"Are you okay?" Corinne's murmur reached Hunter as she stroked his arm, however, as much as he wanted to, he didn't look away from where his wolves were taking William from the chair where he had been chained for the last few days, always watched over by Aiden or, mainly, by Belle.
"I will be. I just need to do it.” He squeezed her hand, needing to breathe in her scent for a moment “Just... Stay with me, okay?”"Always." Corinne promised, at the same moment his cousin was finally dragged towards them, with a furious expression and deep bags under his eyes making his face even darker.“What? Has the day finally come when you have decided that you will kill and end the threat to your sovereignty?” William spat, disdainfully “Are you going to tell your cat to get your hands dirty instead of you? That’s why you brought her?”“Corinne is my mate and the Luna of this pack, so be respectful.” Hunter growled, fighting to keep his temper under controlHis words, as Hunter had expected, sent a wave of silent shock through everyone there. William, however, did not seem to share that feeling and much less showed any satisfaction. Instead, his eyes glowed silver with anger, while his fangs grew.“Is this your plan? Putting such an important decision in the hands of the pack, who have no responsibility for what happened to my father? You think you can escape even that kind of responsibility, you piece of shit! I was right from the start! You grew up to be exactly like your father...!”“Stop right now, William!” Corinne warned him, stretching her hands in the air “Or I will have no mercy.”“Damn witch! I know perfectly well what they want to do! They want to force these wolves to choose you, because you are all they know! But I
As she ran into the forest, with her tigress so excited she was about to break free, Corinne found herself thinking about how magic was something fascinating, but also scary. All her life, she had felt those intuitions that were like a needle in her bones, warning her when something bad was about to happen or when she needed to stay alert for danger. But perhaps because a part of her had always known that it was part of the magic in her blood, Corinne had done her best to ignore it all since she was a child, burying herself deep inside until those sensations were nothing more than pale reflections of themselves, dormant and weakened. But not now. It was like something was drawing her in, but not in a good way. Like a nerve in her body had extended a long distance and was now being used to pull her closer, causing agony that she could only get rid of when she found something... Or someone. “Stop!” she shouted, jumping in front of Hunter's wolf
“Quickly, everyone. First children, pregnant women and the elderly.” Isabelle's voice instructed all the wolves who were being taken to the basement below the pack school, where they could be protected from the battle that was to come “And leave some space for the wounded, too...” she sighed, regretfully “We might we need.”“Tell the elephants to stay on the front lines. Cougars are better at stalking, so they should stay at strategic points to surprise those mercenaries!” Near Corinne, Hunter ordered the warriors who were still there, waiting to be able to join their fellows who were already on the borders containing the advance of Seraphina's mercenaries “Use all the armor we can make with the metal the swans sent us, even those that are not yet completely finished. We need to protect everyone as much as possible. And, you.” For a moment, Corinn
“Oh, my dear…” Juliet lamented at her words, with a loving smile on her face, holding her youngest with just one hand so she could get closer and caress Corinne’s face “You were always the opposite of that woman. And always use this gift the Gods gave you for good.” “It’s very recent.” Corinne lamented, “I've spent years denying this and I still haven't even used this magic to do what really matters: freeing us from Seraphina.” “No, you are wrong.” her stepmother denied it, with tears in her eyes “For years I tried to bring Eli back to me, break that spell and make things go back to the way they were before, but I never succeeded. Not until you showed up. And I thought about it again and again over the years, but I could only come to one conclusion. It wasn't just my bond of partnership with your father that brought him back. Maybe it wasn't that at all. Was you." Juliet stroked her hair “That woman thought your magic was still dormant, but she was wrong. You wer
The mountains in swan country were the perfect hiding place for Seraphina, Corinne now realized that. In addition to being remote and steep, most had large, deep, dark inner caves where anyone could easily hide, especially with a sorceress nearby to make them invisible for a while. Hell, if only Corinne had listened to her instincts sooner and tried to convince everyone that the missing swans were having their feathers plucked to produce some kind of potion...By instinct, as she finished climbing a few more meters of that mountain, towards another cave, Corinne looked in the direction where her mate, his cousin and all the wolves that followed William were surrounding the mountain, preventing all the mercenaries there from climb in search of her. At least Hunter still seemed safe and free from any injuries, but her tigress was still writhing in agony, wanting to be there too, protecting him.
“Seraphina!” Corinne growled, with her fangs hurting as they grew, her tigress roared with the need to attack that woman, even though she knew she couldn't do it so carelessly. “Mother!” Diego shouted, too scared by her presence for who was the favorite son “I... I was about to guide her into a trap and deliver her magic to you! I just ended up going too easy on her because I still consider her my little sister, and...” “Knowing your nature, I believe you still haven't been convinced since our last conversation, haven't you, my daughter?” Seraphina took a step closer to Corinne, completely ignoring her other child. "You disgust me. You have always disgusted me, ever since the time you took me to that infernal chamber to torture a tiger in front of me for the first time!” Corinne spat. “And you always disappointed me, worrying about inferior beings like those instead of focusing on what really mattered: your magic.” The sorceress shook her head
“Bunch of sons of bitches!” Hunter growled, counting the neck of yet another mercenary who tried to stick his fangs into him, preventing him from trying to climb that mountain to reach his mate.Once again, he raised his head toward the cave where Corinne had last entered. He hadn't seen anything go in or out of there, but it was taking too long for there to be nothing in that place. And, hell, knowing that that bastard who'd tried to kill Declan was still lurking around, probably more than willing to do the same to Corinne, Hunter was more than willing to break the promise he'd made to her.If that witch caught him, then let her break all his bones or something. As long as he could give Corinne the chance she needed to kill her and get it all over with, so that his wife no longer needed to be in any danger.
A beam of light blinded Corinne before she was thrown hard against one of the cave walls, losing every breath of air in her lungs for a few moments. “Stop this fighting nonsense, Corinne.” Seraphina sighed, standing nearby with her hands crossed, not even a strand of her golden hair out of place. “This will only cause wounds in you that I will have to inflict more magic on you to heal. You have already had your proof that all these efforts are futile.” She continued speaking, while Corinne dropped to one of her knees, trying to catch her breath as quickly as possible. “Your magic may be potent, but you haven't received the proper training. You are at a child's level in dexterity level. That's why you need me. Without a guide, you will never be able to reach your own potential.” “I don’t care about my fucking potential.” Corinne growled, wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth. “Not if it means I have to become like you.” “It is not a matter of cho