Page 49

I f everyone could stop going unconscious around me for five fucking minutes, that would be fabulous.

I didn’t want to leave any of them but I needed to get help.

After rolling each one of my fallen packmates into the recovery position, I stared down the road.

I had no idea how much power was left in my amulet, how many more shifts it would sustain.

If I became a panther to run to find help, would I be able to shift back and communicate with anyone?

Could I even bring back a human doctor? The wards were broken now.

If I called for an ambulance, would they be able to see the nest, get through the gates to help?

How the fucking fuck would I explain any of this?

“Yeah, Officer, nothing weird about seven unconscious people in the woods next to a building you had no idea existed.” Gods.

They’d launch a whole investigation and the nest would have to shut down permanently once the humans knew about it.

But if I didn’t… What if one of them died because I couldn’t get them help fast enough?

A burst of magic knocked me on my ass and four women appeared out of thin air. One squawked and plunked down onto her butt, clutching her forehead. “Holy shit, head rush.”

I didn’t recognize her, but the flash of red hair next to her had my heart stopping. “Rachel?”

She held up one finger, as if trying to hit a magical pause button on my questions. “Where’s the witch?”

I tried to reply, but my voice refused to cooperate so I simply pointed to the ground next to me.

“Check on the others,” Rachel commanded, dragging a witch with waist-length braids and warm brown skin over to Logan.

Rachel refused to look at me while her companion applied glowing hands to my mate.

My mouth still wouldn’t work to ask what they were doing, and when I tried to inch closer, Rachel’s hand came up once more and my muscles stopped obeying me.

Fucking shit. Was she using magic on me? Was that allowed? I was pretty sure witches weren’t supposed to use magic that controlled another person’s body unless it was an emergency situation, and the threat here had already been neutralized.

Logan sucked in a heaving breath and relief rushed over me like a tsunami.

“There we go.” The healer gave a satisfied smile. “Back from the brink. Let’s see what other damage there was.”

I sat completely frozen while the healer worked, fighting the hold of Rachel’s magic when she reached for Caden. Don’t touch him .

Rachel’s hand paused midair. She looked exactly the same as I remembered, maybe a bit more tired, but her eyes were still an unnerving electric blue, her hair like a cascade of fire. I don’t think you’re in a position to make demands .

Why are you here? What the fuck is going on?

She sighed, as if my questions were born out of audacity and not overwhelming confusion.

“The situation here has spread through the grapevine. I got the location from Anya and figured I might get here in time to help fix the ancestral mess. Arrived too late for that, but I was with witches who could help.”

You…were coming to help?

Is that so hard to believe?

I mean, yeah.

She didn’t look the least bit admonished.

Another healer seemed to be working on the rest of the pack, though I could only see her out of the corner of my eye. She had blue and purple hair and moved about quickly on the edge of my field of vision.

Is Logan okay? I asked the healer nearest to me.

“She will be. Physically, anyway. There’s no magic left in her, but I can heal the harm done to her body.

I’m sorry we didn’t arrive sooner. It was a delicate balance between Cecily having enough reserved magic to teleport all four of us at once and not arriving in the thick of things, risking everyone’s magic.

Heather gave us a brief rundown of the situation. You’re all lucky to be alive.”

Heather. Did she just hide from everyone her entire life? I supposed I should count us lucky that she decided to show up to help instead of disappearing again.

What happened to you? I asked Rachel.

She tapped a finger to her lips and at that same moment it felt like she put a muzzle on my telepathy. What the actual fuck? Fear battled against indignant fury. Had she always been this dangerous? Could she stop my heart and lungs as easily as she stopped everything else? Would she?

My mind tumbled around the last time I had physically seen her, after we ran away and before she had disappeared. She’d been sweet once, hadn’t she? Maybe my rose-colored glasses had been too thick to notice any red flags.

Rachel moved from Caden to the rando that had popped out of the air before she arrived. “Sharla, this one feels different.”

“Be there in a second.” Sharla laid a palm over Caden’s chest, giving him a straight shot of energy that dragged him out of unconsciousness. Not enough for him to sit up, it seemed, but at least I didn’t have to count his breaths to make sure he was still alive.

“They’re all alive,” the blue-haired witch yelled. “They’ll need recovery time, and there’s no magic left in any of them, but they survived.”

They sparked in the bond one by one, not strong enough yet for me to feel much of anything, but at least existing once more.

I couldn’t go to anyone and I couldn’t even beg Rachel to free me from whatever magical prison she had put on me. Panic slipped through me, my heart pounding like a jackrabbit’s in the eyes of the fox. Was this what it felt like to be awake on the operating table?

Sharla glanced at me. “You okay?”

All at once the magic binding me released and I shot a vicious glare at Rachel. She gave me a warning look in response. “I’m fine.”

With a nod, Sharla joined Rachel, checking over the mysterious newcomer. “A dual core?”

“Sure feels like it,” Sharla replied.

I crawled over to Caden, clutching both him and Logan to me.

“We have to report it to the Council,” Sharla said.

Fucking Councils. They could’ve helped us, but they take so fucking long to respond we hadn’t even heard from them yet.

“Cecily,” the blue-haired witch asked, “can you help me get them inside?”

“Fuck no. My orange is juiced. Give me an hour and I can, but not fucking yet.”

“I’ll do it,” Rachel announced. She spared the three of us a half-second glance before sweeping around the fence. Her magic levitated my sleeping pack.

“I’ll be right back,” I whispered to Logan and Caden, setting them comfortably on the moss. I walked unsteadily over to the other three witches. “I’ll show you where you can put them. Why not bring everyone at once?”

Rachel rolled her eyes, but with a flick of her hand, Logan, Caden, and the newcomer shot into the air and over the fence to join the others.

“Holy shit. What the fuck is happening?” Logan gasped.

I scooped her into my arms and out of the thrall of Rachel’s magic, leading them all up the stairs. The nest was silent, like it had been left for dead, the air still tainted by the fear of those who’d fled.

It was a long walk on the stairs, but I didn’t want to chance being stuck in a metal box with Rachel.

“Seth, where the hell are we going?”

“All the Protector suites are on the top floor. They’ll have enough beds for everyone.”

Yelena didn’t have enough space for everyone, but Kendrick did.

Rachel flicked open the lock like a movie supervillain, and I held the door open as she floated everyone else through, depositing one after the other on the line of twin beds.

I pushed Logan’s right up to Caden’s since they were the most recent bond, and moved their arms enough they had some skin touching.

Rachel stared down at Caden. “He could’ve killed me with his stunt.”

“You’ll forgive me if my sympathy for you is a little worn out.”

She almost smiled. “You’ve gotten confident over the years.”

“Did you expect me to stagnate after you left?”

Rachel merely shrugged.

“Why did you come? I can’t imagine it was out of the goodness of your heart. Not even sure you have one of those, to be honest.”

That got a laugh out of her. “I’ll let that one slide, but you won’t speak to me like that again.”

She was asking a hell of a lot when I wanted to smack her head on the wall like a fucking coconut. “Are you going to answer me?”

“Caden connected me to a witch being drained. There’s only so many options in that case.”

“You didn’t have to bond him.”

“I was trying to prevent exactly what happened.”

“And me? Was I just collateral damage?”

I craved seeing an ounce of remorse in her eyes, but there was none. “Yes. You were an attempt that failed.”

“So you never loved me? You were just using me?”

Rachel sighed. “Seth, don’t be a child.”

“I was a fucking child,” I hissed. “Barely an adult by human standards, and certainly not one in the eyes of our communities.”

She didn’t acknowledge that, turning on her heel only to run into the other witches in the doorway.

“Uh, hey, Heather,” the blue-haired witch said nervously. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing that’s your business, Kyoko.”

”Sounds like it might be our business.” Cecily crossed her arms, blocking the doorway.

Tell us , Sharla coaxed in my head.

Pretty sure she’ll kill me if I do that.

Sharla moved faster than any of us could blink, her palm meeting Rachel’s head, and Rachel meeting the floor a moment later.

“And now she won’t.”

Fucking hell. What a fun reminder of why witches had always made me so fucking nervous.

“What happened?” Kyoko asked. “She was pretty sparse on details and we just rolled with it because it sounded like an emergency. I mean, it was, obviously, but we all wanted to know what the deal was eventually.”

“I’m going to call the Council,” Cecily said. “Be right back.”

“Is the Council actually going to do something?” I asked.

“Her mom is the High Councilwoman,” replied Sharla. “So, it’s less calling the Council, and more calling Mommy, but it is very effective to hop the line. Oh, shit, I have to call Anya too. My cousin is so damn nosy.”

She sat down next to Rachel, keeping her fingertips pressed to Rachel’s forehead while she pulled out her phone, thumb zipping over the screen.

Logan groaned. “I can tell them.”

I dashed over, helping her sit up. “You need to rest.”

My mate shook her head. “No. They need to know. Everyone does.”

Great. Couldn’t wait to spill my deep, dark secrets to a bunch of strangers.

Loved that for me.