Page 91 of Mage Massacres

I raised my brows at him. “Yes?”

“Does that not hurt?”

I flicked my eyes to my hands, the ripped skin healing over quickly. “No. Haven’t you ever skinned your knees? It’s the same thing.”

“Not your hands, Sweetheart.” York still wore a grimace. His eyes squinted slightly as he leaned over. “Your chest. We can see straight through it.”

I tipped my head down, peering at the hole in my shirt. I could put my fist through the open wound. The small crater in my chest was right where my mate marks should be.

“That cunt,” I growled, searching for her essence as a lust for violence coursed through my body.

Of course, she would hit us and fucking run away. She probably thought we had no way to find her, and we fucking didn’t.

Until she left us in this basement lair of hers.

The rest of my guys walked out of the passage, mostly in perfect condition. Thankfully, no one else appeared to be hurt except my vampire.

Novak winced as Vaughn popped his left arm back into the socket. He had a gash on his cheek that was nearly healed already, and his coat sleeve had a hole in it.

I rubbed my face, double-checking that they were all in one piece. “Is everyone okay?”

“We’re fine, Love,” Palmer assured me. “Let Vaughn heal you.”

“No. It’s okay. I need the—”

“She’s good,” Stone told my fae as he started inspecting my chest. “She’ll tell us if she needs assistance with healing.”

I’d almost forgotten that I’d explained to Stone how the pain makes me hyper-focused. I just needed to clear the fury from my mind so that I could put my willpower where I needed it.

“You saw how that glamor melted away from her, right?” my demon inquired.

I nodded. “She’s not as weak as I thought. Her power was being diverted, holding on to the layers of faces that she uses regularly.”

Novak scratched at his healed cheek. “I don’t follow.”

“Think of it like your phone,” I suggested.

I was met with six groans, and I promptly ignored them to continue my explanation.

“The apps that you have still zap your battery even if you aren’t actively using them. You open seven apps, but you don’t close them completely, so they use more power than they would if you closed the app properly when you finished using it.”

When they all stared at me, I shrugged. “That's the best analogy I’ve got right now.”

Briggs furrowed his brows, his expression brimming with concentration. “What about all the shit she told us?”

I shrugged, feeling so confused that I didn’t even know which topic to start unpacking. “I don’t know. I need a few minutes to think it through.”

“We all do,” York murmured.

Palmer sighed. “We should look around while we’re here. No sense in missing the opportunity.”

“Maybe we can find something to track her with,” Novak commented, prowling down the right-side passageway as the guys spread out around the main room.

I stood near the back wall, taking in all the sights and sounds. There was still something—or someone—behind those bricks, and I wanted to know what it was.

I couldn’t focus on anything else until Briggs stopped behind me. Pine and citrus consumed my senses as I inhaled deeply and leaned into him.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, so low I barely heard the words leave my mouth.