Flawless by Evans, Gabrielle (icecream ebook reader TXT) 📗

night, echoing down the well and bouncing off the stones until it was as though the beast was confined down there with them. The sound was terrifying, but it made Lynk smile. Then four other howls, each distinctly different from the other, rolled across the breeze, and Lynk’s heart broke into a gallop as excitement overwhelmed him.

“My mate is here, and he’s really unhappy.”

* * * *

The unconscious men on the ground turned out to be Raith, Axton, and Gideon. Where was Lynk, though? And where the hell was Zasha?

“Kieran!”

The sound of his mate’s voice hit him like a freight truck, and Kieran practically dove toward the well. “Lynk? Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I took a knock on the head, but I’m fine. Thane’s not going to make it much longer, though. There’s a door here that I think might lead to one of those windmills. I’m going to try to get through it.”

“Where is Zasha?”

Lynk’s voice came back inside his mind, cold and hard. “I don’t know, but when we find him, he’s mine.”

“Not if I get to him first. I’m going to guess that door leads to the center windmill. Try to open the door now.” He heard a few muttered words and then a loud explosion that shook the ground beneath his feet. “Still got it,” Lynk called up to him, proud and cocky.

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“Can you see anything?” There was no answer, though. “Lynk, talk to me, sugar. What do you see? What’s going on?” Still, he heard nothing.

Before he could get himself too worked up, though, there was another enormous boom. The door on the windmill fell from its hinges into a pile of rubble, and Lynk stood there, grinning from ear to ear. “Can I get some help?”

Parker was at his side in an instant, lifting a very thin and frail-looking man into his arms. Kieran barely noticed. His whole world had narrowed to his mate as Lynk sprinted toward him. Opening his arms, he caught the smaller man and crushed him close, rumbling in his chest as he nuzzled against Lynk’s head, face, and neck.

“I’m fine, Kieran. A knot the size of Memphis on the back of my head, but otherwise, I’m okay.”

“I’m so proud of you, sugar.” Someone stepped up beside them, trying to remove Lynk from his arms, and Kieran snapped at the intruder, snarling viciously.

“Shut up,” Torren chastised him. “I just want to see that my brother is okay.”

“I’m fine, Torren.” Lynk pointed toward the windmill. “Thane is the one who needs help, and fast. Besides, I think you need to back off before Kieran eats you.”

Yes, he did. While Kieran understood that bond between brothers, Lynk was his mate, and he wasn’t about to release his hold on him when he’d just found him safe and mostly unmarred.

With the addition of Torren, Raven, Bannon, and the eldest Murphy brother, Devlin, there were now eight men milling about the small clearing. And that wasn’t even including the three unconscious bodies on the ground, Lynk, or himself. Haven really was like one immense family. If someone messed with one of them, the entire coven came together with hostile intent.

“Give me the book!”

138 Gabrielle

Evans

Kieran whirled around, Lynk still held protectively in his arms, and curled his lip at the sight before him. Axton was on his feet, his eyes wide and crazed as he clutched Raven to him, a gold blade resting against the vampire’s throat.

“Where is Zasha?” Leader Tuesday countered, having reverted back to his usual form.

“Tell me where the book is!” The blade pressed more insistently at Raven’s flesh, and the Enforcer flinched as though it burned him.

Maybe it did. Gold was highly toxic and often lethal to vampires.

“Who are you working with?” Torren growled, advancing toward Axton. “Why do you want the book?”

“The circle will reward me if I deliver the book to them. They gave me the witch, led me to where he was hiding, and trusted me to watch over him. I have to produce the book now.” Axton removed the dagger from Raven’s neck and waved it around wildly. “Tell me where it is!”

“Who led you to the witch? When?” Leader Tuesday spoke with an air of calm authority, even though he was facing down a deranged vampire with a gold blade—not to mention the little fact that the coven leader was butt naked in the cold November wind.

“The circle!” Axton screamed. “They found me when I went home with Zasha. They gave me the key.” He pointed at Thane to indicate which key he meant. “They come and harvest his blood.

They’re almost ready, but they need the book. I have to give them the book if I want the power they can give me.” Kieran really hoped he’d be the one that got to break the news to the idiot that it didn’t matter if he handed over the Book of the Banished or not. He’d be long dead before the witches could ever

“reward” him.

“Zasha has been a good friend to you.” Tuesday clasped his hands in front of him and tilted his head to the side. “His family welcomed you into their home. What have you done to him, Axton?”

“He’s alive.”

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“Where?”

“I’m not stupid,” Axton spat. “If I tell you, then I have no leverage. You need me or you’ll never find him. Now, give me the fucking book!”

Lynk wiggled out of Kieran’s arms and crossed his arms over his chest. “I know where Zasha is.”

Kieran wasn’t sure if his mate was bluffing, but he sounded convincing. Apparently Axton agreed, because his eyes went even wider, and he lunged forward to grab Lynk by the upper arm. “Give me the book or I’ll gut him like a fish.” The stupid bloodsucker looked right at Kieran as he spoke, taunting him, goading him.

As the haze of murderous fury descended