Page 58 of Cruel Revenge
Beth grabbed my arm as I tried to pass her. I snarled, my control snapping at the contact. I yanked my arm away hardenough to knock her off balance as I turned my full attention to her.
“Carey has beenkidnapped,” I said, seeing my gold eyes reflected in Beth’s. “I don’t have the time or patience to play the game of making the humans feel better tonight.” Every word was punctuated by the growl underneath. “Why won’t any of you get that? They took her! None of you fucking matters!” I roared at the end.
Beth shrank back from me, bumping into another agent as she was still unsteady on her feet. Her pale face showed every bit of the fear I could smell in the air. The other agents were just as afraid.
Distantly, I heard the press starting to wonder what was happening.
“The werecat ruling family is not in the position to play nicely tonight,” Hasan’s voice rolled over us. “Do not make the mistake of thinking you dictate anything.”
Beth turned slowly to see Hasan slowly walking toward us.
“And the werewolves stand by their moon cursed cousins,” Heath said as he came with Landon.
Subira walked by the men and came to me.
“Let’s work,” she said, sniffing the air. “I’m already getting an idea of the magic they were using. You didn’t stand a chance, Jacky.” She looked back at Beth, smiling. “You’re going to have the BSA step back and out of the way.”
“And… you are?” Beth asked, clearly still afraid.
“Jacky and Zuri’s mother,” Subira answered, smiling.
“The matriarch of the werecat ruling family and my wife,” Hasan continued, growling softly in warning.
Everyone looked between Hasan and Subira, their eyes going wide.
“You won’t remember our faces,” Subira said with that knowing smile she had given me earlier when she said the exactsame thing. “We need to get this done. My future granddaughter is missing. When we’re done, Zuri will leave you with a statement.”
“If you’ve identified the dead one in the parking lot, that would be useful for the statement,” Zuri added.
“We’ll… We’ll get that information,” Beth promised.
“We’re just going to let them?—”
Beth turned on the agent.
“We’re not going to push two very ancient werecats we’ve never met right now,” she said quickly, then walked off, leaving the agent going after her.
I looked at my fiancé, his ice-blue eyes emotionless. He nodded at Hasan and led the ancient cat inside, Landon with them.
“This is the third trip tonight. The first was when everything first happened and we were in a rush,” Subira explained. “The second was to get your car and the remainder of our things, but that was done by the few werewolves free to do so. This is the first time your father and I have been able to come.”
“Mother…” Zuri lifted her hands, as if she was feeling something. “You can feel these spells, right?”
“Yes. I believe they are still active, as well,” Subira said.
I could only smell Subira’s magic. I had no idea what they were talking about, but I followed them as they walked.
“They blocked all external sound, soundproofing the building both ways,” Zuri finally said to me. “I can feel it. If we stand here and scream, the men inside won’t hear us.” She stepped about five feet from the building. “I wonder if the BSA has been having problems, thanks to the spell.”
“Probably, but unwilling to admit it right now,” I answered, shaking my head. “They know of magic; they don’t really like running into it because they aren’t prepared to deal with it.”
“Fair enough. They probably write it off as building interference,” Zuri said with a snort. “But yeah, even if the werewolves howled or shots were fired, you wouldn’t have heard anything past this threshold,” Zuri said, pointing to an invisible line she could see, but I obviously couldn’t.
“Oh,” I said, letting that sink in. There was no way to help the teens out of the building.
“Then they spelled the werewolves to sleep,” Subira said, waving a hand. “The smell will have faded, but I don’t think the ones who did that protected the scent. The sound spell had to surround the building long before you arrived, so it had to be invisible to you.” Subira crossed her arms. “I won’t go in the building. From your description, they didn’t cover that magic either, since things were going in their favor.”
“Why didn’t they sedate Carey like the werewolves?” Zuri asked softly.
