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Annabelle stared up at Gabriel. I am his mate?

“Are you saying…? Are we…? If you turn me into…?”

“You’ll be like me. Or more precisely, like my cousin Alain. He’s a wolf witch. It’ll take some training, but you’ll be both a practicing witch and a werewolf. Most importantly, you’ll be mine.”

That last word had a hint of a growl.

“And you’ll be mine, too, right?”

He broke into a grin. “Forever, bebe. Forever. Are you saying yes?”

Annabelle’s heart flip-flopped around in her chest. She really liked the sound of that.

Her and Gabriel together. Finally. Would he move to the States?

Would she move to Paris? She couldn’t leave the coven.

Not now. Maybe not ever. Would he be prepared to leave his pack?

They’d never had any of these conversations.

He’d left too soon in Paris. He hadn’t known she was a witch. She hadn’t known he was a shifter.

“You’re thinking really hard there, mon amour. ”

“It’s just there’s so many details—”

The implications were… huge . For her, for them, for the coven and for her mission. The mission…

He pressed a finger to her lips. “Belle , I would never ask you to leave your coven. I know you are to take over from Marjory. Stef is right. I take my job too seriously. If Paris taught me anything, it’s that I need to learn to delegate.

My fellow wolves have been itching to prove themselves. I can do most of my job from here.”

Tears pricked her eyes. He would move away from his pack for her?

“Yes.” She wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Yes, Gabriel Montagne, make me your mate.” He picked her up and swung her around, beaming, and she laughed at his exuberance.

“Of course, we’ll have to postpone the mission for a bit, I suppose, until I’m properly trained,” she said when her feet were back on the floor.

His smile disappeared.

She pulled out of his arms. “Oh no, Gabriel. Just because I’ve agreed to be your mate doesn’t mean you can start that overprotective shifter bullshit. Don’t forget, I was the one who got myself out of that basement. I was the one who took down Dutton.”

“Annabelle—”

“No. If you have a problem with me taking on this mission, you can come with me. You’ve used the spell now. You know what to expect.”

“Annabelle—”

“Two of us will be better than one. We’ll have a better chance of taking out Faucher. That’s the only concession I’m willing to make.”

“Annabelle, stop. That’s not what this is about.” He shared a glance with Stef, then they both looked at Isobella. “Isobella is the one who must go.”

Isobella gasped. “Me?” She jumped to her feet. “I can’t go, I…”

“We know you’re sick, Isobella,” said Stef.

Annabelle rounded on Isobella. “You’re sick? How? When? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Isobella hugged herself. “I… I’ve only just found out. I was going to tell you all—Dad, Mom, the High Priestess.” She took a shaky breath. “I’m dying.”

“Well, we’ll use a healing spell. We’ll get the whole coven involved—minus the Kings, of course.”

Isobella stared at her with sad eyes. “Annabelle, this is not a sore shoulder that a simple spell, no matter how many people are chanting it, will heal. I have ovarian cancer. Stage four.”

“What about chemo? There has to be something.” She couldn’t lose Isobella. She was the only sibling she had. And she hadn’t had her sister nearly long enough to suit her.

Gabriel cupped her face. “There is something, but it means Isobella going on this mission.”

Annabelle pushed him away. “Going on this mission will kill her. For sure. There’s no medical intervention, no treatment for cancer in the tenth century, Gabriel. They barely have sanitation or personal hygiene.” Annabelle stamped her foot on the ground. “She’s not going.”

“What something?” piped up Isobella. “Stef? Gabriel? You said there was something that could treat me. What is it?”

Gabriel sighed. “I can’t tell you that, Isobella. I’m sorry. If I do, it might change what you do and it will never come to be. What I can tell you is that you survive and live a long life. In the tenth century.”

Annabelle glared at Gabriel. “How do you even know that?”

“Because, Belle, Isobella going back, taking on this mission to eradicate Faucher, changes everything. This is the real reason we came. To ensure Isobella does what she is supposed to do. If she does not… The future as we know it will be different. How different?” He shrugged.

“Perhaps the Langeais wolves no longer exist.” Gabriel caressed her cheek.

“Perhaps, Belle , you and I will never meet. Who knows what effect it will have.”

Isobella sat down heavily on the couch. “Are you certain, without a doubt, that I survive?”

“Yes,” both Gabriel and Stef answered.

Isobella stared out of the window at the glowing lights of the San Francisco skyline. “I’ll go.”

“What? No. Just no.” Annabelle glared at the three of them.

“Are you crazy, Isobella? Are you all crazy? Gabriel, you’ve used the spell.

You know what it feels like. How much it hurts.

Like your body is being folded in half and squeezed through a rift in the fabric of time so small you don’t think it’s possible to fit through, but you do.

Isobella is sick, and you want to put her through that? ”

There was another way. Annabelle turned to look at her mate.

At Stef. Shifters both. Impervious to disease and illness.

Not much could kill a shifter. Not even cancer.

And both with the ability to turn humans.

“You can save her, Gabriel. Right here. Right now. Or you, Stefanie. All you have to do is turn her. Right?”

Stef shook her head. “That’s not advisable.”

“And why not?”

Gabriel gripped her shoulders and turned her to face him.

“Believe me, Belle , I would if I could. If we change even one thing, we risk changing everything. Isobella has to go back as she is. Besides, our alpha must sanction all turnings, and Maxime will never agree to it. I’m sorry, Isobella. It’s the only way.”

“I’ll go,” Isobella said, more firmly this time.

Annabelle pulled away from Gabriel and went to her sister.

“Isobella, you don’t have to do this. I can…

” She glanced between Gabriel and Stef, their faces masks of resolve.

Neither one of them would turn Isobella.

No matter what she said, they’d made up their minds.

It stood to reason none of their pack would turn her, either.

But she could. Once Gabriel turned her. Then , maybe, she’d be okay with Isobella going back in time to do whatever it was she was supposed to do.

“I know what you’re thinking, Annabelle,” growled Gabriel. “Maxime won’t allow it.”

Annabelle snorted. She wasn’t going to let this Maxime tell her she couldn’t save her sister.

“You’ll need time to learn to control your wolf, Annabelle,” said Stef. “How much time is anyone’s guess. It’ll depend on how fast you learn. Will Isobella have enough time to wait for you?”

With Isobella’s life on the line, Annabelle would be a motivated student.

“No, Annabelle.” Gabriel shook his head. “If this is what you intend to do, you leave me no choice. I won’t claim you until Isobella has used the spell.”

From the set of his jaw, Gabriel would stand by his words. Then Isobella would die anyway.

“It’s okay, Annabelle,” said Isobella. “Really. I would never want to come between you and Gabriel. I’ll go.”

“But…”

Isobella gave her a wan smile. “I have a thirty-one percent chance of living maybe another five years if I have chemo and surgery. Thirty-one percent, Annabelle. Five years, and that’s with invasive surgery and months of debilitating chemotherapy.

Forget a long and happy life. Forget having a family.

” She stared past Annabelle to Gabriel and Stef.

“They’re offering me the chance for both. What choice would you make?”