Page 139 of Meet Your Maker: Part One

And I walked right into it. I left the wards, shut down my bonds, and handed myself to him, wrapped up in wet and tattered bow. Stupid. Stupid.Stupid.

My fists clench, nails biting into my palms, and fury rises, fierce and unrelenting. I throw my bonds wide open, sending a surge of raw, desperate emotion—a silent scream ricocheting across the link. A beacon of fear, rage, and a plea for help, unstoppable and searing.

Come find me, my loves.

The effort steals my breath, but I don’t care. The bonds flare to life, bright and blazing, snapping into place like iron chains forged from love and fate.

And for the first time since the storm began, I’m not alone.

My head snaps up, my eyes burning with newfound fire. I lock onto Silas’s gaze, and the smirk on his face only fans the flames roaring in my chest.

My voice slices through the brittle air.

“Brought a friend? Didn’t realize you had any of those.”

His mouth curls lazily, dark eyes glinting with mockery.

“Spend a lot of time thinking about me?”

The taunt drips from his lips, but I don’t flinch. I let the anger hone me sharp, let it prop me up when my legs threaten to buckle.

“Only when I’m thinking about ways to kill you.”

The figure beside him shifts, their cloak snapping in the wind like a living thing. I don’t need to hear her speak to know it’s a woman. I can feel her. Like Jinx, she’s a witch—but where Jinx is moonshine and laugh lines, this one is cold, sharp, and deadly.

The pulsing power around her vibrates through the ground, seeping into my bones. Her presence is a void—a black hole of menace that devours everything it touches. And she’s into Silas, her excitement radiating like static in the air. She’s eager to help him, eager to clear me from her field of rivals.

My jaw trembles with the weight of that realization, but I lock it tight. The rage holds me together.

Silas’s chuckle slithers through the air. “How charming. Too bad you won’t get the chance.”

The tornado roars behind me, a violent beast pacing, ready to devour. I feel the edges of my mates’ presence brushing against my mind—faint but growing stronger.

They’re coming.

I just have to hold on.

I glare at Silas, teeth clenched, the storm’s chaos thrashing around me.

“We’ll see about that.”

The vortex looms, its fury vibrating through the earth, closing off every path to safety. The wind shifts again, and the air turns leaden, tightening in my lungs, each breath a battle.

An unnatural stillness settles over the field. As if the storm hasn’t abandoned me—it’s simply biding its time.

Then, there’s movement on the ground. A sickly green mist seeps up between the blades of grass, curling low and heavy. It oozes with purpose, spreading like poisonous ink in water, its tendrils slithering and twisting in the wind’s wake. The color is wrong—an eerie, venomous hue that mirrors the storm-darkened sky.

The first wisp brushes my ankle, and a cold dread sinks like a stone in my gut. I stumble back, heart pounding, my eyes darting wildly.

And then I see him.Mishka.

He’s popped up a few yards away, Sumi clutched tight to his chest. Rain streaks his face, his eyes wide with fear, but he’s already moving. Slowly, never taking his eyes off Silas and his companion, he places himself between me and whatever’s coming, his jaw set in that stubborn, determined line that makes my heart ache.

It’s a look I know well—a Ben look. The look that says he’s ready to dig in his heels and face down the world, no matter how the odds might be stacked against him.

He’s scared—I can see it in the trembling of his frame and feel it pouring off him. He’s scared to death, but bravery isn’t the absence of fear; it’s being terrified and doing it anyway.

Andgoodness, is he ever brave.

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