AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Kaz threw Roman to the side. The wolf shifter flew through the air and slammed into the wall. He fell to the floor with a whimper and didn’t get up.
I watched for a second, trying to feel a little remorse since he had been one of my wolves, but I couldn’t. Roman had betrayed not only Raika and me, but the entire pack. He had turned to our enemy and aided him.
That was unforgivable.
“Evelyn, now,” I said through gritted teeth.
The witch grabbed vials from her bag and threw them at the witch’s circle. The glow from the circle faded. Raika reached forward; she gasped when she stepped through it.
I couldn’t contain myself. I ran to her. To my surprise, she met me halfway. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and I held her tight against me. By the moon, how good it felt to have her back with me.
I held on to her while the others fought the battle.
Dot was up again, and Evelyn and Ash battled her. Before coming here, I had told them I wanted Dot alive, if possible. She was the only one who could break my damn curse, and I needed her. I saw as Evelyn struggled to rein in her anger and not fire any killing blow, while Dot didn’t hold back.
Evelyn flung a vial at Dot. It fell at her feet, breaking the glass, and a dark cloud of smoke enveloped Dot. When the smoke was gone, Dot had fainted to the floor. Evelyn and Ash secured her arms and legs with magical ropes, so she wouldn’t be able to escape.
On the other side of the room, Ariella’s magic and Kaz’s fire broke through Ivy’s shield, but Rotgar brought another one up. Ivy and Rotgar grabbed Paimon’s arm and helped him up. The three of them ran to a side door and disappeared through it. The shield fell and Ariella dashed to the door.
“It’s locked,” she yelled. She brought her hands up to blast it.
“No,” Raika said, her voice faint. But Ariella heard and stopped. “I … Please, don’t. Not yet. I … I have to work through my feelings, but there’s one thing I know: Ivy isn’t as bad as she seems. I don’t want to hurt her.”
Ariella looked at me. Ivy and Rotgar had taken Paimon to the rest of his demon gang who had been hiding in this abandoned building. If we went after him, we would have to face them all, and right now, all I cared about was taking Raika from here. And Dot too. We couldn’t lose Dot.
I nodded.
Evelyn ran up the stairs. “I can hear the demons coming this way. We need to go. Now.” She and Ash were the first to leave.
Kaz picked up a limp Dot in his arms and went up next. Ariella followed.
I offered my hand to Raika. When she took it, my heart squeezed. We glanced at where Roman was on the floor.
“I can hear his heartbeat,” I said, a little annoyed he was still alive.
“Leave him,” she said. “He lost his bargaining chip with Paimon, and now he’s packless. Being a lone wolf will be punishment enough.”
She was right, of course.
Holding hands, we left this damn place.
* * *
Ash sped awayfrom the building and drove at top speed for at least two hours. As soon as we left, I called Doreen and let her know where we had seen Paimon and that he was weak, thanks to Evelyn’s weakening spell. Though, it wouldn’t last long.
When the sun was setting, he stopped the car a spot away from their car, in the parking lot of a busy mall in north Vermont.
We all stood between both cars.
I extended my hand to Kaz. “Thank you for helping us.”
Kaz shook my hand with a firm grip. “My pleasure.”
“Good luck with the dragon,” Ariella said.
We also hugged and thanked Evelyn and Ash, who wanted to help Kaz with the dragon.
The three of them hopped into the other car and drove away. I knew this wouldn’t be the last time we saw them. It never was. The supernatural world had a way of pushing everyone together at one point or another.
