Page 124 of Lost in the Moonlight

I left her, hoping to all the gods she stayed right where I’d placed her amidst a sea of boxes. At the door, I looked back, only mildly reassured that she was momentarily safe.

The music I’d turned on using the rechargeable speaker in my room turned from a sensual beat into the crescendo of an opera, leaking into the hall where Sienna paced. She glanced over the banister.

He’s searching downstairs. He has a gun.

I went to the room closest to the stairs where I’d set up the studio the day before. I grabbed a can of turpentine—it would slow him down if I tossed it in his eyes—and then sought out my grandfather’s switchblade that I’d been opening boxes with.

Back at the open door, I heard the bottom step creak.

My fury grew. He’d killed one of the men I’d hired. He dared to come after Willow. I didn’t care who he was or why he’d decided to come after her now, but this would end. This would be over.

I quietly unscrewed the cap on the turpentine.

A shadow reached the top of the stairs. He edged along a wall, and even in the dark, I could see the gun he held. Black. Evil. I couldn’t make out his face. He blended in with theshadows, but as he eased along the wall, opposite the doorway, I sprang, tossing the turpentine just as he turned at the sound.

A hiss escaped him, and he scrubbed at his eyes, but he didn’t let go of the gun. Instead, he squeezed the trigger. Nothing but an innocuous puff filled the air—a silencer keeping it quiet. I barely had time to realize the bullet had gone wide before he was aiming it again. I charged, shoving the arm holding the gun up, and another bullet hit the ceiling, causing plaster to rain down over us.

I punched him in the face, but it released my hold on his arm with the gun, and he clocked me in the temple with the butt. Stars burst along my vision. I staggered back, swung wildly with the switchblade, and felt it catch on his hand, slicing through the cloth and skin. He grunted in pain, surprising us both when he dropped the weapon. I was mid-swing again when he kicked out, landing a foot in my stomach with enough force that it sent me whirling into the wall with a crash.

He lurched for the gun, picking it up and twirling to aim it in my direction.

Sienna was screaming. Words I couldn’t concentrate on because I had one chance to fix this. To end it. If he killed me, he’d find Willow, and I couldn’t allow that to happen.

With a snarl of fury and rage, I ducked my head and rushed him.

The gun went off. I felt the burn as the bullet sliced into my arm, but my feet continued to propel me forward. Just as I was about to ram into him with my good shoulder, I saw Willow had emerged from the bedroom right behind him. Her face was determined and scared, and she had nothing but a goddamn lamp in her hand to defend herself.

I didn’t have time to check the trajectory of my feet, and the force I slammed into him with shoved us both into Willow, sending all three of us tumbling to the floor.

Chapter Thirty-seven

Willow

MAGIC

Performed by Kelly Clarkson

My entire body was shaking asI crouched behind the boxes. Flashbacks to hiding in a closet tried to drag me under. Would the boxes protect me as the speakers had? What would protect Lincoln? He’d gone out to face some unknown assailant with nothing more than his fists.

Where was Axel’s security team?

How had the intruder gotten inside?

I couldn’t stay here. Couldn’t let Lincoln face this alone.

As I moved, the solid object in my skirt pocket banged against my hip.

My phone!

I pulled it out and almost dropped it as my hands trembled. I was afraid to call 9-1-1. Afraid to talk and be heard. Instead, I texted Axel.

Something slammed into the wall outside the room, and I jumped. Lincoln! I leaped forward, searching the room for anything I could use as a weapon.

I’d just yanked a candlestick lamp from the wall as a body emerged through the closed door—shimmering through it as if the solid wood didn’t exist. I almost dropped the light before instinct had me swinging at the woman with the lamp. It sliced through her as if she was made of nothing but air.

He’s going to kill Lincoln! You have to help!

I heard the words in my head rather than aloud, and in shock, I nearly lost my hold on the light again.

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