follow those rules, though we do manage to get around some of them.”
“How do these rules apply to this situation?” Good grief. Getting information out of him is like trying to get taffy off your fingers.
He sighed and leaned back in his chair, crossing his leg over his thigh. “This spell requires all the participants to be willing. They cannot be forced to give up that which belongs to them. Your magic is a part of you. It is intertwined with your soul, which is why it is possible for you to have a soul bond with a Canis lupus. The spell is not a simple concoction. It requires knowledge of the power that each race wields and an understanding of how their magic actually works. I have been studying the supernatural races for hundreds of years. I am extremely knowledgeable about all of them. Not even my associates know what I do.”
He sounded smug as he said this, his chin rising a bit. Sally wondered if there was some type of division in their leadership. It would be a good thing if there was. Organizations with too many leaders who can’t make decisions and work together. They often collapsed in on themselves and made themselves easier to be defeated.
“I have to willingly let you use my magic to perform a spell that will enslave the human race and give supernaturals complete control of the world. Am I getting this right?” Sally tried not to fidget in her chair. She didn’t want to look nervous or scared, though she was flipping out inside because what other choice did she have? Alston would use Titus against her. She wouldn’t let Titus suffer, not even to save the world.
“You do what you have to do to stay well and come back to me,” Costin’s wolf rumbled in her mind.
She gave him a mental nod but continued to watch Alston.
“That is correct. The part I am still working on is whether I can store your magic. Or do I have to actually have you here for the spell?”
Okay, that did not sound good. Sally shifted and glanced back at the chair in the middle of the room. “Even if you somehow store it,” which again, did not sound cool at all, “don’t I still have to give it willingly?”
He cocked his head to the side as if really pondering her question. “That’s one of the questions that I’m hoping to have answered once I have your magic. Once it is no longer inside of you, does the will of the person really matter any longer?”
Alston said something in his language, and suddenly Sally was standing. She hadn’t made the conscious decision to stand, nor was she in control of the fact that she was now walking toward the creepy electric-chair-looking seat. It even had one of those things that went on your head.
“What are you doing?” She despised the fear she heard in her voice.
“Like any hypothesis, this must be tested.” Alston walked around until he stood in front of her. Sally felt her body being pushed down with invisible hands until she was fully seated.
She looked up at Tenia and saw that the female’s eyes were wide, and she was leaning forward but couldn’t move. Alston had bound her. “You said this chair wasn’t for me,” Sally pointed out.
“I lied,” Alston said with absolutely no remorse. “Are you really surprised? If you pick up a snake, can you be shocked you get bitten? You knew what I was when you walked into this room.”
“I didn’t exactly have a choice,” Sally bit out as the straps on the arms of the chair began to wrap themselves around her wrists, moving up her arms until she was held from wrist to shoulder. As soon as she felt herself beginning to panic, she did the one thing she promised she wouldn’t. She slammed the bond shut. There was no way she was going to let Costin go through whatever it was that Alston had planned for her. She had to hope her mate would keep himself together because Titus was in his care and needed him.
The straps wrapped themselves around her legs all the way up to her thighs, continuing up until they crisscrossed her chest. Then a strap came across her forehead, slamming her against the back of the chair. Why on earth would she need this many restraints? Was this actually an electric chair? The helmet-looking thing moved of its own accord, floating