Destiny Bewitched (25 page)

He froze and she
almost regretted it. His expression sobered.

Then she did feel
guilty. She placed her hands on his forearms and looked him in the
eye. “I’ll miss you.” Emotion lodged in her throat. “I’ll miss you
more than anything.” She barely choked out the words.

He frowned down at
her, his eyes full of sadness. Hesitantly, he touched her cheek.
“Don’t say that. It’s not forever.”

A pair of heavy hands
slammed onto the table, startling her out of the memory. She looked
up into those big wondering eyes. Her Maddi was here.

“Maddox.” She jumped up
and reached for him.

“Sit down, Shifter!”
His booming voice echoed off the empty walls and made her
flinch.

Eyes wide, she stumbled
back then fell into the chair.

She peered up at him, a
cold sense of dread sliding through her. Those eyes…the ones that
had always represented warmth and fun, hardened then narrowed into
cruel slits. This was not the Maddox she knew and loved – the
light-hearted, mischievous boy she’d spent summers chasing and
laughing with. No, this was a very different Maddox. One that made
her chest ache and her knees tremble with fear.

God help me
.

Maddox had turned into
her worst enemy.

I have a lot of people
to thank for the encouragement and support in completing this book.
First and foremost, my crit partner Cari Silverwood. Though she
drove me crazy at times, she pushed me to be a better writer. My
husband who spent more than his fair share taking care of our kids
while rushing toward my deadline, and who supported me even when it
wasn’t convenient. Also my editor, Kris Kendall from Final Edits,
who was patient with my deadlines. I’d like to thank my beta
readers, Kary Rader and Bianca Sarble – who’s invaluable opinions
shaped the book into its final form. And my best friend and biggest
supporter and fan, Devan Armstrong – who read my very first piece
of crap and has been by my side through this crazy journey
since.

Leia Shaw began her
writing journey while stranded at an airport, waiting for her
delayed flight. She browed the Border’s kiosk and grew frustrated
when she couldn’t find the “it factor” – the perfect combination of
adventure, darkness, magic, alpha heroes and kick-ass females, and
sex. So she spent the next four hours on an airplane writing her
first book on scraps of paper and an airsick bag.

Now she spends too much
time in her head, plotting evil villains and the hot men and women
who ruthlessly kill them. She thinks far too much about fae
politics, dragon power games, and how fast werewolves can change
forms. But writing her paranormal romance series has given her a
productive place to express those dark places in her mind.

She lives in New
England with her husband and two kids. Though she will go to her
grave denying it, her husband insists she would be thrilled if he
suddenly sprouted fangs.

Have you met the Redwood
Pack?

Trinity Bound – Book 3 of the
Redwood Pack

By Carrie Ann Ryan

www.carrieannryan.com

Cold spread from a
pinprick of sensation as a droplet of water hit Hannah Lewis’s
cheek. It trailed down to her eye, forcing her to open them to
blink it away. Stone walls surrounded her, and the frayed edges on
the cement floor dug into her skin. The only means of escape seemed
to be a lone rusty metal door in the stone wall. No windows
illuminated the room. Cut off from the outside world, she couldn’t
feel the earth.

As an earth witch, she
needed the sensation of soil beneath her feet, the air dancing
across her face and through her hair. But cut off, she drifted
without an anchor. Hannah slowly sat up, and her muscles ached from
her stay.

She snorted.
Stay
.
Right.

That sounded like she
was happy to be here. No, the bruises and cuts from her captivity
hurt. But she thanked the goddess she wasn’t hurt any more than she
was.

The man sharing her
room moaned in his sleep. No, not a man, a werewolf. By the shouts
of their captors, she knew him to be Reed, a wolf of the Redwood
Pack, son of the Alpha. They’d brought him in three nights before.
At least she thought it was three nights. She couldn’t be sure
anymore. He seemed to hurt more than she. They had chained him to
the wall, same as her, but far enough apart they couldn’t touch.
And if they were to speak to each other, the guards came in and
beat Reed. Never her though. It was almost like a cruel joke to
have someone share her burden but be allowed no contact. Her gut
twisted, and bile filled her mouth.

Her fingers ached to
touch his smooth skin and heal his pains as the healer she was. But
she couldn’t get close enough to him to do so. Another cruelty. She
couldn’t bear to see him hurt.

Reed shifted, then
snapped open his eyes. She gave him an encouraging smile, the best
she could come up with under these conditions. He smiled back, that
small gesture almost lighting up his face. Maybe in another time,
another place, when they weren’t being held in the Central’s
basement, with no clue whether they would live or die, they would
have met and gone on a date. She smiled again at the thought. Yes,
that would have been nice. Her smiled faded. But that was not the
case. And by the looks of this place, it would never be. Sadness
filled her at the loss of something she didn’t know she wanted.

Reed reached out and
spread his fingers toward her, careful of the cameras watching
their every move. Hannah did the same, longing to feel contact. To
remember who she was.

The metal door scraped
open, the screeching sound echoing in the dank room. They both
pulled their arms back as she began to shake in fear. She cursed
herself for her cowardliness. But it had been too long since she
held hope. She didn’t want to die. Not here. Not now.

The Central Alpha’s
son, Corbin, walked into the room with his smooth glide and a snarl
on his lips. Hannah hid the shudders fighting to rack her body at
the sight of him. His eyes were dark orbs with no light of goodness
hiding within. Whatever was on his mind reeked of evil, an evil she
wanted no part of, but it looked as though she had no choice.

The man strode to her,
nodding to his two accompanying guards. The guards walked toward
her and unshackled her arms and legs. Pain tingled in her fingers
and toes as the blood rushed through them from being cut off from
good circulation for so long. Oh goddess. What is he going to do
with me? The guards lifted her to her feet, their grips digging
into her arms, hurting her further.

“Let go of her. Take
me,” Reed’s growled from his place on the floor, his voice
gravelly.

Oh, how she wished she
could just be with this stranger and not go where Corbin wanted.
But she couldn’t let him be hurt either. She didn’t know why, other
than the fact she hated to see anyone harmed. It pained her to
think about him in her position. He might be a werewolf and be able
to heal at a faster rate, but she could take what Corbin brought.
She had to.

Corbin laughed at Reed
and took a previously unseen whip to her companion’s back. Reed
groaned in pain at the contact of the whip flaying his flesh.
Hannah whimpered at the sight of his blood leaking to the floor.
The guards pulled her toward Corbin, her feet trailing the ground
as she fought their hold. They merely shook her violently for her
to comply. The Alpha’s son grabbed her from them and forced her
against him. Bile rose in her throat at the oily feel of his skin,
his aura.

She looked back over
her shoulder at Reed. He lay bleeding, glaring at the guards and
Corbin, still struggling against his chains to reach her. Why did
she feel such a connection to a man she’d never met outside these
stone walls? And, by the look on Reed’s face, he might feel the
same. Corbin dug his fingers into her arm and shook her, forcing
her back to her cold reality.

As the man pulled her
to the door, she fought against his hold. His hand came across her
face, the sting radiating in her cheek, bringing tears to her eyes.
Reed’s shouts and pleas followed her out the door until the men
closed it with a slam, along with the hope she would get out of
this alive. A sinking feeling bottomed out in her stomach. This
might be the end.

Corbin dragged her down
the hall, and she pulled against at his grip, struggling to get
free. She screamed at the guards for help. Surely, there was at
least one person out there who could help her.
Dear goddess
. Her captor’s
hand, again, contacted her face, bringing stars to her eyes and a
thin warm trickle of what must be blood down her chin.

At the end of the hall,
a door with natural light spilling out along the cracks on the side
and bottom, tingled that last spark of hope. Could she escape? She
fought to release herself from Corbin’s hold. If she got out, she
could get help and come back for Reed. She didn’t know when she’d
started to think of not only herself, but Reed, but she didn’t
care. Her foot came down on Corbin’s instep. She used the surprise
to kick him in the groin and twisted free. The evil man yelled, as
she ran toward the light. She panted and prayed she could make it.
Corbin’s hand shot out and grabbed her again. The spark of hope
dulled to a slight numbing light. He took her arm in an unforgiving
grip and threw her against the wall. Her head cracked against the
stone, but she was thankful he hadn’t used the whole of his
strength.

“Don’t you fucking try
that again, girl. Or I won’t kill you when I’m done with you,” he
snarled. His torment promised pain and suffering if the reward was
death. She held onto the whimper that threatened to escape her
throat. She refused to give him the satisfaction.

Corbin lifted her up
and carried her to another room off the hall. Before she could pull
her mind out of the fuzziness caused by his strikes, he had her
strapped down onto a cool metal table, the leather straps digging
into her arms and legs and around her stomach. He tightened the
straps with a bruising force. The one on her stomach cut into her
skin, a thin line of blood forming.

Oh goddess.

Fear crawled on her
skin like thousands of tiny bugs searching for a home.

What was he going to
do?

Hannah took deep
breaths, trying to calm herself. If she panicked and lost her
focus, she might lose a chance of escape. She almost laughed at
that. Escape? She wasn’t some alpha heroine in a romance novel. No,
she was just a witch who needed her earth and missed a guy who
shared a cell with her. She must be crazy.

The strong scent of
lemony citrus invaded her nose when she inhaled again. She almost
coughed at the pungent aroma. She looked around at the sickly
sterile environment and shivered at the cold practicality of
Corbin’s torture chamber. The scent was harsh to her senses. Though
not as strong as a werewolf’s, her sense of smell was more
attentive than a normal human’s.

Corbin moved above her,
blocking her view of the room, a gleeful look in his eyes. Like a
kid on Christmas morning waiting to open his enormous amounts of
presents and stocking stuffers. She swallowed down the vomit
threatening to rise. This was going to hurt. Badly.

The evil wolf carried a
cat-o’-nine tails in one hand and a whip in another.

He never stopped
smiling as he hit her five times with the tails then five times
with the whip. She cried out with each hit, each stroke. She might
have been strong in some respects, but the blinding pain racking
her body and her blood soaking the floor was too much for her to
handle. Tears leaked from her eyes as he hit and hit.

“Tell me, Hannah, what
is your power? Why are you so damn important?” Corbin sneered the
words, looking engrossed in his flaying.

Powers? That was what
this was all about? She was just an earth witch, a rare one due to
her healing. But that couldn’t be what he wanted. Right?

Corbin hit her again,
her vision going black, as the door opened. Hector, the Alpha,
Corbin’s father, walked in.

“Enough, Corbin.”
Hector’s voice radiated power and demanded respect.

Corbin stopped but
looked like he was about to revolt. He took a deep breath, glared
at Hannah, and then painstakingly placed the tools of his trade on
their bench. With one last smirk in her direction, he stomped away
like an insolent puppy.

Hector stepped
purposely toward her.

She braced for his fist
or hand, too pained to do anything but take it.

But the strike never
came.

“Hannah, why won’t you
use your powers?”

She couldn’t, not
without the earth. But she wouldn’t tell them that. No, she
couldn’t tell them anything. Once she did, they wouldn’t need her
anymore. Then they would kill her. And maybe Reed.