Page 162 of The Wolves of Forest Grove

The corner of Devin’s mouth lifted into a grin as though he welcomed the challenge, and he was even more the fool than I thought he was. Too cocky. That cockiness would be the very thing that killed him.

Without warning, the alchemist raised his hands and sparks of blue-hued light flew from his fingertips, forming a blazing symbol in the air.

Intricate with lines and curves and runic symbols twisting and locking into place as though he was playing a puzzle game with electricity and the universe was the game board.

I’d seen magic before. But not like this. Never like this.

Someone gasped, and it took me a moment to realize it was me as I shied away from the blazing glow of the alchemist’s spell.

It won’t work on me, I told myself. The words a mantra on repeat in my skull. It won’t work. It won’t work.

“Liraveris Bestiam,” he said, and the blue hued light splintered into a thousand tiny pieces, shooting straight for me. They stabbed into my flesh, sinking down through muscle, sinew, and eventually, bone.

My stomach roiled at the attack. His magic filled me until I was near bursting. My insides feeling too big to be contained by my outsides until my eyes were bulging. Until I was choking on it.

“What’s happening?” Devin demanded, and as I vomited, he caught me, turning me onto my side to prevent me from choking as putrid bile flowed from my lips and bright spots of light crowded my vision.

“Her twin soul, I imagine,” the alchemist said without feeling. “It’ll be harder to contain than a normal shifter. The magic will do its work, though, you can be certain of that.”

Hot tears pricked my eyes as my sides stopped squeezing and the horrible sensation of the magic invading my body seemed to leech away back to the earth.

“There, see? She’s just fine.”

Devin’s hands left me, and I let my tensed muscles sag against the carpet, focusing on breathing. On getting air into my lungs and the light bursts out of my eyes so I could see.

“What…” I hissed, finding that the alchemist’s magic had burned off even more of the drug still lingering in my bloodstream. “What did you...do...to me?”

The alchemist knelt, careful to avoid the pool of bile, until I could see his face. “I’ve bound your wolf,” he told me with a grin, lifting his gaze back to Devin.

“She won’t be able to access the strength of her inner beast. Nor will she be able to shift...though I’m afraid nothing will stop her from shifting during a full moon. However, she will be feral during a moon-triggered shift. Acting on instinct alone. Like a wild animal. Best to have her chained.”

Devin nodded, his face falling as though he didn’t relish the thought of taking a part of me away. Like he didn’t just try to hack off part of my soul.

But I could already sense it, the last of the witch’s magic leaving my body and returning to the earth.

And though she was muted, hampered by all the drugs still lingering in my system, I found I could still feel her.

I couldn’t be certain, but it was enough to hope that whatever magic this bastard had tried to use on me hadn’t worked.

Even if I needed them both to think it had.

“How much?” Devin asked, going to retrieve a stack of bills from a low table next to his bed.

The alchemist shook his head, standing. “She killed my nephew,” he said. “We’ll call it even.”

A river of ice flooded my veins as I considered the alchemist for a second time. Recognizing the sloping nose and wide jaw. They were features he shared with his kin: the witch we captured, tortured, and killed.

The one we’d found to be innocent of the crimes we accused him of, but guilty of so many others committed at the behest of his master. His uncle.

I committed his face to memory, vowing to kill him too if I ever saw his ugly face again.

“Fucking bastard,” I spat, my voice still softer than I would’ve liked but growing in strength all the same.

“It goes without saying,” the alchemist said as he made to depart, holding open the tent flap to cast one more disdainful glance in my direction. “I was never here.”

Devin didn’t bother replying as the man left, bending to lift me from the ground instead, setting me back against the pillows while he tugged the dirtied carpet out from under me and tossed it outside.

“Get rid of that,” he barked. “And bring me the girl.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Now what?” I asked, wiggling my toes and flexing my shoulders. Hoping he didn’t notice just how much feeling was returning to my limbs while his back was turned to me. I rolled my ankles, stopping as he came back to me.

“We live happily ever after?” I asked, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “You the mad king and me, the chained bitch at your side?”

His brows lowered, confused.

“No, Allie. I won’t have to keep you chained. That’s the beauty of it, don’t you see? The council member was only the first visitor. There will be another. One who will make you irrevocably mine. Forever. Unless you hold up your end of the bargain.”

“Let me guess? A vampire?”

So predictable. Also, so so fucking perfect.

Devin took hold of my jaw, forcing my still-rolling eyes to focus on him instead. His rough touch sent shivers of disgust rolling through me, and I had to stop myself from spitting in his face.

“You made me a promise,” he said, neglecting to respond. “You swore to be mine if I allowed your mates to live.”

He cast my face to the side with a sharp jerk of my chin, leaning in to inhale deeply beneath my jaw. “That smell…”

“Fuck off,” I growled.

His fist came around my throat, squeezing just enough to prove what he could do if he wished. “We can do it my way if you prefer? I have a crew ready to go after them. And I wouldn’t stop at your mates, Allie. I’ll kill them all.”

My breath wheezed through the pinhole of my throat, and he relaxed his hold just enough for me to respond. “No,” I croaked, testing my arms while he was distracted. I could lift them, but I was afraid they’d still be of little use.

“Then show me you mean it,” he demanded, his eyes falling to my lips while he licked his own. “Don’t fight me. Just give in to it. I know you can feel it, too. We’re the same, Allie.”

I closed my eyes as he leaned in, thinking of Clay. Of Jared. Of my pack. I would kill Devin, but right now, he still had the upper hand. He could send that crew of shifters after them. For all I knew, he might have already.

Right now, I needed to play this part. Be what I promised him I would. Keep my guys safe. Keep us whole even though it felt like something inside of me was breaking as Devin’s lips brushed mine.

He pulled away a second later, and I sagged, thinking it was over, but when I saw the look in his eyes, the way they slanted with lust, I knew it was far from being over. “You can do better.”

This time he wasn’t gentle.

This time, his lips were hard and demanding, almost bruising as he deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue into my mouth until I gagged on it.

He snarled as he pulled away, rising to rake clawed fingers through his hair as though he might rip it from his scalp. “Why do you fight me?” he shouted. “Why must you always fight me?”

In the blink of an eye he had me up on my feet, supporting my weight between himself and a tent post with an arm barred against my chest. “You. Are. Mine.”

I bit back a scathing retort, trying to suss out whether or not I could stand on my own if he released me.

“I will have you, Allie, whether you want it or not, but for your own sake, don’t fight me. I don’t want to have you compelled. Don’t make me.”

If I could be compelled, it was about the only way he’d ever have me, because promise or no, I would not let this motherfucker rape me.

Devin pressed in against me, making his naked body flush with mine until I could feel the press of his hardening cock through the thin white fabric of the gown I wore and shuddered.

He ran his free hand up my thigh, finding the hem of the nightgown and pressing beneath it. “That’s it,” he cooed. “Just give in.”

His fingers gripped my hip, knocking my tailbone hard into the post at my back, and it was the perfect opportunity. In a knee jerk reaction, literally, just as his hand moved down to lift the hem of the gown, I drove my knee into his erection.

Perhaps not with as much strength as I could’ve done had I not been drugged, but it had the intended effect. His hold against my chest weakened as he buckled, holding his junk.

I slipped free of his grasp, but misjudged how much of my strength had returned.

I managed two rocky steps to the left before my knees gave out under the weight of my body and I crashed to the floor.

He was on me barely a second later, flipping me onto my back until his knees were pressed tightly to either side of my hips, his cock hovering over my belly button. Somehow still partially hard.

“Bitch!” he snarled, his eyes showing the wolf that lingered within. Devin’s fingers splayed over my chest, trying to hold me down while he stroked his cock back to a full head. And all the while I squirmed, thrusting weak jabs at his chest with my heavy fists.

“Get...off…me,” I managed through fits of panicked breath, gasping when I finally wiggled high enough to dislodge a leg.

With everything I had, I planted my heel to his chest and kicked, sending him rocking backward far enough for me to get my other leg free and repeat the motion while he was still surprised.

Using the hard packed earth as leverage I slammed both feet into his chest and this time he flew back...right into a girl who’d just stepped through the door, a guard holding her tightly by the arm.

She shrieked as he knocked into her, and they both fell to the ground.

“Sir!” the male shifter called, grabbing Devin by the arm to try to help him up, but Devin knocked away the shifter’s hand and turned his fury on the girl.