106 | THE HERBIARY

My mouth flapped uselessly, my numb tongue and lips unable to make any real sound. Ares didn’t seem to be in a much better state than me, though he’d curled his hands into fists where they lay, as uselessly as my tongue against the roof of my mouth, upon the ground.

Wolfsbane. It cut a werewolf off from their wolf-side - along with a slew of other side effects. In short, we were screwed.

I tried to mindlink Ares, Dad, Nana, Grandpa, even damned Flora, but it felt like I’d been cut off from that ability. I stared helplessly up at her, this pretty young girl with a bright sunshine smile, and I felt hatred like I’d never felt before.

“You betrayed us all, Haile,” she said, saccharine sweet and clearly loving hearing the sound of her own voice. I sagged against the tree trunk, unable to do anything but listen as the wolfsbane held me hostage in my own body. “You chose him over us.”

Not you too, I thought. And stars, Ares was going to be so damn smug about the fact that he’d been right –