Zane’s POVI didn’t understand what was happening. The crow circled above us, a body in its grasp. Lucinda tapped her foot impatiently.“Get down here at once,” Lucinda ordered. “What have I said about shapeshifting, Brinsle.”It took me a moment to put two and two together.The bird was Brinsle. Apparently, Brinsle could shapeshift too, like Lucinda. But while Lucinda’s shapeshift form was an elegant, regal falcon, Brinsle’s was a horrifically ugly crow.The bird came down then. It released the body it was holding, letting it fall a few feet to the ground.Thud.Then the crow landed. It immediately changed, shapeshifting back, and Brinsle stood up. “Please, Lucinda. He’s hurt. He’s…”Brinsle was frantic. She was clawing at her hair, her eyes wild. She ran to the body on the ground. I couldn’t see clearly from where I was.“This is a fucking werewolf,” Lucinda said, looming over the body. “And a dead one at that. Why did you bring him here?”“It’s my brother,” Brinsle told her. She
Zane’s POVCalista was pulling me backwards. The cage was engulfed in flames. I only then noticed the heat. She was right, we had to get out of there. The entire cage would be on fire soon!I went with her. We took a deep breath and leapt through the flames. Her robe caught on fire on the way through though. I tackled her to the ground and rolled on top of her, putting out the fire.Everything was happening so fast. I didn’t have time to think. She stood up. Her cheek was badly burned but she didn’t seem to notice.“Come on,” she said.“I’m not asking you again,” Brinsle cried. “Do as I say. Save him. Or else…”“Or else what, Brinsle?” Lucinda asked. They were still in a stand off. All the other witches were still backing away. There was no more feasting. No more sex.Just fear.The witches were afraid.The Brotherhood of Breeders were backing away, too.On the ground, a werewolf lay beside the pile of bones. His stomach was half-devoured, one of hind legs picked clean. His bone shone
Zane’s POVThe trees had fallen. They blocked our way.Someone was behind us. We’d been caught. She’d brought down the trees. There was no point in trying to run around them.Callie and I looked at each other.“What do we do?” I whispered.Callie flashed me a defeated look.“Where do you think you’re going?” the voice asked.Callie shrugged, then she slowly turned around. I did the same. What choice did I have?We turned around and came face to face with Sullivan.Sullivan Black. The powerful witch, Lucinda’s grandmother. She hadn’t been at the feast of wolves. At least, not as far as I knew.But she was here now.“Come.” She held out her hand and crooked her finger. We were pulled towards her. We had no choice.“Follow,” she sighed.She turned and headed back for the fire. We followed, clearly under a spell of some sort.My heart sunk. We’d been so close. But now?She was leading us right back into the heart of this fucking coven. I tried to catch Callie’s eyes, but she was avoiding
Eden’s POVZara ran.She ran fast through the forest, in full force. I felt her padded paws hit the ground as she propelled herself through the myriad of trees. She had only one thing on her mind as she ran…Slade.I had no idea where the Falcon Crest Coven was. Somewhere far beyond the territory of the werewolves. Zara ran on instinct. She weaved through the trees expertly. I realized in that moment that I’d never let her out to run. Not like this. I could only imagine what she looked like, a mass of pure white, a blur in the trees.I felt her muscles, strong and sinewy. Her eyes were sharp and her sense of smell was acute. The forest looked differently, felt differently, as I hovered inside her.So this is what it was to a wolf, I thought. The adrenaline. The sheer velocity. The pump and pull of her muscles.It was exhilarating.I knew we shouldn’t be going. Not yet. We should have waited, gathered some resources, made a plan. Witches were a force to be reckoned with, and it was rec
Eden’s POVZara ran, dead south. Miva followed close behind. Zara had picked up Slade’s scent again. She was hoping and wishing that this time, his scent would lead us to the Falcon Crest Coven. So she followed it, optimistic but wary.Thistlethorn, I thought to myself.Zane had come to see me when I was on the island. By magic, I now realized. It made sense since he was with witches. Somehow, he’d cast a spell that allowed him to travel through the nether region to come and see me.That made sense. Of course he wanted to see me. I was his mate. And his presence had given me strength. Courage. It had allowed me to escape being raped by Demetrius.But what didn’t make sense is why Zane would be at Thistlethorn. According to Zara, he was though. In spirit form.I was very, very confused.Where had Zane been all this time? Why was he traveling through the nether region, visiting obscure packs? Was he being forced to do that?Zara let out a low howl, pulling me from my thoughts.We’d come
Eden’s POVWe left the deserted castle, with the intention of picking up Slade’s scent again. We were planning on going to the coven first to rescue Zane and the others. Then we’d go back to the palace and gather our defenses, so we could launch a surprise attack on Alpha Sylar’s army, just like Astrid had planned.The problem was, we didn’t know where the coven was. And Zara had completely lost his scent. We knew it was somewhere South, so we were heading in the right direction, more or less. But we didn’t know exactly where.So we just kept running through the forest, hoping that we’d pick up something sooner or later.That’s when we ran into Skylar’s army.We hadn’t meant to. We weren’t looking for his army. It was a complete accident. But as soon as we saw his army, well, we REALLY wished we hadn’t.We were running along the top of a canyon when we glanced down. At first, we only saw a thin line of warriors. We wondered if they were heading out to attack another pack. But as we we
Eden’s POV“What do we do?” I asked, my voice low.At first, Astrid didn’t answer. She knew it was bad. And she knew that I knew that she knew.We didn’t have Zane. We would soon, moon goddess willing, but even then, we had no idea what sort of shape he was in. Beta Brighton could very well be dead. Which left Storm and Astrid to run everything.And me.Some of this fell on my shoulders.My baby rolled just then. I put my hand on my stomach.Plus there was that.My baby was growing bigger by the day. In fact, I was precariously close to going into labour now. I wasn’t quite due yet, but if the baby wanted to come early….“Astrid?” I asked. My voice sounded small. Unconfident. Scared.“I can’t believe how many packs turned against us,” Astrid sighed, looking down. “Why?”Below us, the warriors moved in slow succession. From our vantage point up on the cliff, we could see them weave their way miles down the canyon.“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe he offered them something? Something they
Eden’s POVGoodbye?“Zara, what do you mean he said good-bye?” I asked. She looked frazzled. The tears streamed down her face, wetting her fur in large, damp streaks.“He doesn’t have much longer. He found me. Reached out. Because he wanted to say goodbye.”This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all.We needed to find this coven and we needed to find it fast.“Zara, can you pick up his scent?” I asked.“It’s no use,” she said softly. “Eden, I think it’s too late.”Astrid watched me with a concerned look on her face.“Zara, we have to try. We’re close. I know it. Please, just try to pick up his scent.”“We need to shift again,” I told Astrid. “It’s Slade. It’s not good. We’re running out of time.”Astrid said nothing. She only nodded quickly. Then she started removing her clothes. I did the same. We tied our clothes around our legs and let our wolves out.Zara was forlorn but she sniffed the air. She couldn’t smell him though. So she tried again. We tried running back into the forest, a