Page 83 of Infernal

Deciding to play it safe, we watched the house before choosing our point of entrance, spotting an unfamiliar, long-haired blond man in the kitchen, rummaging through Trace’s fridge while the sisters sat together in the adjacent living room. From the windows, I could see that they were curled up on the sofa and relaxed. The TV was on, though they didn’t appear to be watching it.

Just as I’d hoped; their guards were all the way down.

“Can you take him?” I whispered to Dominic as I assessed Tall, Blond and Hungry.

Do you even need to ask? He responded telepathically.

“Use the kitchen door,” I instructed as I ticked my chin to the back door. “It’s probably locked, but it’s mostly glass.” Something Dominic could easily break through. “I’ll take the sisters and go through there,” I continued, gesturing in the opposite direction towards the patio door.

Are we catching and releasing or shooting to kill? he asked.

“Shoot to kill,” I said icily and then looked down at the phone as it vibrated in my hand.

Four little word stared back at me on the screen:

It’s done. Good luck.

My heart lurched, hammering so savagely against my rib cage that I could hear the reverberations of its pounding in my ears. There was no going back now, no time outs, and no do overs. This was our one and only chance to get this right.

“This is it,” I said hoarsely and then reached over to grab him by the lapels of his coat, bringing his face within inches of mine. “You make damn sure you come back to me, you hear me?”

A hint of a smile touched his lips. “I’ll see what I can do, angel.”

Nodding to him, I released my hold on him and watched as he shifted into his wolf form, his eyes glowing like two amber stones caught in the moonlight.

I’ll see you on the other side, he said as we parted ways, each of us heading in separate directions at the back of the sprawling estate. Within a few seconds, I heard a loud crashing noise—the distinct sound of wood and glass smashing out of existence—and knew that he had made his way inside.

My turn.

Grabbing the banister, I pulled myself onto the back porch and then barreled straight for the glass doors. Using every emotion I owned—fear, anger, desperation, loss—I channeled them into something that felt so much bigger than me or this moment, and then aimed it at the patio doors, shattering the glass before I even touched it.

The sisters’ heads snapped in my direction. They had already been standing up, gawking in the direction of the kitchen as they tried to figure out what the commotion was. And judging by the looks of shock on their faces, I could tell I was the absolute last person on earth they expected to see here.

“Well, well. Look what the cat dragged in,” said Annabelle. The look of surprise had quickly morphed into one of amusement. “You’re even stupider than I thought,” she said and then threw her head back and laughed.

My hand flexed at my side as I took each of them in, quickly assessing whether they had any weapons and how many points of escape they had access to. The odds were in my favor.

My eyes zeroed in on Arianna—stupid, traitorous Arianna—and then my feet were moving, walking themselves towards her as though they had all the time in the world to get there.

“Recedite,” shouted one of the sisters, though I didn’t bother turning around to see who. “Recedite!” she bellowed again when it clearly wasn’t working.

The spell had worked.

Their magic was disabled, and that was all I needed to know to pounce.

Like a starving shark with a small taste of blood, my feet kicked off the ground as I dove into Arianna, my body slamming into hers like a head-on collision and then tumbling to the ground with her body trapped beneath mine. Before she could eventhinkabout recovering, I was already pummeling my fist into her face.

“Get her off of me!” cried Arianna as she fruitlessly tried to block my blows.

“I’m trying!” shouted Annabelle, panic streaking her voice. “My magic’s not working!”

I was able to land four more hits before a pair of hands found their way into my hair, fisting through my long waves and then using them to yank me backwards off Arianna. I landed on my back and looked up at Anita as she dropped her body on top of mine, using her weight to hold me down.

“Get your shit together, Annabelle!” she scolded her sister.

“I’m trying to!Aqua suffocent,” screamed Annabelle, her fist clenching and unclenching so frantically that she was drawing blood from her palms. “Something’s wrong,” she said, dropping her hand and turning to her sister. “She did something to my magic,” she said and then turned her accusatory finger at me. “What did you do, you little bitch?!”

“Who, me?” I asked innocently, though the smile on my face let them both know I was proudly claiming responsibility. “Oh, that’s right. I evened the playing field,” I said and then reached up and grabbed Anita by her throat, yanking her off my chest and flipping her onto the ground. I threw my leg over her body and straddled her chest, locking her arms against her body. Her eyes widened as I tightened my grip around her throat and squeezed as hard as I could.

---