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A short snuff comes out of Jaxon’s nose. He turns his head for a second, and his blue-Jaxon eyes meet mine for a second. A sign of comfort. He tells me without saying anything that Maisie will be okay, that we will beat the threat, and that we will be safe. I don’t know how I can believe this.
Jaxon trips and stops when he sees the house. The wolves behind us do the same thing, and soon there are twenty wolves standing in front of the house. We wait for Felix to tell us what to do.
I get off of Jaxon’s back and watch as he and two other wolves sneak into the clearing behind him. As they look for a place to quickly change, the clothes tied to their back legs drag along the grass. A few minutes later, Jaxon comes back with Skyler and Ezra following him. They are the only wolves in the pack that will go inside the house as people. As wolves, everyone else will be fighting the witches and warlocks.
As soon as Felix says the wards are down, his coven will know right away. This will make all of the coven members who can defend themselves fight the wolves. They will build their own protective wards, which the wolves will try to break by attacking quickly. The coven members won’t be able to make wards of protection if the wolves can get to the witches and warlocks in time. But no wards will be as strong as the first one that Felix takes down. He says that they aren’t strong enough to make the ward that Marlowe had made before.
This will keep them busy while the four of us sneak through the back and head straight to the room where Maisie is being held. If we get into trouble, I will be used as “leverage.” That’s plan B, which we hope we won’t have to use. But I’m willing to take the chance.
Jaxon still doesn’t feel good about using me to get to Maisie. The way he holds my waist says a lot.
“Are you sure I can’t talk you into staying here?”
I smile at him and push a strand of dark hair out of his eyes.
“Yes, I’m sure. I’ll be safe with you, Ezra, and Skyler. I need to do this just in case things don’t go our way.”
He growls a little.
“We’re going to get your sister back. After that, you can finally open the gift I got you.”
I completely forgot that the night started off innocent because of all the craziness of Maisie’s kidnapping and my mom finding out that my boyfriend was a werewolf. I can’t wait to see what he got me, but I don’t think about how happy I’ll be when Maisie is back with me.
I nod my head slowly, and my face gets a little less bright. Skyler jumps over to me and gives me a tight hug right then and there.
“Don’t worry. I’m tough. If a witch comes at me, I’ll kick their a*s.”
Ezra smirks at his boyfriend and then nods at me to let me know that he will be there to protect me too.
I say, “Thanks, guys.” “Don’t forget, I’m a person, not an invalid.”
Jaxon hugs me from behind and rests his chin on my head.
“We know, baby.”
The way he talks makes it sound like he really doesn’t think I can handle myself.
A flicker of blue magic doesn’t matter because it gets brighter and brighter in the distance until it starts to crackle and spread cracks along a barrier that was hidden before and covered the coven’s main house. A blue light suddenly bursts around the house and falls to the grass below without hurting anyone.
That must be the signal for the wolves to start attacking. They run forward into danger, tearing at the dirt and grass below them with their long claws and howling in a way that sounds like battle cries.
While the fighting starts, I’m led to the side of the house. A group of about twenty witches and warlocks bursts out, all of them shooting blue magic from their hands. My heart stops for a moment because I’m scared Felix was lying when he said they didn’t have many offensive magic users.
The magic knocks a few wolves back, but they get back up and keep running through the gaps in the new defensive wards that are being made.
I let out a big sigh of relief. I could almost cry from happiness that my pack won’t be hurt. The coven will be too busy keeping wards up to look for the four of us coming in through the back door. Inside, Felix will meet us and help us get Maisie out of the room where she’s being held.
Getting in is easy enough, but it all seems too easy. No one in the coven tries to stop us. The more we go inside, the more looks I exchange with Jaxon. He seems just as worried as I am that no one has stopped us. Where are Marlowe and Elise? And what about Felix?
Every time we step on the stairs, they creak, and the noise seems to echo through the whole house. I can hardly hear anything from outside except for the occasional howl or burst of magic. Jaxon has that distant look in his eyes as he talks to the pack.
We’ve only been in the house for a minute, but it still feels like a long time. The sooner we get Maisie, the sooner we can leave and make sure everyone is safe. The coven could still hurt our pack…
“Everyone’s okay,” Ezra whispers. I’m surprised he noticed that I was worried. They must have a hard time remembering that I’m not connected to the pack through a mind link. I can’t get to wolf-radio.
I humbly nod my thanks.
At the top of the stairs, we can choose to go left or right. I hear Maisie’s cry from our right, and before any of us can decide, the choice is made for us. I panic right away when I hear her fear, but Jaxon holds my arm.
“Calla, let us go first.”
I barely have time to nod before he and Ezra walk over to the right and kick down the door, both of them perfectly in sync. They can talk to each other without saying a word, like in movies. Like avenging angels, they come into the room ready to fight with their claws and teeth out.
I stay back in the surprisingly big hallway and nervously tilt my head to see into the room. I heard Maisie’s voice coming from this room, so why haven’t they found her yet?
Skyler is standing next to me one second, and the next his body hits the wall so hard that it breaks the drywall all the way up to the ceiling. When I see the blood, I scream.
So. A lot. Blood. This is not what it looked like when Felix got hurt. Skyler’s blood starts as a small dot on his shirt and then spreads out into a circle that gets bigger and bigger. I get down on my knees and look for the thing that made the cut right away. There isn’t a weapon, which can only mean…
“Nice to meet you, Calla.”
I look over my shoulder to see who I can only guess is Marlowe, the head of the coven. Elise is behind with her arms crossed and a look on her face that is hard to read.
I ignore the angry growling coming from Jaxon and Ezra and only pay attention to Skyler. His face is getting paler and paler as he breathes heavily. I put my hands on his stomach and pressed on his wound.
“I at least expected a ‘hello.’ Felix spoke so highly of you,” she pouts, but the gleam in her brown-black demon eyes gives her away. Her hair is black as ebony and falls over one shoulder. Her blood-red dress flows down to the marble floors. It looks like she’s wearing the same clothes that Maisie drew weeks ago. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or if she’s doing it on purpose to tease me.
Jaxon and Ezra keep growling in anger, and I look at them for a second and see a light blue ward keeping them in the room. It was all planned. Marlowe knew we were sneaking in and waited to set a trap where Skyler and I would be alone with our weaker friends.
I don’t know what kind of magic could have made a wound like a dagger would, but Marlowe hit Skyler with a strong spell and she doesn’t even look tired.
Ezra is in wolf form right now, and he can see his mate bleeding out in front of him. The thought of my best friend dying in this situation makes me cry.
I scream at them, “Why are you doing this?”
I can’t help but feel bad. But I have to use my brain. Everyone wants something, so as soon as I know what Marlowe wants, I can try to use what I have to help him in any way I can. I know she wants me to die, but there must be something else she wants. Power? More land? Freedom?