Read Cast in Hellfire: An Urban Fantasy Romance (The Mage Craft Series Book 2) for Free Online Page B

but he was still planning to move on, become someone else.
    “How did you get here?” Marion asked. “I didn’t see a car when I came in through the ley line.”
    “We don’t have a car with us.”
    “We?”
    “Charity and me,” Seth said. “She stayed back at the Empress Hotel, where we’re staying. I wanted to talk to you…alone.”
    “Is this an apology for your elaborate deceit?” She hadn’t meant to make it sound accusatory, but that was how it came out. Oh well . It had been an elaborate deceit, and there was no point dancing around it.
    “Would an apology make you feel better?” Seth asked.
    She wilted a little. “I guess not.”
    He stepped toward her, and she moved from around the fountain to meet him. He stopped a few feet back. He hadn’t expected her to approach.
    They still weren’t touching.
    “How’d the summit go?” Seth asked.
    “I’m surprised that the ex-fianc?e of the Alpha werewolf wouldn’t already know.”
    He didn’t even blink, so he wasn’t surprised by how much Marion had learned about Seth in the last week.
    Rylie had been interested in hearing about Seth’s exploits getting Marion to the summit— very interested—and she’d been free about responding with information, too.
    The Alpha had explained that Seth had moved to Las Vegas after Genesis to work as a private investigator. During that time, he hadn’t communicated much with Rylie. He’d had a fight with his brother, Abel, so Rylie had thought it best to give Seth space.
    They hadn’t talked for almost six months when he abruptly vanished without a trace. None of their mutual friends had admitted to knowing his whereabouts.
    After all that time, Rylie had assumed that Seth was dead.
    In Marion’s opinion, that was perfectly fair. Rylie was the one who had cheated on Seth with his brother. Seth had always been loyal. She was the heartbreaker, the slutty Alpha, a total jerk. Seth owed her nothing, least of all updates on his location.
    “I don’t talk to Rylie anymore,” he said.
    “She wasn’t pleased to see that you came to the United Nations without talking to her. I think she’s angry at me too.”
    “I don’t care if Rylie’s pleased or not, and neither should you. What could she do to you? You’ve got an intimidating resume, even compared to the Alpha. You were the speaker for the ethereal delegation. The Voice of God. Steward of the Winter Court.” That last job description lingered.
    “You forgot one other thing,” Marion said. “Patient of Luke Flynn.”
    “Luke Flynn doesn’t exist anymore,” Seth said.
    She rested a hand on the rim of the fountain to steady herself. The roughness of the stone grounded her, even more than the stable soil under her feet, so unlike the slippery halls of Niflheimr. “Who will you be next?”
    “I haven’t looked at the paperwork Brianna put together for me, but I’ve arranged for a new identity. A new life. Everything’s in place. It’s just—before I go, I needed to talk to you.” He took a deep breath. “I need your help.”
    “Okay,” Marion said. “What do you want?”
    He gave a short laugh. “Just like that?”
    “Just like that.” She plucked an apple off of a low tree branch and rolled it between her fingers, savoring the solidness of the meat, the smooth flesh.
    “You could make me work for it.” His lips twitched with mirth. “Buy you something nice? Designer clothes?”
    “Don’t be silly. It’s safe to say that you’re the only reason I’m alive at this point, so tell me what you need and you’ll have it.” She grinned. “In any case, I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m quite rich. I can buy all the nice things I want without your help.”
    “You seem like you do pretty good for a kid.”
    “ Excuse me. I’m nineteen years old.”
    “Oh,” he said. “Nineteen. So definitely not a kid.”
    “You’re picking on me.”
    “Someone should,” Seth said.
    “I’m fairly confident that I have dungeons in the