Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 125179 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125179 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
And rolled toward Hattie at top speed.
It crashed into her legs, taking them out from under her.
Shit. Straining against the force of the wind, Wynter and Xavier forged forward until they reached her. He kicked the can aside and then helped Wynter lift Hattie off the ground. It was hard to tell while she was squinting against the force of the wind, but the woman looked okay, just furious.
“The liquor store!” Wynter repeated.
Her equilibrium a thing of the past, she pushed forward against the wind again, her clothes flapping, her hair whipping everywhere. The howling gale carried the sounds of glass breaking, voices crying out, branches snapping, and objects scraping concrete as they rolled down the street.
She hissed as some swirling debris scratched her eye just as the snow became heavier and sharp and . . . no, it wasn’t snow anymore.
Hailstones.
They powered down and pummeled everything—pinging off the ground, leaving little cracks in windows, denting metal cans, bouncing off brick walls, assaulting her body like darts. Glass shattered as a hailstone the size of a freaking golf ball crashed through a store window. Oh, hell.
She and her coven tried to run, but the wind was too powerful. Her free hand clinging tight to the handles of her bag, she threw her free arm over her head to shield it from the icy pellets. They kept tumbling down, battering and scraping and stabbing her skin.
The wind abruptly began lashing out like swiping hands. It barreled into a tree, knocking it down with an ominous crack. A gust then slammed into a fleeing male, sweeping him off his feet and sending him skidding backwards on his stomach. The wind then lifted the fallen tree and batted it through the air, causing it to crash through a store window.
Jesus Christ this was crazy.
A ball-sized hailstone smacked down hard on her shoulder, making her hiss through her teeth.
Almost there. They were almost at the store.
A branch tore off a nearby tree and came sailing toward Wynter. She leaned to the side, but it clawed at her temple as it passed. She hissed at the sharp sting, feeling warm liquid pool to the surface.
Fuck this shit.
It was as they finally neared the store that a fey staggered toward the door and—
Tiles tumbled off its roof, slammed down on his head, and crashed to the sidewalk. His body hit the ground hard. Dead? Unconscious? She didn’t know yet.
Xavier yanked open the shop’s door as they reached it. “Inside!” he shouted, barely audible over the whistles and moans of the wind.
Wynter hurried the others into the store and then helped Xavier drag the fey inside. As Xavier slammed the door shut, she put shaking fingers to the fey’s throat to feel for a pulse, but they were too numb to sense anything.
The shopkeeper hurried toward them. “He’s alive, I can hear his heartbeat. What’s going on out there?”
Wynter shoved her tangled hair away from her face and dropped her bags on the floor. “Adam,” she replied simply, her cold lips trembling.
The woman’s eyes widened. “He’s here?”
“I doubt it, or he wouldn’t have bothered doing one of his little cloud broadcasts, he would have shouted at us from wherever he stood.” Wynter frantically brushed at the flakes of snow and hailstones that peppered her skin, hair, and clothes. It didn’t help much. Plenty had already melted into her hoodie and jeans, leaving them damp and icy.
Blowing out a breath, she took stock of herself and her coven. They were all covered in scrapes, cuts, and welts. At least they’d heal pretty fast.
Anabel, her hands jammed under her armpits, shivered as she said, “He most likely sent other Aeons to do his dirty work.”
Wynter gave a jerky nod. “They’ll be somewhere just beyond the boundaries.” And with any luck, the scouts had spotted them and already alerted the Ancients.
Shuddering, Xavier adjusted his collar and dropped his chin down to his chest. “I know Adam said he’d punish the town but, great mother of fuck, I was not expecting a blizzard.”
Wynter pulled her limbs tight to her body. “Me neither.” She rubbed her hands together, enjoying the brief flashes of warmth that came from the friction.
Delilah exhaled heavily over her cupped hands and then tugged down her sleeves to cover them. “I can’t feel my fingers.”
Her arms wrapped around her body, Hattie stamped her feet. “My toes are like ice.”
Flexing her own toes inside her shoes, Wynter slung an arm around the old woman’s shoulders. “At the very least, one of the Ancients will intervene soon.”
The entire coven stood close, sharing body heat, as they turned toward the window and stared at the scene playing out outside. The wind continued to howl and drone. The force of it made the door rattle. Pebble-sized hailstones pattered the building and drummed at the windows.