Russo’s POVLisa let us into the apothecary’s shop. The scent of herbs, dried and fresh, hit my nose, making the inside tingle. Before I could hold it back, two violent sneezes burst from my nose. I caught them with my elbow to cover.Lisa laughed. “It takes a while to get used to the scent of this stuff.”She walked to the werewolf behind the counter and passed him the list. “I’m going to need these herbs as fast as possible, please.”“In what quantities?” the werewolf asked.Lisa bent over the list, studying it, and I suddenly became very glad that we had her on our side. When I read the books, Solomon’s Key had listed measurements that I was completely unfamiliar with.What exactly was a thumb of powdered wormwood? Because my thumb was significantly bigger than hers if we were using actual fingers as measurement.But Lisa rattled the measurements off to the werewolf, who seemed to know exactly what she was talking about. He jotted the notes on an invoice. When they finished, the we
Helens POV The week before the full moon was jam-packed with activities. After we’d found the key of Solomon, I thought the two weeks leading up to the full moon were going to take forever. I wanted to act so badly.I had made arrangements with Freya for the spine, and I saw Justin when I could. But for the first time, I realized a flaw in Justin’s plan. Or maybe not so much a flaw because he’s been pretty upfront with me about the fact that he wanted me to do the research and then to sit back and let him in the warriors handle things.What I didn’t internalize when he said that was that once I had done the research, my job was pretty much over. And all I was left to do was worry.At first, I tried sitting in on the meetings that he and Randy had with the warriors. No one stopped me, and I got a little thrill from being what I felt was an active part of this until I realized that the strategy was beyond anything that I was capable of working on.Randy and Justin were setting up a per
Helen’s POVThe Huntsman sat me up on the sofa and then moved and crouched in front of me so that we were eye to eye. He placed both arms on my knees, crossing them across each other very casually.“My dear little wolf, of course, I didn't forget you. I have been waiting and putting together the perfect game for us. You see, you've made my job very difficult. I tried to torture you by hurting your body, and it didn't work. I tried to torture you by destroying your friends, and you remained whole. I tried to break you by forcing you to nearly kill the one you love, yet here you are.”He grimaced. “I have abducted you, chained you, beat you, and still none of my methods work.”He rocked back on his heels and rubbed his hands together gleefully. “So, you see, my dear. It took me some time to come up with the sort of game that would get through to you that would really affect you and that mongrel of a husband of yours.”“I need the last lycan to suffer.”“Why?” I demanded.Now that I knew
Helen’s POVMartin walked over, placing a hand on Julianne's head. He muttered something, and my guts twisted. When she woke up, this was going to be horrible. She and Peter were so happy together. They were newlyweds.What would Peter do if he discovered that she was going to end up in love with another man? Would she ever go back to Peter? Would she ever want him properly again? Or were they doomed in some tragic relationship where their wolves were bonded, but her head and heart were turned elsewhere by magic?Martin kept his hand on her head and continued to mutter while sprinkling herbs over the top of her. Julianne's eyes glazed over for a moment before locking on to the Huntsman. She drew in a gasp, her cheeks flushing into a blush that spread all the way down her neck and into the little bit of her chest that showed above the neck of her shirt. It was the flush of lust.She gave a whimper, reaching for the Huntsman, and he slap
Helen’s POV“Now, my dear little Wolf,” the Huntsman purred. “Shall we get married first? Or should we go straight to the bedroom?”I was nearly panting with desire at this point. “I don't care,” I gasped out.And I really didn't. The Huntsman could do whatever he wanted to me, marry me, fuck me. I didn't care as long as it was with my Huntsman.He tapped my nose. “I think we should do both. And film it! Martin, get the camera.”Martin bowed, and the Huntsman pulled me to my feet, carefully untying both my hands and my ankles. A ripple of disappointment went through me. I was sure he'd tied me up for something kinky.But if my darling thought that we needed to do something else instead, whatever he wanted, I’d do. I followed as the Huntsman led me out of the room we were in, away from the sofa. After leading me down a short hallway, he opened the door to a bedroom. Ins
Justin's POV“What do you mean they're gone?” I roared.Randy flinched back from me. “I'm sorry. I don't know anything more than you do. I spent the morning with you, as you well know.”“Where were her guards?”The news that Helen and her friend had been abducted once again sent both my temper and Beowulf’s into a frenzy. Containing him was taking every bit of my willpower. He wanted to burn down everything around us, to both get Helen back and to punish any and everyone for letting this happen.Randy scowled at me. “The guards were found unconscious at their post. They've been hit with darts from a distance. It wasn't that they didn't do their job. It was that we were outmaneuvered, plain and simple.”I snarled and threw the glass that I was holding at the wall, where it shattered. “This is unacceptable. Who took her?”“Who do you think?” Rand
Russo's POVI trudged back to my house feeling horrible, churnings in my stomach. We lost Helen. She was now in the clutches of a half demon.Somehow that knowledge made her situation seem worse than the last time the Huntsman had gotten his hands on her. Because then we thought he was just an evil person, but somehow knowing that a demon had his hands on one of my best friends made me physically sick.Lisa was in the kitchen brewing something on the stove when I walked in. The scent of it burned my nose.“What are you working on?” I asked her.She turned around to look at me, and her spoon clattered to the stove top. “What's happened now?” she asked.“We're pretty sure the Huntsman has taking Helen,” I told her.She covered her mouth with both hands, gasping. “It's a good thing I'm starting on the potion that we’ll need for the rite,” she said. “This needs to s
Russo’s POVRandy nodded slowly in agreement, though I could see on his face he still found the whole situation utterly distasteful. I fully agreed but Lisa did have a minor point. Helen wasn't hanging from chains or something in the Huntsman's basement, And he wasn't making her watch him pluck the wings off pixies.Helen might be a captive, and he might be using her, but the fallout could be dealt with later. And the focus right now really did need to be on bringing the Huntsman down.I turned to Lisa. “You have the ink boiling. What else do we need to get done? Let's make sure that everything is ready to go. Absolutely nothing should get in our way of making this ritual happen.”She nodded. “We have the ink ready. We have the herbs we need. Those will get burned or sprinkled during the ritual, at least the ones that weren't used in the ink. But we need one other thing to make this happen. We need a sacrifice.”