I’ll come for her like I always have. But this time, no one’s coming. Not for her. Not for me.
“I could never afford to question anything.” My voice splinters under the weight of truth. “You have no idea—”
The sudden buzz of my phone freezes the words in my throat. That distinctive three-pulse vibration pattern—my handler’s signal. Ice floods my veins. There’s only one reason they’d contact me now, and it won’t be to ask about the weather.
My gaze locks onto Lawrence’s palm, my heartbeat drowning out everything else as he reads the screen. Please, not another kill order. Not here. Not with Bast watching. But Lawrence’s face drains of color, and I know my wish has been denied.
“What is it?” Bast demands, taking a step closer.
Lawrence’s eyes meet mine, cold and hard. “‘Eliminate Emma Banfield,’” he reads aloud. “‘Or you never see your sister alive again.’”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.The world tilts beneath my feet. “Emma Banfield. Another Banfield. Who the hell is she?”
“Bridget.”
I force myself to meet Bast’s gaze. Gold rings his pupils like a solar eclipse. I could lose all my worries in those eyes. This man who’s carved a place in my soul with claws and kindness. Wholooks at me like I’m something precious even as I prove myself his enemy over and over again.
“What happens if you don’t?”
“They’ll kill me.” The words crack like ice in spring. “They’ll kill Brianna. They won’t stop, Bast.” His jaw clenches. I want to reach for him, but my hands are still tightly bound and I have nothing hopeful to say. “If I don’t kill Emma, they’ll just send another after me. And another. And another.” My breath hitches. “They’ll never stop.”
I watch as understanding dawns on their faces.
And through it all, I feel Bast’s eyes on me. Watching. Wondering. I can almost taste his conflict through our new bond. The desire to protect me warring with the need to keep his people safe.
I don’t know how to fix this. I don’t know if I can. But as I stand here, trussed up like a fucking holiday roast turkey, surrounded by people who I’ve been told are supposed to be my enemies, I realize one thing with startling clarity—I don’t want to be theMathairs’weapon anymore.
Whatever they think Meredith did to offend them decades ago…they’re just being petty bitches. Nothing about my orders is sacred or special. Nothing about my training makes me better than another witch or more righteous. I was born into a role I would’ve played my whole life if I’d never met Bast. Never met these other witches. Never realized there was so much more in this world than the Salem Court.
Chapter Eighteen
Bast O’Connor
Walls and Whispers
My wolf paces restlessly beneath my skin, torn between protecting our mate and protecting our pack. The whole situation is so fucked-up I can barely wrap my head around it. Less than twenty-four hours ago, I was falling asleep with her in my arms, thinking I’d found everything I’d ever wanted. Now…
Lila picks up her bag from the counter. “She won’t be able to cross the threshold or perform any spells.”
“Right. Yes. Thank you.” Thanking them for caging my mate feels wrong on every level, but what choice do we have? As much as I want to trust her, I’m still not sure I can. “You should all head over to my mom’s. Liam and Gen will need help getting the Gallagher families settled.”
Lawrence’s head snaps up, his eyes narrowing. “You can’t be serious. You want us to leave you alone with her?”
“She’s my mate,” I growl, my patience wearing thin. My wolf rises at the challenge, desperate to be alone with her—to protect her, yes, but also to understand. To find the truth beneath the layers of her obligation and fear. “And in case you forgot, she can’t use her magick right now.”
“That doesn’t make her less dangerous,” Lawrence argues. “She was sent to kill my wife, and now they want her to kill my daughter—”
