Page 76 of Wolf Hunter

Hadn’t I thought the same thing? Still, I glare at her. “You wouldn’t dare.”

The woman on my right reaches out and grabs the sides of my face. She squeezes to the point of bruising, forcing my mouth open.

“There might be some answers you aren’t ready for,” Mae continues. “Some answers we are not willing to give.”

I try to get coherent words out with my mouth being pried open, but it comes out funny. “Becows there’s sum shaday hit goin on ’ere, I bet.”

“No, because you don’t deserve them.” With that, she tips the vial against my bottom lip. The moment the witch lets go of my face, another spell forces me to swallow, and it’s only a matter of seconds until the serum takes effect. The moment it does, the pain of the cords binding me takes a back seat to the fire washing over me. It’s like I just drank liquid magma. My esophagus burns and sweat damps my back and slicks across my forehead. Magical hot flashes.

I smell incense and herbs, and I hate the way they all look at me. Why are they so close?

Like I’m some kind of puzzle for them to figure out, and they’re eager to watch me suffer.

Damn, these witches really do love pain.

“You can stand aside now, ladies. She isn’t going to be a problem anymore.” Mae speaks to the women, who slowly take a few steps back. “Tasha, how about we try this again, but honestly?”

“Whatever you want.” The monotone words leave my mouth without my permission. My body feels like it belongs to someone else, and I’m just along for the ride.

Horror clutches my chest. This isn’t going to end well.

Mae’s lips part like she doesn’t expect my reply, but she’s also satisfied with it. “Very good.”

I glare at her, hoping she can see my hatred and fury despite the unnatural evenness of my tone. “I’m going to kill you. I’m going to make it hurt.”

Must be the truth, right?

“If you say so,” she replies, yet her eyes are dead. She holds no real sympathy for me, and she doesn’t hold stock in my threat. That’ll be a mistake. “There’s a time and a place where we all must face our reckoning, I’m sure.”

The heaviness in my limbs increases, and it seems that the more I fight, the fuller its hold on me.

“Now, why don’t you tell me what really happened on the night of the ceremony,” she says a bit more cheerfully. Like her old self.

The rest of the room starts to fade away, and I can’t take my eyes off her. The direct eye contact makes me sick to my stomach.

My thoughts begin to flicker like lightning bugs in the summer, each one farther away than the last before all of them are out of my reach.

I find myself telling her everything. “Reid incapacitated me. I tried my hardest to take him down, but he was much stronger; he managed to get the jump on me, and one bite had me paralyzed.” My mouth moves with the words, though I don’t remember saying them. Or wanting to say them.

I feel nothing.

“And then what?” Mae’s eyes light with more fervor, and beneath the hardened exterior, the lust in her voice is clear.

Mae seems to be the one asking the questions, and I wonder if it has something to do with her being the one to cast the spell in the first place.

This is the price of ignorance: if I hadn’t ignored my witch education, I might know of a way to head off this trouble.

Instead, I say, “He took me back to his mansion and kept me in the guest room as his prisoner. Until we both realized there was more going on than met the eye. Then we became partners.” My voice cracks on the words, though I try desperately to hold them back.

“Partners?” Mae wants clarification.

I nod. “He was going to help me find answers about what happened with my sister’s disappearance, and I was going to help him snuff out the traitor wolf in his midst.”

“So he is not dead.”

Don’t say it.Please don’t tell them anything.

I struggle against the compulsion for as long as I am able. My tongue and vocal cords have minds of their own, responding to Mae’s commands.

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