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
Zane’s POVIt felt strange watching everyone. Only a few minutes ago, I was still with them, alive. It was hard not to stare at my own dead body. Lucinda and Sullivan were arguing. The other witches from the coven were still huddled together, watching the scene unfold with wide eyes. Beta Brighton was sitting up now, a confused look on his face. Brinsle was helping him.Alpha Miles was standing alone. His eyes were fixed on my dead body.And Calista was holding a knife, the silver metal shining in the firelight.I didn’t fully understand what had happened. I thought Calista would save me. I’d jumped in front of Sullivan’s bolt and bam – now I was dead.Calista was casting some sort of spell. A sacrifice, Slade said. No one noticed her at first. She just kept on chanting. But then, a darkness descended. A storm had somehow rolled in, with claps and thunder and lightning. The storm clouds were right above Calista.This caught everyone’s attention. The wind began to howl. All eyes turned
Zane’s POVA dead silence fell.The goddess stood, fixing Lucinda with a measured look.“W…wh…what do you m..mean?” Lucinda stammered. Lucinda had come undone. Her lips quivered and her hands shook. She stayed fixed to her spot, afraid to approach the goddess again. But her eyes kept flitting towards her sister’s corpse.“Calista sacrificed her life in exchange for the ‘one she named’. But she did not name King Zane,” the goddess said.The coven witches gasped. They looked at one another, bewildered. I didn’t know how often they actually saw goddesses, but from the looks on their faces, it didn’t seem very often.I couldn’t help but notice that Sullivan was keeping a low profile. She was off to the side, in the shadows. She hadn’t said a thing. Was she afraid of this goddess? It sure seemed like it. “Then who did she name?” Brinsle asked. Beta Brighton was on his feet now. He clearly had no idea what was going on. He surveyed the scene. There were massive holes in the ground from wh
Zane’s POVSlade?Slade was the one Calista named? But…Holy shit.It dawned on me then. I slowly realized the magnitude of what Calista had just done. The goddess kept gazing affectionately at Slade, her hands buried in this fur.“I’m gonna bring you back to life. Who’s a good puppy?” she cooed at him. Slade ate it up. I didn’t blame him. I mean, it’s not every day a goddess fawns over you.It all made sense now.Calista was ALWAYS planning on bringing back Slade. But I had to die. If Calista had sacrificed herself while I was still alive, then they’d know it wasn’t me she was bringing back (even though it wasn’t). They would have guessed it was Slade. They could have probably done something, some sort of counterspell. I don’t know. Something.It would have been too obvious.But now….the goddess Yurani would bring back Slade and catch them off-guard. A wolf is a witch’s weakness. Calista was right – this is how we escape.Slade will be unleashed. That won’t see it coming. They’ll be
Zane’s POVAs soon as the witches saw Slade emerge, it was…Pure. Chaos.Witches from the coven started racing around, with no clear direction in mind. Lucinda ran to Sullivan. The Brotherhood of Breeders stood frozen in place, panic on their faces.It was not what anyone had been expecting.And I must say, I was delighted to see first hand what ‘this witch’s weakness’ was all about.They were terrified of Slade. Positively petrified.The only witch that didn’t seem to lose her shit was Brinsle. She just stood, a sly smile on her face, side by side with Beta Brighton.Now, all Slade had to do was get Alpha Miles and Beta Brighton and run, full speed into the forest. That was our sure fire way to escape.And I reminded him of this as he lowered onto his hunches and growled menacingly.The problem was, Slade hadn’t been unleashed in a long time. A very long time. He knew damned well that it was a witch who had caused me to jump off that cliff. A fall that had mangled him pretty much to
Zane’s POV“I’m coming with you,” Brinsle said, her voice confident. Slade continued to growl.“You’re a witch, Brinsle,” Alpha Miles told her. “You can’t come. We’re going back to werewolf territory. Stay here, with your kind.”And speaking of ‘her’ kind, I just then realized that Sullivan and Lucinda had sulked off somewhere while Slade was on his rampage. I wasn’t surprised. Of course they’d escaped.“I can’t stay here,” Brinsle said. “You saw what I did. The fight? The…the dark magic…”She lowered her head. I had to give it to her, she actually looked apologetic.Was she though? Was she actually sorry for anything she’d done?In the short time I’d known Brinsle, there was only one thing I knew for sure – she was completely, utterly, without a fraction of a doubt…CRAZY!“Witches don’t live with werewolves, Brinsle. You know that.”She turned to Beta Brighton. I still hadn’t figured out this whole brother/sister thing, but she was definitely appealing to him like a sibling would“M
Eden’s POVI woke up and immediately felt disoriented. Where was I? It was dark. And something didn’t smell right.“Morning, sleepy head,” Astrid winked. She was huddled over a small fire. The pot was steaming and boiling over. “I went scavenging and found some herbs my mom used to make tea out of when we were traveling. Doesn’t taste the best, but it will fill your stomach a little.”“I slept through the night?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.That surprised me. I must have cried myself to sleep.Slade is dead.The thought came into my head unbidden. Deep down, I’d been hoping it had all just been a dream. Or a nightmare, actually. An awful nightmare where wolves you love die.The look of concern on Astrid’s face told me otherwise.Slade was dead. It was true.“How are you feeling?” Astrid asked softly, bringing the pot over to me. “It needs to cool. We don’t have any cups. You doing okay?”“Yes.” No. “I mean, I’m all right,” I shrugged. I picked at the fabric of my dress. Zara was still i
Eden’s POV“Eden?”“ZANE!!!”The feeling of relief that flooded through me was unlike anything I’d ever felt. Zara and Miva had run fast, back to the pack border. We’d shifted back to human form the moment we stepped over.And only a moment after that…“Are you safe, my love?”The sound of his voice was like angels singing. It was only a mindlink, but it was so much more than I’d had in so long. I bounced up and down from excitement. Astrid watched me, a sincere smile on her face.“Tell Zane I say hello,” she chuckled.“Yes, I’m safe, Zane. And I have Astrid with me. She’s safe too.”“Astrid?” He let out a long sigh. “You don’t know how happy I am to hear that you’re BOTH safe.”I knew how much Zane loved Astrid. I could hear the happiness in his voice learning that his two favorite women were safe and together.“Where are you?” I asked.Astrid set about mindlinking the warriors back at the palace. We had no time to waste. We were telling everyone to meet us at the Merryfeather Pack n