Page 71

We’re burning on the inside. My wolf practically disappears in the back of my mind, but we don’t shift back to my form. I can’t do that again so soon because it would only exhaust us more.

I lunge for the front door and hit a fucking ward. It throws me backward without mercy, and I hit the ground on my side.

Fucking witches.

I pick myself up and grab on to the bond in my mind, trying to keep it from falling apart.

Suddenly, it flares. New magic coasts along it, flowing into me. Her magic. I’d recognize its feel, its scent. It wraps around the bond like a balm, easing the pain.

The ward explodes. As a human, it wouldn’t be visible. Maybe just the crackle of energy being displaced. But as a wolf, I see the bare hint of blue hue shatter and dissipate on the wind.

Then, silence.

I leap forward again, hitting the door with my front paws. It creaks and gives, falling forward. I go with it and land in a wide foyer. It’s this kind of opulence that makes my disgust double.

I listen, but the only sound in the house are faint heartbeats. A lot of them.

The bond pulses, still intact. Somehow. I follow it to the back of the house, to a room off the kitchen. I round the corner and stop dead at the sight before me.

My lips pull back, and a growl pours out of my throat.

She’s facedown on the kitchen table, wearing only her jeans and boots. Her fingers twitch on the table, curled around the edges. There’s black liquid seeping from the jagged claw marks in her back, and I snarl at the heavy copper scent of blood in the air. Her forehead is pressed to the table, the planes of her back tense and tight. I pick out her sluggish heartbeat.

All around her are a dozen witches, but they’re all on the floor.

Unconscious. Their heartbeats are slow, but not nearly as bad as Astra’s. The rise and fall of their chests are shallow.

I pick out Astra’s heartbeat again. It should soothe our bond, but it only makes me angry. Her nails are bloody and torn, her blood dripping to the floor. Her body suddenly relaxes. Her hands, which held so tightly to the edges of the table, slip off.

She was holding it together to survive.

She would’ve survived, too, with or without me. If I wasn’t here, I have no doubt that she would’ve pushed herself up from the table and limped out on her own two feet.

Rage like I’ve never known fills me. They would’ve killed her for the bond that ties her to me. They nearly succeeded.

I tear into one of the downed witches before I can stop myself. She doesn’t wake, but there was never a chance for her. I rip through her jugular and her windpipe. The familiar burn of witch blood coats my tongue and jaw, my neck and chest. I shake her body, snapping her neck for good measure before jerking free and moving past her.

To the only one who matters.

My wolf nudges Astra’s limp hand, licking at her fingers. Her blood is sweet, but there’s no trace of magic.

She doesn’t respond.

This is gonna hurt.

I shift back into my human form. My muscles scream at me, but I put my discomfort aside. I crouch in front of her, our faces are level. I brush her hair out of her face, examining her expression. She’s breathing but unconscious. My skin prickles at the danger we could find ourselves in, alone and surrounded by a coven of witches. Even though they, too, are incapacitated.

Packs hunt covens. There’s never been a good instance of a single wolf taking on a coven as long as I’ve been alive. Pack hunting keeps us safe, keeps us alive. And with the death toll the curse exacts on us, we can’t afford to lose any more than we do.

I scoop Astra up and carry her out of the room, my jaw set. No matter the danger here, they need to pay.

They hurt her.

Kill them all, my wolf says, reappearing in my mind with a vicious snarl.

The snarl pours out of me, too. Astra doesn’t wake up when I set her down on the couch. The tips of her hair are stained pink and black, the blood from her back giving off a pungent smell that’s entirely unlike her.

I roll her onto her side and examine the marks again, then press my palm to the wounds. I pour my healing magic into it, more than I’ve ever given her before. But her magic is curling inside me, too, humming in my blood. I’ve never felt such a thing, and I know it came from the blast she sent down our mate bond.