Page 84 of Seduce Me in Shadow

“Well, there’s something to be proud of,” Bram quips.

Sinking my nails into Zain’s skin, I claw until I manage to loosen his grip. Finally, I gasp in a huge breath, and blessed oxygen fills my lungs. “It’s my book. Bloody give it to him.”

Zain loosens his grip a bit more and runs his tongue up my cheek again. “There’s a good girl.”

I shudder. Caden looks an instant from going stark mad.

“Sorry.” Bram shrugs, making it clear that he’s not. “If he wants the diary, he’ll have to fight me. If he’s stupid enough to try to kill you, I’ll take the book, disappear forever, and his boss will flay him alive for failing. Again.” He regards Zain with a smug smile. “Are you feeling stupid?”

“You poncy, holier-than-thou twat!” Zain snarls. “If you leave here with the book, you’ll disappear forever, no matter what I do. If I kill Little Red, however, the younger MacTavish could turn completely mental, like the elder, which reduces the able ranks of your Doomsday Brethren by another. I’ve got ten Anarki remaining, so who’s the stupid one? You can’t defeat us.”

Zain has a very good point, but Bram’s confidence doesn’t slip one whit. I begin to suspect he’s off his trolley. And the fact Zain is talking about my death as if it’s afait accomplihardly comforts me.

“Give him the damn book!” I snap at Bram.

He merely raises a superior golden brow. Duke’s expression is no less assured. Are they utterly mad?

I’m not waiting for the Anarki to attack to find out.

Now that I can breathe, I stomp my foot on Zain’s instep at the same time I ram my elbow into his abdomen, grateful for the self-defense class I took last year.

Zain clearly wasn’t prepared for me to fight back. He grunts in pain and doubles over. I take advantage of his surprise anddart away, sprinting toward Bram, my hand outstretched for the book.

The wizard holds it away from me, then shoots Caden a glare. “Control your woman or I will.”

“You’ll pay for that, you fucking slag!” Zain vows as he leaps to his feet and charges Bram.

Caden wraps his arms around me, holding me close. I feel safe. Relieved.

Until I realize he’s restraining me.

Bram tosses the book at Duke, who catches it in an elegant grab. Before I can blink, Bram waves his hand. Something that looks like a magic wand appears.

A wand, is it? How Harry Potter.

Bram brandishes it with a flourish, jolting Zain with a burst of energy. The sparking blue bolt hits the sodding wanker, who jolts as if he was skewered by a live wire.

His minions rush for Bram and Duke, who both raise their wands. As they charge, they step into the light, and I get a good look at their faces. I scream. Those…things are little more than skeletons with rotting flesh dripping from gray bones, staring out from under their hoods with dead, sightless eyes.

“Retreat!” Bram demands, waving his wand with another efficient sweep that materializes a blade that halves two robed figures into broken, unconscious heaps next to those Caden subdued.

Someone loops an arm about my waist and hauls me closer while Caden clutches me. I scream until I realize the second arm belongs to Hurstgrove. Mr. Titled is helping to protect me.

Bram reaches for Aquarius, who looks wide-eyed and terrified. Before he can secure her against his side, one of the skeletons in robes grabs her and literally tosses her in Zain’s direction. She shrieks, the chilling sound making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

“No one is leaving until I get that book!” Zain snarls as Aquarius lands against him. He absorbs her smaller body with a grunt, then traps her with a lean forearm around her waist. “I’ll count to three. One.” He glares at Duke, who still holds the tome. “Two.” He raises a brow at Duke as he lifts his wand to Aquarius’s head.

“Do something!” I shout.

“Three,” Zain spits. “You stupid wankers.”

Then Aquarius jerks and gasps, her green eyes popping wide as she lets loose a bloodcurdling scream.

Chapter

Thirty-Eight

Aquarius’s face turns red, then purple, before swelling into something cracked and terrible.

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