Enthrall Me (The conclusion to Enchant Me) by Anne Violet Page B

grabbing his arm, she tugged him upstairs.
    After that they left me alone in the dungeon, with nothing but my pain, and a plan.
    The next morning I was roughly woken and unchained by the red haired guy I‘d seen with the Firestarter. He slapped down a bowl of oatmeal at my feet, and then stood guard at the foot of the staircase. Everyone of my muscles seemed to be in knots from being immobile for days, and I felt like an old man when my whole body creaked as I stretched out. It felt good to be able to feed myself even if it was under the hateful eyes of my current warden.
    I had barely finished when Ciara came down and tossed my coat at me. “It’s time to go.”
    Once upstairs, they ushered me out, and into the backseat of a car with Christian. Upfront, my warden drove while the Firestarter sat next to him, but twisted to face me in the backseat. I winked at her just to piss her off. She grasped the seat like she was about to vault over, but the redhead guy grasped her shoulder, and shoved her back into her seat. I laughed under my breath.
    Without looking, Christian shoved a plane ticket at me, reminding me that the guy I hated most in the world, sat within a foot of me, and resisting the urge to not beat the hell out of him was making me irritable. I looked down at the plane ticket for France.
    “There’s no point in trying to hide right?” he asked.
    “No,” I replied, my mood improving. “They can pick us up at the airport.”
    The Firestarter sniffed in disgust, but let it go at that.
    As I watched the Irish landscape whip by, I felt my resolve waver. If I had to make a choice, what would I sacrifice to save Alexis? Or would I sacrifice anything at all? Should I just leave them both to their fate?
    　
    　

    CHAPTER 10

    Even for me, this situation felt surreal. If this were a movie, the idiot hero wouldn’t know that he headed into a trap, and by the time he did know, it would be too late, and he would be thrown kicking and screaming into a cell. Instead, Ryker met us at the airport and introduced himself to Christian like he was an honored guest, even carrying his bag and stowing it in the trunk for him. Reluctantly he agreed to be blindfolded while Ryker drove us home.
    In the time we had alone together on the plane, we couldn’t come up with a plan or compromise regarding rescuing Alexis. He knew I had no intention to let him escape or harm my Grove, and I knew he didn’t trust me enough to let Alexis go without him. We agreed on only one thing, to release my powers, since neither of us wanted my Grove to know my weakness.
    When we drove into town, I surprised even myself when I smiled in pleasure at the vanilla stone buildings, and tropical gardens of my home. But then I remembered, Alexis hovered between life and death here. A feeling of guilt weaved its way into my heart. I was the one who had brought Alexis and Christian to Garron’s attention. If it hadn’t been for me she wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t be in this insane truce with my enemy.
    As we drove up I could see Garron, and the rest of my Grove, waiting outside. My eyes fell nervously on Lisette. At the moment she was my biggest threat; I couldn’t let her sense my concern for Alexis, or that Christian and I, had a secret. So lightly, I hoped it would be un-noticeable, I shielded myself. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Christian’s fingers twitch in awareness and warning, and I lowered my shield a little.
    We got out of the car, and Christian took off his blindfold, and walked straight to Garron. “I want to see Alexis, now.”
    Garron looked at him coolly. “After dinner. I’m sure you’re hungry by now.”
    Christian moved to within a foot of him. “No, now.”
    Tension rippled through our group, the triplets and Ryker took up defensive stances around Garron. Acting unconcerned, I grabbed our bags and prepared to intervene. How I didn’t know, but I couldn’t let him die, yet. It seemed appropriate that on a strange day