Page 97 of Owning His Mate

The wolves in our group—both full blooded and tau—are in various stages of undress, though clothes are being passed around as the last of our enemies are dispatched. I guess the rest must have run.

Cowards.

Hester stands in front of the white-haired man, hitting him with waves of power, each one making him writhe in agony. “Stop!” he rasps between the convulsions.

“No,” she grinds out, hitting him again.

“As much as I want this asshole dead,” Sawyer says, “can we at least make him pay for his crimes before you turn his mind into soup?”

Hester tenses her fingers, as if she’s going to strike, but Jackson flings himself in front of the guy, making Dove suck in a breath. She moves toward him, but Apryle stops her. “She won’t hurt Jackson.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“You can’t kill him,” Jackson says. “He may know about my pup.”

Hester’s chest heaves as she slowly lowers her hands. Her eyes are wild, unhinged even. Her lips pull into a snarl as she glares at her brother. He laughs, a dark macabre sound. “What are you going to do, Hessie? Use your magic on me?” He snorts. “No, you won’t do that, will you? You could never use it against your little brother. All these years gone by and you’re still a weak bitch.”

She flinches as if he’s struck her and I split my gaze between what’s happening and the girls as they try to free Apryle from the cuffs that stop her magic.

Callum presses the barrel of his gun harder against his temple. “There’s only one weak bitch I can see, and it’s you, you fucking asshole.”

“All those lives lost or destroyed, and for what?” Beck demands.

Erik’s mouth pulls into a sneer. “You should never have existed in the first place. You all are disgusting manipulations against nature.”

“And what are you, Erik?” Hester asks, her voice no longer small or afraid.

His eyes lift to hers. “What are you doing, Hessie? Do you really think you can beat me? All these years running and hiding, and you stand in front of me as if you’ve won.”

She doesn’t seem to think she’s won anything. “You’re the one who was abandoned. Where are your followers now,brother?” she sneers the word. “I don’t know why I spent so many years afraid of you. Look at you. You’re pathetic and you’re nothing without your soldiers.”

“You think I need them?”

“I think you’ve always needed others to do your dirty work.”

The darkness that flickers in his expression is sinister. “Unlike you and Freya? These abominations you’ve collected over the years to fight against me don’t care about you, Hessie. The first chance they got they left you alone in the sanctuary you built to protect them. Some fucking gratitude, right?”

“I didn’t need gratitude. That’s not why I did it?—”

“Face it, you’re nothing to them. Poor little Hester. Always trying to fight the good fight and failing. Tell me, where is our sister? Did she abandon you too?”

She flinches. “No?—”

“Did she get sick of you and realize how worthless you truly are? You are as you have always been—alone, with no friends, no twin, no mother—no one.”

“But she’s not alone,” Roux says, stepping around him to go to her side. “She’s never been alone.” Her hand slips into Hester’s. The two females smile at each other, relief evident in Hester’s face.

“Exactly,” Halle yells. “Hester’s part of our coven. Hurt her and we’ll fuck you up.”

He laughs. “You think I’m scared of your half-breed witches?”

“No,” Hester says, her voice stronger, “but I think you’re scared of my mother.”

He blanches. “You should be scared of her too. Your mother is going to scourge the entire earth, including all your little tau brats.”

She shakes her head. “My mother won’t hurt her children. You, on the other hand, are fucked.”

“Who would have thought that torturing and tormenting a witch with some serious anger issues and then trapping her in literal hell might lead to problems down the line?” Sawyer quips.

---