Page 91 of Marked By Night

Another chuckle. “Nah, I don’t think I will. You see, you’re quite the catch, Mercedes. Everyone is looking for you. Besides, you’re useful to the entire Weaver community and I’ll enjoy getting to see you passed around.”

Acid rises in the back of my throat and I’m forced to swallow it down.

He continues, “Since you know about magic now, I guess there’s no harm in telling you the truth. If you can be a true Link to the Kings, then theoretically you could be a true Link to anyone, and if you hadn’t killed Benjamin that night, you’d already be mine.”

“You would truly bond to me against my will, Tyler?” I ask, looking up into his eyes. Nothing but madness swirls in his eyes and there’s no trace of the boy I used to know—used to love—left in those baby blues. From a distance, they’re oh, so deceiving. Lulling you into a false sense of security until you get closer and there’s nothing but a monster left. I guess even Lucifer was once an Angel.

If the saying is true, anyway.

Tyler smiles and it’s all sharp teeth and cruelty. “That soul of yours will belong to me one way or another, Mercedes baby.”

A man steps out from behind a tree, watching us. “Get her tied up and let’s go. We don’t want to be here when her mates show up,” he barks.

A broad smile crosses my face because he just reminded me of something super important. Our eyes connect and I catch a flicker of fear cross them. My phone may be dead, but I don’t need it. I can talk to my mates in my head.

Man, I’ve got to start thinking like a Weaver and not a human.

Kaos! Dante! I need help. I’m surrounded and I can’t take them all on my own.

Kaos’s response is immediate.What do you mean? Where are you, Little Flame?Then he says,You’re not in your room. Did you go for a walk?

I wince. I really should’ve told them where I was going.Outside the ward,I respond.As soon as the words leave my brain, I can sense his rage, but I stop his reply.I know, but yell at me later. Tyler is here with other Night Weavers and they attacked Vin, Hemsworth, and I.

Fuck,Dante curses.You’re going to have to hold them off until we can get there, Angel. Elian isn’t here and he’s not answering my summons.

Hang tight, my Little Flame. We’re coming.Then the connection ends, but the tug in my chest lets me know they’re at least able to locate me.

Not a moment too soon either. Tyler pulls one of those glowing silver ropes out of his back pocket and binds my wrists together. My connection to my mates vanishes, leaving a gaping hole behind. I hadn’t realized how much I could feel them until now when the connection is gone. I know they’re not truly gone, but the loss swirling in my chest threatens to pull me under.

Seconds later, a different man leads Vin through the trees, holding an orb of magic to his back to keep him in line. Fuck, I was hoping he’d gotten away. I notice his wrists are bound similarly to mine and my heart sinks at the sight. When he reaches us, the man knocks him over the head and Vin falls to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

A blur of movement comes barreling through the air toward Tyler and I. I’d recognize that reddish brown fur anywhere. He leaps through the air, aiming for Tyler’s throat but he’s too fast and dodges. Tyler swings back around and kicks Hemsworth in the stomach. My poor sweet Hems whines as he sails through the air and lands against a tree. He doesn’t get up.

Now they’ve fucking done it.

No one hurts my friends or my familiar.

They will pay.

Rage, unlike anything I’ve ever known, courses through every ounce of my being as I stand there silently simmering. My vision bleeds to black until it’s all I can see, but I don’t need my sight anymore. It’s like looking through a kaleidoscope and everyone’s energies are bared before me. Tyler and the others are a murky black, while Hemsworth and Vin’s are a shining white, but they’re fading.

The gaping chasm in my chest flares to life and I scream, letting the power flow through me until the ropes around my wrists fall to the ground.

“Oh shit! Get that bitch under control!” One of the lackeys calls out.

I can smell his fear.

Ignoring them, I reach inside my center to that bright ball of energy my magic is made up of. I tug on all the power available and I release it out of me in a giant blast.

Wave after wave explode out of my chest. The lines resemble shock waves—almost like the Elite incident.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

All the men around me seize, their faces contorting at odd angles as they cry out in anguish. One by one they drop to the ground like dead flies until their murky energies wink out completely. The wrath coursing through me doesn’t care that I just murdered half a dozen men.

Does that make me a bad person?

The only one who isn’t affected by my burst of power is Tyler and only because I saved him for last. I make out a bit of fear seeping into the madness in his eyes through the black curtain of my vision as he stares at me in utter shock.

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