A Cursed Embrace

loss of my beast. Something felt different, and everything around me slowed like a snail’s journey across a ravine.

Another shot was fired, this time hitting Emme. She collapsed, crying out in an earsplitting holler. A demon grabbed her around the waist and took flight while another lifted Shayna’s lifeless body in his arms. His bat wings extended like giant kites. He smiled, clutching Shayna eagerly against him. I tried rolling. My vision doubled from the effort and my heart rate slowed to a weak thud.

Two smaller demons dragged Taran away, each clenching an arm. “Celia, Celia!” She swore when she spotted my unmoving form. Her body thrashed violently and her pale skin dripped with the cold sweat of her terror. Her nightmare had come true. The demons had us, and they weren’t letting go.

Taran tried to gather her magic. A faint brush of her dwindling power raked against my failing senses. One of the monsters halted her efforts by crushing her wrist. As numb as I felt, her wails of pain sent a spear of ice down my spine. They launched into flight with her at the same moment my body left the ground. Below me Bren fought six demons in his desperate effort to reach us.

We soared upward, the flap of the demons’ wings a faint whisper in my ears. Taran unleashed a guttural scream. My eyes burned as blue and white light exploded out of her. The creatures holding her burst into nasty bits while she remained suspended above the treetops. Poor Emme used the last of her strength to keep Taran from falling.

Emme’s hand quivered and her lids fluttered. She was losing her hold. Taran’s body bounced and twitched in the air as the first of the wolf pack arrived. Heidi clawed her way up the nearest tree and leapt off a thick branch, fastening her powerful jaws on to the waist of Taran’s jeans. She ricocheted from tree trunk to tree trunk until she brought my sister safely to the ground.

Tears drenched my cheeks, knowing at least Taran had been spared.

My vision clouded as I scanned the forest floor. What seemed like the entire pack chased us. Aric and Koda thundered in the lead, growling with murderous fury. But I realized their efforts were hopeless as the demons lifted us higher into the darkening sky.

Misha, Misha, please find us.

And then the world went black.

CHAPTER 29

The sound of clanking steel gradually stirred me. At first, I thought I was home, waking to an earthquake. But instead of warm sheets, only cold metal chilled my back.

Metal?

I pried my eyes open. My vision blurred, and the pounding in my head intensified. Every part of my body felt stiff and sore, yet I couldn’t remember why. Then, slowly and painfully, my eyes cleared and the memories rushed back.

I sat up abruptly, only to pitch sideways and curse when every one of my injuries screeched. Shit. My chest, and my right hip and thigh throbbed mercilessly, while a burning sensation coursed through the deep gashes in my shoulders.

When I tried to move again, I realized my wrists were bound behind me. My tigress freaked. I thrashed like a caged beast and dug my nails into the rope. But it was useless. I couldn’t tear free.

“Celia. Celia, stop!”

My growls drowned most of Shayna’s hoarse calls. I searched around anxiously but couldn’t immediately spot her. That’s when it hit me; the heightened senses my tigress gave me were gone, even though her presence had returned.

I was . . . human. And it scared the hell out of me.

I shook my head, disoriented. My weakened gaze slowly adjusted and focused on my sisters, slumped and bound across from me. God, they’d taken a beating. Cuts and bruises covered their bodies, but what distressed me most were their bullet wounds.

A tear streaked down Shayna’s dirty face. “We’re in the back of a semi, dude. Tell me you’re okay.”

I couldn’t tell her what she wanted to hear. None of us were okay. Just alive. For the moment.

A million thoughts scrambled through my brain, but as I continued to stare at their injuries, something didn’t make sense. I cleared my throat to speak, further irritating the harsh dryness. “Why haven’t you healed?”

Emme’s face crumbled. “I can’t, Celia. Our powers are gone.”

That horrible dread found its way back into my bones. “What’s happened? The last thing I remember is the demons flying us out of the Den.”

Emme bowed her head, sobs shaking her slight form. Shayna took a calming breath, then another, before finally speaking for her. “The demons carried us to an industrial park, Celia. You were still unconscious, but when they tried to bind your wrists, you woke up and started slaughtering them. You did a lot of damage, and at first I thought we were going to escape. . . .” She shuddered and grimaced into her shoulder.

I didn’t understand her reaction until Emme focused her bloodshot eyes on me. “They shot you four times, Celia. I don’t know how you’re alive.” Fresh tears streamed down her face and she curled into a tight ball.

My lack of memory told me two things. One, my tigress had regained consciousness before I had. And two, she’d woke fighting. Good. That’s what we needed.

Emme choked on a sob. I inched toward her and so did Shayna. We lay against her, trying to keep her body warm with ours. Shayna blew out a shaky breath. “It’s worse than we thought, Ceel. The Tribe recruited a band of dark witches. One of them possesses the ability to bespell the bullets to block our powers—or at least she did possess.” Shayna tried to swallow except the effort seemed too cumbersome. “The Tribesmen bragged about giving her to their Tribemaster once she’d exhausted her use.”

“Tribemaster?” I asked, despite knowing what she meant.

“The demon lord, Ceel. The real one.” She shook her head. “I don’t think the creatures we fought at Death Valley were it. I think we’d fought . . . his babies.”

My body scorched with newfound pain as my pulse raced. If Shayna was right, we fared far worse than I could have imagined. The demons Danny had called forth tossed the weres around like pillows and almost killed us. No way did I want to meet Papa.

Emme sealed her lids tight. “What do you think they’re going to do to us? They’re hungry, I can see it. But they haven’t . . .”

Tried to eat us? Emme had a point. Why wait? The Tribe had a plan for us. But what did we have that they could want? I didn’t want to find out. I scanned our dirty metal cave. A single bulb dully lit the area around us. Otherwise, the compartment was dark and empty, and reeked of rust and garbage. I pushed up to a standing position. “Any idea where we are or how long we’ve been driving?”

“No,” Shayna answered.

I spit some blood onto the filthy floor. “Well, screw this. Come on.”

I shimmied against the sides. Shayna and Emme grunted, barely able to roll. Emme shook her head. “We can’t, Celia. Maybe it’s your metabolism burning through the magic of the bullets. But you’re in better shape than we are.”

My brain hammered against my skull, and blood continued to pool in my mouth. My sisters could barely crawl. Dear Lord, how was I going to get us out of here? “Just try, okay? I’m going to play with the door to see if I can get it open. If we’re on an open highway, maybe someone will see us.”

I reached the roll-up door and anchored my foot beneath a metal latch. The semi clashed in a percussion of steady bounces, sending me sprawling into my sisters. I twisted forward again, banging into the door when the truck came to an abrupt halt.

The air brakes had barely stopped screeching when the trailer door swung open, momentarily blinding me with bright sunlight. Before I could react, two demon children dragged me out of the semi with their clawed hands. I flinched away from their serpentine tongues licking my face and squinted wildly, trying to keep a position on my sisters.

Emme cowered and cried harder. Shayna kicked and flailed, making the Tribesmen holding her laugh. I