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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

R age surged like lightning through my veins. I didn’t care how old the woman looked now. I didn’t care if she was so brittle she’d snap in the wind.

She was the one who’d spelled Ryker and played games with us.

And worse—he was standing in front of her.

Protecting her.

My wolf lunged forward as my warm magic buzzed. Ryker’s hand shot out and clamped on my shoulder, firm and grounding. Lil rebel, I’m not protecting her. I’m protecting you from doing something you’ll regret.

My teeth ground together. My hands clenched into fists. “She’s messing with us. We can’t trust her.” All I saw was red, due to the way he was trying to protect that woman.

Baby, please, he linked and wrapped his arms around me, causing the jolts of electricity from our bond to help ground me. This is what she looked like when she spelled me that day. That’s what I mean by I’m protecting you, even though I love you being this damn jealous. Not gonna lie.

I cut my eyes toward him. Seriously, you’re getting pleasure out of this? Now that he’d shocked some rationale back into me, I could feel happiness floating from him. Asshole.

Do you still see the tether that connects the two of them? Briar asked.

I hadn’t even looked, just reacted. Being more level-headed was a good idea. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my adrenaline rush.

Once I contained the anger, I pulled back and kissed Ryker’s cheek before stepping from the one place that always felt like home.

My attention landed on the older lady, who’d at some point stood and taken several large steps back. Cassi stood beside her with her arms lifted, ready to defend her.

I ignored all that and located the thin, very faint thread of a shadow that connected her to Ryker.

It was exactly the same, which meant she had to be the same person. There were no other tethers that led back to him.

I took in the older woman, trying to figure out which facade was real, wondering if neither of them was.

Cassi looked between us, biting the inside of her cheek. “I understand you feel uncomfortable, but don’t we at least owe her an opportunity to explain herself?”

Gage wasn’t buying it. “I may not be good at school subjects, but even I know the math ain’t mathing.”

“This is how she looked when I first met her.” Ryker lifted both hands. “When she spelled me. I didn’t recognize her in the prison, but when Ember said she saw the connection between us, I didn’t challenge it. I wanted answers.”

I tilted my head, examining her and noticing faint wafts of shadow coming off her in waves… like she was using magic. “Well, this isn’t her true appearance.”

Adara’s mouth dropped. “Why would you say such a thing?” Her gaze darted to Cassi in accusation.

“She didn’t tell me anything.” I lifted my chin, wanting her to feel my scrutiny. “I can see witch magic.” I wasn’t going to give her or Cassi more information. Cassi had been on her way to rebuilding the bridge she’d destroyed, but her hiding that the witch was using magic put her back at square one.

“What? That’s impossible.” Adara wrinkled her nose. “You’re a wolf shifter.”

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for telling me. Otherwise, I would never have known.”

Gage snickered, and Ryker tried hiding his smile unsuccessfully.

“Fine.” Adara flipped her wrist and returned to looking like someone near her mid-thirties. Her dark hair was still matted, and dirt clung to her face. Her cobalt eyes seemed dull. "I usually hide my real appearance.”

Every head snapped in her direction.

“You what?” Ryker gritted.

“I cloaked my appearance when you visited me.” Her voice trembled. “I didn’t want you to be able to find me again. Not after what the vampire queen had done to me.”

I tensed with alertness. “Why?”

“Because when I was a young child, the vampire queen visited our coven. She asked if there was anyone who could cloak, and our high priestess said no. However, the vampires could smell the lie, so they began slaughtering us, one by one. Finally, one of my sisters broke the covenant not to share the truth about our magic and informed them that my mother was a true cloaker—one of the rarest magical abilities found.”

Ryker cursed under his breath. Cassi’s head jerked toward Adara, wide-eyed. I heard a few gasps as my head spun.

Had we finally determined who the cloaker witch was?

She shook her head as her eyes glistened. “They immediately came to my mom and noticed me clinging to her leg. They asked if I was her child, and she said yes. Then they asked about my abilities, and Mom didn’t respond. She didn’t want the vampires to smell a lie.

“But silence spoke just as loud as if she’d offered up the truth, and the vampire queen killed our priestess in cold blood. When my mother refused to answer again, she killed the priestess’s daughter—the next in line.

“When she placed a gun to the next in line’s head, someone spoke up that we had seen signs that I could alter a person’s emotions.” She wrapped her arms around her waist and shivered. “Then she killed everyone but my mother and me and informed my mother that I should be raised healthy and understand my magic.”

Pressure built in my chest for how horrible this story already sounded.

“But you were a child.” Kendric plopped onto the couch where she’d been lying. “How would Ambrosia recognize you when you were older? And why didn’t the coven fight back?”

“Because we were surrounded. Someone had to have betrayed us, leaking our coven location and revealing that we had a cloaker in our midst. That’s why Mom and I never joined another coven.” Her mouth pressed into a firm line. “There were so many weapons aimed at us; we would’ve all been dead if we’d tried to fight back.”

She took in a ragged breath. “Unbeknownst to me until the day my magic fully matured, the queen had kept us under observation as I grew up.”

The room went still.

“My magic matured just shy of my twentieth birthday, and I saw both pride and fear in Mom’s eyes. I was confused at first, until she told me I had to disappear. That the only way I’d live a free life was if I ran far enough that only the goddess knew where I was. Not even Fate could follow.”

My throat tightened. “But you didn’t get that chance.”

Adara swallowed, her jaw quivering. “The night Mom helped me pack, the vampires came. They’d been tracking us as she’d feared. With guns pointed at us, I was given two options. Help keep the vampire queen’s emotions cloaked so her humanity wouldn’t gain strength, and be at her beck and call for any magic she needed, or Mom would die right there in front of me.”

A tear trailed down her cheek. “I have nightmares to this day about the way my coven died, and I couldn’t let that happen to my mother, so I agreed. Mom yelled for me not to do it, but what kind of daughter would I be if I told the vampires no? I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself.”

Beside me, Ryker flinched.

“They clamped magic-absorbing chains on her wrists and dragged her away. And then the vampire queen herself stepped from the tree line.”

Adara looked above our heads, her gaze far away. “The queen didn’t kill me. She saw value in me.” Her lips trembled. “And I agreed to stay and help her.”

Briar’s brows drew down, suspicion flaring again. “Why imprison you if she had your mother as leverage over you? If you were still useful?”

“Because I was tired,” Adara whispered. “I couldn’t keep doing awful things to people just so she could win. I understood why Mom had wanted me to say no. I understood the burden we both carried, and it wasn’t something the goddess could be proud of. As I performed my tasks, I altered my appearance. Fifteen years of cloaking the queen’s humanity, spying, constantly being used by the queen—I broke. I didn’t want to be her weapon anymore. I wanted to be free. She didn’t even allow me to see my mother in all that time. Who knows if I’ll ever see her again?”

Cassi’s breath hitched.

“I made it look like I’d been taken. Like someone forced me out of my home. But really, I staged everything. I was trying to disappear—to break the queen’s connection to me and remove my magic from Ryker’s soul.” Her eyes flicked to him, guilt thick in her voice. “To stop letting him be manipulated by magic.”

“You failed,” Gage said coldly.

Adara nodded. “I made it as far as the forest line. The vampires were already there.”

My stomach turned. “They took you to that prison.”

“Where they drained me like my mother.” She looked at her bruised wrists. “Of everything I had left, and Queen Ambrosia and Ryker were draining my lifeline to fuel the magic I’d cast on them.”

A sour taste filled my mouth. Holy shit. The queen truly was ruthless.

Ryker’s guilt ripped through the bond. Then he cleared his throat. “Can you lift the spell from me?”

Adara blinked at him, then slowly nodded. “Yes. I meant to. I just—never got the chance.”

Her hands trembled slightly as she reached out. Ryker didn’t flinch, but I saw the way his shoulders coiled tight. He stood perfectly still as her palms hovered over his chest, her eyes slipping closed.

My wolf surged forward, hating the thought of her touching Ryker. However, I pushed her back and reminded her what this was for—his humanity.

Ryker grimaced, then linked, Xander, will you go inform Bruce and Reid that the witch is awake and sharing information?

On my way. Xander raced out the door as a quiet hum began to build in the room. Swirls of magic left her palm, flowing into his chest near his heart.

The tether between them pulsed once, and a cold sensation permeated our bond.

My heart galloped. I hadn’t considered that removing the spell could affect our fated-mate bond.

I opened my mouth to ask her to stop, but the swirls shimmered and then vanished, knocking the breath out of me.

A sound like wind through brittle leaves filled the room, and then the link was gone.

Rubbing my chest, fear strangled me as I watched Ryker. His entire body jolted like a string had been cut, then slowly, a tension I didn’t even realize had always been there—eased.

His hand curled into mine, and through our bond, his presence felt stronger than ever before.

Cassi placed a steadying hand on Adara’s back as she sagged, her energy completely drained again.

Ryker exhaled and turned toward me, his eyes shining bright. “Thank you.”

Adara didn’t answer, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw her nod.

And that’s when realization hit me.

I snapped my gaze to Adara. “You said you were still linked to her,” I said slowly. “To Ambrosia.”

“Yes, and when I replenish some of my energy, I’m going to find a way to break the link without her being here.”

“What if we don’t break it?” I had to sound crazy.

Adara’s head lifted.

“She’s still using your mother to cloak the vampires, and you spelled her to be emotionless about everything she does,” I pressed. “But if you’re still tied to her…”

Ryker jerked his head back. “Then we can find her.”

“I-I don’t know.” Adara blinked rapidly. “I’m so tired of using my magic like this.”

“But can it be done?” Briar asked, stepping closer.

Adara didn’t answer right away. Then slowly… she nodded. “Yes.”

The word hung in the air, heavy and dangerous.

“Yes,” she repeated, more firmly this time. “I’ll do it. Helping you might end the connection for me and free my mother.”

A shiver ran down my spine. We finally had a way to find Queen Ambrosia.

“About damn time.” Gage pumped an arm. “I’m so fucking tired of waiting for them to come to us.”

Just then, the door opened, and Xander returned, followed by Reid, Bruce, and Sun.

“Everyone’s here,” he said, breathless. “I filled them in on the way here.”

Reid’s expression was drawn and tired, but his eyes were alert. “Has anything else been revealed?”

“No.” Briar rubbed her arms like she was cold. “She removed the spell from Ryker, and that’s it.”

“Well, we did just learn more information,” I added, filling in everyone about the vampire queen and the king who’d betrayed her.

“She’s fucking crazy.” Gage’s jaw dropped open.

Something still clawed at my insides, like we were missing something.

It hit me like a logger truck from Final Destination.

I spun to Adara again. “There’s something we haven’t asked.”

She blinked, looking like she might collapse at any second. “What?”

I almost didn’t want to press her. Asking this question could destroy any hope I had still limping in me. “You mentioned the wolf royals. What about them?”

The silence that followed was deafening.

Adara’s lips parted. “They are being held in a place and situation worse than Hell. Worse than what the vampires put me and the other witches through during captivity.”

Gasps broke through the room like glass shattering on tile.

“They’re alive ?” Ryker's voice was razor-sharp with disbelief. “But… we saw the blood. The bodies.”

“You saw what you were meant to see.” Adara sat on the couch next to Kendric and continued, “There was blood. The bodies were mutilated to the point that no one would be recognizable, and they ensured they left behind some pieces of the ones who remained alive to ensure you’d find that among the bodies.”

Sun’s eyes widened. “How do you know?”

“Because I was forced to be the distraction that lowered the royals’ and the Grimstone wolf pack’s guard.” She shook and gagged like she might vomit. “I didn’t know they’d planned to slaughter everyone, and when I realized what was going on, I didn’t know how to stop it. I ran to the woods and threw up. By the time I’d pulled myself together, the vampires were putting the royal family in the back of a van. They were all unconscious. I'd waited too long to try to help them.”

My heart stopped.

“You what ?” Gage said, like he couldn’t trust his own ears.

Briar's hand shot to her mouth.

“Where are they now?” Ryker demanded.

“I don’t know,” Adara admitted, shaking her head. “But the queen was obsessed with them. She’d keep them close.”

My breath caught. We needed to move, and fast. “Do you know how they made the vampires smell like wolves? That’s not normal.”

Her brows pinched together. “No. That wasn’t me. I don’t know how they did it.”

A fresh wave of unease washed over the room, and Ryker’s worry heightened.

“That means someone else helped her. She seems to enjoy killing people to force others into submission.” Reid’s arms crossed. “And they aren’t even using them as food. They’re killing out of malice and hate, and the queen wants everyone to know it.”

He was right. Granted, vampires didn’t enjoy feeding off other supernaturals. They could, but they didn’t like it.

“When can you do a location spell?” Bruce’s eyes glowed from where he had to be linking with others.

Adara hesitated and leaned her head back on the couch. “In a few minutes.”

Briar went to the refrigerator and got the witch some water, and Ryker grabbed one of the extra blankets and draped it around her.

Closing her eyes, Adara lay on the edge of the couch, trying to get comfortable.

“No matter where she is, we all need to leave the Blackwood territory.” Ryker turned his back to Adara and spoke softly. “We took Adara and freed the other witches. The vampire queen won’t like looking weak.”

Briar looked out the windows. “It’s nearing sunset. If we’re going to leave, we have to do it without raising alarms. If even one of those cloaked bastards is out there watching and sees us…”

“We’re done,” Gage finished grimly.

A quiet tension hummed through the room as we all stared at Adara.

Our one shot at turning the tide rested on a broken witch with barely enough energy to speak, trying to locate the most dangerous supernatural creature we’d ever faced.

“If we stay here, we’re done too,” Kendric answered. “If we’re going to die, I’d at least like to kill some vampires on my way out.”

“Well, I hope you mean that.” Cassi’s jaw clenched. “Because they just broke through the perimeter.”

As if Fate wanted to taunt us, an agonized howl filled the air, reminding me of the night our pack was slaughtered.

And then the cold pressure slammed into me, nearly knocking me over.