The world went silent.
Dani’s breath stuttered. Edith went rigid. Even the hybrids seemed to still, as though they’d felt a shift in the air.
Fenred leaned back, lounging like a man on a barstool, “Thought you knew,” he drawled. “I thought Salem kept its students educated. Seems not.”
“That’s impossible,” Edith said sharply, “hybrids are abominations, creations of…of whatever came before records began. Ancient magic. Forbidden magic.”
“Ancient,” Fenred agreed, “but not lost.” His gaze slid to Dani, slow and hungry. “Our master is very clever. Found witches willing to try. Willing to bleed for the cause.”
Dani’s stomach twisted. “No witch would willingly create a hybrid.”
“Willing is a flexible word,” Fenred said, “but some are useful. For a time.”
“Because it kills them,” Edith said, voice ice-cold as her eyes widened in understanding. “That’s why you always need more.”
Fenred’s grin widened. “Tears them apart from the inside. Magic wasn’t meant to bind that much power. But the master is patient. Witches die, witches break, we find more.”
Dani’s heart hammered painfully. “Why us? Why take all of us?”
Fenred’s expression hardened. “Because the master needs more. The ritual consumes witches. So we need a freshsupply. Willing witches have long since dried up. So, we take what we need.”
Dani surged against her bonds, “You won’t survive long enough to bring us to him. The packs will track us.”
Fenred laughed.
Actually laughed.
“Your wolves?” he said. “You think they’re enough? We have more hybrids in these mountains than the four packs have bodies. Enough to kill them ten times over.”
Dani felt the words like a slap.
Lie, she wanted to say.You’re lying.
But his voice held the weight of truth.
Terror rippled through the witches closest to her. The young Juneau witch made a small, broken sound. Dani forced herself to breathe. Forced herself to look him dead in the eye.
“You can threaten us all you want,” she said, steady and low. “But they’re coming. They’ll track you down. My mate will track you down.” She let the word hang.Mate.Let him hear the promise bound inside it.
Fenred’s grin sharpened. “Your mate,” he echoed. “Arthur is a fool. A sentimental, soft-bellied fool. He couldn’t even bear to let you fight.”
Dani’s jaw clenched. Shame and anger sparked under her skin.
“He will come,” she said. “And when he does, you will wish you had killed me when we were teenagers.”
Fenred’s nostrils flared. For a heartbeat, she saw the hybrid beneath, something stretched tight over a human shape, something that wanted to rip her throat out just to silence her.
Then he laughed again, ugly and delighted.
“Fire in you after all,” he murmured. “Good. The master likes witches who burn.”
Dani’s pulse lurched. Edith nudged her sharply, eyes screamingenough.
Fenred stood with a cracking roll of his shoulders. “We leave in thirty minutes,” he said to his troops. “Rest. When the sun sets, we move fast.”
He stalked away, barking orders.
Silence sank into the clearing.
