Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
She went on, ‘Somebody else did that. I just unveiled the spell.’
Kerr frowned. ‘What’s the intent behind it?’
‘To haze the Rabid’s vision with a killing rage,’ Marvin said in astonishment as he held his hand above the Rabid’s eyes, reading the spell.
‘The fuck?’ Logan bit off.
Emberlyn breathed in through her nose. ‘As I see it, there’d be no reason to do that unless a person wanted to set the Rabid on somebody. In order to do that, though, they must have first captured it – probably while it slept. Moving it wouldn’t have been easy, so they likely knocked it unconscious before bespelling it. I don’t think they then released the Rabid in a random spot; that it coincidentally happened upon the manor. I think they placed it some distance from here deliberately before waking it.’
Ripper felt the corners of his eyes tighten. ‘In other words, someone sicced it on you?’
‘That would be my guess,’ she replied.
A scolding lash of anger whipped at Ripper, and he whirled on Marvin with a snarl.
The male witch threw up his hands. ‘I knew nothing of this! I swear! Emberlyn, I . . . I don’t know who would do this, but I can tell you it was not a coven-wide effort. I would have heard about it, and I would have put a stop to it. This was one person acting alone or a few people secretly working together.’
‘Like who?’ demanded Ripper. ‘That damn faction your coven likes to claim doesn’t exist?’
Marvin hesitated. ‘I don’t know. It’s a simple spell – a witch of any skillset could do it.’
‘The effect is only ever temporary,’ Emberlyn cut in. ‘So this Rabid was bespelled at some point this morning. Would Carver or one of his wolves have captured it if asked?’
Ripper gave his head a stiff shake. ‘No wolf would do this. The Rabid are still thinking beings; they’re victims of circumstance.’
Shane nodded, the move hard and curt. ‘They don’t deserve to be used like this, and none of our kind would condone it. It’s fucked up.’
‘I agree,’ Marvin said quickly. ‘It’s cruel. I can’t think of a witch who would do it either.’
‘Well, at least one of the coven did,’ said Kerr, cricking his corded neck. ‘And something needs to be done about it.’
Ripper grunted, his muscles tight with anger. ‘Twice now Rabid have been used as attack dogs. There needs to not be a third time. Not only for Emberlyn’s safety, but because it’s utterly inhumane.’
‘We should hold a meeting at the town hall for all of Chilgrave and address it there,’ Shane declared. ‘For witches to hold a grudge against another is one thing. For them to drag the Rabid into it, bespell and use them this way is another.’
Logan dipped his chin. ‘Whatever culprit or culprits is behind this . . . they’re fucking cowards. They should have gone at Emberlyn head-on themselves. At which point she’d have made them suffer, yeah, but that’s the risk they’d take. If you ain’t prepared to be part of a fight, you don’t use someone else like a puppet to do it for you.’
Ripper rolled his shoulders, trying to shake off the irritability that raced through his veins, making him feel antsy and on edge. He had no idea who’d done this, which meant he had no one he could punish. The annoyance of that grated his skin.
Shane looked back down at the Rabid. ‘Let’s take him to the office so we can work on reversing his mental state.’
As a team, the Watchers deftly carried the Rabid through the house and over to their all-terrain vehicle.
From the porch, Ripper and Emberlyn watched them drive off. He then turned to her and palmed her neck, his hold gentle even as rage beat at him – hit, shoved, kicked, slapped him; pressed his every hot button. ‘Come to my place with me.’
‘I’m supposed to be stopping off to see Paisley in a little while.’
‘I’ll go with you. I need to check in with her anyway. You can stay with me until then.’
Her brow lifted at what even he had to admit was a slightly tyrannical tone.
‘Emberlyn, any number of things could have happened to you today. You could have failed to notice the Rabid until it was too late. Or you could have fallen while fleeing, enabling it to catch up to you. Or Lucie could have pounced on it, at which point you wouldn’t have run because you would have wanted to save her. Those scenarios – and many more – are playing out in my head. I don’t want to leave you alone, and I’d rather you were away from here for just a little while.’
Her brow knitted. ‘I’m not unsafe here.’
‘The house can protect you, I know that, but . . . just come with me.’ His instincts were driving him to take her to his den, a place she was just as safe. He wanted to feed her. Make her tea. Fuss over her. Keep a close watch on her.