Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Echo’s nerves were stretched taut with having to listen to William for so long. “We need to go. We’ll check in soon.” She hung up before he could answer, and she saw Sajid’s raised eyebrows at her lack of deference.
She no longer cared.
Echo was stuck with Jack and Sajid. William had commanded them to stay with her, so there was no shaking them, for now. Unfortunately for them, William’s order had signed their death warrants. There was no way she could escape them with Elijah and leave them alive to tell her father she’d betrayed him. Her plan only worked if William thought she was a victim of the fae for as long as possible.
The weight of the werewolves’ lives sitting on her shoulders, Echo forced herself to meet their stare. “We go to Antwerp, we go to that concert, and we find a way to get backstage so we can take Webb.”
Nodding, Jack wandered over to the bed and opened a black box. From inside, he removed three earpieces. “These are spelled to work like a three-way radio.” He handed them out. “This way if we split up, we stay in contact.”
It would be better if they split up, if she could shake them so they weren’t there to witness her leave with Elijah. So … she didn’t have to kill them.
There were a lot of assholes in The Garm.
Why couldn’t William have sent two of them with her instead of Jack and Sajid?
They were professional, never inappropriate with her, and offered her respect.
“If it comes to a fight, you leave it to me,” Echo ordered.
The werewolves looked at each other and then Jack gave a negative swipe of his head. “We have orders to stay with you. If Webb is fae, it’ll take all three of us. You should never have been in that hotel alone in the first place.” The New York werewolf clamped his lips tight as he realized he’d inadvertently questioned William’s decisions.
Dread nauseated Echo. She didn’t want to murder these wolves, these wolves who clearly wanted to protect her.
Since meeting Elijah, she’d become weak.
The cool efficiency and cold compartmentalization she’d learned from William … it had fled her.
Could she really blame Elijah, though?
She’d become weak from the moment she’d uncovered the truth about her adoptive father.
Throwing her shoulders back, she narrowed her eyes on Jack. “I’m faster and stronger than you. I can take care of myself. Now, if we get separated and I encounter Webb on my own, I will handle it. Is that understood?”
“Sure.” Sajid shrugged in answer instead of Jack. “If we get separated.”
In other words, they weren’t going anywhere.
Fuck!
Odette. Think of Odette.
She was all that mattered.
And these two men weren’t innocent. They had killed innocent people for William. She’d seen them do it. Echo needed to remember that.
“Bring the car around. We can’t afford to wait for the sun to set.”
Jack gave her a grim nod, and he and Sajid stalked out of her hotel room.
There was nothing worse than traveling in the trunk of a car, but there was no other option. They needed to get to Antwerp in time for the concert. It started before the sunset, which meant Echo needed a safe way inside the building.
Once they were in, she’d do whatever it took to convince Elijah to come with her. If she couldn’t convince him, she’d kidnap him, and if that didn’t convince him, she’d have his parents kidnapped.
Absolutely nothing else mattered but saving Odette and destroying William.
As soon as he stepped onstage, Elijah knew.
The hair on his nape rose, his heart raced, and dread filled him.
He slowed as the band moved into position. The roar of the crowd, thousands of fans this time, hammered him like a wave, but it didn’t fill him with the usual euphoria.
The venue seated two thousand and was the last stop on their tour. Legends had played there. It should have been another special moment for the Strix.
Instead, Elijah could feel the pulsing energy of magic spread out across the ground floor and balconies above.
“What is with you, mate?” Adam yelled, slapping him on the shoulder and pushing him toward his mic at the same time.
Elijah blinked, trying to focus. The guys had been asking him for the last few hours why he’d fled to Antwerp without them and why he was acting so bloody weird. But he had no answers for them.
None that would make sense.
“Don’t burn out just yet, Eli,” Jamal had advised with sympathy. “We’re almost finished. Just one more gig.”
Yeah, one more gig.
His eyes scanned the screaming, singing, yelling crowd of fans, and just like in the market square in Brussels, the energy of the coven acted as a signature. Elijah spotted them, one after the other, standing militantly among the crowd.
Waiting for him.
Fuck.
Echo hadn’t been lying.