Page 39 of There's No Place Like Oz

Tobias and Leon had better keep her safe, or I’ll have their heads on a pike right next to Gwen’s.

Chapter 30

“Get the fuck in here, Gwen!” I roared into the dark room, yanking on my restraints until they rubbed my wrists raw. My arms were splayed above my head, a metal clasp locked my neck to the wall, and every jerk and movement scraped the rough stone texture against my back. “Don’t be such a fucking coward!”

I should have fucking known. From the first time she forced me into her bed, and she got off to an audience of stuffed animals that had been torn in half and sewed back together with mismatched parts, it was obvious that she was sick. When she’d started collecting living animals and playing with alchemy to create the Kalidahs, it was inevitable that she’d eventually want to try out her chimera obsession on shifters. For all I knew, maybe the current crop of Kalidahswereshifters. Yet in all the nights I’d spent with her, and with all the horrors I’d seen, I had still somehow never imagined she’d go this far.

I jerked again, but there was little I could do with my neck trapped in steel.

“Oh calm down, Pussy Cat.” That voice dripped with more viciousness than the devil, even as she raised her pitch to sound like a demented child. My heart rate spiked, and my pulse was loud and vivid in my neck. Panic. Pure panic surged in my chest. My mouth went dry. My lungs had forgotten how to hold air for more than a fraction of a second. “Here I thought you’d never come back here after you put soooo much effort into running away.” The Wicked Witch of the West’s laugh was something between a banshee’s scream and a hag’s cackle.

She snapped her fingers, and the torches lining the walls blazed to life. She knew what she was doing. Her voice in the darkness could have been transmitted remotely, but the image of her physical body, indisputably standing in front of me, assured I didn’t leave any terror on the table.

She was only a few feet away, standing with a hand on her hip and a patchwork teddy bear in her arms. Her short, black, lacey skirt flared out wide, and her thigh high stockings, accented with cat ears at the top, made her appear youthful and childlike. Conversely, the ten inch heels, the unforgiving corset, and her large bust dispelled any such illusions that she was anything but a very sexual being. Her black and blue streaked hair was tightly curled in the kind of ringlets that could only be obtained with styling magic, and that heavy dark lipstick gave her smile the likeness of a deadly rip in the fabric of space.

“So imagine my delight when one of my little pets spotted a lost kitty in my woods.” She took one step forward. I pressed myself back into the wall, wishing I could get even an inch more space. No matter how tough I felt when coming here, no amount of resolve had prepared me for being bound in chains while we were face to face. “I’m surprised you fought so hard though. I lost at least fifteen of my little monkeys. You and your friends wiped out a whole family.”

She giggled at that. “Speaking of friends…” Another step, and she was up against me. Gwen pressed her cold, hard chest fully on mine as she connected our torsos at every possible inch. In bed, she was nearly a full foot shorter than me, but with those heels, she easily tapped the tips of our noses together. Her deep navy eyes were large and close. I held perfectly still. “Who’s the girl, kitty cat?”

I jerk my head to the side, which she dealt with by tossing her plush toy away and grabbing my cheeks with her dainty gloved hands. She forced my face forward again. “You know I can get it out of you if you try to hide it. Or better yet…” She slid her grip down to my neck, and she pressed softly on my throat with her thumbs. “I can get it out ofher.”

“She’s just a girl I ran into on the way. She’s nothing.” I resented the way she pressed her chest harder against mine just to revel in my increasing hyperventilation.

“Just a girl, just a girl.” The Western Witch repeated in a singsong tone. She punctuated her amusement by pressing her lips to mine. I knew better than to bite when I was in this position. I’d already learned that lesson. She shoved her thumbs harder into my neck, and the resulting gasp forced my mouth open so she could lay further claim to me. My fangs were practically quivering with the desperate desire to take that invading tongue from her. Then she withdrew sharply, and she pounded her fist into the stone wall beside my head. Her otherwise cute and innocent expression warped into something unhinged. “Just a girlwearing my dead sister’s shoes.”

With that, Gwen stepped back and she regarded me with an animosity she’d never shown me before. I was used to her amusement, her cruelty, and her sociopathic tendencies, but… I wasn’t used to genuine expression of anger.That… That can’t be good.

“But really, Leon…”

My eyes widened.Her using me real name really can’t be good.

“I’m glad you found her. I’ve had this idea swirling around in my headforever, but I didn’t know where I could find a good, fresh human heart. Why, this may just be my masterpiece!” A sickening smile graced her vile face again. “I can’twaitto show you.”

With that, Gwen straightened out her skirt and turned on her high heel. But before she left, she glanced over her shoulder and lifted a single finger in the air. “Now don’t you go running away again. I have so many plans for us that you won’t want to miss.”

The torches went out the second she shut the door, and I was left in darkness again.

I didn’t know when I’d started crying, but now that I was alone, I couldn’t help but notice the warm streams running down my cheeks. I stilled my quivering lip with my teeth, and I fought to slow my breathing. I didn’t want to transfer these feelings to Dorothy. Her life was about to become terrifying enough without needing my weakness pulling her down.

There was a reason I was the only living member of my Pride. I’d felt empowered when I met the other witch’s slaves, and I thought things might be different this time with all of them behind me. But I should have known better. I shouldn’t have underestimated the one and only Wicked Witch of the West.

Chapter 31

Who were the wicked witches, anyway?I wondered. Were they born in Oz, like the munchkins and shifters and scarecrows of the world? Were they a species separate from conventional humans? Or were they people like myself who were unexpectedly thrown into another world and ended up with magic?

Ididn’t have magic though. I tapped my shoes together, while I stared at the ceiling. We were supposed to collect each witch’s magical artifact, but how significant were these items to their actual power? Were they compliments to these women’s innate enchantments, or were the objects the source of what made them witches?

Maybe it didn’t matter, but maybe I was just subtly hoping that these shoes on my feet might give me the ability to defend myself for once.

Who was I kidding? I couldn’t even defend myself against regular people. I was pushed around by men whose only “power” was in their connections. Hell, that one director literally broke his hip when I rode him too hard. And now I was pretending I could fight back against the mighty, magical rulers of fantasy kingdoms?

Girl, please.

I sighed, but was soon interrupted by the sound of footsteps echoing off the stone walls. I turned my attention to the stairway that led out of this depressing dungeon. Two men emerged from the dark doorway, both dressed in what I assumed was the Wicked Witch’s guard uniforms. Otherwise, there was no way multiple people wouldchooseto dress in leather harnesses over black leather pants, with a necklace of some unknown predator’s teeth, piercings in their nipples, and black leather sleeves that extended to their shoulders. Their heeled combat boots clacked loudly as they approached my cell.

“What are you going to do to me?” I’d barely finished asking before the barred door flew open, and I was being hoisted to my feet by my arms. Neither man bothered to answer my query. They just locked their arms in tightly with mine and forced me to walk up the stairs. It was no use to keep asking. I just hung my head and let them take me.

At the top of the stairs, we reached a long hallway. A navy blue carpet extended down its length, while picture frames accented in sapphire lined the walls. In every painting was a different animal. I couldn’t say if they were true beasts or shifters, though considering that this was Leon’s witch, I could assume that she had a thing for beast men.

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