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“Not anymore though,” Linc continued, giving me a genuine smile. “I can already see those cracks healing over.”
Noah tugged me into his lap and I turned to face him. “Why do you need to rest?”
“Well I pretty much ran here without stopping,” he admitted with a grimace. “And I was kind of in a coma until two days ago.”
I blinked at him stupidly, certain I hadn’t heard that right. “Excuse me?”
He sighed, wrapping his arms around me and tucking me into his body. “A lot of shit has happened, Cor. You better settle in.”
I sighed but snuggled in against him, the hard lines of his body impossibly comfortable as he held me close and filled us all in on everything he knew.
It wasn’t long until I was sitting straight again and shaking in anger. “I knew Mina hated me, but she’s actually using magic on the pack? Fuck, she’s working with the Queen isn’t she. Fuck!”
I pushed to my feet, slipping out of Noah’s grip and walking away from them all as Briar called my name. I didn’t stop though. I needed to escape, needed to release this bubble of emotion that was expanding in my chest. A maelstrom churned inside of me as I marched blindly into the forest, and I let out a frustrated scream as I cursed my own stupidity.
I knew it. I fuckingknewshe was up to something. I left them all in danger because of this ridiculous vendetta. This is my fault.
“It isnotyour fault,” Noah snapped, answering the words I had unknowingly spoken aloud and grabbing my waist, spinning me to face him.
I had abandoned the obvious path in my anger, pushing deep into the undergrowth and fully out of sight of the others. Tall, leafy trees surrounded us, their wide branches arching overhead and dimming the light to a muted green as they stood in their silent vigil. The air lay heavy with the scents of the fragrant herbs and small flowers that grew at our feet, and my eyes fell to a cluster of bright blue larkspur as I wrestled with my swirling emotions.
“Cordelia,” Noah urged, smoothing his calloused palms up and down my arms. “Look at me.”
My eyes obeyed his command, and I knew he could see the fury and guilt burning there as well as feel it through our connection.
“Sweetheart,” he breathed. “None of this is on you. Trust me.”
“Oh gods, the peace meeting is tomorrow night and they have no idea that Mina is working with the Queen,” I said, not really hearing his words as my thoughts raced and my gut churned. “Noah, they’ll be blindsided.”
I grabbed his forearms, my nails digging crescent shapes into his flesh. “Briar came to find me because the Queen is planning to slaughter them. Liam isn’t a fool, he knows something is up, but he’ll be expecting a straight fight. Even if he’s watching Mina, he won’t expect this level of betrayal. And Zeke has got so close to her again, he…”
I trailed off as a sudden realisation stunned me, panic still thrumming through me even as my heart seemed to stop.
“It’s Mina,” I croaked. “She’s controlling Zeke.”
Noah gave me a pained look that made my gut drop. “Maybe now, but I’m not sure you can blame her for what he did to you. We hadn’t seen her in weeks before that.”
The doubt in Noah’s eyes sent spears of pain through me, trying to crush my hopes that Zeke hadn’t purposefully hurt me. Something settled in my gut though, a knowing that I’d hit on the truth, and a surge of fury built in my chest that burned everything else away.
“I’m right,” I hissed. “I know I am. That belt of gems is my mother’s work; this is on her. I don’t know why, but Mina’s been using the Queen’s tricks to hurt us from the inside. She messed with Zeke, and now Liam’s walking right into a trap.”
I was shaking now, my fingers beginning to spark with power. A red haze was settling over my vision, my power rising fast as my emotions churned and my control threatened to snap. It was one thing to hurt me; she’d been hurting me for as long as I could remember, but I was apparently at my limit now that she was directly threatening the men I loved.
“Cor, breathe baby,” Noah pleaded, pushing his hands through my hair as it started to lift with the energy that was pulsing around us. “You have to calm down.”
“Calm down?” I echoed, my voice unsteady. “No. I need to find that bitch and show her exactly what happens to anyone who touches my mates.”
“We’ll find her, I swear it,” he growled, his eyes flashing wolf. “But as hot as your fierce, alpha-bitch attitude is, I need you to breathe for me before you lose control of all that power.”
My teeth clenched as I tried to reign myself in, but the rage still held me in a firm grip, sending sparks of magic darting from my skin. Vines burst from the ground to wrap around our feet, crawling up my ankles as a sudden wind blew through my hair and whipped around us.
I gave Noah a frantic look, a low curse falling from his lips before I squeezed my eyes shut and searched for some semblance of peace within me. The problem was, my fury felt justified and was still running hot in my veins, so it was proving difficult to remember why I needed to control it.
I sucked in a surprised breath as Noah’s hand wrapped around my throat and tugged me off balance, pulling me into his hard chest before crushing his lips to mine. His kiss was bruising, biting and utterly consuming, giving me something solid to focus on instead of the anger pounding through me.
Groaning into the wet heat of his mouth, I wrapped my still-flickering hands around his neck and pulled him closer. He grunted as my power ran over his skin, biting my lower lip hard enough to draw blood and leaving us both gasping.
“Fuck, Cor,” he breathed against my lips before trailing his teeth down my throat, nipping the sensitive skin and sending shivers rushing over me.
