Page 15 of Hellfire to Come
None of them deserved that.
We waited in the trees, every second stretching like a blade across my nerves. Dominic and the wolf returned just before the night spread over us like a blanket, furs matted with dew and eyes alert. The wolf gave a low huff and flicked his ears toward the west wing.
“There’s a breach,” Dominic translated the moment he returned to his human form. “Collapsed wall behind the overgrowth. Leads to a lower level.”
Perfect. A little too perfect but so be it.
“They’ll expect magic,” I said. “They’ll expect brute force. They’ll expect me to blast the doors screaming. But they won’t expect us to slide in through their broken history. No one would guess I’ll go to the cages willingly.”
“Just like old times,” Dominic muttered, dozens of unsaid things swirling behind his eyes.
“No,” I said, focus still fixed on the mansion. “Not like any other time.” Slowly I turned to look at him. “This time… we finish it. Once and for all.”
“What about the witch?” Chester sounded uncomfortable just mentioning the traitor. “Should we bring him back with us or...?”
Kill him—that’s what he meant but didn’t dare say. Chester was a wise male always picking his words so he doesn’t step on any toes.
“Don’t kill him.” Dominic answered so fast the words were almost blurred. I cocked an eyebrow at that. “I want to know why, if he was the one who betrayed us.”
I stared at him.
“You can kill him after I have a talk with him.” My mate offered an olive branch. “If he did it.”
“With pleasure,” I said truthfully. “And I can’t see how it was not him.”
Chester shivered, a full-body shake rippling through him. “Brrrr. I’d hate to be on the receiving end of that.”
“I’d keep my mouth shut then.” Echo shoved him as she moved past. “Let’s go kill some Atua before she decides to kill you first.”
Chapter Seven
DOMINIC
The night didn’t breathe.
It crouched over the clearing like a beast waiting to pounce, heavy and still. Fog clung to the base of the trees, curling around our legs. The mansion loomed ahead, ruined, rotted, waiting.
We moved fast. Silent. Focused.
Brooklyn stalked through the overgrowth like she was born to it, hand signals quick and precise, eyes sharp and determent. She was a storm bottled into flesh, and if Alice wasn’t in that place, I knew she’d bring the whole damn building down just to make a point.
I’d help her do it.
I kept my steps light. The wolf mirrored me on the opposite flank, ears twitching with every distant creak or shift of wind. With a whispered good luck, Echo and Chester peeled off to the east to cause their very special brand of chaos.
Brooklyn and I headed west toward the breach the wolf and I had found: a collapsed portion of the mansion’s wall, now hidden behind thick ivy and decaying stone. It led to the lowest level, likely some old servant’s entrance or storage chamber. Somewhere no one watched anymore.
Except someone was watching.
I cursed myself for not paying closer attention before.
The scent hit me first. Sharp and oily. Burned ozone.
Witch magic.
I froze mid-step, holding one arm out to stop Brooklyn behind me. The wolf beside me snarled, hackles rising.
Too late.
