The Collector wanted her to fight me?
“Asher, you will not use your powers.” The psycho woman had used Hazel as a distraction and sleazed her way to where we were without us seeing it. She curled up to my friend and touched his chest while commanding him not to use his powers.
“Darling, you are not my type. I like crazy kittens, not psycho bitches.” Asher grinned, completely unaffected by her charm thanks to the magical earmuffs and grabbed the Collector. Her wide eyes and gaping mouth warmed my heart. However, like the viper she was, she lashed out with a small dagger, then made a run for it, leaving Hazel to fight with me.
“Asher!” Fuck, I hope she missed his vital organs.
“I’ll be all right. Fuck, that’s embarrassing.” Blood coated his hands from the wound on the side of his torso. His pride was probably wounded more, since the woman got the drop on him and he missed it.
Hazel took advantage of my distraction and swept a leg at the back of my knees, taking me down. I grabbed onto her and rolled us to the ground like I’d done when we were practicing her fighting skills in her gardens.
“Hazel! I promised I wouldn’t leave you. I’m here, goddess, I’m here.” I hoped my words would reach the heart of her, a place even the Collector couldn’t taint.
Hazel shook her head like she couldn’t bear to hear the words. I glanced at Asher to see if he’d disappeared, hopefully to find the Collector, so she could release Hazel from her power.
“Echo!” I hollered for the shifter, wherever she hid.
“I’m sorry, Hazel.” I hated to use my gift on her, but one of us would get hurt if she kept coming at me like a rabid animal. I took the air from her lungs, and she writhed on the floor in desperate need of air.
“Release her.” Asher’s voice echoed off the marble floors, and I saw him dragging the Collector to where I sat next to a struggling Hazel. A wolf snarled at the Collector with saliva dripping from her sharp canines.
“Fine,” the Collector shouted, and Asher pushed her toward Hazel and me. Immediately, I pulled my power back and Hazel gulped down air like she’d never breath again. I hated causing her distress.
“Hazel, look at me,” the Collector demanded, and Hazel peered at the woman while she coughed harshly.
“You will not fight Maddox anymore.” She leaned down and lifted her hand to touch Hazel softly on the cheek. The woman pulled back her touch. “You’ll stab him in the heart instead.” She spat at me, and I threw a gust of wind at her which knocked her back five feet.
Hazel pulled a knife out of her boot and aimed it toward my heart.
Chapter Forty
Hazel
The knife stopped inches before hitting Maddox’s chest. We looked into each other’s eyes at the same time, and I smiled. “I know you’d never leave me, Maddox.” Quicker than I’d thought I could manage, I shifted and stretched out my hand. The ferns in the pot to the Collector’s right grew and tangled around her body and muzzled her mouth.
“You aren’t under her charm?” he questioned me, eyeing the dagger still poised at his chest suspiciously. Oops. I dropped it instantly, and the clang against the marble was music to my ears.
Well, not that I could hear music. I could barely hear anything unless you were very close. “No. I put mushrooms in my ears earlier to block out her voice. It worked but I had to keep up the charade until she made her final move.” My hand reached out confidently and touched the side of his face. I missed his face and piercing blue eyes, but mostly I just missed him.
“You’re OK?” His head leaned into my touch, and a breath trembled past his lips.
“Nothing a little therapy can’t fix.” I laughed only to keep from thinking about the shit I’d seen in this mansion. Therapy would be an absolute must after this disaster.
“I’ll be with you through it all.” Maddox placed his hand over mine as his other arm pulled me into his lap.
“I love you, Maddox, and I’m never letting you go. You’re mine for the rest of your life, buddy.” I leaned my forehead against his and breathed him in. I knew he’d come for me, but in the end I didn’t need him to rescue me. The princess saved herself in this story.
“I think I need some stitches.” Asher’s voice broke through our little love bubble, and I grimaced at the blood stain on his gray shirt. Thoughts of Jarrod’s blood-soaked clothes bombarded me, and I shivered.
“Let’s go. I hear sirens. AJ has all the proof he needs to put her away for good,” Maddox commented as a whimpering wolf nuzzled her mate’s leg. I nodded, and then crawled out of Maddox’s lap.
The Collector wiggled and screamed against the leaves in her mouth. I had nothing to say to her, so I turned my head as Maddox wrapped his arm around me and we walked away from the vile mansion.
“Echo found six other captives in a small house by the edge of the property. She tried to free them but they wouldn’t budge. The Collector has to release them.” Asher winced at the pain in his stomach as he moved. Echo became a horse once we walked out the front door and lowered herself. He climbed on top. She’d carry him to his car, then take him to the hospital.
“Shouldn’t we stay and talk to the cops?” I asked Maddox, wanting to make sure the Collector got the justice she deserved.
“Only if you want to.” We stopped walking, as I thought about my choices.
