Page 54 of Facet

“Oh, this will be so much fun,” she murmured as she stroked me over my boxer briefs.

My hands fisted, and the barbs dug in, but by then, I didn’t care. All that mattered was the release I knew was coming.

Séamus slammed against his temporary prison and she impatiently huffed. “I’ll come back to this once I’ve taken care of him.”

She withdrew the knife she’d used during the spell to bring Séamus to us. Though a niggling voice in the back of my head was demanding I do something, I couldn’t. Whatever evil compulsion she had going on kept my words in my mouth.

When she brought the tip of the dagger to my chest, I stared in morbid fascination. Then she began to carve me up. In my head, I shrieked with every excruciating pass of the blade. When she finished, she chanted a series of phrases I didn’t understand, then she lifted the blood covered knife and wiped it clean on her tongue.

Except she wasn’t done. She then licked the blood from the oozing wounds on my filleted flesh. Her gaze lifted to mine, and I watched as her eyes went from black to silver.

The second she stepped away, I sagged against the tree. Disgust at what she’d made me feel made my skin crawl. I was panting as if I’d run five miles.

“Why are you so determined to kill him? He’s a demon just like you,” I gasped, defeat and pain taking the oxygen from my lungs.

She paused and glanced over her shoulder. The look she gave me actually sent chills racing over my previously heated skin. “Because he killed my mate.”

“Sharks”—ImagineDragons

Ihad planned to wait for Damien. Until the necklace he gave me to wear shocked me. I’m not talking about static electricity; I’m talking jolt me into the air. It was followed by an agonizing pain that sucked the air from my lungs.

Gasping and clawing, I fought to get off the bed where I’d been reading. I didn’t know why, but I needed to get to Damien. I stumbled and fell to my knees. When I tried to rip the necklace off, it burned my hands.

“Fuck!” I cried.

Unsteady, I used the furniture and then the walls to make my way out to the common area. Nearly everyone was gone for the night, except for the prospect cleaning up behind the bar.

He saw me approaching and rushed around to help me. He put his shoulder under my arm and brought me to the nearest chair, where I collapsed.

“Willow, talk to me. What’s wrong?” His worried gaze darted from my right eye to my left and back.

“Facet. I need Facet. Something’s wrong,” I choked out.

“I’m not sure where he is. Let me get someone. I think Squirrel is still here.”

I nodded, but the pain was getting worse. The second he rushed off, I got up. It took everything I had to put one foot in front of the other. When I burst out the door, I saw his truck and his bike were still there.

“Willow.” I heard my name as if it was whispered in the wind.

I looked everywhere for the source but saw nothing.

“Willow.” That time I could’ve sworn it was Séamus.

“Séamus?” I called out.

“Willow, hurry,” he said again.

I moved in the direction it seemed to be coming from. With each step, the pain seemed to lessen. When I started toward the front of the building, it increased again, and I groaned at the force of it.

“Okay!” I wheezed and went back to where I was when it had eased up. That was how I found myself at the gate of the pasture behind the clubhouse. The horse that always grazed back there came running. He nudged me, and I prayed he wouldn’t step on my feet, because I realized then that I’d gone outside in my pajamas and barefooted.

“Do I go through?” I asked the horse like he would answer me.

“Willow.” The call came again.

“I guess that’s a yes.”

Wincing as I stepped on old, downed acorns, I picked my way across the pasture, letting the damn necklace be my guide. Because with each wrong step, it sent agony through my limbs.

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