“Come again?” The strength nearly went out of her legs.
“Interesting.” The silver in Ward’s eyes scattered, then reformed, the void magic in him rising, as if he could see something they couldn’t. The kid stood next to him, his eyes wide, his arms out as if he could feel the magic, too.
“Explain.” She stepped closer to Ascher, suddenly uncertain of Ward’s loyalties, unwilling to risk her hellhound.
“The mating usually binds you and your men together. When the connection is strong enough, mates have been known to sense each other’s locations, even hear thoughts. It’s very rare to be connected so deeply as to feel the other’s emotions.” Ward’s eyes were calculating as he gazed at them. “Not only are you healing the bindings among you and your men, your magic is so strong, it is deepening the connection.”
“What’s going on?” Kincade strode out of the gloom, aggression coming off him in waves as he placed himself at her side.
Ward blinked, and whatever took hold of him faded, his eyes going back to their normal silvery hue, but his measured look never left her face as he stared at her…like he knew something she didn’t.
She didn’t like it, but unless she wanted a fight on her hands, she needed to focus on what was more important. She turned toward Kincade, and the hairs rose on the back of her neck. “Where are the others?”
“They were right behind me.” Kincade whirled, but only darkness greeted them. He took a step after them until she quickly grabbed the crook of his arm to stop him.
“I don’t think we’re alone in here.” She glanced back at the rest of the group, trying to pinpoint when things had changed. “I don’t sense any magic, but I don’t think the darkness is natural.”
Maniacal, high-pitched, and completely unhinged laughter echoed throughout the room.
Kincade put his arm protectively in front of her, tucking her behind him.
Then Kincade was yanked off his feet, landing on the floor with an oomph. Something grabbed a hold of his feet and dragged him off into the darkness. His hands hardened, gouged into the stone floor, but it barely slowed his momentum. Morgan leapt after him, landing hard on her stomach, grabbing for his arm…and missed.
Kincade’s eyes locked onto hers…and the stubborn ass refused to grab her hand.
His face hardened. He knew he was going to be taken, but he refused to allow her to be taken with him. A pang of hurt shot through her, but fury quickly overtook her as he was dragged into the darkness.
A light scuffle came from that direction, but quickly fell silent, as if he disappeared into thin air.
She launched to her feet and took a step after him when a shadow shifted in the darkness. Morgan slammed her hand forward, recognizing Atlas too late to pull her punch as he staggered from the darkness. He barely knocked aside her fist. He was pale and sweaty, stumbling to remain upright.
“Run.”
Morgan blinked at him, not understanding. A series of clicks echoed around the chamber, but she couldn’t tell what direction they came from.
A strangled noise came from behind her, “Hmm-mmm-mm.”
Morgan whirled to see the kid thrashing, wrapped by some kind of wispy, white rope, feet kicking wildly as he was yanked toward the ceiling.
He disappeared in seconds.
The blade was in her hands before she had a chance to think. She ran at the wall, using her momentum to take a few steps up to gain height, before kicking off. She lashed out. Her blade met resistance, and she realized the cord was a web, when the knife sliced clean through it.
Then gravity took hold.
The kid plummeted to the ground.
She glanced up to see a massive spider chittering in agitation. A howl of angry denial caught her attention, and she spotted a greenish creature, no more than two feet tall riding the giant spider’s back. As she dropped, a stream of liquid web shot out and caught Chander once more. She watched in horror as he was twirled and spun, swaddled completely in a silky web in a matter of seconds.
Then her feet smacked the floor hard, and she fell on her ass.
Darkness covered the ceiling once more, and the spot where she last saw Chander was empty.
Atlas and Ascher each grabbed one of her arms, dragging her to her feet. They didn’t go far before tripping over a bundled form on the floor.
Morgan dropped to her knees, thinking to find one of her men, but when she frantically cut away the webbing, she saw the desiccated husk of an elf, the purpled skin wrapped tightly over a bag of bones.
Morgan scrambled backwards, only to get tangled in what felt like a wire covered with superglue. When she glanced behind her, yanking out strands of her hair in the process, she saw that she was caught up in a spider’s web bigger than an SUV, the very idea making her skin crawl at how large the creature would have to be to create a web so massive.
Atlas reached her first, trying to pry her away from the web, his uncoordinated movements only getting him tangled in the web next to her. “Stop.”
Morgan angled the blade still in her hand toward the web and began hacking away at the cords. The clicking sound came again and Morgan threw herself forward.
“Down!”
She managed to tackle Atlas to the ground and watched in horror as the spider spit a white, milky substance at Ascher. In seconds, his movements became sluggish as he turned toward her and slumped to the floor. She scrambled toward him, only to have Ward grab her leg and drag her away, Atlas scrambling after them. She kicked at Ward and narrowly missed denting his face.
“He’s gone!”
With her heart heavy, Morgan turned, already knowing what she would find.
Ascher had been taken.
The three of them crouched, going back-to-back as they watched the darkness.
“Did anyone get a good look at the spider?” Ward’s voice was cool and collected, and she hated him a little bit right then for stopping her from going after her men.
“It’s black with gray legs and abdomen or sac.” Morgan waved her hand. “Whatever you call it.” When Ward moved to stand, she grabbed his arm. “A squat, frog-green female creature with yellow eyes and flappy ears almost the size of her head rode on the spider’s back. She’s all sinew, the skin a combination of warts and slime. Her mouth is as wide as her face, her jagged teeth rotting, and barely seem to fit in her mouth.” Morgan didn’t mention that the creature’s breasts were saggy and shriveled, or what little hair she had grew abundantly out of her waxy ears.
“A bogie,” Atlas supplied. “They’re mean, vicious pranksters who like tormenting their prey.”
Morgan mentally went through her knowledge of them, but came up with pitifully little.
“I don’t think we were thrown in here as supper.” Her mind flashed back to the carcass on the floor before she forcefully pushed it away. “I think this is a test.”
“Only the worthy survive.” Ward’s voice was grim. He reached forward, dragged the corpse she’d unwrapped closer and grabbed the femur. The rest of the bones collapsed into a heap. He brought it over his knee, snapping the bone with a sharp crack, leaving the edges ragged and knife-sharp.
“Are you ready to fight?” He ignored Atlas completely, speaking to her alone.
She gave a single nod, gripping her blade tighter, adrenaline pouring through her in anticipation.
“What would you have me do?” Atlas struggled to remain upright.
“You’re bait.” Ward’s voice didn’t hold even a hint of compassion. “You’re too weak to be of much use, you’ll only get in the way.”
“You can do this?” Atlas didn’t look happy about putting her in danger, but didn’t protest his assigned role.
“Yes.” Morgan didn’t hesitate.
She had no other choice.