Page 121 of Owned

The harder I fought, the more their grip intensified, and with every motion, the pain grew sharper.

I wasn’t ready to give up.

Not yet.

I thrashed with renewed fervor and my breath came in ragged gasps that they ignored with a practiced indifference. I wanted to scream, to call for help, but all that came out was a choked whimper.

“Lucian will have to listen to us now,” one of my captors said.

At the sound of Lucian’s name, my heart stuttered in my chest.

“Traitors,”the grimoire hissed.

Anger that wasn’t my own began to overpower my fear, giving it shape and heat.

At that moment, the pain in my limbs and in my ribs faded just enough to make me think I could do something reckless—I writhed and kicked, and an unexpected surge of adrenaline lent me strength I didn’t know I had.

My foot connected with something solid, and the man on my right cursed and loosened his grip. For a fleeting moment, I believed I could get away. I could almost imagine outrunning them and slipping through the trees like smoke.

Then the world swung violently, and I was hauled back with bruising force.

I couldn’t let them take me.

Not like this.

Not without a fight.

The fear, the pain, the anger—it all coiled inside me, tight and electric.

I would make them regret this.

I had to.

It was my only chance.

It started as a whisper. A fluttering of wings inside me, frantic and insistent.

My magic.

It clawed at my insides, a living thing that begged to be set loose.

I didn’t have time to think, didn’t have time to question. I seized it and forced it outward with a scream that ripped through the trees.

The blast lit up the forest like a violet tinged lightning strike, raw and furious.

My entire body sang with it and the sensation was so overwhelming I thought I might come apart.

The force of my magical outburst flung one of the masked men backward into a nearby tree trunk, cracking it. A fierce, reckless joy filled my chest as I watched him slide down the tree and crumple to the ground.

The magic coursed through me like fire, a torrent of energy that threatened to swallow me whole. I was too stunned to feelafraid, too desperate to stop it. It burned in my veins, electric and consuming.

My mind reeled, struggling to catch up with my body as I fought to understand what I’d done.

This power was wild and untamed, an explosion that had been building inside me without my knowing. I marveled at it, the way it moved like something alive.

Dangerous and beautiful.

For one brilliant moment, the world was color and noise, bright enough to blind me.

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