I found myself asking. At the same time, I put a thought out. It was too soon. Archer hadn’t marked me. But, with everything we’d shared last night, I hoped he could hear me well enough.
Archer. I need you.
J.C. stepped into my room. He was so tall. I didn’t remember him being this tall. My vision clouded. Something was wrong. He was doing something. The ground felt like quicksand. I heard Rose Kilgore’s eerie laughter, tinkling like windchimes in my ear.
“Call it your final audition, Phaedra. There are two more men you need to impress. And I have no doubt you will.”
J.C. stepped to the side. I wasn’t in my room anymore. It was the main floor of the Taurus. The lights were up. The music pounded. But there were no patrons. The place was completely cleared out. That made no sense. Where was Archer? Where were the other dancers?
I saw two shadowy figures sitting at a table near my cage. It had been lowered right in front of them. A draft hit me, and for the first time, I realized I wasn’t wearing the clothes I’d put on. Instead, I had on a gold thong and pasties. I was practically naked.
“Archer!”
But I couldn’t even hear myself shout above the blaring music.
“Dance, Phaedra,” J.C. said. He floated in the air beside me. “Show the Ring what you're capable of. This is your moment to shine.”
“No,” I said. I felt something encircle my wrists and ankles. J.C. pulled at them. God, it was like strings and he was the puppet master.
“No,” I shouted. “I don’t move a muscle without Archer. That was the deal. I don’t feel safe without him.”
J.C. smiled. From the corner of my eye, I saw the two men at the table lean toward each other, whispering.
Fae. My God. They were the full-blooded fae Archer warned me about. I was in the presence of two of the most powerful members of the Ring.
Men like them had been assaulting and torturing other witches over a decade. Ever since the treaties were signed splitting shifter territories off from humans. They did this. They forced shifters like Archer into exile. Separated packs. Tore fated mates from each other.
My fire rose inside of me. So strong. So fierce. I could kill them. I knew it. Felt it. They had no idea what I was. They wouldn’t expect it. One blow. One blast of fire and I’d turn them to ash.
Then I saw Rose Kilgore’s face float in front of me. Her pain. Her sacrifice. And I knew. If I killed these two, others would rise up to fill their place. Her cryptic words meant something.
If you’re strong enough to close the door.
I heard a wolf howling. He was so close. One of the fae laughed. J.C.’s expression soured.
With a flick of his hand, a door opened. A black wolf charged in. Archer’s silver eyes shimmered in the dim light. Saliva dripped from his fangs.
“The little pet wants her pet,” J.C. sighed. “Fine. Can you be a good dog?”
Archer snapped his teeth.
Another cage rose up beside J.C. It was bigger than mine and the metal bars were thicker, shinier. With horror, I recognized what it was. Dragonsteel. If he put Archer inside of it, he wouldn’t be able to get out.
“That’s right,” J.C. said. “You see that? You take a wrong step. You so much as shed, you’ll live there as far as I’m concerned. So you be a good boy and heel.”
Archer stalked the floor. Eyes glinting, he kept them on J.C. But Archer kept his menacing distance.
J.C. produced a vial from under his sleeve and came closer to me.
“You know the drill, my pet,” he said.
My stomach churned, I stuck out my tongue. He gave me three drops of the silver liquid with swirling gold flakes.
Wind magic. The last of what he’d stolen from Rose. A message. A warning.
“Now dance,” he said.
I did. I let the music fill me. I let just a little of my own magic out to shake the ground beneath me. The thought it was Rose’s. An earthquake. The two fae applauded, impressed. They talked about me like I wasn’t there. J.C.’s trick pony.
Archer got close. His silver eyes locked with mine. He came to protect me, but I knew I had to watch out for him just as much.
The song ended. I was covered in sweat.
“She’s good,” one of the fae said. I heard J.C. call him Krall. The other, Moren.
“She’ll do,” Moren said. “She’ll do