Page 78 of The Witch’s Daughter

“No.” I shook my head. “You’re wrong.”

“We don’t have enough time for this.” Gram reached out. Her hand was but a breeze as it caressed the side of my cheek. “You need to wake up. Your sisters will need you soon. Remember what I said?”

“Protect my sisters.” I knew that. I lived my life by it. “What else do you want me to do?”

“All of your sisters. They need you too.” Gram faded before I could ask “who,” cut in half by the sunlight that burst through the tent.

With bloodshot eyes and still coughing up bits of smoke, I saw Sarah Ossory standing outside the tent, peering into the darkness.

And suddenly Gram’s words made sense.

“Don’t go,” I choked out, trying to catch my breath as the incense cleared from my lungs.

Sarah turned and ran.

28

Jaxon

Tisiphone still cares for me.

I hadn’t messed everything up.

Or she could’ve just wanted to see me suffer. Though she wasn’t around to see Gentry land a punch to my gut as the two of us faced off in our pairs for hand-to-hand combat. It knocked the wind out of me, but not the smile off my face.

Because Tisiphone still wanted to see me even after I’d called her out.

Told you we should’ve done it sooner.

“Let me get this straight. Alpha Kera supports her being there?” Gentry whispered as he grabbed me by the shoulders, setting up his knee for a kick.

“Undercover.” I ignored the growling of my beast. “She says Tisiphone has a plan. We need to hold out a few more days.”

I moved out of the path of his knee, turning and grabbing the back of his neck in a headlock that was much gentler than it looked.

I may not have had much of a childhood, but these were the playmates I’d tumbled with a time or two as pups and I couldn’t imagine seriously hurting them.

“We all knew that.” Gentry tried to wrestle away from my hold.

“You did?” I stilled.

He tapped. Twice.

“Sorry.” I released him.

“No worries.” He wheezed. “It’s not your fault you can’t see through the protective mate haze. Not that I’m blaming you,” he hurried to add when I started growling, “but I’m surprised Vincent didn’t figure it out. Trish is a terrible actress. It’s going to be really obvious what she’s doing.”

I glanced around the field at the other paired fighters. Ahmad was working with Calla, and he was currently rethinking letting her have both her wolves in the fray as he tried to battle them off. Amir paired up with a beastly warlock. We’d been allowed to pick our partners for this round, but I had no doubt the rules would soon change.

“Does everyone know she had a plan?” I let Gentry peel my arm off his neck and then stepped into a fighting stance, trying not to let it bother me that, once again, I wasn’t privy to Tisiphone’s inner thoughts.

“I don’t think she has a plan plan.” Gentry chuckled as he swept out a half-hearted kick. “But I’m sure she’ll figure it out.”

“Stop!” Vincent’s voice wasn’t commanding like an Alpha bark, but it was strong enough to make everyone listen.

“Call off your dogs, witch,” Vincent said, coming to a halt outside Calla and Ahmad’s circle.

“No need for name calling, warlock.” Calla smirked as she whistled softly. The wolves released their jaws from Ahmad’s biceps and trotted back to her side.