Page 85 of Savage Sacrifice
Ominous as fuck.
Great.
I’m probably walking myself to my own death, but for Polaris, it’s worth it.
Staying close to the edge of the steps, my footsteps go untracked as I dive deeper into the basement. It’s cold, colder than outside, but it’s the whispered voices that send a chill down my spine as I approach the bottom of the stairs.
My pulse quickens instantly, and I have to force myself to relax to hear over the thrumming in my ears.
There are three doors down here: one straight ahead and one on each side, veering off to the left and right. The one on the right has a light shining from underneath it, silently confirming that’s where the whispers are coming from.
Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I try the door to the left, and it silently opens to reveal a dark cleaning closet. I slip inside, hiding among the shelves filled with cleaning products, old wooden ladders, and a vacuum. With my back pressed firmly against the wall beside the door, I close my eyes and let my wolf senses take over. Two deep breaths, and it feels like they’re here in this room talking right in front of me.
“I’m about done with your lack of progress, Bryony,” a man snarls, frustration burning in every word. “One job, you’ve had one job, and your lack of conviction has me wondering if it would be better to choose an alternate route,” he adds, a tinge of despair lacing his threat.
“I’m not slacking, I’m doing exactly as is expected of me, but it takes time. Infiltrating a group of people isn’t as easy as telling someone to do it,” she chides back, and my nostrils flare with anger at what she’s insinuating.
Infiltrating people, as in infiltrating our group, or Polaris specifically? Either way, I don’t fucking like it.
“We haven’t come all this way for you to let us down now. Everything will crumble if you don’t put an end to it,” the man warns again, and I try to place his voice. It’s so familiar, but I can’t quite visualize who it belongs to.
“Everything has been crumbling for a very long time, Father, and if it does, it won’t be from my lack of trying, so aim your blame elsewhere,” Bryony snaps back, and I stiffen.
Father?
How would I recognize her father’s voice?
Not unless he’s on campus, maybe?
Fuck.
“I’ll aim it where it’s deserved. The time, effort, and energy that have gone into you being the one to be the crutch will have been in vain if you don’t live up to your promise. We’ve followed your direction for long enough. Hiding the fact that you are acenter witch and it almost killing you will be the least of your worries if you don’t get control of the situation.”
My mind swirls with the endless possibilities of what he means as Bryony huffs in frustration.
“We both know I went through that pain to try and get her under our control. Don’t doubt my methods.”
“Your failures, you mean.”
“If I were failing, I wouldn’t still be deep in her coven group. I wouldn’t sleep beside her best friend at night. I wouldn’t wear the blood kin mark of Lincoln fucking James, one of her men, and I certainly wouldn’t know her whereabouts.” Each sentence is spoken like a cannon blast, threatening to floor me as my hands clench at my sides.
Acid burns in my throat. The truth is always so bittersweet. I need to know it, we all do, but that doesn’t take the sting out of it.
She’s played us.
For what, I’m not entirely sure, but she’s part of something bigger than anything I can wrap my head around.
“You found her?” Disbelief clings to his question, and I can almost picture the smug look on Bryony’s face.
“I have.”
“Where is she? Let’s go right now,” he orders, but Bryony doesn’t rise to his command.
“No. There’s much more at play here. I’ve played my hand in helping them this far; if we can hold out a little longer, it won’t just be them we take down, but the original six themselves.”
“What?”
“You heard me, Father. Show me some patience, and I will make sure the power will forever be in our hands. No more factions doing as they please, no more freedom at the end of it all. Pure control, raw rage, and self-destruction. It will be ours, just as The Renegades have thought for all this time. It’s time the witches took the rightful control of this world.”
