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When Linda gets up, the old witch turns our way again and nods her head. As one, the whole coven starts chanting, weaving a new spell over us.
We have to fight it, my wolf urges, but his voice sounds distant as if it’s coming through a tunnel. We can’t fall asleep.
I don’t even know how to try to stay awake. It’s impossible. There are too many of them, and as a united group, they’re too strong.
My eyelids are too heavy to keep them open. Every time that they close over my eyes, I do my best to open them once again, but it gets harder with every attempt. If my muscles were tense before, they’re now relaxed and free like jelly. My body’s weightlessness has nothing to do with the way the witches have me floating and everything with the sensation one gets when resting on the most comfortable mattress as if lying on the fluffy clouds themselves.
“Yalinda, watch out!” Linda screams, her voice a mixture of surprise and horror.
The chanting stops, leaving me in a semi-sleepy state. I have a hard time grasping at my thoughts and it’s even harder to open my eyes. My ears are still working, but distinguishing the sounds ends up being quite a chore.
The witches throw spells around but as individuals. They’re too distraught to unite as one, which makes them weak and vulnerable.
This is our chance, my wolf whispers, and then he makes a yawning sound. He’s doing his best to help me fight the spell, but even though it was only half-cast, they weaved it as a coven, a united group with doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled their normal strength.
The screams and cries reach my ears. A metallic scent fills my nostrils. The sound of a bone breaking, the growl of a wild animal, and the familiar voice of a woman I’ve gotten to know in the most intimate way.
Tiana, my wolf gives her a name just as my brain conjures up her face.
The Pack of Shadows is here, I say, letting my wolf feel my relief.
Alyssa and I are saved. My father must’ve sent them after us, and not a moment too soon. Our entire species would be fucked if Hekate got her hands on me. Major crisis averted. I get to live another day and explore the wonders of the soulmate bond.
All of a sudden, the feeling of weightlessness disappears and my body crashes on the floor. I groan in pain, and though I’m finally able to move a bit, most of my muscles are still paralyzed.
Alyssa’s closeness battles the coldness of the floor. I don’t need to touch her to feel her, and for now, that’s enough.
“Your Highness,” Tiana says when she enters the room.
I manage to open my eyes a bit only to see her standing above me with two wolves from her pack behind her. She looks impeccable, clean, and without a hair out of place. It’s as if she and the Pack of Shadows didn’t just massacre a coven of eight witches.
Tiana lowers herself into a crouch and gives me a small smile, her horrific scar stretching to comical proportions across her face. “I’ve been wondering where he hid you. The bed’s been cold without you to warm me.”
Alyssa growls, the sudden sound feral and animalistic. Tiana jerks her head Alyssa’s way, not missing the possessiveness in the gesture.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Tiana asks, her eyes narrowing to thin slits. “You’ve been fucking me night after night, but you mate with this whore?”
“Watch your tongue,” Alyssa hisses, still sounding rather weak, but the fact that she’s already talking confirms just how strong she is. “Give me one reason, and I’ll tear it out for you.”
Tiana’s eyes darken, her face contorting with pure hatred. Unaffected by any of the spells and at her full strength, she’s fast as a flash of lightning when she moves and clutches Alyssa’s neck.
The bitch is crazy enough to kill her! My wolf exclaims, then dives his head into the vast well of Darkness to dig a path to our ability. If I can’t move to stop her, I need to use the shadows.
The two wolves accompanying Tiana leave, deciding not to interfere with their Alpha’s business. I’d like to think that I’ll remember their faces to punish them later, but I’m not so sure that the fog over my mind has cleared up enough.
Tiana’s lips curl up into a feral smile, her eyes locked on Alyssa, who’s not doing herself any favor by staring just as stubbornly and defiantly back at the crazy Alpha. Slowly, as if to make a point to show her superiority, Tiana’s nails extend into claws, breaking through Alyssa’s soft skin and drawing dark red drops of blood.
Faster! I internally scream at my wolf, desperate to do something to save my fated mate. I’ve never felt more useless than I do now. With the sleepy haze still affecting me with the heavy power of a coven, and the after-effects of being paralyzed, I’m unable to lift a single finger to stop the crazy bitch. I don’t even have a way to call her attention to me.
Alyssa’s face is turning blue, a stark contrast to the redness pooling from the wounds on her neck and onto Tiana’s hand. Her eyes are losing their spark, the life slowly leaving her. It’s not hers that dims first, it’s her wolf’s. This is the worst kind of torture for a shifter.
I need to do something not only to save Alyssa but to save her wolf inside her that makes her the person she is. Without her animal, Alyssa will never be the same; just an empty shell of the person she used to be.
Right on time, and not a moment too soon, my own wolf accomplishes its task, building a temporary shadow bridge that connects me with the powerful Darkness inside me. I don’t hesitate to claim it, to call it, and to use it.
My need is so great and my desire so strong that I don’t have to focus too hard or move my arms to help wield it. The Darkness responds with eagerness, aiming to please its master. There’s no time to come up with its shape nor the chance to think through how I want to achieve my goal as long as it gets done.
The shadows gather together as a cloud with the thickness of a wall. It slams directly into Tiana, throwing her several feet away from Alyssa. I don’t bother to look where she landed, my eyes are only for my mate.
