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)
“Fae,” Jack announced with satisfaction. He smirked in triumph at her. “Your turn, Echo. Kill the scum.”
Heart pounding, she walked slowly toward the three of them, Elijah on his knees, Sajid and Jack at either side of him.
“Nervous?” Sajid teased, grinning. “Or excited to make history?”
They could hear her pulse racing.
She didn’t answer.
Couldn’t speak.
Could barely look at them.
Remember who they are. The lives they’ve stolen. Who they work for.
Stopping above Elijah, she looked into his golden-green eyes as he tilted his head to meet her gaze. “I told you,” she whispered. “Didn’t I?”
He looked like he wanted to spit on her.
Drawing up her strength, Echo punched her arms out wide, and her fists broke through skin, muscle, and bone. She flexed her hands inside Jack’s and Sajid’s chests and covered their beating hearts, the slick, wet throb of them pulsing against her palms.
And then she clenched her fists around them and yanked her arms back, ripping their hearts from their chests.
The wolves collapsed with dull thuds, their eyes staring up at the ceiling of branches, shock still marring their faces.
Tears of remorse flooded Echo’s eyes, but she forced them back.
“Remember what they did,” she whispered to herself as their hearts rolled out of her hands.
“What the fuck?” Elijah wheezed in pain.
Echo reached down and snapped the iron cuffs off him with ease and threw them with so much heft, they soared through the sky, probably for miles. Elijah groaned and slumped onto his back while Echo reached down and gently closed Sajid’s and Jack’s eyes.
“You killed them.”
She turned to see Elijah sitting up, confusion wrinkling his brow. “I did. They were The Garm.”
“And tonight … was that the Blackwood Coven?”
Surprised, she raised an eyebrow. “You’ve done some reading since yesterday.”
He rubbed his wrists, face still etched with pain. “I really am fae, aren’t I?”
“Yeah, you are.”
“And you just killed your own people to save me?”
Echo reached into her ankle boot and pulled out the iron blade Jack had given her. Elijah hissed, jerking away from her. “No.” She raised a hand in reassurance. “I’m not going to use it. I was supposed to, though, to kill you.” She dropped it by Sajid’s body. “We’ll leave it here. Let The Garm think you’ve taken me.”
“Why?”
“So they’re not onto us. Or onto me. We’ll need to travel a little more covertly than you have so far.” She smirked.
“How can you joke when you just killed two men?”
Rage flickered through her, and she knew her eyes silvered by the way Elijah sucked in a breath. “I killed two werewolves who have tortured, maimed, and murdered innocent people in their hunt for you and others like you.”
“Fine. But where do you get off thinking we’re traveling together?”
“Nancy and Bill Webb, 133 Old Fenwick Road, Peckham, London.”
He paled at the same time she sensed a dangerous wave of energy come off him. “Don’t you fucking dare threaten my parents.”
A shiver cascaded along her spine at his deep growl. Echo raised a palm. “Calm down. I’m not threatening them. I’m letting you know that if I know where they live, so do others. They won’t come for them yet. It’ll be the last resort because the Blackwoods know you won’t cooperate if they kill your parents. But William will go after them if he has to. Your parents need protection. And there are people out there who can do that … fae … who can give you all the answers you seek.”
“And you’re going to lead me to them?”
“Not for free.” Echo took a step toward him, ignoring the sparks of awareness across her skin that made the hair on her arms rise. “We’ll go to your parents, hide them, and then you’ll help me get past The Garm to my sister so we can hide her too. Then you and I will take down The Garm. I can’t do it alone. I can’t protect my sister alone. So, you’ll help me. Then I’ll lead you to the fae who can help you.”
“As simple as that?” He crossed his arms over his chest. “And I’m supposed to trust you?”
Anger snapped through her again. “I’ve just betrayed everything I’ve ever known to save your life, fae. Out of the two of us, I am the most trustworthy.”
Elijah flinched and turned around, running his hands through his hair. “This is so fucked up.”
“If we’re going, we need to go now, before the coven finds you again.”
He sank to his haunches, his fingers tight in his hair. “My band. I can’t leave the boys.”
“They’re more protected than anyone. Supes prefer to leave famous people alone for fear of attracting too much attention. You’re only an exception to the rule because you’re fae.”
Foreign emotions of anger, despair, grief, and fear flooded her.
And Echo knew it was everything Elijah was feeling.
Butterflies flurried in her belly.