Page 57 of Shifting Hearts

ELEVEN

A Wolf Caught in Thorns

Lucien

T he scent is wrong. It’s too clean and too deliberate. It smells like someone dragged a body through the underbrush and then buried the blood.

I crouch beside the old cedar stump, inhaling slowly. Human magic. It’s not natural and it’s not feral. This is bait, I’m sure of it. And I’m the damn wolf walking into the snare. Still, I move forward because someone has to end this. And if I wait any longer, I’ll lose my edge and maybe even her.

I’ve barely slept since she left this morning. My body’s still torn up, my ribs are screaming, and my head pounding, but the bond has been thrumming like a live wire in my chest. Something’s wrong. She’s not safe.

I find the ritual circle by accident. It’s buried beneath a thicket of brambles, poison ivy and thorn rose, unnatural in their growth pattern, twisting toward each other like claws. And in the center of the clearing, a shallow grave.

It’s fresh and still bleeding into the soil. My blood runs cold but I step forward. The sound I hear is almost too soft to register and then the thorns move. Vines shoot out from the trees, coiling around my legs and my arms, snapping shut like a bear trap made of magic.

I fight it, shifting halfway before a pulse of pain slams through my skull. Blinding, white-hot pain. And then I hear her voice. Not Emilia’s but Hers.

“Well… the infamous hunter walks into my circle. I almost didn’t believe he’d be that stupid.”

She steps out from behind a tree like she’s part of the forest, robed in black, eyes gleaming with power that doesn’t belong to her.

“You’re Nara,” I grunt, spitting blood.

“And you’re the mate.” She says it like a curse.

“I’ve been called worse.”

“Not for long.” She tilts her head, studying me like I’m already bones. “You shouldn’t have come alone.”

“I don’t need anyone else to kill a parasite like you.”

That earns me a slap, sharp, magical, more a burst of energy than skin. My vision goes white for a second.

“I hate wolves,” she hisses. “I hate your arrogance. Your hierarchy. Your belief that land is earned through blood and bone.”

“It is.”

She grins, her teeth too white. “Good. Then you’ll appreciate what I do with yours.”

The vines drag me toward the altar. It’s all twisted stones, soaked in old blood. I struggle, roar, and shift halfway again. My bones pop, my spine arches but something in her spell stops me mid-shift.

It traps me between forms. I’m in agony and I feel like I can’t breathe.

My wolf howls inside my skull, frantic. And for the first time in ten long years, I feel fear not for myself… but for Emilia. Because if I die here, the bond will snap and it will destroy her.

“Nara!” The scream cuts through the clearing like a blade.

Emilia. She’s running, eyes wild, magic flaring around her like wildfire. Nara snarls and turns but she’s too slow.

Emilia throws a sigil that explodes in red light, blasting Nara off her feet. The vines holding me loosen and I collapse to the ground, half-man, half-beast, and gasping for air.

“Lucian,” she chokes, sliding to her knees beside me.

“I told you…”

She grabs my face, panic etched on her features. “I saw it. In the lake. I saw you dying.”

“I’m not dead yet.”

“Don’t you dare.”

Behind her, Nara is already rising, black fire swirling in her hands.

“Move,” I whisper.

But Emilia doesn’t. Instead, she turns, palms open, and meets the spell head-on. The clash of power is thunderous. The force knocks me backward into a tree, but I see it, Emilia is glowing, burning, unwavering. Her blood, her heritage, and her magic surging out in full for the first time.

Witch and wolf in perfect harmony. They are finally one.

And Nara? She isn’t strong enough. She screams, collapses, and the spell shatters. I blink through the smoke and see her on the ground. Still.

Emilia staggers toward me and falls to her knees. I catch her this time.

“I thought you weren’t coming back,” I whisper.

“I almost didn’t.”

“What changed?” I ask.

“You.” She presses her forehead to mine. “You’re not running anymore. And neither am I.”