Page 57 of Midnight Rules
“Griffin next.”
Griffin had stopped moaning in pain and started to come around. He still couldn’t walk on his own. Zinnie and Emery supported him as he made his way back to the house.
Marric focused on Riley, who had recovered quicker than Griffin. Riley had hellfire burning in his gaze.
Marric turned back to the wolves, who were waiting for him to do something. What they expected from him was anyone’s guess. But they clearly thought he had an ace up his sleeve.
Marric hoped they were right.
By the time he got to where the wolves stood, he was huffing from the exertion. A wave of fatigue took over. All he wanted to do was lie somewhere and shut his eyes. The ground was sufficient.
It was the witch’s mate who gave direction. Hubert was his last name, but everyone called him Hubie because he’d been a starfootball player in high school. Everyone on the team had gone by their last name. The shorter version of his name had stuck.
Maggie got another shot off. A wolf not even two feet from Marric fell to the ground.
“Grab him.” Hubie was already running for the barn. They must have made it their impromptu command center.
A wolf on each side of him took him by his arm and dragged him into the barn. Once they were inside, they threw him onto the ground.
He had to roll onto his back to keep the bottle from breaking open.
Hubie squatted next to him. “I see Merlin and Esmelyn’s curse is working. Marie did a good job of administering it. And that dark witch maintained it. For a while, anyway.”
Marric tried to work the plug out of the tube without being obvious about doing it. It was a slow process. “They put a failsafe in the curse.”
Hubie smirked. “Bonding with your mate will end your life.”
Marie came up beside Hubie, putting a hand on his shoulder. Her eyes were colder than Marric had ever seen them. Of all of them, her betrayal hurt the most.
She shook her head. “Don’t look at me like that, Marric. I didn’t want to do it. If your father would have agreed to the voting system, I would have let the curse die on its own.”
“You made Regan hurt us.”
Marie shrugged. “He has evil magic.”
Marric had the plug halfway out. “He isn’t the one who’s evil.”
She growled. Her fingers turned into claws. “You’re just like your father. Far to accepting of others.”
No one had ever compared him to his dad before, but if the comparison was the last thing he heard, he would be okay with that. But he only had a few more pulls of the plug. “Who killed Hattie?”
Hubie smirked. “That would be me.”
“Why?”
“She was a loose end.”
When the plug came off, Marric wasn’t sure the poison came out of the bottle.
Hubie kept talking as if nothing was amiss. The arrogant shit didn’t stop telling Marric how Hattie had tumbled down the stairs after he shot her.
The air in the barn worked in Marric’s favor. Between that and the way he aimed the tube, the poison drifted away from him.
The poison was a silent killer. It was as though it was an airborne invisible snake striking at everyone as it slithered through the air.
Hubie lasted until the beta, who stood in the poison’s path, fell to the barn floor, writhing in pain. Hubie landed next to him seconds later.
Marie lifted her skirt and ran for the barn exit. She didn’t get far before Riley came in.
