Page 105 of The Witch's Heart
On either side, Dean and Declan press into me, their lips pulled back in a growl at something only they can see.
Maria reappears, her expression pinched in horror.
“He’s here,” she says gravely.
I nod. “Tell everyone to keep him here and anyone else out.”
She nods and vanishes.
I look down at the wolves eyeing me. Then at Logan.
“Are you ready?” he asks.
“We stick together,” I tell him. “No matter what. Don’t let me go.”
He takes my hand and Declan moves over to give him space then presses in at Logan’s hip as we all start to walk.
“Why don’t they shift?” Logan asks me quietly. He glances at the wolves, both of whom huff at his question.
“Cutter has done something to them,” I say.
“Can you fix them?”
I hesitate. “We’ll figure it out.”
When we reach the doors, I shove at them with my magic and they swing open. Outside, the parking lot is full of vehicles, most of them with the logo of a security firm that matches the emblem on the dead mens’ shirts.
But only one figure stands in the lot.
As one unit, the four of us walk slowly toward him.
“You will regret this.”
I stop, meeting Cutter’s hard gaze. Even from here, I can see the cruelty in his eyes, the way it twists his handsome features into something else. Something monstrous. And I wonder how he ever fooled me into thinking he could love me. Even without my memories restored, it’s easy to see he has never loved anything. In him, there is only hate and fear and the need to destroy.
And that, I think,will be his downfall.
“I regret only the moments I ever denied who I truly am,” I say. The magic hums inside me, building, rising. “And now, after lifetimes of feasting on them for your own power, you will finally know the revenge of a Witch’s Heart.”
His eyes flash, hard and unyielding.
My magic surges. I raise my hands and the energy inside me shoots from my palms. It’s white, hot, and blinding, but when I look again, Cutter isn’t there. Nor is he on the ground, bleeding out from the damage I intended.
I look around and Logan twists to scan the parking lot.
Something moves on my right.
“Look out,” Logan calls just as Dean begins to growl.
But Cutter is faster than I anticipated. Faster even than Logan.
Something slams into me from behind and I go sprawling against the asphalt. My skin burns where the pavement rips it away.
I cry out as my cheek scrapes against gravel.
The wolves howl, snarling and ripping at the body that’s landed on top of mine.
Cutter’s hand closes over my throat before he is quickly ripped away. He spins out of the hold Logan has on him and they fall into a deadly-fast battle of nails that rip like claws and fangs seeking to tear one another’s flesh.
