What the fuck?

Trees flew past my line of vision, and jostling sensations rocked my body. It took another second to realize that Cameron was carrying me somewhere. Using his damned speed to catch me unaware again.

Bastard. I coiled a huge dose of telekinetic power in my chest and flung it toward him, but the second it hit my fingertips, something cold and buzzing clamped around my wrists.

My magic slammed into an invisible wall.

“They said you might try to overpower me, so I came prepared,” Cameron whispered darkly in my ear.

The trees abruptly stopped flying past us when he came to a jolting stop. The sudden halt made my heart slam against my ribcage.

Breathing hard, I struggled in his grip as I frantically felt inside me for my magic. There. My magic was roiling and heating in my chest. I tugged and clawed at it, but . . . nothing.

It was as if something contained it, like I was looking through a glass wall, fully able to see and sense my magic but not able to access it.

Heart beating faster, I awkwardly glanced over my shoulder to see glowing blue cuffs wrapped around my wrists. They were the same cuffs I’d seen before when—

Cameron shifted his hold. “Here she is. As promised.” He abruptly let me go, and I fell to the ground, the cold, hard soil making it feel as though I’d been dropped on pavement.

I sputtered in pain as hair flew in front of my face, but with my hands bound, I could only blow the strands out of the way, and that was when it hit me—Cameron had cuffed me with the same cuffs that Jakub’s men had used on Kaillen in the New York nightclub and on me in my bedroom.

That could only mean one thing. Fuck!

“She looks so surprised,” a man said.

My head whipped around to see two tall sorcerers standing side by side, leering expressions on their faces. Constellation tattoos were inked onto their necks.

Disbelief hit me like a freight train. “You’re handing me over to them?” I spat at Cameron.

He shrugged. “The pay’s pretty good, and it’ll be nice to see your arrogant ass put in its place.”

“You vile asshole!” I shrieked and rolled onto my back, kicking out at him, but he easily sidestepped me.

“Now, now,” one of the sorcerers said.

Cameron smirked. “I thought you said she may be difficult to capture.”

“We were told she could be. I hope she didn’t give you too much trouble,” the second sorcerer replied dryly.

“I caught her unaware, and my shitbag brother wasn’t there, so that made it doubly easy. But you’ll want to keep those cuffs on her. If I hadn’t used them, it might have been more interesting.”

For the first time since Cameron had showed up on Kaillen’s doorstep, panic exploded inside me, but then I remembered that just because I was cuffed, I wasn’t helpless. I could still use my new magic and forbidden power. The cuffs had only contained my witch magic when they’d cuffed me in my bedroom during their last kidnapping attempt, and Kaillen had still been able to call upon his demon fire when they’d cuffed him at the club. The glowing blue device might drain witch and sorcerer magic, and werewolf strength and speed, but it didn’t affect otherworldly powers. I’d still been able to use my awakening power, and Kaillen had still been able to use his underworld fire.

Smiling darkly, I tugged on that black cave within me, beckoning my awakening magic forth. It immediately responded, and I ensnared it from that deep, invisible cavern it slept in.

My body hummed and swelled, and a moment of complete triumph filled me as my awakening power’s tentacles climbed and writhed, curling and clawing as if asking me who they should pounce upon.

“Hmm, it looks like she might be up to something,” one of the sorcerers drawled.

The other one clasped his hands behind his back. “I dare say that you could be right.”

Their confidence didn’t stop my smile. I let it streak across my face as I said, “Just wait till you get a feel of this.” I sprang my new power forth, shooting its tentacles right for the two sorcerers.

Those slithering talons shot down my arms to my fingertips, my smile growing. They reached my hands, ready to leap from my body, and—

Blinding pain. It hit me like a zap of lightning, electric shocks biting me so hard that I cried out.

My awakening power jumped back as I gasped. But I tried again in the next instant, surging that power forth, only to meet that wall of sizzling glass a second time. A terrible shock zapped me, my entire body shuddering under its strength.

WTF.

Panting, I peered up with wild eyes at the sorcerers.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This can’t be happening.

The taller one dusted his fingernails on his shirt, his expression bored. “You’ll find that we made a few improvements to those cuffs since we last encountered you.”

The shorter sorcerer laughed, his little goatee dipping with the movement. “Look at her face. It’s like she can’t believe it.”

They both laughed as my mouth grew dry.

I took in a huge lungful of air, getting ready to scream as I resorted to the last weapon I had to call upon—a yell for help. But then the tall sorcerer’s hand shot out.

A tight feeling closed around my throat as an acid taste hit my tongue.

My voice vanished. I attempted to claw at my windpipe, but my cuffed hands didn’t allow it. I tried to scream again, but that acid feeling grew. Disbelief tore through me.

A gag spell. That sorcerer had just cast a gag spell on me. It was just like the night when those other sorcerers had tried to abduct me from my bedroom. These new sorcerers were using the exact same spells and devices, only now, the cuffs were improved. They contained all of my power.

I lurched to my feet, despite being awkwardly bound, and desperately tried once more to access my magic. But the cuffs held, and without my voice or power, that only left my legs.

Run!

I stumbled away from them, my steps unsteady and clumsy, but then adrenaline infused speed into me. I sprinted toward the trees. If I could make it back to the cabin, I could barricade myself inside. It might buy me some time to—

A binding spell hit me.

I ceased in my tracks, my entire body going rigid. The binding spell was so strong that I toppled over like a tree, landing on my side and hitting my head against the ground. But the fucking gag spell kept me from moaning in pain or cursing the sorcerer who’d spelled me.

“Did she really think she was going to get away?” one of the sorcerers chuckled, amusement in his tone. “It would have been entertaining to let her run for a while. I do love when they think they can elude us, since it adds such a delicious thrill to the hunt.”

Cameron’s laughter joined theirs, and the three of them sauntered toward me. I could barely see them through the tall stalks of grass obscuring my vision. I couldn’t move, couldn’t sit up, couldn’t speak. I was paralyzed, immobile, and helpless. A crushing sense of vulnerability hit me.

“Payment for this young lady should be in your account by now.” One of the sorcerers reached down to haul me up as he addressed Cameron.

Cameron pulled out his phone. “I’ll check before you take her. Not that I don’t trust you.” He laughed and one of the other sorcerers joined in, as if we were all hanging out and having a jolly good time joking about my abduction.

My eyes shot daggers at all of them. Fuckers.

The sorcerer who’d picked me up grunted when he threw me over his shoulder. “Have you confirmed it?” he asked Cameron.

Cameron nodded and shoved his phone into his pocket. “It’s there. Make sure you’re discreet when you leave. The area is clear for the moment, but it won’t stay that way. The wolves guarding her will be back shortly. It was hard enough to clear them out without raising suspicion.” A snag of bitterness lifted his lips. “You’d think my pack was more afraid of my bastard brother than they were of me.”