“Not at all. And I saw him a few days ago. He probably just gathered them recently. Guess he thought if he had a pack, he’d look more enticing. I’m not making this decision because I want a harem of men.”
I didn’t care so much about Anil. He was irrelevant, but Chilli’s actions stung so bad. I wanted to cry. I trusted her, and she humiliated me. An overwhelming pain spread over me, and I thought of my father, missing him tremendously in that moment. I felt so alone. Chilli was never going to be a replacement as a parent, but she was close to him. I could never forgive or trust her after this. I needed my father to lean on. I was strong, but in that moment, I just wanted my dad there to support me. However, I was going to have to stand up to Chilli on my own and shut down any more of her plans for me.
I balled my hands into fists, feeling a renewed anger swat away my sadness. “What type of weak bitch does she take me for that she thinks I’d succumb to peer pressure? I should go home and get claimed by the rest of the guys tonight.”
Lila’s eyes widened, and I already knew she was thinking something dirty. “Oh, that’s going to be a fun night for you. Remember to hydrate.”
That brought a slight laugh out of me, although I was still burning mad.
The elevator doors opened, and my laughter died down as we came face to face with four very large demons with ruby-colored eyes and horns. They looked like bulls standing upright, with thick, dark hair, and the scent of their evil essence, reeking of manure and decay, practically slapped me in the face. I could never sense evil before, but right now, I couldn’t focus on my new ability. Right now, I had to kill some demons.
I pushed out my hands and said a power word, exploding one of the demons. I could do one more before becoming useless if my last battle was any indication. However, being claimed, maybe my energy would be greater. Lila punched out her fist, no spell needed since she was a mage, and another demon immediately turned into an ice sculpture. She did a high kick and cracked it into pieces. However, the move cost her as another demon immediately sped toward her, giving her a backhanded knock across the face that sent her falling to the floor.
I waved my hand out again, cracking the bones of the demon in an effort to conserve my strength from another killing spell. Something grabbed me from behind, pinning my arms to my side. I tried to wiggle to see it, but it was too strong. I only knew that it was tall and large.
I’d have to use my last reserve power.
“Sleep,” came a deep booming voice in my head.
My body slouched forward, devoid of energy, and my mind grew heavy like a weighted blanket was sitting on my head. Soon my eyelids lowered against my will.
Darkness came.
CHAPTER24
KAI
An alarm went off in the coven building, and I knew they were under attack.
I slid out my claws and my eyes bled red as I ran to the stairs, but I heard Lila call out to me from my right, getting off the elevator. She limped toward me, the left side of her face bloody and a little swollen. “They took her,” she cried, falling forward.
I raced to catch her in my arms. “Who, demons?”
She nodded. “We killed two of them, but then I got knocked out for a second, and when I woke up, she was gone.”
I felt a cool wind behind me and turned to see my three pack members standing there. I assumed Daniel had teleported them. How had they known there was trouble?
Ty looked around the space, eyes frantic. “Where is she? I felt her screaming in my head.” He pounded the middle of his chest. “My chest feels like it’s on fire. I’ve been trying to reach her telepathically, but she’s not responding.”
I clenched my fists, feeling foolish just standing there. “She might not know how to use the bond yet, is in another realm, or she’s probably unconscious. Lila was knocked out.”
Daniel walked over to Lila and hovered a hand over her face to heal her injuries, his eyes still calm. “Tell me what happened.”
Lila closed her eyes, wincing as I was sure the healing was uncomfortable. “Some kind of bull demons showed up when we left the meeting. There were four. We killed two, and one knocked me out.”
“Where was everyone else?” Lance growled, giving me the stink eye.
I already knew what he was thinking. This was the second time she’d been attacked and had to fight on her own when I was around. I kicked myself for not fighting harder to at least get on the same floor as the meeting, but Billie was so respectful of the rules. No outsiders. Now she was gone. Still, with all those witches and wizards, they should have been able to take out four low-level demons.
Daniel removed his hand, and Lila touched her face before looking over to Lance. “We left the meeting room early and were on our way back to Kai. Chilli and Anil and his new alpha pack decided to make it a public debate about who Billie should pick as her alphas.”
Ty turned to her, frowning. “Anil has a pack?”
Lila nodded, her lip turned up in a silent snarl. “We think he just got one.”
“He said he would step back.”
“He’s a liar.”
