Page 35 of The Monsters We Are

Wynter looked up to see thick gray clouds gathering in the sky. More, a face flashed to life within it.Adam’sface.

“Oh, shit,” said Delilah.

“You were given time to bring me what I want,” Adam began, his voice loud but crackling, “just as Cain and Wynter Dellavale were given time to hand themselves over. You were warned what would happen if my terms were not met. Now you will know what that meant.”

A godawful howl of wind came whistling over the town, and the temperature dropped in an instant. No, it didn’t merely drop. It took a fucking nosedive.

Her ears popped as the air pressure changed, and then Wynter spat a curse as the wind wentinsane.There was no real turning away from the onslaught, because it wasn’t going in any one direction. It seemed to come from every angle.

Autumn leaves, grass, and debris were swirling around the air, swept up in the gale. Trees swayed with audible creaks. Awnings flapped like crazy. Garbage cans rattled.

Wynter’s hair whipped at her face and partially obscured her vision. Her clothes fluttered against her body, the bags she carried swinging and bashing her legs.

The wind quickly went from sharp tobuffeting.It bit at her skin, icy cold and hard as a stinging slap. Her eyes watered, and each puff of breath she let out fogged the air. Air that suddenly smelled of ozone and was so crisp it hurt to breathe it in.

Delilah staggered into a lamppost, bumping her hip hard. “The hell?”

Wynter stumbled against the gust of air rushing over the town, squinting at her coven. “The liquor store!” she yelled, her voice somewhat muffled by the horrendous noise of the wind. “Get inside!”

Ducking their heads, they pushed against the force of the wind as they tried heading to the nearest building. Which was the exact moment when a flurry of snowflakes came tumbling from the sky and all butbatteredthem.

Wynter almost let out a shocked squeal. The wind whipped the snow everywhere, so it pelted her from all sides. She swore as some flakes found their way down the back of her collar.

The garbage can in front of them fell over with a clang—

And rolled toward Hattie at top speed.

It crashed into her legs, taking them out from under her.

Shit.Straining against the force of the wind, Wynter and Xavier forged forward until they reached her. He kicked the can aside and then helped Wynter lift Hattie off the ground. It was hard to tell while she was squinting against the force of the wind, but the womanlookedokay, just furious.

“The liquor store!” Wynter repeated.

Her equilibrium a thing of the past, she pushed forward against the wind again, her clothes flapping, her hair whipping everywhere. The howling gale carried the sounds of glass breaking, voices crying out, branches snapping, and objects scraping concrete as they rolled down the street.

She hissed as some swirling debris scratched her eye just as the snow became heavier and sharp and . . . no, it wasn’t snow anymore.

Hailstones.

They powered down andpummeledeverything—pinging off the ground, leaving little cracks in windows, denting metal cans, bouncing off brick walls, assaulting her body like darts. Glass shattered as a hailstone the size of a freaking golf ball crashed through a store window.Oh, hell.

She and her coven tried to run, but the wind was too powerful. Her free hand clinging tight to the handles of her bag, she threw her free arm over her head to shield it from the icy pellets. They kept tumbling down, battering and scraping and stabbing her skin.

The wind abruptly began lashing out like swiping hands. It barreled into a tree, knocking it down with an ominous crack. A gust then slammed into a fleeing male, sweeping him off his feet and sending him skidding backwards on his stomach. The wind then lifted the fallen tree and batted it through the air, causing it to crash through a store window.

JesusChristthis was crazy.

A ball-sized hailstone smacked down hard on her shoulder, making her hiss through her teeth.

Almost there. They were almost at the store.

A branch tore off a nearby tree and came sailing toward Wynter. She leaned to the side, but it clawed at her temple as it passed. She hissed at the sharp sting, feeling warm liquid pool to the surface.

Fuck this shit.

It was as theyfinallyneared the store that a fey staggered toward the door and—

Tiles tumbled off its roof, slammed down on his head, and crashed to the sidewalk. His body hit the ground hard. Dead? Unconscious? She didn’t know yet.

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