Wicked (Eternal Guardians #9) - Elisabeth Naughton Page 0,136
were following, but since they were closer, they were the first to crest the rise and reach the small clearing in front of the arch.
The first to see Phineus holding a thrashing female from behind with an arm wrapped around her chest.
“Let me go. Let me go!” she screamed, fighting with everything she had even though her struggling barely made the big Argonaut budge.
“Settle down, witch.” Phin tightened his grip, holding more firmly so she couldn’t kick him in the balls. “I won’t hurt you so long as you cooperate.”
“Zagreus.” Talisa squeezed his arm. “It’s Pandora.”
“Yeah, be careful,” he said in a low voice at her side. “We don’t know what she’s done with her box.”
They moved up slowly, so as not to surprise either of them, but as they stepped out of the shadows and into the moonlight, Pandora’s gaze shot their way, her eyes flashing with fury.
“You,” she growled, still wrestling against Phin’s hold, glancing from Talisa to Zagreus and back again.
Talisa stilled next to him and gazed at the female who’d tried to kill her. Who’d tried to kill them. She knew she should care about that damn box, but right now only one thing mattered. “Where is he?”
Pandora’s eyes blazed. “Maximus is mine.”
Talisa had said the same thing to Zagreus—that he was hers—but not like this. Never like this. Her words had come from the heart. These reeked of actual possession.
“He’s not yours,” Talisa said. “He’ll never be yours. And your little game here is over. Tell us where he is,” she demanded.
Pandora struggled harder against Phin’s hold, then started wailing like a dying cat. So loud, any satyrs left in the area had to hear it. So loud, she could be calling them back.
“Shut her up,” Zagreus snapped, stepping forward. “Before—”
A roar sounded from the trees above. Talisa barely had time to look up before something slammed into her, knocking her hard to the ground.
She heard Zagreus grunt as he hit the ground, too. Had no idea what had hit them. It was there and gone, but when she lifted her head and looked up from the dirt, she realized it wasn’t a “what” but a “who.”
The who she’d been looking for since Zagreus had poofed her out of that club.
“Max!” She pushed up in the dirt, scrambling to her feet.
Max had already knocked Pandora free of Phin’s hold. She scrambled back while the two males rolled across the ground, throwing punches and kicking up dirt in a blur of movement.
Footsteps pounded at Talisa’s back. Beside her, she sensed Zagreus watching for the moment he could jump into the fight and take hold of Max. But the two were moving too fast, then their momentum shifted so quickly Talisa barely tracked it. One second, they were on the ground. The next, Max was behind Phin with a dagger at Phin’s throat.
“Get back, all of you,” Max growled, a wild look in his eyes. “Get back or I swear I’ll kill him.”
“Whoa, hold up,” Theron said on Talisa’s left. Max shifted Phin that direction, skidding in the dirt. “We’re not going to hurt you. Just drop the blade, Maximus. We’re all friends here.”
“Yeah, dude,” Phineus said. “Friends. Rememb—”
Max pushed the tip of the dagger into Phin’s throat, breaking the skin so blood ran down the blade. Phin’s mouth snapped shut.
“You’re no friends of mine,” Max growled.
His voice was low. Flat. Nothing like Talisa remembered. He moved back a step, dragging Phin with him.
Nick moved up on her father’s other side. She could see both him and Zagreus were reading Max, trying to decide if they could step in and disarm him. But if Zagreus’s theory was true, and Max could harness any powers used around him, that would only make him stronger. And judging from the crazed look in his eyes, that wouldn’t be a good thing. At least not until they got him away from Pandora.
“Son…” Zander. That was Zander’s voice to Talisa’s right. Max’s dad. Only he didn’t just sound stressed, he sounded scared. As if he knew what Max was capable of. “We’re all your friends. And family. We just want you to come home.” He stepped forward, hands up in a nonthreatening way. “We love you, Max.”
Max glanced from Theron to his father, then to Talisa. Familiarity flashed in his stormy eyes. He swallowed. Seemed… conflicted.
“We do,” Talisa said, also stepping forward, desperate to get through to him, hoping her voice would shock him back from