Page 15 of Magic of the Damned

Damn. It was so similar to the markings on my finger. I was thankful that they were hidden by the ring. Not similar. Exactly the same. My breath hitched.

“You plan to kill her?” Dominic concluded.

“That’s the spell that freed them. Obviously, you weren’t able to break it or you wouldn’t have been placed in the position of telling us our lives are in danger. We’re being proactive. Defending ourselves. Kill the caster, break the spell. She is the caster.”

Murder is proactive?

“Ah,” Dominic mused, a little too casually for a discussion of murder, in my opinion. “She’s not a witch. We can all see she doesn’t possess any magic. I can assure you not one time were you at the forefront of this matter. I’ve met Luna twice before.” He waved a dismissive hand in my direction while I made an attempt to hide my finger without looking suspicious. “Nailah”—I assumed he was referring to the woman with the odd violet eyes—“was presented with the same. I performed an ostendo spell on Luna to disarm any cloaking spells and she is not a witch and does not have the ability to cast such a spell.”

My heart raced. Technically he was right but… I was involved. However, in a room full of people whose game plan was to kill me, I wasn’t going to disclose that. Taking slow easy breaths, I waited for things to unfold.

“Madeline,” Dominic drawled. “Do you still plan to kill her?”

Stop suggesting that. It’s not an option. What about: Hey, she’s innocent, let her go? Has that not crossed your mind?

“Situation like this, it is best to err on the side of caution.”

It was irritating how casually they were discussing my murder, like they were deciding whether to sprinkle a little salt on their avocado toast.

“Murder of an innocent human? Isn’t that the very thing that you all sentenced others to the Perils for?” Dominic offered.

Kane growled. “You said the Perils is nonfunctional, that it had a global spell cast on it that won’t allow even you to use the same spell on another confinement. The most ruthless and cruel of our kind who can’t be subdued or imprisoned with basic magic are free, and you’re asking us to let you handle it. Three days. Your handling isn’t efficient enough. Don’t you dare lecture us. We will do what is necessary to protect ourselves and right this.”

Dominic’s lip lifted into a cruel smile. “And I’ll do what I need to punish you for that. Perhaps we’ll return to our old ways, the ones you all perceived as too barbaric. Torture then murder—a seemingly appropriate penalty for killing an innocent.” His eyes darkened in warning.

Is this some type of murder cult? Why is murder Plan A for these people?

Screw this, I was out. Inching back slowly, I hoped I’d be undetected while they discussed murder in the casual manner of sociopaths.

“If she’s so innocent, then why is her heart beating a mile a minute? It wasn’t before,” said another man who could only be described as silver. Grayish-silver hair despite appearing to be in his early thirties, fierce platinum eyes, and a sinewy lean body that put me in mind of a greyhound. His eyes possessed Lance’s predatory keenness.

“Do you think it has anything to do with you all casually discussing murdering me?” I huffed.

He looked unconvinced. Eyes narrowed as he leaned back in his chair, hands clasped behind his head. The black t-shirt stretched over lean, taut muscles. “Are you a witch?”

“No.”

He licked his lips but not in a seductive way. Rather, in the manner I’d seen predators do before pouncing on some poor unsuspecting prey. I swallowed and squared my shoulders, refusing to be intimidated, especially by a lip lick. How weak was that?

“Were you responsible for the destruction of the Perils?”

That I couldn’t answer with complete certainty. None of this was coincidence. Me finding the book, the pages biting me, the spell I must’ve unintentionally evoked, or the indelible markings on my finger. I took his question to mean did I actively and knowingly do it. And I absolutely did not have anything to do with that. I was a passive participant and therefore not responsible.

“No.”

I wondered if the next question would be about the sigil Callum showed us. It was shock that kept me rooted in place when I was faced with a man one second and a massive wolf with bared teeth lunging at me the next, allowing me just enough time to shriek and try to ward off the attack with my arms. Out of reflex my eyes closed. When I managed to pry them open, there was a flash of movement from my left and then a thud. Dominic’s scarred companion was straddling the wolf, one hand around the wolf’s throat, the other holding a knife at the jugular.

“Anand, let him live.” The “for now” was laden in Dominic’s voice as he scanned the room. “Leave me with Luna. If she is to be questioned, it will be by me.”

I wanted no part of his or any of their questioning. Based on every spy thriller movie and book, I was very aware of the “questioning process.” Images of brutal interrogations rushed to my mind. I definitely wasn’t going to be interrogated by a man who had just implied he murdered guards for attempting to stop him from coming to this hostile freak show and casually suggested returning to the old ways of torture and murder.

To hell with this. I darted for the door at full speed, pushing myself as fast as I could go. Anyone in my way would be plowed over. Finding a safe place was my only goal.

Within inches of the door, an arm encircled my waist and jerked me into a hard chest that felt like slamming into a brick wall. Kane’s deep throaty laugh taunted me. Thrashing my head back, my only goal was to hit something: nose, cheek, chin. I didn’t care. The impact was bound to stun. Once his grip loosened, I pounded the heel of my foot into his toes. Grabbing my phone out of my back pocket as I spun to face him, I smashed it into his face.

I bolted.

I hadn’t made it a foot before I was yanked back and slammed into the wall. His face inches from mine, coolness from his body enveloped me as he held me immobilized with an iron grip. Making it painfully obvious that the success of my initial escape attempt was because I had the element of surprise and he’d underestimated the human woman. Fangs were displayed as he inched toward me. I twisted and jerked my head, refusing to give him an easy target.

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