Page 49 of Forced Bonds

“We want the rogues to cease existing, but we need to hand it over to those who won’t just destroy it or keep it hidden away. I now doubt the witches who’ve fought us are the book’s rightful owners, mostly because they’d kept it locked up themselves before Christopher’s father stole it.”

He hummed. “I can see your point. I’ve yet to learn any coven names, so all I know is that a bunch of witches want the book but I can’t tell you what they want with it.”

“What about the Greenwren Coven? Altaur said he still knew nothing, but do you?” I asked hopefully.

“If I did, you know very well that Altaur would’ve already known as well,” he drawled.

“Damn,” I muttered. “I just want this book gone.”

“Altaur told me Gabriella was the source. The witches she worked with, maybe those are the ones we need to focus on,” he suggested.

“You got any leads? We didn’t find much when we killed her and the rogues.”

He sighed. “I’ve searched through Willowhill and found nothing suspicious. I’m currently looking through feeds from all over the city, trying to spot any hint of magic. I saw one man wearing a red stoned necklace and a dark hood over his head, he entered a bar alone at night. I had Yuni and Ronin check that out, but the man had been killed inside the pub, no eye witnesses or anything.”

“Was he a witch or human?”

“Human, which is why it was so odd. Why was he wearing a magic stone?”

“Could he be a potential rogue? Someone the witches picked out for the cause?” I mused.

“He could be,” Anker said, sounding intrigued by the idea. “The stone might’ve led him to the old hotel where Gabriella would’ve been waiting, had she not been killed.”

“But why did he get killed in a bar then?”

“Maybe someone else is trying to stop those witches from getting the book,” Anker reminded me. “Like the Greenwren Coven.”

I shivered at the thought. They were strong enough that they could coerce everyone in my coven to do their bidding, all except Altaur, who was immune due to his age.

“So, I have absolutely no leads and no way to know which witch covens should get the book?” I summed up.

“Pretty much,” he said, sounding just as unhappy as I felt. “I’ll look more into it and call you if I find anything.”

“Thank—"

The door flew open and a bloodied Freddy stood there shaking and panting for breath. “They took Benjamin,” he said, then slumped on the ground, eyes rolling back.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Benjamin

Hazi’s vocabulary had been upgraded to include a lot of new and colorful ways to offend me, none that actually hurt since I knew he only said those things because he cared. I’d also been a twartweedle, and turned off my phone, making him worry about my flat ass, which was honestly the worst of his insults. My ass was not flat, thank you very much.

I stood in the backyard and enjoyed the scenery as he continued to berate me. “Do you have any idea how much shit we’re involved in now?! I’ve had a coven visit me, ME, in my own damn home, in the middle of the fucking night. They coerced me into saying where you were and I couldn’t do anything but tell them!”

That had my attention. “Vampire coven?” Duh, of course it was if they could coerce him.

“Yes, a vampire coven you fucking moron! You better get your ass out of that town and never look back. Whoever they were, they were mad powerful, you hear me? I didn’t remember them visiting me until two days later! That’s how powerful they are. Get away. Now!”

I felt the urgency of his words and hung up to grab Zar, he would know what to do here. I hated that Chris wasn’t with us, especially now if danger was on its way. I was almost at the back door when a wolf came running in full speed towards me. I knew it wasn’t Chris, this one was a light grey color, and I felt a rush of fear spread through me. Was this one of those in the pack that didn’t like me? Was it Stacy? I didn’t have time to react as the wolf jumped in front of me, hitting something mid air and whimpering. A man stood there, glaring at the now bleeding wolf. Not a man, I realized, but a vampire.

“Filthy dog,” the vampire spat, then took out a white handkerchief and wiped his bloodied hand on it before dumping it on the ground. His hair was white and styled in a wavy way, making him look put together and regal. He was lean with pale skin and looked like a prince as he stood there, hair blowing in the wind.

Another wolf came running, this time a brown one. It didn’t even make it over to me before a blur of movement slammed into it, making it fly against a tree. I knew just from the sight alone that the wolf had died on impact, the sound of bone breaking had been loud enough even from a distance. The bleeding wolf near me was whimpering at his fallen packmate, but I was now facing two vampires so I couldn’t focus on the loss, or who it had been.

I took a single step back and met a hard surface. I didn’t even have to look to know a third vampire was behind me. The first vampire smiled evilly at me and then punched me in the face. Everything went dark after that.

I’d never felt pain like I did in this moment, and I silently begged for the darkness to take over once again. Sadly, it didn’t. I pried my eyes open, noticing my right eye wouldn’t even budge, my left eye was seeing things in a weird haze, like there was a film over it and nothing was in sharp detail. It was horrible. My instincts begged me to get a view of my surroundings, but I simply couldn’t. My head ached and no matter how much I blinked my vision stayed the same.