Page 85 of Magic Betrayed

I needed to focus on stalling for time.

Because I might have saved the twins, but my yelling had attracted the attention of all five of our enemies.

Between me and the house, the goblin had dropped down from the roof and was regarding me with glowing golden eyes filled with rage. Apparently, my wallop hadn’t hit hard enough.

To my left was the tall, gangly form of the drus, and to my right were two more human-shaped figures—probably the fae and the fire elemental. How did I know?

Because the rumbling growl from behind me definitely hadn’t come from any human-shaped chest. If I wasn’t mistaken, there was a very angry bear-shifter breathing down my neck, which meant I was surrounded by extremely motivated and unhappy enemies looking for revenge.

Enemies who had no real reason to keep me alive.

First, I felt something grab my ankles. I looked down and discovered roots criss-crossing their way over my feet before rising up my legs. I flinched when the fire elemental released a jet of flame, but it streaked past my face to impact with a whoosh on a pile of wood and dried brush placed about halfway between the house and the treeline. Then he turned the other way and fired off two more blasts—lighting up two more makeshift bonfires.

So that’s what they’d been doing out here. Now the entire front half of the house was lit up, so there would be no sneaking out—or in. No clandestine rescues under the cover of darkness. These bounty hunters had no intention of taking anyone quietly. They were here to threaten and destroy, if that was what it took to get what they wanted.

As I took in the scene—and the anger on their faces—I realized there was a very good chance I wasn’t going to make it out of this. But if I could stall long enough?

Callum would find us. Faris, Kira, Rath, and Shane would be right behind him. And even if it was too late for me, they would save Kes and Logan. Even if I could never repay them, even if the scales would never be balanced, my family would be safe, and they would still have a home for as long as they needed it.

And to my shock, even as I silently repeated those words to myself, I discovered that… I actually believed them.

No matter how it had begun, no matter how little sense it made, we wereno longer on our own against the world. That was what Faris had been trying to tell me. What Callum had been trying to show me. And now that I was here, now that I was facing a fight for my life, I realized that I’d finally accepted it as truth.

I didn’t understand why—had no idea how we’d gotten so lucky—but I trusted my friends to fight for us, believe the best, and never, ever give up.

All I had to do was hold out until they showed up.

“If you’re going to spin us another story, you can save your breath.” The fae woman regarded me with a smirk as she strolled forward with more than a hint of swagger in her stride—at ease and in command of the situation. “We know you’re alone. And we know you lied to us.”

“What do you think I lied about?” I countered. “Because Idon’tcare about the bounty. And the target does have something I want.”

I just didn’t plan on telling them thatsomethingwas my kid.

“Nice try, but we asked around. We know you and the target are roommates. And this time, you don’t have a dragon to back you up.”

That much, the bear shifter would know by smell. And as for our living situation? Any one of my neighbors could have revealed the truth in total innocence. What my neighborswouldn’thave known was where to find us, and that was something I was going to have to investigate in the very near future.

“I’m just here as a scout,” I replied coolly. “The rest of the team will be showing up shortly.”

“Right. Of course.” The fire elemental let out a huff of scorn. “A scout with no phone.”

“How do you know I…” Oops. Way to confirm his suspicion, Raine.

His smirk told me that was exactly what he’d intended.

“Here’s how we’re going to play this,” the fae woman announced, looking almost bored. “You’re going to stand here where everyone can see you. We’re going to make our demands, and then if they don’t give us what we want, we’re going to try making you scream. And if screaming doesn’t work, we’ll kill you in front of them. And if that still doesn’t do the trick, we’ll take that house apart, board by board, and kill everyone except the bounty we’re here to collect on.” She gave me a bright, vicious smile. “Great plan, right?”

I bared my teeth right back. “Perfect. Super well thought out, really. I commend you. I’d give you a high five, but you’re too far away and it seems I can’t move my feet.”

“Cute.” Her smile died. “You know, I think I might actually enjoy this.”

I shrugged. “You might. For a few minutes.”

The woman rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you go ahead and get it out of your system. What’s going to happen after that?”

“Well, there’s one teeny tiny little flaw in your plan. It’s not your fault,” I assured her soothingly. “You did the best you could with what you had. See, the problem is, whoever sold you information about us didn’t give you the whole story. Probably because they didn’t know either.”

“And what’s the whole story?”

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