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
Eden’s POVOdd. That was the first word that came to my mind.Astrid continued to inspect the small cave. There was some food hidden in a crevice. Stale bread and berries. She also found some bloodied, dried leaves. She peered into the pot and dipped her finger in it. Then she licked her finger with the tip of her tongue.“Uck,” she winced. “Whatever that is, it tastes like shit.”“What was going on in here?” I asked, bewildered.“Honestly, it looks like someone was taking care of him. See? Someone was using these dried leaves as bandages. He must have been lying over there. On that pile of grass. Where the blood is. And this?” she pointed to the small pot on the ashes. “I think it was some sort of witch’s elixir. Maybe for healing?”“Huh,” I replied.For healing? So someone was taking care of him in here? But why would Zane be holed up here? And with a witch? That just didn’t make sense. Why wouldn’t the witch just bring him back to her coven?The thought of Zane lying here, in this
Eden’s POVAstrid looked away for a moment. I was still on my hands and knees, but I repositioned myself to a sitting position.Zara was still there, in the place of grief. She needed to stay there and I understood. I couldn’t stay there though. It was more her grief than mine.That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt though.Her pain was still mine, in a way. Even though she wasn’t with me, I could still feel remnants of her awful, crippling pain. It still ebbed and flowed inside of me.He was dead.Slade had died.I think I was in denial at first.How could that be? How could he be gone?Astrid said nothing. She only came around behind me and wrapped her arms around me. The torch cast shadows on the wall. The smell of herbs was still thick in the air.How odd, I thought, as I rested my hands on Astrid’s forearms. She rested her head on my shoulder, pressing her cheek into mine. How odd that we’re sitting here, in this cave, and Slade is dead.That was the first thought in my mind. It didn’t
Zane’s POVThere is physical pain. Brutal. Awful. Mind-blowing physical pain. Physical pain so acute it literally makes you pass out from the force of it.And there is emotional pain. Gut-wrenching, horrible, emotional pain that rips your heart in half and makes you lie in bed for days.I’d felt both. The very worst of the physical pain. The very worst of the emotional pain.But nothing, and I mean NOTHING, can even come close to the pain of losing your wolf.I couldn’t even understand it. Not having Slade. I couldn’t comprehend my life without him. He was a part of me. An extension of me. He WAS me, in a sense. It would be like suddenly losing your heart. How can you go on living without your heart?I sat there, on my hands and knees, in front of Lucinda and Sullivan and Brinsle and Callie, with this inexplicable pain ripping through me. I understood why people take their lives when they lose their wolves. Why they’re driven to madness. Why they’re never quite the same again.This wa
Zane’s POVThe bolt of light hurtled towards Lucinda. I watched, shocked. What the hell was Brinsle doing? Was she…was she trying to hurt Lucinda? But why?Before the light could hit Lucinda, though, Sullivan stepped out right into the trajectory of the light. She held up her hand, palm out, and the light hit her palm. Sparks flew everywhere. But Sullivan seemed unharmed.“Enough, Brinsle. Calm yourself,” Sullivan instructed. She was now facing Brinsle. Lucinda was behind them both, standing in front of the fire. All the witches were watching, huddled together, clutching each other, shocked looks on their faces. I raised my eyebrows at Calista to ask ‘what was going on?’ But Calista looked as confused as I felt. “You’ll let them go,” Brinsle said, calmly, her hands still up in the air. Leaves swirled at her feet.“What are you talking about?” Lucinda snapped. “Let who go?”“Zane. And that man,” she pointed to Alpha Miles. “And my brother. You’ll let them go.”“Have you lost
Zane’s POVThe witches huddled together and gasped.Sullivan lowered her hands, a sad look on her face. Lucinda’s expression was unreadable.Brinsle lay in a heap on the ground. They’d overpowered her. She hadn’t seen it coming. Whatever that was, that green shield, it caught her off guard.And now she was lifeless. Laying right beside Beta Brighton. (He was still motionless, although he let out the occasional moan.)Brinsle, on the other hand, was silent.I had no idea if she was still alive or not.“You told me her magic was under control,” Sullivan said, her voice low.“It was,” Lucinda said.“Clearly, it wasn’t,” Sullivan spat back. “We’ll have to send her away now. We can’t help her anymore.”So I guess she wasn’t dead.But now what? Brinsle was supposed to help us escape. What would we do now?I reached for Slade, forgetting for a moment that he was dead. Grief rippled through me. It would catch up with me, this loss. I knew it. But for the time being I was pushing down, away, s
Zane’s POVDie?I didn’t like the sounds of that.I didn’t like the sounds of that one damned bit.But Callie said it was a way out. Maybe it was our ONLY way out. And I trusted her, didn’t I? I’m sure she meant something else. There’s no way she’d actually kill me.It was deceptive. Some sort of deceptive plan. A ruse. A faked death. Something like that.“There isn’t time to think this over,” Callie told me. “If we’re going to do it, we have to do it quickly.”“Do what exactly?” I asked. I figured if I was going to put my life on the line, I deserved a bit of an explanation.Apparently Callie didn’t agree though. “I can’t explain,” she shook her head. “I’m sorry. You’ll just have to trust me. But this will work. I’m sure of it.”She looked deeply into my eyes.Then she reached out, a soft smile on her face. She cupped my cheek in her hand.“Tell Eden I love her,” she smiled.“I will. But you can tell her that yourself. You’re coming, too?”A sadness crossed her eyes. Only fo
Zane’s POVThe bolt of light hit me square in the chest. It felt like fire. It burned, ripping through me much faster than actual fire.I waited for Callie to cast her protective spell.Fuck.This really hurt.This REALLY, really hurt.I was frozen, stunned.“Oh my god!” Sullivan cried.“NO!” Brinsle hollered.My eyes were still locked on Calista’s. Any second now, the spell would kick in and the pain would stop.She kept her gaze on me. But she didn’t move.My body fell to the ground.I felt like I’d been electrocuted. I was vaguely aware of Sullivan and Brinsle rushing towards me. I heard their voices, but they sounded tinny and far away.Ugh.The pain was so intense I couldn’t move. I felt someone roll me over. It was Brinsle, but my vision swam. She looked blurry. She was holding my head.Come on, Callie. Any second now. Please. Cast your spell. This is really painful. I begged her in my mind. I could still see her, standing in the distance.“His heart,” Sullivan said. “It’s stopp