Page 3 of Son of a Witch

After that, I didn’t know where I’d go. The warden’s warning sat heavily on my shoulders. My freedom would be dependent on my ability to hide.

I shrugged. “I guess I’m a nomad for now.”

Her hand gripped my upper arm. “You don’t have a house or apartment somewhere?”

Everything I had, I gave to my mother. Money wasn’t important to me or my tribe when we bartered with food or services. Lycans also had no concept of finances, either. Unlike Knoxe or Tor, I hadn’t saved for a rainy day like this. Stupid, now that I looked back.

I never thought that I’d get stuck in the Guardians. I thought I could infiltrate the Guild, get what I needed and go. Plans never worked out how you imagined.

“No.” At my answer, her mouth and forehead tightened, making my wolf yap with concern for her.

I committed her beautiful face to memory. Those bright, large eyes, twinkling like a star in the midnight sky. Her cute, thin, button nose. Subtle cheekbones that caught the light. The heart-shaped mouth I’d traced with my fingers, tongue, and lips. Thinking about her lips prompted me to pull her in for one last kiss. Searing, branding, claiming. She was mine. I’d find a way back to her somehow. I just didn't know how yet. What I did know was that I couldn’t let her go. Wouldn’t.Ever.

“Time’s up,” one of the sentries barked. I didn’t know his name. He worked on a different Cell Ward from where we were homed.

“Five more minutes, please,” I begged.

The prick shoved a charged stave through the fence, poking me in the arm, pumping me full of electricity. Body shaking, my grip faltered, and I dropped to the ground.

“Raze, no!” Little Wolf’s hands reached for me as the other sentry lifted her and carried her away.

My mate. The only one for me. Gone forever. My heart pounded its thunderous war beat. I would get her back. Find Jaz’s damn box first and get her and my pack released, no matter what I had to do. Nothing would stop me from being with my Little Wolf.

CHAPTER2

Astra

I could barely walk.Barely breathe. Barely see through the rivulets of tears. The asshole sentries from another ward had dragged me away from my wolf and dumped me inside the gates of Cell Ward A … or what remained of it.

Walls crumbled after the gantii had busted through them. Stone lay in piles and toppled everywhere. Crushed or injured Watchers littered the floor from the fight. Gargoyles crowded around them, mourning their fallen comrades. Steel gates, cell doors, even chairs and stools that had been welded to the floor were ripped off their foundations and thrown aside. Fire scorch marks branded the wall from where sentries had deployed their weapons.

Bodies … so many bodies … lying in pools of blood. Prisoners, sentries, and dead gantii. Trampled, beaten, stabbed, and some missing limbs. Fuck, I had to look away.

Too late. I heaved and brought up my breakfast, adding to the mess. For a few moments, I hunched over, eyes closed, sucking in air to calm my roiling stomach. Footsteps approached and my eyes flicked open, expecting to see a sentry’s boots.

“Are you okay?” a woman asked, approaching, her boots crunching on rubble. A gentle hand rubbed my back, startling me, and I jerked away and snapped to my feet.

No one cared in this place. They were all out to get something. Stab you in the back for a petty vendetta. Prisoners, guards, even my boss in the lab had assaulted me, tried to rape me. Now I didn’t let anyone but my men touch me.

I stared at her, trying to figure out who the hell she was. Pastel pink hair and even brighter eyeshadow. Tight, black bodice highlighting a full bust. Slender and slightly taller than me. Dark dragon pendant on her neck that made my gaze dip lower, ‘cause … wow… amazing rack. Full lips and pale brown eyes. Striking. She clutched a chunk of stone with twisted sigils on it.

Ugh. My chest constricted. What I wouldn’t give to be able to wear clothes like that. I missed my Cosplay outfits and dressing up. What I wouldn’t do for one weekend of fun and games.

Something about her felt familiar in a strange way, but I didn’t want to stick around. Being in the hall amid the sea of death felt icky and my skin crawled, and I couldn’t stop rubbing my arms.

I wanted the warm arms of my wolf behind my back. His chest to bury my face into while he carried me through the carnage.

Several other strangers wandered through the debris accompanied by a pair of sentries guarding them. Two men and a woman, wearing long, dark cloaks with an entwining “S” emblem. Guild of Sorcerers. Another branch of the damn Guild. Examining the ruined sigils and wards. Magick flared on their hands as they repaired one.

“I’m fine.” I started to walk away, wary of this stranger, her colleagues from the Sorcerers, and of danger being in the hall alone.

Gantii or dangerous prisoners might still lurk in any of the cells, and I wasn’t sticking around to be shanked or trampled.

Leaving Raze behind and losing one quarter of my heart, I also didn’t feelchatty. I wanted to get back to my men, needing their comfort before I threw up or bawled my eyes out again. This nightmare and hell we were all stuck in needed to end.

“You don’t remember me, do you?” the pink-haired woman called after me, pricking the back of my mind with suspicion but not enough to stop my determined steps.

“Should I?” I called back to her.

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