Page 21 of An Oath at Midnight

The door opened behind me, and Relic stepped through, stopping me from falling through with his body, and closed the door behind him, tight.

Calvin’s nostrils flared. “Let me through, hound.”

“Your council holds no authority here. You’re trespassing. Leave, or you’ll be slaughtered where you stand,” he said, his barely human voice resonating through the room.

Calvin roared, then turned back to me.

“Touch her again, and see what happens,” Relic said and flashed his wicked-looking canines.

Isaac strode forward and grabbed Calvin’s arm. “They can’t hide forever, we’ll get her,” he said, his sharp gaze slicing to Relic, then to me. I felt his hatred down to my bones.

Calvin stormed off, and Iris and Rose rushed over to me.

Relic, Ronan, and the rest of the hounds strode after the councilors, seeing them off the property.

“Good work, Mags,” Iris said.

“They got away. Willow’s safe,” Mom said, but there was fear in her eyes.

“Warrick won’t let anything happen to her or the baby,” Rose said, wrapping her arm around Mom’s shoulders.

Ronan strode back inside and over to us. “The hounds are leaving tonight, they’re following Warrick.”

“Where are they going? Where would War have taken Willow?” Draven asked.

“Home,” Ronan said before anyone else could.

Warrick was taking Willow to Hell, where no one could reach her, not even us.

* * *

Bram

Magnolia wasn’t in the tree house.

I shoved down the panic, jumped from the deck to the yard below, and strode toward the house.

Coming home and finding Mags in my bed was the fucking highlight of my day. She slept in my bed more often than her own, and always after I’d been away. The fact she wasn’t there, waiting for me now, stung.

She didn’t owe me anything. She’d given to me, constantly, and without expectation of anything in return. She’d been there for me since the day we found each other, even with all the shit I was putting her through, still she gave. She was pissed off, yes, but she put that aside to care for me. She made sure I had food in the fridge, that my wounds were tended, my place was clean, and I always came home to fresh sheets.

She constantly fucking worried about me.

All I’d done lately was take and cause her pain.

Acid churned in my gut.

Had she finally given up on me? Was this the day she finally told me to fuck off and never come back?

The house was dark. I used my key and quickly let myself in, taking the stairs two at a time to her room. Mags had moved to Willow’s bedroom when she’d left. It was on the top floor, the tower, and far enough from everyone else in the house that she could make noise, play her music, and not bother anyone else.

Light glowed from under her door. She was here and awake, which meant she was avoiding me. I gripped the handle, tapped on the door, and eased it open.

She stood by her dresser, and when her gaze met mine, there was something in her eyes that had me gripping the door handle tighter. “Why are you still up?” It was two in the morning.

“Couldn’t sleep. It’s been an…eventful night.”

She didn’t run to me and throw her arms around me like she usually did. No, she stayed back, and I felt the distance acutely between us. I took her in. She was wearing her favorite jeans and the boots she’d bought last week. Her red shirt had a neckline that dipped way too fucking low and hugged her little, curvy frame far too fucking close. “Did you go out?”