Page 28 of Ascension of the Pack

The plant let out a guttural roar that shook the entire room, and other plants thrashed wildly in response to its bellow. The strain of controlling the plant was taking its toll on me and the song was wavering on my lips. ‘I can’t hold it much longer! Get down!’

Tarkers wasted no time in leaping down, the orb still in his mouth.

‘Get ready to run!’ Ben shouted.

I stopped singing and bolted further into the greenery, away from the big purple beast. Cradling his arm, Xander was right on my heels with Tarkers following. Ben was bringing up the rear.

Like a good canine, Tarkers dropped the magical orb carefully at my feet. I picked it up and slipped it into my bag then patted his head. He wagged his tail happily.

‘Everyone okay?’ I asked. Everyone nodded, though Xander’s expression was pained. ‘We’ll get you to a healer asap,’ I promised. ‘I know a great healing witch. You’ll be fine.’

He flashed me a weak smile. ‘I am fine, my Queen. Let’s find the hammer.’

One orb down, two more things to find: the hammer and Daniella. I wasn’t leaving without them.

Chapter 17

The retrieval of the hammer of Arwen was as anticlimactic as the bomb in the tunnel. It lay sprawled at the foot of a plant that I was certain was not poisonous or sentient. As far as I could see, we could just reach out and take it – but surely it couldn’t possibly be that easy?

Before I could tell the others that, Ben stepped up to the hammer and picked it up. I tensed but nothing happened.

‘Huh,’ Tarkers said. ‘That’s almost a bit disappointing.’

‘Well,’ said a feminine voice behind us. ‘We can’t have that, can we?’

We whirled around.

‘Hello, Lucy Barrett.’ Geneve sneered superciliously.

‘Geneve,’ I greeted her calmly. ‘It’s actually Lucy Alessandro-Barrett these days. Now tell me, why the hell would you give two shits about the orb when your hoarding instinct is clearly for plants?’

Her smile was condescending. ‘Oh, my poor little wolf. You still haven’t figured it out yet, have you, Lucy Caboosy?’

Hearing my nickname fall from her lips made my skin go cold. How did she know what my family called me? I needed to knock that smirk right off her lips, so I told her the conclusion I’d drawn. The only conclusion that made sense.

‘You’re one of the Domini,’ I accused flatly. ‘And you’re trying to take power from others to keep it for yourself like the power-hungry bitch that you are.’

Behind me Tarkers said to Ben, ‘Her parents never taught her to play nicely with others.’

Geneve ignored him and clapped her hands slowly. ‘Ohbrava, Lucy – but you’re not quite right. I’m notoneof the Domini, I am the Domini.’

‘V,’ I mumbled. ‘You’re V. GeneVe.’

‘You’ve been doing your homework,’ she said approvingly. ‘Yes, little girl. I’m V.’

‘One of the nine rulers of the Domini.’

She snorted. ‘Honey, there are nine of us in Europe but we’re everywhere. There’s a whole fucking alphabet. You didn’t stand a chance against us. You never did.’

I neededto lash out, to make her emotionally unstable, because unstable people made mistakes and we needed all the advantages we could get.

I smirked. ‘Tell me, did your parents call you Geneve because they fucked you into existence in Geneva, or was it because they couldn’t spell Genevieve?’

‘Tell me,’ she replied, her tone saccharine sweet, ‘did your parents really not want you so badly that they cleared their whole memory?’

I froze: something in her tone wastoomalicious,tooknowing. Son of a bitch! That’s how she knew my nickname! ‘It wasn’t my dad’s choice at all, was it? You did it. You ordered him to be cleared.’

‘Imagine my surprise when some adoption papers crossed my desk and there wasyoursurname, Barrett, staring at me in black and white. You tried to fuck me over with Emory and you dared say no to the Domini’s invitation, so yes, Lucy, I arranged for your dad to visit a wizard I know. I was going to peel your support away from you one person at a time. Your mum was going to be next. I thought I’d rip off her legs.’ She smiled at the thought and my stomach lurched with revulsion. She really was crazy.

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