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33
Safely behind the wheel of Leland’s blue pickup, I drove through town with my hood up. If tradition dictated anything, they’d be heading away from the Alpha house, but with Zach still hanging around in town, I couldn’t’ be sure who I’d end up running into. The altar was in the woods behind the Neon, but the wolves could be coming from anywhere, and that didn’t even begin to account for the witches. Claudette and her cronies could be lurking anywhere.
Something sharp went through my chest, I slammed my foot down on the gas, and made a wide turn down the road that ran perpendicular to the Alpha House.
Right on cue, I saw three cars pulling out of the driveway in the distance. I kept my hood up, and leaned over in the seat a little, turning away from them as they passed. Anything to obscure their vision of me in the darkness. I counted a few more seconds, and then sat up glancing in the rearview mirror. My vision wobbled for a second, turning a strange shade of blue, and then my eyes adjusted, and I instantly recognized Adrian’s car, Dillon’s, and the one in the middle I guessed had to be Claudette’s black town car.
If they were leaving, I doubted anyone else would be at the house, especially after Zach’s comment about wrangling the pups. If they were there, they’d be expecting an attack on the house. Or so I hoped.
Switching off the headlights, I turned down the driveway, and rolled to a stop, pulling off the edge of the driveway into the shadows behind one of the trees lining the driveway. I slipped out and sniffed the air.
A lot of wolves had passed through, but their scents were all faint, and stayed faint as I ducked into the shadows along the side of the med tent and slipped around to the back of the house. Here some of the wolf scents were stronger. Some of them achingly familiar.
If I was going to face down Adrian and the witches, I needed to be sure he didn’t have Jamie in the basement, or someone else I cared about. I got close to the back door that led and sniffed the air sharply. There were two people on the other side. One I didn’t recognize, and a second, I did.
Forcing open the door, I spotted the guard that had been left behind immediately. She was sitting on the bottom of the inner staircase.
My jaw dropped. “Alice?”
“Eve?” She shot up from her perch. “I thought you were dead, or that you’d run off or something, Adrian said…”
“Adrian?” Maria laughed from inside the cell I’d previously occupied. “You can trust Adrian about as far as you can throw him.”
“And that’s being generous,” I agreed, closing the door behind me. “Is anyone else in the house or on the property?”
“No.” Alice shook her head. “They all went to the altar for the ceremony.”
“What ceremony? I heard Zach mention it in town, but I didn’t get the chance to ask him about it. They can’t be having my trial, because according to what Adrian told you guys, I attacked Claudette and ran. So….”
Alice paled, and glanced between Maria and I. “He’s binding the pack with the coven.”
An alarm went off in the back of my mind. “How?”
“By marrying your brother to one of Claudette’s daughters and binding their souls with a spell. It should give the coven’s power to the wolves and vice versa. At least that what Claudette is claiming. A binding like this has never been attempted before.”
“What’s the bond supposed to do?”
Alice shifted uncomfortably. “Claudette says it will give the witches the power to control our shape, and the wolves power over magic. We’ll share abilities.”
I arched an eyebrow at her. “And what does it really do?”
“Well…”Alice swallowed visibly. “I don’t know for sure, but from what I could tell when she was designing the bond, she wasn’t using normal bonding spells. She was using…”
My anger spiked as she trailed off. “Just spit it out.”
“She was using subjugation magic. I think she’s lying to Adrian, and planning to enslave the pack,” Alice blurted out, finally meeting my eye.
A cold weight sank into my gut, and I cleared my throat, gesturing toward Maria. “And why is she in the cage?”
“I punched Dillon in the face for believing Adrian’s lies,” Maria said, smiling from ear to ear.
“His judgment was compromised.” I sighed.
“So.” Alice asked. “Why are you here and not at the altar, killingsomeone?”
“I knew Adrian would either have Maria in a cage or Jamie. I came to make sure they were free, and grab a weapon,” I said, walking further into the room. “Did they leave you with a key to the cage?”
“No.” She shook her head. “But I don’t need one. I’m a witch, remember?”
