I waved a hand, jumping from my seat, not able to sit still any longer. Anger burst forth as I had never felt before…because there had been a slim possibility I had actually started to have feelings for Elder Merrick. Real damn feelings for a prick who had fucked me as part of his job.
“Don’t fucking tell me what I’m feeling!” It was even worse than the Walker Leric, because whereas the Walker had spun a twisting loyalty within me, Elder Merrick had started to worm his way into my damn heart. Not a lot, but he had still managed to get there, which burned like acid down my throat.
All three were utterly still, staring at me quietly with varying expressions, I realized there were tiny little stars popping off any of my exposed flesh, like sizzling bursts of anger.
Well, that was a new one.
I swiped a hand over my face, swiftly moving to the patio door, opening the blinds and the door, sucking in oxygen to try to calm down. “Fucking betrayed again.” I shook my head, chest heaving. “Goddammit.”
Elder Jacobs’s voice was extremely slow. “It had to be done.”
Eyes flared, nowhere near calmed, I glared at him over my shoulder where he was still staring at me in shock. “I never would have hurt the Prodigies. I explained that. And all I got in return was your fucking deception.” My furious gaze went to Elder Merrick’s, who was decidedly not shocked, actually resting against the back of my couch calmly while staring at me coldly. “Congratulations, you bastard. You played it perfectly.” My head tilted toward the front door. “Now, since I understand why you did what you did for the Prodigies, I’ll give you ten seconds to get the fuck out my apartment before I really show you what I can do.”
Even from his relaxed state, his wolf growled quietly at the challenge.
King White threw up his hands, his expression still wide-eyed on me, and the tiny, bursting stars. “Both of you, just calm the hell down.” He ran a hand through his red hair. “Christ, this is getting out of hand.” He stood, quickly moving between Elder Merrick and my hate-filled stare down, and actually placed a hand on mine, only to jerk back shouting, “Shit!” He waved his hand as if I had burned him, but he breathed even, stating over Elder Merrick’s low growl, “I had nothing to do with their actions, Ms. Farrow. And the reason,”
I waved a hand, cutting him off, my hair blowing in the night-time breeze from outside, moving to my front door, opening it and holding it there. “I know why you’re here now.” I shook my head, voice void. “I won’t work for you, King White. I have no bad blood for you, as you put it, but I can’t. Every action I make here can have consequences on the future.”
His mouth opened—
A flash of brilliant gold.
Time…stood still.
Utterly and completely.
King White stood frozen, one foot forward on the ground as he had stepped, mouth parted the barest bit, his opened suit jacket stopped in mid-wave. Elder Jacobs quiet and still where he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. Elder Merrick still resting casually on the couch, one arm over the back of it, feet crossed on my coffee table. Silence rained down around us, the sounds of life outside gone, only our breathing heard as they blinked slowly at me.
Except…I wasn’t frozen.
I twisted about, eyes wide, the furious anger inside me subsiding instantly in the threat of danger, my body no longer zapping with stars as I peered for the source of this potent, prevailing magic. I lunged toward the couch, half falling on top of Elder Merrick’s frozen body, a guttural choked noise coming from him as I grabbed the gun from his hand on his lap. Pushing off him, I swung it toward the kitchen’s entrance where a man stood calmly wearing an enormous golden robe, his features I couldn’t see, but his eyes were glowing golden under his robe. I pivoted, placing my back directly in front of King White’s, protecting him, growling, “Who the fuck are you?”
The robed man chuckled merrily. “You defend him even after what he’s put you through while you’ve been here?”
My finger hovered on squeezing the trigger. “Who are you?”
He shrugged. “I’m Elder Harcourt.” He waved a robed hand. “Now, put the gun down before you get hurt.”
My breath caught in my chest, the gun shaking a bit in my hand, and I quickly lowered it, knowing utterly this Mage—the most powerful Mage in the world—wasn’t lying. The three around me were making choking noises as they tried to get free from this state, but he was too powerful. Oh, God. If he was here to take me back, I sure as hell wanted to be taken, nothing here in this lifetime worth a damn anymore. “Elder Farrar thought I was meant to be here.” I licked my lips. “But…are you here to take me back?” Fear and anguish ripped inside me, heartbeat pounding just as hard as my lungs were, afraid he would say no.
Elder Harcourt’s hooded head nodded a bit as he hobbled closer to me. “Yes, it’s time for you to return to your time, your stretch here done.” I heaved a broken, exultant sigh, feeling faint as he moved, somehow managing to keep that hood so I couldn’t see him. I heard him inhale heavily before he blew hard, a shimmering gold floating from under his hood directly over me, falling down onto me in a floating mist, and suddenly, my clothes felt different, my purse over my arm heavy with the gun no longer in my hand, and my hair I could see was white with pink streaks. The frozen three around me went mute, their gazes stuck on the me of the future, my clothes exactly as I had left the future in, not a big difference than what I had been wearing a moment ago, except for my hair.
“There. Much better,” Elder Harcourt stated cheerfully, and began walking behind me, his hood still low on his face, but he paused. “Any last words for those here, young lady?”
My gaze landed on Elder Merrick’s, and somehow, even frozen, he managed to stare back at me with as much hatred as I felt for him. My lips curved the barest bit, a purely feral gleam, and I flipped him off. “See you in the future, asshole.”
Elder Harcourt chuckled grandly behind me.
Elder Merrick made a loud, deep gurgling noise that sounded remarkably like, “Can’t wait, bitch.”
My lips only stayed curled as I watched him with furious glowing eyes while a remarkably strong arm wrapped around my waist from behind for how slow his steps had been, and his hooded head dipped down toward me, murmuring, “This’ll just take a moment.”
A flash of bright gold erupted around the two of us, and then we were inside a serene golden shimmering escape of nonentity, glittering and majestic, beautiful and powerful, so damn prevailing, it stole my breath. My eyes stayed wide open, and a second later, I was standing on the sidewalk of Choep, New York, gunfire and explosions erupting around me. “There you are. Back home.” A flash of gold behind me, and he was gone.
I was riding in the back of a limo.
With Sin.