Page 20 of Freed Wolfsbane

My own ire at him fades. “I wanna get out of here too, Anson. Just let me recoup for a moment. Then we can keep going.”

Anson gives me a small smile and a nod. Now that we’re on the same page, I wander over to the wall and lean back against it. Closing my eyes, I take deep breaths as I try to find the energy to keep going. The front of my scrubs is sticky with warm crimson blood, and I feel weaker by the minute.

I need at least a little more magic to heal myself enough to get out of here. When I go to where my magic normally sits, I’m surprised to see my wolf there.

“Descendant of Aeneas,”Dido screams in my mind.“Don’t trust him.”

I startle at her unexpected voice.Dido? What are you talking about? Where have you been?

“Yes, child, it is me. The suppression spell made it impossible for me to communicate with you, but I have been here the entire time. I have watched it all, and I have been trying to warn you about the boy you shared your confinement with. He is not a shifter. He is one of Aeneas’s descendants. Wherever he is taking you, it is not good.”

Jesus fucking Christ.

That’s so not good.

The situation just went from awful to apocalyptic. I’m alone with not just any Knight but one of Aeneas’s direct descendants, wounded, rapidly losing blood, and have a little girl to protect. I’m at a loss for how to get out of this situation.

Any ideas what I should do now?I ask Dido.

Her voice swims with regret.“I do not know, child. You are too weak to shift into a wolf, and you have used the last of your magic. Do you think you can try to sneak away?”

I shrug.I guess we’re going to find out because I don’t have any other ideas.

Opening my eyes, I hope Anson has his back turned to make it easy for Annabel and me to escape. As most things go in my shit show of a life, Anson’s is not only facing me, he’s also pointing a gun at me.

Awesome.

Just what I wanted.

Anson sneers at me. “So, you figured it out, did you?”

I don’t see any point in lying. “Yep. How’d you know?”

“I knew something was up when you were quiet for so long. I took a wild guess that you finally put the pieces together, and it looks like I was right.” He gives me a smug smile before jerking his chin at me. “How did you figure it out?”

I shrug. “Without the suppression spell, my wolf knows exactly who you are, descendant of Aeneas.” Annabel whimpers behind me. I squeeze her hand as I push off the wall and start walking backward a few steps. “So, what are the chances of you letting us go?”

He lets out a mocking laugh that’s eerily similar to Ryker’s. “Zero. It was pure luck I stumbled on you in the hallway as I was leaving. I don’t know how you got free, but I won’t let all the Knights’ hard work to expand the curse go to waste. You and your blood are crucial to everything we’re building, so there’s no way I’m letting you escape. I’m going to bring you back to my uncle, and he’ll decide what to do with you.”

“Who’s your uncle?” I ask, even though that’s really not the important question right now. I’m honestly just trying to stall as I try to come up with some solution that doesn’t get me shot or taken back to the Knights. It feels like a cosmic joke that I survived Ryker leaving me for dead only to stumble into a descendant of Aeneas who is going to take me right back to the Knights.

I doubt his uncle or the Knights will be as pleased as he thinks they will because Ryker apparently got everything he needed from me. All that sociopath wants is me dead, so Anson showing up with me still alive will just piss him off.

He rolls his eyes. “Ryker.”

Of course it is. Why would the guy holding a gun on me be related to anyone but the evilest Knight I’ve met?

Now that he says it, I can see some similarities in their face structure. They have the same jagged edges, thin lips, and dark eyes, even though Anson’s aren’t quite as dark. I feel like an idiot for not noticing the subtle similarities sooner.

I tilt my head as I try to put all the pieces together. “Why were you my cellmate?”

He sighs like I’m being purposely dense. “In case you knew anything useful that we didn’t about Dido and our spell. I told you that sob story to get you to trust me and spill all your secrets. It seemed to work pretty well, didn’t it?”

Not really. There’s a whole lot I didn’t tell him, thankfully. Patrick teaching me not to trust anyone was good for something. “So how you ended up in the facility never happened?”

“Oh, it happened. I was the one doing the killing and capturing, though. Luckily all the shifters I’ve bagged are in other facilities.” His lips tilt up in a sickening smile, pride at killing helpless humans and hurting shifters lighting his gaze. He waves the gun at me. “Now stop stalling.”

“You’re a fucking monster,” I spit at him. Realizing that I’m out of options and out of time, I shout, “Annabel, run!” The little girl’s eyes go wide before she sprints off in the opposite direction.

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