Page 28 of The Monsters We Are

Azazel grunted. “The problem is we don’t have much of that.”

*

Wynter’s eyelids fluttered as sleep began to slowly lose its hold on her. Her heels scuffed the ground as someone dragged her limp form backwards, their hands tucked beneath her armpits. Her monster was pushing against her skin, furious, wanting out. It seemed to only be the cautioning preternatural breeze fluttering around Wynter that kept the monster in check.

She could hear voices whispering to each other. Female voices. Ones she recognized.

Demetria’s coven.

Bitches.They’d pay for this. Dearly. Not at this exact moment, though. Because the chatter and laughter of the other townspeople was far too close. If she freed her monster here, it could go after nearby innocents—that would be bad.

Sure, Wynter could try taking on her kidnappers herself. She was pretty sure it wouldn’t be hard to take them out. But she needed to make a public statement. While she couldn’t allow everyone toseeher monster, she could certainly allow them to see what it could do—it was about the only way she could prove it existed. As she’d told Cain, only fear would truly discourage assholes from trying to cash in on the bounty.

She wondered if her coven had yet realized she’d been taken. Oh, they’d notice she was missing. But, naturally, they’d initially assume they’d merely lost her in the maze or simply couldn’t see her due to all the maze’s fog.

“We need to move faster,” whined the person dragging Wynter.Missy.

“For heaven’s sake, lower your voice,” said Kyra. “We don’t want to get spotted.”

Missy snorted. “People won’t care. They’ll be glad to see the skank go.”

“Not after Cain’s speech they won’t,” objected another voice—Vera. “Most are fully behind him, and they’re too scared to cross him anyway.”

“Exactly,” agreed Kyra. “Everyone knows what he did to Grouch when the berserker didn’t stop mages from kidnapping his consort. They won’t want to meet that same fate if Cain finds out they saw her being taken and didn’t do anything to help.”

“Most also believe he’s right that Adam won’t hand over a single dime,” Vera added.

Missy made apfftsound. “It’s obvious that Cain only said that to discourage people from going after his consort.”

“No one really trusts Aeons, though,” said Kyra. “So they’re more willing to believe Cain than Adam. Not that I’m complaining. It means that no one got to her before we could. The bounty is now ours for the taking.”

“Damn right. And it means we can also avenge Demetria. I don’t condone that she freed that Saul asshole, but she didn’t deserve to die for it.” Missy paused walking for a moment, breathless. “We should have parked the car somewhere close.”

“It would have been noticed,” Vera pointed out. “It was better to park it outside the tunnel.”

Grunting, Missy resumed walking. “How pissed do you think she’ll be when she realizes she was rendered defenseless by a simple sleeping powder?”

“Seriouslypissed, hopefully. This proves she ain’t no revenant.”

“Not necessarily,” said Kyra. “Even a revenant would be knocked out by a sleeping potion.”

“You can’t truly think this bitch was Favored by a deity,” said Missy, her voice ringing with disgust and incredulity.

“I don’t,” Kyra told her. “Demetria always said it was a lie, and I agree. I’m just making the point that—”

“Oh, who cares?” Missy halted again. “God, does the skank really have to be so heavy?”

“Stop complaining,” said Vera. “She’s only a slender thing. She can’t weigh much.”

“Yeah? Thenyoudrag her the rest of the way.” Missy unceremoniously dumped Wynter onto the ground.

Fucking ow.

Vera huffed. “Fine.”

Right then, a gust of air humming with encouragement whispered over Wynter. Her monster responded instantly, shoving closer to the surface, readying itself to lunge.

Sensing someone hover over her, Wynter flipped open her eyelids, knowing black inky ribbons were wriggling over her eyes.

---