Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
“Jason,” she hissed as her lashes flooded with unshed tears.
“Shush now. All part of the plan,” he said as he dragged her forward.
And there was nothing else that she could do. With the cuffs on, she could barely keep from passing out with the restraints tightening on her. If she didn’t follow him at an almost jog, then she might have collapsed right then and there.
A white van appeared at the end of the street, and the back door slid open. A man stepped out. She recognized him from Jason’s team.
“Hurry the fuck up, Casey,” Jason snarled.
Casey jumped at Jason’s voice and got an arm under Kierse. She hadn’t realized that her locked knees were the only thing keeping her upright.
“Stop,” she gasped. “Don’t do this.”
Casey ignored her. He was too far in Jason’s clutches, and she’d been through that. How he threatened the people around him. It was amazing that he had any followers, but he was so goddamn charismatic, and he followed through on all of his plans until it didn’t serve him anymore.
Casey lifted her into the van and dropped her onto the floor. The cuffs dug deep into her skin, and she screamed, rolling over to avoid the pain. When Casey got within range, she kicked out with her feet, catching him in the back of his knees and sending him toppling out of the van.
“Fuck,” he snapped.
“Keep control of her,” Jason snarled.
Kierse made it as far as her knees before Jason hopped back into the van. The pain of the cuffs was excruciating, and still she held her head high as he loomed over her. Every horrible thing that had ever happened to her at his hands came fresh to her mind. She sneered at him.
Jason threw a punch into her face. Her head cracked to the side, and she fell back onto the van floor. Her face felt like a ton of bricks had just collided with it. He’d put magic behind that punch. Her cheek and lip were split, and everything was now on fire. She was lucky that he hadn’t broken her nose.
“Ugh,” she groaned as she tried to orient herself.
This couldn’t happen.
She couldn’t let him do this.
Jason grabbed another set of chains, tugging her wrists upward. She shrieked at the top of her lungs as everything in her went wickedly white at the edges. Jason clicked her cuffs to the other chain and left her hanging from the ceiling.
“Stay there and shut the fuck up.”
Kierse spit in his face.
He reared back, wiping the spittle before landing another blow across her face. She fell back again. Her vision momentarily blinded. Jason towered over her, the nightmare from all of her worst dreams. “If you try to escape, I’ll be happy to find and kill one of your fucking friends. Understand?”
“I’d like to see you try,” she gasped. All she had left was bravado. “Once they find out what you’ve done, you’re fucking dead.”
He tipped his head and laughed. “They’ll never find me again once I get the Ash Door.”
Then he hopped out of the back of the van and closed the door in her face. Casey pulled away from the curb, taking them away from the party. And Kierse hung in defeat with no access to anyone or anything to save her. Not even herself.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Kierse’s head hung low, bumping against her chest as the van rumbled along pocked city roads. Every time her skin came into contact with the cuffs, it took all her effort not to scream again. The physical pain was nearly unbearable, and her mind drifted off to dark places as devoid of light as the back of this insufferable van.
They’d won.
They’d killed Kingston.
The Fae Killer was dead.
And in the moment of triumph, Jason had set his own trap to lure her away. She’d underestimated his ruthlessness after infiltrating his cult. She should have seen him playing on the margins. But she’d been so lost in all her own bullshit that she hadn’t had energy for him, too.
Look where that got her.
A tear rolled down her cheek—part pain, part pity. She wouldn’t dare to give Jason the satisfaction of hearing her cry, but she couldn’t stop the silent tears from rushing down her cheeks.
There was no plan for this.
She was used to missions going sideways. She had told Graves that the point where she had to improvise was the place where she thrived. Just this summer, she had escaped Jason with her newfound magic. All she’d taught him was that he needed to be more inventive.
Her eyes glazed over as she looked at the cuffs with dismay. Where he’d gotten them, she had no idea. They looked and felt ancient with etched wards on the outside that currently dug into her skin like a brand. He’d gone to find a way to subdue her, and he’d found one.