Page 67 of Savage Torment

I don’t make that fact known, not when they all have the first few buttons of their shirts undone, revealing just a hint of skin beneath, and I’m a goner. Their hair may have seen better days, but their get up brings out a whole other side to the wolves.

“You guys look hot at least,” I grumble, tilting my face down to take in my own clothes. Square-heeled shoes adorn my feet, squeezing tighter than necessary, while a huge yellow dress puffs out in every direction. The sleeves are unnecessary, and the corset around my waist makes it barely possible to breathe.

“We look… old,” Asher grumbles, but Wylder grins.

“It’s more vintage, and if it displays my Little Witch’s tits like that, then I’m all for it,” he states, drawing attention to the way my dress pushes my chest up toward my face.

I don’t engage in the topic with him, but my cheeks heat nonetheless. Attempting to brush him off with an eye roll, I flick my silvery hair over my shoulder and take a deep breath, but Lincoln speaks before I can formulate a sentence.

“What do we do?”

Tatum scoffs. “You’re the Alpha.”

Lincoln rolls his eyes before settling a heavy stare my way. “I didn’t bring us here.”

Instead of letting his words bring me down, I smile at him. “That would be me. Do you want me to be in charge, Lincoln?” I goad, and he grunts.

“No.”

“Too late,” I sing, sidestepping them as I head for the exit. Before I reach the barn door, I glance back over my shoulder at them. “I think we’re actuallyina memory instead of simply viewing it,” I add before stepping outside.

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Lincoln mutters, and I sigh.

“You don’t like the sound of much,” I retort, and Wylder appears at my side a moment later, fist extended in my direction. I curl my hand into a fist and knock it against his, loving the beaming smile on his lips as I earn my first ever fist bump.

Lincoln grumbles something under his breath that I can’t quite hear, but I’m paying more attention to our surroundings. The dusty dirt road is poorly lit, but there’s another building across the way to the right with the lights on and the sound of music wafting through the air.

My gut tells me that’s where we need to go, so I grab a few layers of my dress and take off toward the noise.

“Where are you going now?” Lincoln gripes, and I fight back another eye roll.

“If you’re going to complain, you can wait here. I’m not dealing with your mood swings on top of not knowing what we’re all walking into,” I snap as Wylder tosses his arm around my shoulders.

“Feisty. I like it. That’s my witch,” he declares as I shake my head at his antics.

Approaching the building, I notice the sign above the door.Pinky’s Tavern.That explains the music. As we approach the door, it barrels open from the inside out as two men stumble over one another. They’re too busy singing, swaying, and drunkenly laughing to pay us any mind. Sidestepping them, we enter the tavern just as the music quiets down.

Rows and rows of chairs occupy the space, each one filled and aimed toward the far wall where a man stands. There’s a gray top hat on his head and a cane in his hand. I plaster myself to the back wall with Wylder to my left and the others spread to my right, each following suit as we try to blend in.

“Thank you all for joining me for what I hope will be a fine and productive evening. As many of you know, the factions thatwe call our own are under threat. Not a threat from the outside world. There’s no known supernatural hunter on the prowl and the truth of our existence isn’t on the brink of being released. No. The threat comes from the inside. From our own.” Gasped whispers fill the space, and my heart rate creeps up as worry settles in my gut. “We all know who they are, but if you need me to spell it out for you, I’ll happily reel out their names. Octantis, Jonah, Bracken, Felix, Timothe, and Belladora.”

Wylder nudges my arm, pulling my attention to him. “Do you think that?—”

“The six of them make a coven like no other. The six of them together are a force I’m not willing to reckon with. The six of them should not be allowed any more time to flourish. Their time must come, and that time has to be now.”

Cheers ring through the air as I nod at Wylder. “The original six?”

His mouth sits in a thin line as he turns back to the man holding the entire tavern captive.

“Why?” Someone hollers from the crowd, and instead of becoming more enraged at the question, the leader grins.

“Well, I thought you would never ask.” He straightens the lapels on his jacket as he slowly paces back and forth on the small platform. “You see, when you hear the word coven, you assume that they’re all witches. Correct?”

Murmurs of agreement ring out, but the look on his face darkens.

“That’s where you would be wrong. You see, the only witches among the coven are Belladora and Octantis.” He shakes his head with a grimace as the volume of the crowd lowers once more. “Jonah is a human, a supernatural hunting human to be precise, while Bracken is a wolf. And to make matters worse, both Timothe and Felix are vampires. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, when I say it’s a coven like no other, I don’t use suchwords lightly. It’s because there is indeed no other coven that holds more than witches. There are some from each faction, and I declare that we must put an end to it immediately.” His voice thunders as he drives his point home and the crowd comes alive once again, chanting and hollering in agreement.

My heart aches, a pain I can’t explain holding me captive, and I can’t bear to listen anymore. Without glancing at the others, I beeline for the door, struggling to breathe until I make it outside into the dark night air.