Chapter Twenty-Four
Adalyn woke slowly, stretching the stiffness from her body. Wade lay beside her, still fast asleep, worn out from their rigorous lovemaking. Images of what they had done filled her mind. The slightest of touches to the more enthusiastic motions, all of it new and unexpected. Surprised by her own natural instinct, she not only kept up with Wade, she matched him move for move. Remembering the look on his face as he entered her, or the gasp that escaped his mouth. The lust in his eyes as he dove in to kiss her…. She wanted to do it all over again.
Instead, she slipped from the bed and glanced back at him, guilt filling the pit of her stomach. It made her want to crawl back in bed beside him and forget about her plan, but this was something she had to do on her own.
Grabbing her clothes, she dressed as quietly as she could before hightailing it out of the room.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered as the door clicked shut behind her.
She had to work fast. Getting out of the house could prove difficult if there was anyone up and about at this hour. With a quick prayer to Freyja for a successful exit strategy, she closed her eyes and let her witch out to play.
Scanning the house, she searched for anyone who might be roaming the halls. She found her brother and his mate sound asleep in their bed. There were a few other beating hearts she was able to detect, but those seemed to be steady and resting as well.
The image of her father, held captive by her mother, stuck in her mind on a never-ending loop. The time she’d taken to spend with Wade seemed shallow and greedy when her father awaited, but she needed that time with him. She would gladly go to her death to save her father, if that’s what was required.
Chances were high her mother would kill her for the betrayal she was about to commit. There had never been any love between her and the woman who had birthed her. No matter how hard Adalyn had tried to connect to her mother—on any level that truly mattered, it had been an impossible feat.
Mariska was cold and calculating, always scheming up a plan for more majik—more power. Ice ran through her veins.
She couldn’t think of that now. Her focus needed to be on rescuing her father and getting him back home in one piece. And if she could do it without being detected, that would be a huge bonus. One she couldn’t count on, though.
It didn’t matter. None of it. She had one job, and that was to save her father.
As soon as she was free of the house, she called her wolf forward, knowing damn well it was the quickest way to travel. She still wasn’t one hundred percent comfortable with her wolf being in command, but she knew the animal inside of her wanted Bjorn back just as much as she did. It was all about learning to trust the animal inside of her just as easily as she placed her trust in her more majikal witch side.
The powerful, ancient majik swirled inside her. Instead of fighting it, she allowed calmness to flow through her body. Previous shifts had been rough, filled with agonizing pain and crippling fear of the unknown. She’d watched countless people shift into their wolf form at Black Paw with zero of the frustrations she felt.
It could be done.
She’d observed them time and again.
They’d all told her the same thing.
Don’t fight the shift. Stay calm and relax.
“Yeah, right!”she’d thought when she had asked what the secret was.
“It will be much easier on you if you listen to what your family told you. Don’t waste the strength on fighting the majik. We will need that energy for our task.”
Her wolf was right. It took a hella lot of energy to fight the change, and they needed to be at full strength if she had to go up against her mom. Adalyn sucked in a calming breath, filling her lungs as deep as she could before blowing it all back out on a long exhale. When she felt her muscles tighten, trying to force the majik away from her body, she took another deep breath and pictured herself as a wolf. When she opened her eyes, she stood on four paws instead of two legs. The transition from human to wolf had finally been seamless.
“Yes!”she shouted to her wolf. Power surged through every muscle in her body, similar to when she’d pledged herself to the pack and accepted Rafe as her Alpha. This was different. Not only did she have the power of her pack running through her veins, she also had the power of her mate.
“Let’s do this.”
* * *
Wade sprang out of bed, a stabbing pain piercing his chest. Reaching for his heart, he expected his hand to come away covered with blood and was pretty fucking thankful when it didn’t. He seemed to be okay.
The pain pierced his chest once again, dropping him to his knees.
“Our creator is calling us home,”his wolf panted through the pain.
“No! We have to help Adalyn rescue Bjorn.”Wade glanced over to the empty bed.
“She’s gone.”His wolf told him what his mind tried to comprehend.
His mate had left him to sleep while she headed off on a suicide mission. Dread replaced the blood flowing through his veins.“What is she thinking?”
