Willow laid her free hand over Ursula’s and gripped her hard, as if trying to pull strength from the woman who had opened her home to her, saved her and given her access to her...mates.There.She had actually used the word.She might not have said it out loud, but it sure as shit counted to think it.Or at least Willow thought so.
“Why?”Willow asked, tempering her anger a little.“Why did this happen and how?I mean, how in the actual fuck was a man able to lock my mates into some abyss where they can’t reach me and I can’t reach them?And why?Why would someone do that?”
Yeah, maybe she wasn’t tempering her anger so much as letting it build.
“You met him in a time of war and turmoil.The War of 1812 was fast and furious, but he came with one intention only.To find you.He wanted you to fulfill a prophecy, one that would see him become so damn powerful, no man could end him.”Ursula’s voice was filled with disgust.“What he wants is obscene and he gives no fucks who he hurts or kills to get it.No timeline is sacred to him.All he wants to do is to get you as his own and take that power to live forever.He would be unstoppable, the power he would have at his disposal could change the world.”
Willow stared at Ursula for a moment, wanting to laugh.Not just a giggle, or a chuckle, but a full-on belly laugh.But she didn’t.She had the very real feeling that Ursula wasn’t just making shit up, or being overly dramatic.
Another thought hit her.“How the hell do you know any of this?I mean, I get that you’re a witch and probably privy to a whole lot of insight that the rest of us mere mortals couldn’t hope to understand.But you seem very clued up on what happened two hundred years ago.”
A strange and sad look slid across Ursula’s face before she smiled.One that didn’t quite reach her eyes.“Past lives are not just for those who are destined and fated.Some can remember them in great detail.”
Willow frowned.“You were there?Who were—”
Bang, bang, bang!
The sudden knock at the door was startling and both women froze.
“I thought this place was hidden?”Willow whispered.She had no idea why she felt the need to be quiet.It wasn’t as if the person or people knocking on the door could hear her through it.
“Only to Marcus,” Ursula answered, then stood to walk toward the door of the apartment.Placing her eye against the wide-angle door viewer to see who stood there.“It’s the police, Willow.”She turned to look back at Willow, her confusion clear.“How did they even know that you were here?”
Willow had no idea.Her heart kicked hard against her ribs as she stood and moved closer to Ursula.She could hear her pulse pounding in her ears as Ursula opened the door.
A blur of orange shot through and threw itself at her.Reflex alone had her catching the flying object.
“Hugo!”She shouted in delight as her cat clung to her, looking none the worse for wear for an animal that should have been burned alive.She buried her face in his fur, inhaling the scent she thought she’d never smell again.Her throat was clogged with sobs of relief.She turned to grin at the two officers who stood in the doorway, though unease prickled sharp at the back of her neck.“How on earth did you find him?”
The officers looked at each other before staring back at her.Their uniforms were crisp, their expressions unreadable, their eyes just a little too flat.The one on the right answered, “The cat was just sitting outside the door when we arrived.We didn’t bring it with us.”
“Ma’am,” the other one stepped further into the room.His movements were careful, measured, like he expected trouble.“Are you Ms.Willow Anderson?”
Willow nodded slowly, a sense of dread beginning to slide within her.
“You’re going to have to come with us.Your psychiatrist and fiancé have both filed papers with the courts to have you taken into custody.”
“The hell you say?”Ursula yelled, stepping in front of Willow, hands on hips.A faint shimmer of energy pulsed around her, subtle but enough to raise the hairs on Willow’s arms.“On what charge?”
“No charges,” the first officer said, and Willow could not help but notice the way the man’s hand hovered near his service weapon.“She is to be sequestered for evaluation.”
“A psych evaluation?”Willow practically screeched.“I am not crazy, and I have no fiancé.”
The officers shared a quick knowing look.“That is what he said you would say.Look, Miss Anderson, why don’t we just head down to the police station and have a conversation.I am sure once you have talked with Marcus, the two of you can work this out and your mental health worker will be able to sign papers to have you released into his care.”
Willow’s joy at having Hugo back from the dead was gone and the sick weight of fear held her in its grasp.Her stomach twisted.A psychiatrist?A fiancé?None of it made sense, but the glint in the officer’s eyes told her they believed every word—or had been told to.And the one name on both their lips made her blood run cold.
Marcus.
