I let out a dejected sigh and shook my head. “Why didn’t I ever hear about this when I was younger?”
“You were never in the business side of things. You were a young girl. I’m sure, uh…had things turned out differently, you’d have been read into all the things the Laurents do.”
“I’m not sure that makes me feel any better,” I said, waving a hand at the computer screen. “It’s not even fair to the humans. All our business dealings, for the most part, stem from magic from the wellsprings. Human tech is getting better every year, but they’re still pretty far off from what we can do.” I picked up a small jar from the end table and held it up. “It’s like this stuff.”
Delphine put the watering can down and stepped over to take a look. It was one of my family’s biggest sellers.
Eau Phantasmique Face Cream. I had a never-ending supply of the stuff. One of the few perks I had, along with my exorbitant monthly allowance, was access to nearly everything we had a patent for.
“That’s good stuff,” Delphine said appreciatively.
“Ugh.” I grunted and rolled my eyes. “That’s not the point. The point is my family charges an arm and a leg for it. This jar”-I held up the four-ounce container-“is a hundred dollars. The ingredients costs us a buck-fifty. Add to that the magic that basically costs us nothing, and this stuff is ninety-percent profit.”
Delphine’s nose crinkled in disgust. “It does seem excessive.”
Setting the jar down, I gestured toward the computer again. “It’s all in here, in the files and documents on the secure server. An entire underground magic economy that continues to line our pockets. From what I can see, the dragons do something similar, but they don’t seem as ruthless, and they aren’t gouging the prices like we are. They’ve got a similar cream that’s a quarter of the price.”
Delphine took a seat beside me. “Is it really that big a deal to make money, sweetheart? I don’t have any love lost for your family, but isn’t this basic economics? Supply and demand? If humans and other shifters weren’t willing to spend that much for this stuff, then they’d drop the prices, right?”
That part was true, but it was actually the other things I’d found that made my blood run cold.
“It’s not the money-it’s how they’re making it,” I said, scrolling up on the computer. “I found all these emails. The dragons have more magic to draw from, so they can make more money. For the wolves to do the same, they have to cut corners. They’re adding gross shit to the products to make it stretch even further, threatening inspectors to not report safety regulations. Five workers in one of the factories where they make some sort of magic hair serum died last year because of lax safety. The more I read, the more disgusted I get.”
“So, they’re breaking laws?” Delphine said.
“That’s exactly what they’re doing.” I let out a dejected sigh. “I knew they weren’t great people, but I never anticipated they’d be criminals. It makes me wish I’d looked into this earlier.”
She patted my shoulder. “It’ll be all right. One good thing is, you aren’t part of that world any longer. No reason to bother yourself with that part of your life.”
“I guess so,” I said, but I wasn’t sure I believed it.
My family was doing awful things, and God only knew what else they were into that wasn’t in those servers. Could they be more bloodthirsty than I imagined?
Delphine’s cell rang, and she hurried across the room to answer it. I watched her, bored with my research.
“Hello?” she said, her face placid, a slight smile on her lips. That slipped away quickly, though, as whoever was on the other end spoke.
“Excuse me? How dare you…that’s not true… I’m sorry, what?” Delphine said, her brows furrowing. “What’s this about?”
Delphine’s frown vanished, and her jaw fell open. She turned her head, her eyes locking on mine. The hair along the back of my neck stood up, and a tremble of fear spun in my stomach like writhing worms.
“Elle, run!” she screamed, dropping the phone.
The patio window exploded inward, shards of glass bursting out like ice. A scream burst from my throat as a massive beast leapt through the shattered sliding door. It landed with a thud and straightened. I gasped as I laid eyes on a massive bipedal wolf- like creature. It had hulking humanoid arms, a thickly muscled chest and torso atop the large wolfish legs and back paws. Its thighs bulged and rippled with strength, and a huge wolf’s head sat atop the broad shoulders. Yellow eyes turned, scanning the room, razor-sharp canines glittering with saliva. The instant the beast’s gaze locked on mine, I understood what was happening. My family wanted to kill me. This half-shifted creature was sent to end me.
Behind him, a howl erupted as Delphine shifted to her wolf form and lunged at the intruder. The assassin wolf turned and swiped a clawed hand at her, missing Delphine by inches.
Legs numb with shock, I barely managed to stand and run, rushing toward the door. Before I could reach it, a cacophony of sound echoed in from the hallway outside. Howls, snarls, and mad barking sounds. More of them? Why now?
The question didn’t really need to be asked. It was my kidnapping. The fact that the Decimus family had taken me. Either my family thought I’d divulged secrets, or they were worried I would. Either way, I’d finally gone from a disgrace that they could hide to a liability they couldn’t allow to live. Deep in the back of my mind, I’d always thought this day might come, and I’d prepared.
Behind me, Delphine and the huge abomination of a shifter fought and snarled at each other. While my nanny and friend tried to protect me, I rushed to the kitchen, shoved my hand into an oven mitt, then pulled open a drawer. Reaching in, I extracted a spray bottle filled with wolfsbane tincture and colloidal silver. This stuff didn’t affect me as badly as it did true shifters, but the scent still nauseated me.
A lamp shattered beside me, exploding into a hundred pieces, and forcing me to duck away. As I did, the front door of the apartment burst inward, and two more creatures surged in. Oily, pervasive fear washed over me, making it difficult to think as the monsters rushed into my home.
Delphine growled at the new arrivals and swatted at the first with a paw. She let out a yelp of pain as the first wolf swung its arm out at her, catching her in the shoulder. She spun and crashed into the dining room table, falling behind.
“Hey, fuck you
!” I screamed and sprayed the wolfsbane at her attacker.
The spray of liquid struck the beast in the face, and the sound it released was like nothing I’d ever heard. The high-pitched keening noise was like a banshee wail of wolf agony. Clutching at its face, the beast took two staggering steps back and collided with the two other assassins before collapsing on the floor. It writhed in agony and clawed at its maw.
Jerking away from their partner, the two new arrivals lunged toward me. I attempted to spray another, but the one on the left swiped at the spray bottle and sent it flying out the shattered window.
“Fuck,” I muttered, flinging my oven mitt at the creature.
It gave a low growl and took a step toward me, bloodlust and rage in its yellow eyes.
The spray wasn’t the only weapon I’d stashed around the house. For years, I’d worried this could possibly happen. Poor Rasp and Vincent had taken me, thinking they’d saved my life, but their ill-advised kidnapping had made my greatest nightmare come true. The path to hell was always paved with good intentions.
Ducking a swiping claw, I rolled to the side and scrambled to my feet, running to a framed picture on the way. Behind me, a groggy, but angry growl erupted as Delphine came to.
The second beast turned his attention to her, but the other followed me with slow and deliberate steps. When I looked into its eyes, there was no fear, no worry, not even anxiety. The wolf stalked toward me as though I was nothing more than a cornered rabbit that would be easily dispatched. It wasn’t even trying to hurry. Well, if that was how it thought, then it was in for a surprise.
I ripped the painting off the wall. Taped to the back was a pair of specialized brass knuckles I’d had made a few years before. The handle that sat in my hand, the part that touched my skin, was solid stainless steel. The rigged and wicked knuckle portion was made of silver. I’d just managed to slide my digits into the holes when a hand crashed into my shoulder.
Strength, unlike anything I’d ever experienced, slammed into me, sending me rolling head over heels down the hallway. Thankfully, I’d kept my hold on the weapon, and managed to get up to my knees by the time the murderous creature was upon me again.
Looking up, I had time to see the yellow eyes, feral in their hunger, bearing down on me. A mouth of stalactite teeth yawned open, lunging toward my face. Before I could think, I swung my fist up, and when the knuckles made contact with my attacker’s jaw, a meaty thwack sounded.
Blood sprayed from his jaws, and a single tooth went flying through the air, pinwheeling before my eyes in slow motion. The beast clutched at its face, howling out in rage. I jumped to my feet and kicked out as hard as I could toward the thing’s midsection.
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