Silas, still in wolf form, finally reaches the two rivals and stops directly beside Travan. The crazy bastard grins down at the wolf and then begins to pet him, all the while conversing with Delaney as if this is a casual Saturday night and he’s out at the park with his dog.
Delaney nods in response to something Travan says then takes a step back. She lifts her hand in the air—the one that once had a blade in it. A gaping hole remains, oozing blood.
All at once, the fighting witches are tossed in one direction while the shifters fly in the other. I stagger back as well, the force of her raw power nearly sending me onto my ass.
“Enough!” Her shrill voice echoes through the clearing. She turns towards her coven. “We will be leaving now.”
“What?!” This comes from the black-haired witch I noted earlier. Incredulity colors her tone. “After what they did?—?”
“We will be leaving,” Delaney repeats, her eyes narrowing on the woman. “Or do you wish to challenge me, Merida?”
Merida opens her mouth, closes it, and then bows her head submissively. Delaney nods as if that’s what she expected.
Without another word, she begins to walk towards the forest, her coven trailing behind her. A few of them stop to retrieve their dead, but no one talks. Blood is smeared across the asphalt and grass, glinting in the moonlight.
One by one, the witches disappear from sight. Literally disappear. It’s as if they’re being swallowed up by the darkness itself, becoming one with the night.
I watch them go, my mouth agape, until Travan claps his hands together cheerfully and bounces from foot to foot.
“That was fun, wasn’t it?” he asks.
“Meeting. Inside. Now,” Kyle hisses, directing this at Silas, Travan, and surprisingly Gerry. He then turns towards the three of us. “You three as well.”
“I need to find Ethan,” I protest. “And Izzy.”
“And Christian,” Ashton adds, his fingers tapping rhythmically against his thigh.
It feels like I can’t breathe with my mate and twin gone. They’re two pieces of my soul—different but equally important. Watching all those wolves die earlier this evening taught me one thing.
Life is too short to be angry.
I need to find Ethan, tell him I forgive him, and work to reconcile. Maybe we won’t be able to repair our relationship completely, but we can certainly try.
Then I’m going to take Izzy in my arms, spin her around, and confess that I’m falling in love with her. I may not be there entirely yet—I haven’t been in love before, so I have no idea what it even feels like—but I know that my heart skips a beat whenever she’s in the room. That I can’t think when she’s gone. That even just the thought of her hair makes my hands clammy.
We need to find them. Soon.
“This isaboutIzzy,” Kyle tells us, his face drawn tight.
Ashton eyes the older man with barely veiled disdain. “This has something to do with you three being Izzy’s biological fathers?”
All of the color drains from Kyle’s face. “W-what?”
“We know,” Ashton says curtly, his eyes narrowing. “Sheknows. I don’t know why you think you have a say in anything to do with her after you abandoned her for?—”
Ashton flies through the air and smacks into a tree. He twists midway and transforms into a wolf, his claws digging into the earth. He growls low.
“Oops.” Travan deadpans from where he stands directly where Ashton once was. “My hand slipped.”
Ashton lowers his head, another growl rattling his chest, but Kyle moves to stand between the two men, his arms raised to fend them off.
“Enough.” He levels the two of them with an indecipherable look before gritting out, “Inside. Now.”
Sixteen
IZZY
Iwake with a jolt, my head spinning.
