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CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

logan

Early Wednesday Morning

I t was still dark out, and the sun hadn’t yet risen, but Torbin waited on the front porch of Six-Mile Manor, rocking back and forth in a rocking chair barely big enough for him, while Olivia led a patrol of the perimeter of Six-Mile.

They’d been gone for most of the night. Only Olivia knew about the note Dr. Wise had jotted inside the research she’d sent me, and it troubled us both.

My beta wolf hunted for clues to follow what had happened to all the missing shifters, and I had tasked myself with finding spies to keep myself as far away from Emma while she trained with Red Tail… and Jasper.

After careful consideration, the bear shifter alpha was the only alpha I trusted outside of Six-Mile, and he had been who I decided to enlist to locate any of our clan members who might still be traceable .

Without speaking, I stepped out onto the porch, trying to ignore the knot of feeling I had in my head which had to be a sleeping, dreaming Emma. Her sensations were hard to ignore, but it gave proof to the suspicion she might be my fated mate.

Despite the thunderous internal tumult I fought, the moonlight streamed down from a cloudless night sky.

Stars glittered in the blackness, only slightly dulled by the lights from our complex.

The feral night made me dwell even more on beautiful, sexy Emma – my Emma as I’d already come to think of her.

The oldest alpha grunted as he stood and offered his hand, his white hair sticking out in all directions, small bells jangling in his beard.

Tonight, he wore moccasins on his feet and clothes covered in beadwork, probably fashioned for him by Indigenous hands from long ago.

Each panel of his clothing had been laced together by long strands of leather. “Logan.”

When I took his hand, a rush of his energy flowed over me, delving me with the same talent I shared.

He wanted to know if I held malice or secrets, so I allowed his search without offense and without responding with my own.

Instead, I shook his hand, aware of the trust he extended by showing up at all. “Torbin.”

“You seem to have no malintent in your heart. Though, there’s another shifter in your head, muddling things up.” He clasped his hands over his rounded middle. “I’ll offer you the same liberty I took, if you like.”

“You wouldn’t be here if I didn’t already trust you. ”

“Then why have you called me, invoking the name of the multimorph?”

“There are traitors and spies among us,” I said, “and we must find them. To keep her safe.”

“Agreed,” he rumbled in a bearish growl. “Now what do you suggest?”

“A quiet investigation, kept between us.”

“All of the alphas who attended your meeting would be interested in locating the traitors,” he commented. “However, I understand your reticence.”

My phone beeped with a text notification.

Olivia: What are we supposed to find out here?

Me: Anything.

Olivia: Something more than residue in the air?

Me: What do you think?

Olivia:

Torbin nodded toward the cell in my head. “What is it?”

“She can’t find anything.”

“Unsurprising,” he murmured. “Acheron has managed to hide most of his intentions and camouflage the aftermath of his attacks, but I have news to share.”

I crossed my arms and stared at the man. “News?”

He tugged a piece of thin leather and two scraps of folded paper from a leather pocket, hanging from a cord around his waist. “We found these between our borders and the neutral lands.”

They stung my palm, crinkling and dancing as if moving on their own, but I didn’t hand them back. “What’s wrong with them?”

“That is why they were in a pouch at my waist, not touching my shifter skin. We think it is ward magic from Acheron.”

But I didn’t put them down or hand them back.

These might be clues about how to keep Emma safe.

Despite the growing pain, I unfolded the scraps.

The word COMPLETE had been scrawled on one of the pieces of paper, and the name and address of Emma’s veterinary practice had been detailed on the other.

The scrap of leather had a constellation drawn on it with a PG. 13Z beneath it.

“Where did you get these?” I rasped as my throat tightened, and my hands closed around them.

Torbin didn’t answer. Instead, he reached for the trio of clues, and I yanked them out of his reach. “The foolishness of youth is still in you,” he growled at me. “The longer you touch them, the tighter your throat will become. Give them here.”

I brought my hand closer. “How do you know?”

When he reached this time, I let him take them from me and tuck them back into the thick pocket at his side, keeping the two layers of leather between him and them. “The warding spell murdered my niece the moment she withdrew them from the hollowed tree which hid them. ”

“How did she find them?”

“Her talent lay in detecting magic, and she discovered the spell obscuring the hollow in the tree, twenty feet off the ground. Although she could see nothing, she risked life and limb to reach inside. The warding killed her instantly.”

He continued. “In secret, her mate carried these to me, carrying them so long the dark magic seeped through her skin and into her body, learning of the poisonous effect too late to change the result. As she placed them in my hand, she warned me of the spell and breathed her last. The dark magic murdered three—my niece, her mate, and their unborn offspring.” He sighed. “This is how I know.”

It was more words than I’d ever heard him speak in my lifetime, and each one had clearly cost him a great deal. If I harbored any doubt about his loyalty or his integrity, they were gone now.

“What do they mean?”

“The meaning of the address is clear. As for the others,” he murmured. “I cannot say. Though, the stars seem to mimic the stars around Algol, the demon star.”

“Why would they?”

“I cannot say.”

I racked my brain, searching for some reference to a constellation or a star inside the information Dr. Wise had spent decades compiling. “Come with me.”

He followed without question, and I led him into my study.

He didn’t speak while I inserted the encrypted thumb drive into my computer.

I gestured to the crystal decanter, and he poured a glass of the amber liquid, not bothering with any ice from the ice maker.

Using Algol as the search term didn’t flag any documents, but the word constellation did…

Three separate documents. The first two offered no insight.

After I double-clicked the third, my eyes widened. Dr. Wise had scanned a sheet of paper which seemed to define the best ways to cast dark magic spells, specifically referencing the power in the “demon’s head.”

However, several terms on the page had been highlighted and circled by Dr. Wise. In the margin, she wrote, Did the instructions refer to the actual constellations in the sky or the way to lay something out on the ground? Unclear. The last word in her margin notes had been underlined twice.

“You mentioned Algol,” I said, glancing up from the computer screen. “What do you know about Algol?”

Torbin turned toward me. “It’s in the constellation Perseus.

The second-century astrological text of the Alexandrian astronomer Ptolemy, Algol is referred to as ‘the Gorgon of Perseus,’ and it’s often associated with death by decapitation.

Historically, it’s been an unlucky star and worth mentioning, given Acheron’s heritage. ”

The clues were important; they had to be. That was the only reason they would be hidden. But how, why? Maybe the page reference had something to do with Acheron’s grimoire. What had been completed?

Dammit. Without context, it would be nearly impossible to work out .

I came around the desk. “Will you show me where your niece found the scraps? We might find more.”

“Indeed,” he rumbled, returning the empty glass to the table. This time, I followed him as we made our way back to the porch. “The tree is not far.”

As I pulled the front door closed, my phone rang, and I answered before the first ring finished. “Yeah?”

“He’s here. Acheron is here,” Olivia shrieked.

“Where? Olivia! Where?!” I yelled into the phone. What had they stumbled into?

“Logan, he’s here between the park, the campsite where she—” She screamed, and the line went dead.

My gaze cut to Torbin. “They’ve been ambushed.”

“Show me.” A windy gust exploded between us, and he morphed into his bear self without hesitation.

His clothes ripped at the lacing, falling away without being ruined.

The moonlight glinted in the bells in the white fur beneath his chin.

Most shifters couldn’t keep anything on themselves when they shifted, and it highlighted his skill with the ancient magic.

But I had no time to gape at the beast beside me. I shifted, landing on the gravel in front of the manor. Torbin landed on the ground beside me, shaking the ground as his heavy paws touched down. He chuffed and snorted at the air, the tiny bells tinkling.

Olivia had to mean where Emma originally showed her multimorph self.

We tore through Six-Mile, shifters joining behind us as we ran.

Soon, ten wolf shifters and a giant bear thundered through the forest, crashing through the underbrush.

In no time, we reached the border between Six-Mile and the state park.

I sailed over the fence, and nine more wolves followed.

Torbin charged through the fence, and it parted as though it had been made from toothpicks. A moment later, we arrived.

Site 52.

Where it all began.

In the center of the campsite, a darkly shadowed figure stood alone. As we entered the clearing, he whirled to face us, his skin stretched tightly over his skeleton. His flesh plumped as his lips peeled back from his blackened teeth.

Acheron!

Olivia hung limp in his arms, and her eyes were closed as Acheron chanted words I didn’t understand. A glow began in the center of her forehead and moved down her body, turning her nearly transparent as the glow brightened. What was he doing to her?

The scent of blood tainted the air, and she seemed to fade from view, becoming one with the wizard behind her. Dark shadows circled the mage the way our shifter magic danced in the wind. The shifters who had been with Olivia were nowhere in sight.

I barked to the others, and they positioned themselves closely behind me, growling and snarling. Suddenly, Torbin launched himself at the wizard, and a burst of power flung him backward, splitting the skin on his snout, sending bright red pouring over his whitened fur. He roared and charged again.

Acheron turned away from us, toward Torbin, and we seized the brief window of distraction Torbin had provided for us. Nine of us sailed through the air, impacting the dark mage one by one, sending him staggering back. But he didn’t release Olivia.

Although caught unawares, he opened his mouth in a shriek, echoing with a thousand voices in pain, sending terror splitting through our minds.

But I didn’t stop. I threw myself at him once more.

My jaw closed around his cowl, and I yanked it to the side, catching his ear with my teeth.

He turned to the side and disappeared in a flash of putrid smoke, leaving his robes hanging from my mouth.

Olivia dropped to the ground where Acheron had been, no longer transparent. I shifted to my human self, hooked my hands under her armpits, and dragged the unconscious Olivia away as the other eight wolves and Torbin searched for our shared enemy.

I dragged the unconscious Olivia out of the clearing, scanning the surroundings for the others. None remained except her. Where had the other five gone? Gently, I patted Olivia’s cheek, delving to determine how injured she might be. “What happened?”

Her eyes fluttered. “He soaked them into himself. All of them. And he almost got me.” A sob broke through before she went limp once more. A moment later, she began whimpering as though she was reliving the attack in her dreams.

Phil loped into the campsite, panting.

“Anything?”

He shifted back to his human self. “Nothing. ”

The answer was the same as each of the others returned.

Five more shifters had disappeared.

My shifters, my clan members.

And he’d nearly consumed Olivia.

Even as we carried the unconscious Olivia away from the stench of evil magic, I made the decision to keep the information from Emma. Finally, Torbin returned, shaking the ground with his every step, and he knelt so we could place Olivia on his back.

Slowly, we made our way back to Six-Mile Manor.

I sent the other wolves away before Torbin and I carried her to the same bed Emma had recovered in.

As Olivia’s head sank into the pillow, she startled, sitting straight up with her eyes wide.

She whimpered, and Torbin halted on the opposite side of the bed.

“Olivia, you’re safe,” I said, my voice made harsh with concern. I tried to push her back down onto the mattress, but she wouldn’t relax.

“Logan, he’s planning something big,” Olivia rasped, blindly groping at the air in front of her.

“Beneath the Hunter’s Moon.” She gasped.

“When we’re all together. I heard it in his mind.

I heard his hate, and he means to consume every shifter in the world.

Emma…” Then she crumpled against the mattress once more.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

We only had three weeks to find the spy and put the treachery to an end.

That meant we only had twenty-one days to make Emma as safe as possible .

Or she would only have a few hundred hours left in her life as the multimorph, and I would never be able to make good on my promise to bed her, to mate her, to show her what it meant to be fated.

I shared a long, silent look with Torbin. “It seems Acheron has learned how to consume shifters and add their magical strength to amplify his own.”

“An unpleasant turn of events,” he rumbled. “Most unpleasant.”

“He’ll have his sights set on Emma, and it’s up to us to stop him.”

Without another word, he lumbered down the staircase, collected his clothes from the front porch, and disappeared into the night.

We both knew what was at stake, and we knew we were already behind the eight ball. Everything had been set in motion, and the clock was ticking. Time was running out. Nevertheless…

No matter what came.

My life for hers.