Chosen Fool (Forever Evermore #5)(89)

My heart rate shot up in a thunder of dread. Blood drained from my face.

The quiet outside.

The wrong—yet right—store.

The different clothing styles.

The out-of-date but still new furniture.

Hell, even the music.

But, most importantly, the Bossman. The hybrid with the warped magical gift.

His destination had been ruined by a silver bullet.

Licking my lips, I asked, “What year is it?”

The Shifter woman, who was eyeing the wound on my chest, glanced up at me. “Did he hurt your head, too?”

“He shot me up with something,” I stated truthfully. I wobbled on my feet as the Mage adjusted my arms behind my back, still attempting to remove the cuffs. “What year is it?”

Her expression was kind as she stated patiently, “It’s nineteen-ninety-three.”

I nodded, my vision blurring at her pronouncement. “Right.” Even with the pain I was in, my entire body managed to go numb. “If you get me a paperclip, I can remove the cuffs.”

Her brows lifted. “You know your way around handcuffs?” When I nodded, blinking blindly, she murmured, “If I hadn’t known you were telling the truth he was kidnapping you, I might think you belong in the cuffs.”

I licked my lips again. “He’s an * who has abused me often. I learned at an early age how to get out of the cuffs he put me in.” I tilted my head at the desk, seeing her eyes harden at my truth. “Can you please find me a paperclip? These are very uncomfortable.”

She rounded the cashier desk at a fast clip, pushing the gawking clerk out of the way. “The bullet doesn’t hurt?”

“Stopped against my ribs. If someone has a pair of tweezers, I can pull it out myself.”

She froze for a moment. “I’m sorry for what he’s done to you.” Her kind smile didn’t hide the feral animal inside her. “We’ll put out an alert and have him arrested the first moment he’s spotted.”

No…they wouldn’t. No alerts were going out.

These people wouldn’t remember a damn thing as soon as I was free.

Because I shouldn’t be here at all. In their lives.

In the past. In 19-f*cking-93.





Chapter Thirty

Hands now free, the cuffs in my purse, I grunted and hissed. I pulled the damned silver bullet from my chest with a pair of tweezers a Com woman handed over.

Everyone watched in morbid fascination…and stayed in the shop. Like I wanted.

Breathing a sigh of relief and leaning heavily against the glass cashier stand, I dropped the bloody bullet into my open purse and zipped up the purse. A simple plan had formulated now that the pain of performing that deed was done. The pain of fishing inside my chest with a pair of tweezers had pounded through my shocked, utterly dazed state, making me actually think. Only one man had been talking this morning about time being fickle.

Directly working to get these people moving before more entered the shop, I let my Core open, pulling on the stars’ power, my eyes glowing under my hooded lids. I exhaled a lungful of air, and my audience was hushed as tiny, beautiful stars flew past my lips.

Straight at them.

I whispered, “Be at peace.”

Some initially screamed, but their shouts were cut short. A tiny star landed straight against the center of each of their foreheads. All stared in serene quiet, being in utter harmony with the situation. Moving through the room quickly while keeping my Core open, I touched each of their shoulders and pulled on each of their tethers, ordering them to forget. I erased the short memory from them. My action was not harmful, but it was needed. Once I stood at the back of the store where they couldn’t see me, I again exhaled stars, the tiny white fire flicking to hit their heads.

I whispered, “Return to your lives.”

I slipped out the back door as they started moving. Some were confused, but most began to shop inside the store. Standing in a small alley behind the shop, I sighed heavily but kept my Core open and floated through the cosmos until I found my treasure trove. I plucked a very important diamond from the hidden alcove. It appeared in my hand, and hurrying, I lifted it.

With the Primal Diamond against my lips, I whispered, “Take me to Elder Farrar.”

A small flash of white light consumed my entire being.

I flinched, closing my eyes against the hot water spraying my face and I almost fell as my boots slipped on a slick surface. I threw a bracing arm out to what felt like wet tile, opening my Core just a bit to put the Primal Diamond back into my treasure trove. I heard a masculine groan directly in front of me. Wiping my face, I blinked open my eyes.

And stared.

With hot water still flicking against my forehead, I stood behind a man with dark hair. He was glowing golden, with rivulets of water running down his flesh…and he was completely nude inside the shower I had landed in. My eyes widened, seeing his hips pumping as he groaned and his glowing ass flexing. Another pair of glowing hands appeared on either side of his hips. A different Mage was on their knees in front of the man. Completely mortified, my mouth dropped open as I shrieked, “Oh my God! Oh my God!”

The man directly in front of me shouted loudly.

It wasn’t a furious holler but was instead a shout full of pain as he jerked back.

He bumped into me hard.

Another male’s voice shouted, “Shit, I’m sorry!”