Merciless Villains (Ruthless Villains Book 5)

We should have reached the mansion long ago. If we had walked in a straight line from the tunnel mouth and towards Grant’s house, we should have already been there. But we weren’t. Only trees and glittering flowers and glowing fruits stared back at us as Audrey and I stalked across the grass.

“Are we walking in circles?” I ground out.

Those intensely bitter emotions from earlier were gone, along with the purple flowers, but my already tense mood hadn’t exactly improved by having to relive all those damn memories.

“I don’t know,” Audrey replied. “It feels like we’re walking straight towards the mansion at least.”

“Except we can’t trust our feelings,” I snapped. “Because that is exactly what Grant is manipulating.”

“I know that,” Audrey sniped back, her voice sharp. “But you asked a question, and I answered as best as I could. I have no fucking idea if we’re walking around in circles or not, so don’t blame me.”

Her eyes flashed like hardened gemstones as she glared up at me. The anger inside me fizzled out. Tilting my head back, I raked my fingers through my hair and blew out a long breath.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” I rubbed my forehead before meeting her gaze again. “Fuck, I hate this. I can’t tell which of my feelings are actually mine and which are just there because some bloody plant is messing with me.”

Her features softened and she heaved a deep sigh, as if she too had been caught up in feelings that weren’t necessarily her own. “I know. Same.”

The crackling tension around us eased up a bit as we continued walking. I looked over my shoulder again, trying to estimate how far away we now were from the tunnel. But with the trees and bushes blocking the view, not to mention the darkness, it was hard to tell. I turned back to the path ahead.

Panic flashed through me.

Throwing out my hand, I grabbed Audrey by the arm and yanked her backwards.

“What the hell,” she snapped as she stumbled back and almost crashed into me. “What are you—”

“We can’t go through here,” I interrupted.

Before she could respond, I forcibly hauled her backwards and away from the flowers that had begun appearing on the trees. Audrey tried to yank out of my grip, but I was much stronger than her so it didn’t work. She let out a low snarl but could do nothing except follow me.

Only once we were a safe distance away did I release her.

She yanked her arm away and rolled her shoulder while glaring up at me. “What the hell is going on? Are you affected by some kind of magic right now or what?”

“Those flowers.” Raising an arm, I pointed towards the area we had just left. “They were the same ones I saw in that cavern in the mountain in Castlebourne.”

“The…” She trailed off as realization slammed home on her features. With her mouth still open, she turned and looked towards the now no longer visible flowers. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

My heart pounded in my chest. The last time I had breathed in the pollen from those red and gold glittering flowers, I had hunted Audrey through twisting tunnels and almost strangled her to death. Those flowers were infused with a magic that stripped a person of every emotion except one. The overwhelming need to slaughter everything and everyone around them. That loss of control had been one of the most terrifying things I had ever experienced.

“Alright,” Audrey said as she turned back to me. “We’ll go around that section then.”

Lingering dread was still bouncing around inside me, so I only managed a nod. Audrey brushed the back of her hand against mine and then started towards the left. Her touch helped pull me out of those dreadful memories, and I rolled my shoulders back before following her.

Nocturnal insects hummed in the foliage around us. It mingled with the soft rustling of leaves to create an almost soothing effect. I knew that it was just a lie. A ruse to distract people right before the next danger materialized. My pulse thrummed in my ears as I scanned the bushes and trees around us, looking for threats.

Clusters of what looked like giant raspberries hung from the thick branches above, and between them were long yellow fruits that shone like lanterns. I glared at them, but nothing dangerous jumped out to attack us.

A snarl cut through the soft singing of the insects.

I snapped my gaze back down to the ground right as Audrey leaped back and called up a cloud of poison.

“Callan,” she hissed while I summoned a force blade and whipped my head from side to side. “There are wolves here.”

Indeed, dark shapes prowled in a circle around us. Just out of sight.

Fucking hell.

I released the blade and instead called up a force wall. “Can you poison them from here?”

Glittering green mist swirled in front of Audrey as she turned slightly. “I think so. Cover my back.”

“Always.”

Her poison magic shot through the air and towards the closest shape. I squinted against the darkness.

“Did it hit?” I asked.

For a few seconds, she said nothing. “I don’t know.”

Calling up another cloud, she hurled it at the next prowling shadow. Leaves rustled and a branch snapped behind us. I whirled towards it, my force wall ready to block an attack at a moment’s notice. But nothing leaped out.

One of the wolves let out a rumbling growl.

Audrey shot several whips of poison into the darkness. More snarls followed, but if anything, the prowling shapes seemed to be growing in number. Fear surged through me.

“Audrey,” I said.

“I know,” she snapped back. “I’m trying.”

Green light flashed between the tree trunks. The wolves snarled and growled with increasing ferocity.

My gaze flicked back and forth, tracking their shapes as they circled us again and again. The fear inside my chest intensified until I could feel it seeping through my veins like cold poison. We wouldn’t be able to fight them all off if they attacked at the same time.

Fear.

It felt like jogging in mud to try to get my brain to follow that thought down to where it had come from.

Fear. Why was I so afraid of wolves? I shouldn’t be. Which meant that this…

“Why won’t they die?” Audrey pressed out. The terror in her voice was clearly audible.

Poison tendrils shot out around her as she threw more and more magic at the growling wolves. Their dark shapes lunged a step towards us before continuing to circle us. And their numbers kept growing.

“They’re…” I began, trying desperately to grasp that slippery thread in my mind that I had just discovered.

“Do something, Callan! They’ll attack any second now and I can’t hold them off on my own!”

Blinking hard, I shook my head to clear it. “They’re not…” It was an incredible struggle to keep that precious thought strung together in the right order. “Real.”

The moment I said it, it was as if the thought finally lodged itself firmly in my mind.

“They’re not real,” I repeated, with more conviction this time.

“They’re coming! Callan, on your left.”

Turning in the direction she was pointing, I stalked straight for the dark shadows that prowled there. My heart slammed against my ribs. But I was sure that I was right.

“What are you doing?” Audrey yelled from behind me, trying to snatch at my clothes to keep me from going.

I yanked out of her grip and met her gaze for a few seconds. “They’re not real, Audrey. The wolves, they’re not real. Here, I’ll show you.”

And then I turned around and ran right into the mass of prowling shapes.