Page 59 of Cruel Revenge
“She was putting up an amazing fight,” I said softly. “Everything her dad and brother taught her was in action.”
“Without focus or a chance, casting a spell is difficult,” Subira confirmed. “Good girl. She did good.”
“She did,” I agreed, fighting the tears again. “She really did.”
“Hey,” Zuri said, reaching out. “It’s going to be okay.”
“And those kids,” I said, wiping my eyes. “Stacy… I need to know what happened. I need to know why they shot her…”
“Dirk has been reviewing the security footage. He’s piecing it all together,” Subira reminded me.
“I should bring all the werewolves into the story as well. Carey and you, guarded by younger werewolves, who stepped up for their pack. One only the same age as Carey. The eldest, an older sister, was killed trying to help the others…” Zuri nodded and started walking away, her phone coming out as she started typing.
“Let your sister weave her own types of spells over the people,” Subira said softly, taking my arm and wrapping her fingers with mine, properly holding my hand. “It’s good for the werewolves, too. It’s good that they’ll know Stacy’s name. That they know of Kody, Arlo, and Benjamin. Four young people were taken, and one was killed. You will be a hero to every mother and father in the world.”
“But I’m not one,” I whispered.
“Oh, daughter, if only you could see the woman I do,” Subira said gently.
22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
HEATH
Heath looked at the metal rods still in the wall, the reason he brought Hasan here. They had to see what damage had been done to Jacky; perhaps they would know more about why it was done. For a moment, the scene flashed in his mind, making him wonder how Jacky had been trapped there. What sort of pain she had probably been in. How Carey must have witnessed it.
I can’t keep thinking about this. I must focus on something else.
So, he turned his direction to stare at the others in the room. Living people, right there. Hasan inhaled deeply, smelling remnants of magic that Heath had tuned out his first time here. He didn’t need to smell anything to know magic had been used.
“It’s her,” Hasan said softly, nodding.
“How do you know?” Landon asked, the son of Heath’s who refused to change. He looked at every threat as a great challenge to overcome. The world threw a thousand challenges at his son, and Landon had never bent to them, never given up. He wouldn’t now. He faced this as he faced all things—his chin up,defiant in the face of overwhelming odds, willing to fight alone if he had to.
“It took a long time for me to be exposed to magic to begin identifying the minor differences in the smell, thanks to who cast the spell or directed the flow of magic. Subira’s was the first I probably ever recognized, catching the scent of her magic next to foreign magics, which I later realized was that of my twins. This one is burned into my memory. There’s no mistaking it. I caught it when we found Jacky, but I was focused on Jacky. Now…” Hasan reached out and touched those metal rods, slowly wrapping a hand around one. He yanked it from the wall, a disgusted look on his face. “It’s not the only magic; there’s a second that must have confused me initially as well. It would make sense, considering her voice is apparently coming out of a man Jacky and Davor have seen before.”
“Have you seen something like this before?” Heath asked, needing answers, needing information, something for him to ruminate on if he wanted to avoid thinking about anything else. If he didn’t carefully pick every single thought going through his mind, he was going to lose it.
“Using bodies as a sign of power and warning is nothing new,” Hasan said, shaking his head. “They aren’t silver. Purely steel. That’s the most curious thing to me. Perhaps because silver is expensive and a soft metal. Perhaps because it conducts magic strangely. Perhaps because the death was meant to be slow and painful. Kushim and I know this witch is a particularly cruel bitch. She would enjoy the idea of leaving someone’s child bleeding out, in severe pain, and with no hope of help.”
“If it weren’t for the fact that Jacky is Jacky…” Landon growled. “Most supernaturals die up there like that.”
“Yes. Most would die,” Hasan agreed. “These do so much damage. There was no reason for the witches to believe that even Jacky could survive it. Or they just didn’t care. If it wasn’tfor Subira’s charm on her, Jacky wouldn’t have had the strength to do the Change on her own. She wouldn’t have remained a threat.”
“And they’re spikes for the obvious reason of…” Landon waved at the other in the wall.
To pin the victim into place.
“They must be. From Jacky’s explanation, they were trying out a number of new things on this particular assault. These spikes must be a test weapon for witches powerful enough to send them. Let’s them avoid silver bullet bans or needing old arms that put them too close to one of our kind. They have some weight, so the momentum of them must be painful.” Hasan put it down on the bar. “That old bitch is just being a sadist, like she was back then.”
“Can you tell me more about her?” Heath asked, looking at Hasan’s face, refusing to linger on the spike left on the bar.
Focus on the present. Find more answers. Search for information. Can’t think of anything else right now.
“When she captured me, she treated me like an animal, and people did not treat animals well in those days,” he said, his gold eyes locked with Heath’s. “If I did not bend to her magic easily enough, she made things hurt. But the things she asked of me were against my honor. It was a constant struggle for power that lasted for a handful of months. I still bear the faintest of scars from those troubling days, knowing that my mate was pregnant, and I was trapped.
“Why didn’t Subira just save you? She’s the more powerful witch, isn’t she?” Landon asked, this question softer than his previous. “That’s what Kushim said.”
