Page 42

We’re so fucking close to figuring this shit out. The Seer, finding Astra—it’s going to work.

He of all people should understand, but he’s right. In my effort, I haven’t paused to give my pack any sort of explanation. They know I disappear occasionally.

They know I’ve returned with a witch, and they already hate her. They don’t understand what she can help me with because I haven’t bothered to tell them.

I rub my eyes.

“I’ll speak with the pack tomorrow,” I say. “But, Roman, I need you to know that if my sister dies…” I can’t finish the sentence. What would I do in my grief? Kill him? Exile him?

Shame fills his features, but he’s already nodding. “There’s no if, Alpha. When she dies, I’ll cast myself out. Or I’ll fall upon your claw. Whatever fate you decide.”

Before I caught Astra, Jessamine’s fate—and the fate of all female wolf shifters—was sealed by the curse. Now, a tiny blossom of hope has planted in my chest.

And how I hate it.

It’s dangerous. It’s insane. Thinking of my sister being around to raise her pup is almost nonsensical, but I’ve latched on to it. And that hope is as hot as a coal between my ribs, not letting me forget that it’s there. I only need to breathe upon it, and it’ll burst into flames.

“Stick with if,” I utter. “I’ll continue on alone from here.”

He contemplates my words in silence and inclines his chin. He knows a clear dismissal when he hears one.

Leaving him behind, my thoughts circle back to Astra. The demon. Her frozen skin.

The power, then lack of it. Why didn’t she fight the demon off? It almost killed her. If I hadn’t been there, it would’ve crawled inside her. I’ve never seen such a thing, unless that’s what happened to the girl. She was possessed. She opened her mouth and the demon spoke. The demon controlled her magic.

Would it have been able to control Astra?

Unless that was her plan. She could be a skilled actress that I’ve let slip right into the middle of my pack. She could’ve summoned the demon, even though she denied it with surprising vehemence.

Too many mysteries to solve.

Her mother should worry both Astra and me. Finding the answer to that should be priority number one.

What does a demon want with a Seer?

I know what I wanted from her. I wanted the way to break the curse. I wanted her to give me the best path to succeed. Jessamine’s countdown ticks away in the back of my mind. From twenty-eight weeks, down to twenty-seven. Soon to be twenty-six. The weeks will pass by too quickly, and eventually, my sister’s pup will emerge into the world.

I need Jessamine to live through it.

We lost one sister already. She succumbed to the wolf instinct, the same one that has caught Jessamine in its snare. The one that drives us to mate, to breed. To have children. The one that completes the curse—and kills mothers before their newborns have drawn their first breath.

My wolf stirs at the idea of mating, even knowing that future.

I’ve got him to worry about, too.

There’s a process for completing the mate bond beyond fate’s hand at work. Once you’ve found your mate, it doesn’t just connect you, like snapping your fingers.

There are steps. Rituals. Things that have been the way of wolves since before my father’s father could remember. But they always used to whisper that it was to make sure both wolves want it. That they agree.

But I now think that’s just a way to undermine fate. At the very least, the wolves can give fate a run for its money. Having felt the pull of my wolf toward Astra, I don’t know how anyone would reject their mate.

But not a witch.

The first is the bite.

Smugness radiates from my wolf. He’s paying attention to my line of thought, following along as I consider what else would need to happen for Astra and me to complete the bond.

I grimace.