Free HardJustice by Elizabeth Lapthorne Page B

the beast within him. Roaring free, he stormed into the apartment, his gaze
racing through the room like a laser. The sound of movement caught his
attention and Ben ran into the kitchen.
    A tall, slender wizard with a mop of unruly dark hair gaped
at him, anger quickly replacing his initial look of fear. Ben didn’t give him
another moment to react. Closing the distance between them in a few giant paces,
he reached one power-coated hand out and grabbed the wizard by the neck.
    The momentum from his strides carried them both another few
paces, Ben lifting the other wizard off his feet, stretching his neck to a
dangerous degree. He tried to rein himself in, reminding his tempestuous demon
that killing this one and only link would ruin all their plans.
    Ben crashed them both into the back wall, the wizard
flinching as his back rammed into the hard surface. Only the last-minute
warning to himself stopped Ben from breaking the other man’s back. He growled
at the wizard, the deep, booming sound of his voice filling the room in an
unmistakable, angry snarl.
    “Who hired you?” The wizard reeked of fear, the scent
causing his bloodlust to rise hungrily. “You just killed two witches, one of
them Britney Joddins. I need to know who. Hired. You.”
    “It was just a contract, man,” the wizard stammered. “Nothing
personal. I swear. If you were banging the witch I’m sorry. Truly.”
    Gasping for air, the wizard clawed at the single hand Ben
held him with. Ignoring the tiny pricks as the killer scraped his skin, Ben
slapped the wizard’s face with his other hand.
    “You didn’t answer my question,” he purred. The demon almost
in control of him now, Ben tried to wrestle against the urge to torture the
information out of the wizard. He reminded himself Layla stood outside the
smashed door, and that soon he would need to be fit to return to her. The anger
in his soul howled at this, but gave him some breathing room.
    He lifted him higher and the wizard choked as his weight
dragged his body down despite Ben holding him by the neck. Ben calculated the
exact moment before the wizard would pass out, blood suffusing his face as he
ran out of oxygen. Lowering him at the last possible second, he snapped at the
terrified man.
    “Who fucking hired you? I could happily make this a whole
lot more painful if that’s the way you want to play. I’m a lot better at this
game than you, you’re just a dabbler, a cheap trick to hire when a bit of flash
and knife work is needed. I’m the real deal and I’m happy to spend the next few
hours proving so to you.”
    “All right!” the man squealed, his legs kicking out as he
tried to touch his toes to the floor. “All right. It was Jimmy McRoy. He’s a
fixer I’ve done some kneecapping for. You can find him down at the Lost Soul
every evening. His ass has worn a groove in the barstool.”
    Ben leaned in so he was only an inch away from the wizard’s
pale, clammy face.
    “I can Track you anywhere, buddy,” he intoned in a low,
scary voice. “Even when the Enforcers come to collect you, I can still get to
you. Anytime. Anywhere. Are you certain this Jimmy McRoy is who I’m searching
for? This is your last chance.”
    The wizard nodded as best he could. Dark strands of hair
fell over his eyes.
    “He is, I swear.”
    “Then we’re done here. For now, at least,” Ben said as he
released his hand with a sudden flex. The wizard sank to the ground in an
ungainly heap. Ben spoke a single word, a familiar incantation that created a
long coil of magical rope. He restrained the wizard where he sat—wrists,
elbows, ankles, thighs and around his chest—binding him to a pipe on the
radiator that hung on the wall. Pulling out his handkerchief, Ben gagged the
wizard and left the room without a backward glance.
    Pausing in the living room for a moment, he closed his eyes
to focus better and forced his breathing to slow. Piece by piece, he bricked up
the demon once again, putting his perfectly