Page 23 of Fated to the Lone Shifter (Curse of the Lunaris Alpha #1)

Chapter twenty-one

Price of Power

SERA

A n hour after Noah took off all hell on wheels, I find myself in the sacred clearing in the middle of the woods.

I have to do something to try to locate Tori.

I grab the kit I keep hidden in the lining of my duffel—sage, a small bowl, a black tourmaline shard, and a tin of salt. No incense. Nothing flashy. Just the basics.

The woods are silent except for the chirping of the birds and the rustling of the wind through the trees. I clear a spot on the earth, sit cross-legged, and start the ritual.

First, the grounding.

Salt in a circle. Breath in. Light the sage. Breath out.

I whisper the old words under my breath—not in Latin, not in any Earth language, but in something older, something passed down through my bloodline like a secret melody.

“Blood of earth, flame of bone. Balance what has been shaken. Anchor what drifts.”

The scent of sage curls around me, and slowly, the noise in my head quiets.

I focus on my heartbeat. Let it slow. Let it settle.

Recent events claw at the edge of my mind—Ember’s cryptic fury, the footage flickering with too much truth, and Noah’s eyes, dark with betrayal and devotion. He looked at me like I was a stranger—and yet I know he’d walk into the flames for me.

My throat tightens. My eyes sting.

I keep breathing through it.

I tell myself I have time. I tell myself I’m still in control.

But the truth is, I’ve never been this far in on a case and still felt this lost.

I whisper one more line—this one just for me.

“Let me hold the fire, not be burned by it.”

Then I open my eyes.

The sage is almost out.

The salt glows faintly, just for a second, before fading.

And I know—whatever comes today, I’m going to need every ounce of balance I just scraped together.

Now for the locating spell.

The clearing hums beneath me—old magic, older than even the trees that form a perfect circle around me. Moonlight filters through the canopy in soft shafts, illuminating the crude symbols I’ve drawn into the soil with ash and salt.

I kneel in the center, breath fogging in the cool air, hands trembling as I place one of Tori’s gloves on the ground before me.

"Loca Tori," I whisper, voice low and reverent. "By root and flame, by blood and name, Reveal to me the path she claims. Through soil, smoke, and shadowed line, Let her presence answer mine."

I press my palm to the glove, channeling heat into the earth. Power pulses from my chest, through my arm, into the circle.

For a moment, the world stills.

Then the leaves shudder. A spark flickers in the center of the sigil. Smoke curls upward like a thread of incense… and dies.

Nothing.

Not a shimmer. Not a pull.

Just silence.

The spell breaks with a brittle snap in my chest, like dry twigs cracking underfoot. I gasp, the sudden emptiness hollowing me out. Magic drains from my limbs, and I slump backward, chest aching, heart sinking into something cold and afraid.

Either Tori’s too far, doesn’t want to be found or…that last one is a little too painful to express even to myself.

And I’m running out of time.

It is late in the afternoon when I am dropped off in a barn with Ember after being picked up on my way back to the dorm.

The scent of hay and dust mixes with something sharper—anticipation, perhaps.

Ember paces like a caged animal, their features obscured by shadows and their voice taut with frustration.

“You need to do better,” Ember snaps. “We’re not getting the intelligence we expected from you.”

I nod, pretending to focus. But my thoughts are on Tori—my cousin, my healer, my anchor.

The one person who has helped me navigate this mess of magic, lies, and supernatural chaos.

I try again to reach her telepathically, pushing past my fear and the swirl of magical static.

I am starting to receive a signal, panicked, disrupted. Something is wrong.

The sigil burned into my door two nights ago flashes through my mind. The Lunaris Curse. The wolves at our door. Is this all connected? Did the arsonists take her because of me?

I can’t focus. Ember’s voice cuts through my fog. “Another source has shared some curious things. Bursts of energy. Flames igniting without a source. Magical healing.” They narrow their eyes at me. “Some of the same energy we found in the ash and the stone you brought back.”

Inside, my spidey senses are screaming. How much do they know? Who told them? What are they going to do with me now? Outside, I feign confusion. “Flames and healing? That could’ve been Marcus. He loves to pull pranks like that.”

Ember studies me for a moment too long, their gaze sharp and searching, like a scalpel peeling back skin. The air tightens around us, brittle with suspicion. They're not buying my subterfuge—not for a second.

“Can we trust you, Sera? I need to know where your loyalties are.” Ember’s tone is threatening.

“You know where my loyalties are. I’m an FBI agent,” I state for the record, but there’s a quiver in my voice I don’t need a lie detector to detect. And neither does Ember.

With a sharp turn, they lead me deeper into the barn.

My mind panics. I hear the sounds of someone being questioned...loudly. Am I next?

I try to calm my nerves. After all, I am trained for this, and they are supposed to be on my team.

I study the crime boards posted along the barn walls as I follow.

All of the photos I have sent them, plus photos I didn’t.

I see several images of Agent Leighton…his articles of clothing…

his favorite watch…anything else they could use to identify him.

We step into a stall where a one-way mirror has been set up. This is not your average barn. The mirror reveals the suspect they are interrogating in the next stall. It’s her. Tori.

My relief is instant and sharp. She’s alive. The wolves don't have her.

But my relief is temporary. She is surrounded by scientific equipment, her body outlined in a faint glow—her protection spell, faint and flickering like moonlight on water.

A detail I can see only because of the bond we share, and the training that taught me to look past what the eye alone reveals.

Her face is drawn, but defiant. Yet, I know she won’t be able to hold that shield forever.

How long will she be able to keep her secrets? My secrets? Noah's secrets?

Ember watches my face. I know they’re gauging my reaction. I bite back my distress, opting for fury.

“Why the hell is my cousin here?” I demand. “She’s a medic. She’s not the arsonist. Let her go.”

“We’re nearly finished,” Ember replies calmly.

“You had no right,” I press. “You can’t just kidnap civilians for no reason.”

Ember raises a brow. “We had reason. Bursts of energy. Flames igniting without a source. Magical healing.”

“Did she confess to any of that?”

They smile as if I am kidding. No one ever confesses to that kind of stuff.

“We would have picked up Noah as well, but he wasn’t in his room early this morning. Do you know why?”

I stiffen. A slight pause. “Because he was with me," I lie. "You asked me to seduce him, didn't you?”

Ember smiles, slow and wolfish. “Very good. What did you learn?”

“What did you learn?” I question, countering. "Your team was in his room, not me."

“Well, I trust you’ll get us what we need moving forward. Start with his DNA.”

I nod. “Of course,” I agree nonchalantly. Inside, I’m screaming. Noah’s DNA. Tori’s DNA…did they take that too? Our house of cards is beginning to crumble.

I try to throw Ember off their scent. "What did you find out about Bode and the film crew? I like them as suspects. There's something not right about him. And the timing of their arrival and the arsons adds up." Ember hands me a map, color-coded and damning.

"Bode and his people were never near the arson sites at the times of the fires. They were always out of town. Perfect alibis."

Convenient I whisper to myself.

"Noah, Tori and Marcus are always nearby—always close," Ember adds.

Too close. If I had been here for the first fire, I know my name would be on that map.

I stare at it, willing it to reveal the truth. Wondering where Noah was early this morning when he wasn’t in his bed…or mine.

Ember taps my shoulder. “There, I told you we were almost done.”

I look up and see them pulling a black bag over Tori’s head—the darkness I’d sensed earlier.

“What is she supposed to tell the firehouse?” I challenge.

Ember’s voice is light and mocking as they walk me out. “I’ll leave that to you. Make sure she understands the consequences if she tells anyone what really happened.”

I take the offered head cover and slide into the car with my cousin.

“Take them back to her car,” they tell the driver.

I wait to feel the wheels moving, prepared to tell another lie and keep another secret from a loved one.

And then do something that another loved one will definitely not understand.