AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I set the trunk down beside Ruby and looked up at her face under her hood. The inside of the hood was lined in a crimson that matched her lipstick. She looked regal, like a queen. I wanted to tell her she was beautiful, but instead I blurted out, “Is the trunk all right here?”
“Yes.” She nodded, her lips parting just enough to drive me to distraction. “Thank you.”
She opened it and removed a small table and good-sized crystals. She withdrew a jeweled dagger, tucking it into a sheath on her belt, and then distributed a white candle to each witch. They took their places around the circle. Lillian stopped in front of the table. Her robe was a deep-violet color, and the fur along the edge of her hood was black instead of brown like the rest of the coven. She held up a thick black candle.
Ruby took out a bronze plate and set it on the table with some crystals in a grid pattern. I looked over at Mathias. He would start the night’s ceremonies. I would ascend for the pack, and then Ruby would claim her place as the high priestess.
Lillian nodded to the witches, and Ruby pulled a gnarled branch from the wood pile. She lit the tip in the flames of the bonfire before carefully delivering the fire to each of the witches’ candles. They chanted something and the air stilled around them as the clouds rolled in, blanketing the stars and enfolding the night in silence. The crackle of the fire was the only sound.
Once the candles were lit, Mathias raised his arms toward the sky. “I call on our ancestors, the wolves of Salem, to recognize a new Alpha.” He moved behind me, placing his hands on my shoulders. “Strengthen him with the power of the eternal wolf pack.”
I looked up at the black sky overhead and shouted, somewhere between a howl and a scream. Gradually, the pack joined me, bellowing to the heavens. I dropped to my knees, my arms outstretched, bellowing until my voice finally cracked. A current of energy ran through me, making my skin tingle. The hair on my arms rose.
It didn’t hurt exactly, but something was changing, and I was powerless to stop it. From the ground, I looked to the dark sky. In the clouds above us, my red wolf appeared, and one by one, the rest of the pack joined him. I stared at the vision as more wolves gathered. I didn’t recognize them. Maybe they were the ancestors Mathias had invoked. My eyes burned, getting hotter the longer I focused on the wolves. The weight of their presence sat on my shoulders until entire body ached. The responsibility was now mine. My chest heaved as the massive wolf pack faded into mist. The howls around me vanished, too, and the silence of the cold night air settled in.
Mathias moved beside me and offered his hand, pulling me up to my feet. “It’s done.” He looked around the circle and shouted, “It’s done!”
Across from me, in the inner circle, Ruby smiled. I nodded and focused on my packmates again. “We stand tonight with the Coven of Light to guard them as they welcome a new high priestess. This begins a new chapter where we work together to end the hunters who come for our pack and the shadows that threaten their coven.”
It was Ruby’s turn now. She met my eyes, and my lips curved in a secret smile just for her. My mate.
Lillian lifted the black candle. “I call the magic into our circle. Protect us as we raise our sister to lead us.”
The rest of the coven lifted their white candles and answered, “We call forth the magic of the elements.”
Ruby stepped in front of the fire and lowered her hood. Her eyes met mine, and for a second, I couldn’t breathe. She was my air.
She opened a thick grimoire on the table, and a white snowflake drifted down from the sky, settling on her dark-brown hair. Snow, in late April. A chill shot down my back, and from the depths of my soul, my wolf snarled, clawing his way into my consciousness.
At first, I figured it was because of the ceremony. We were the Alpha now, after all. But as I sniffed the air, glancing back into the darkness behind me, I realized we weren’t alone. Even with my heightened sense of smell and hearing, nothing seemed off, but there was…something. A new intuition like a sixth sense I hadn’t had before. Was this my Alpha gift?
Ruby recited incantations with the coven echoing her, but all I could see was the gathering snow on the ground. Her vision.
But I was a wolf in the vision. That wouldn’t happen for two more weeks.
I sucked in a slow breath and caught something I’d never encountered before. On the surface, it had an overpowering sweetness, like fresh cotton candy, but there were also undertones of decay and rot. What was happening to me?
Ruby lifted her hands. I tried to focus. She was about to fly. This was her big test that would allow her to ascend to high priestess. The coven chanted, the words taking on a lyrical, almost melodic cadence as Ruby rose above them. She’d done it.
We’d done it.
As soon as her feet landed softly on the ground, I tapped Wyatt’s shoulder and whispered, “Do you smell something…odd?”
He sniffed the air and shook his head. “No.”
I looked into the darkness again and back at Wyatt. “I need to check it out. I’ll be right back.”
He grabbed my shoulder. “You’re the Alpha now. I’m not letting you go alone.” He cracked a little smile. “Can’t have you walking into a bear trap.”
“Fine. Let’s be fast.” With any luck, we’d be back before the coven finished their ritual.
CHAPTER 21
Ruby
Inailed thelanding. And when the coven parted enough for me to see the outer circle, Zeke was gone. Luckily, I’d practiced the ritual order so many times that I could recite the incantations in my sleep because now I was distracted. He knew tonight was important to me. He wouldn’t have just left.
Lillian stood beside me and placed her hand over the offering cup. I drew my jeweled dagger from my belt and pricked the tip of her finger. The coven chanted as three drops of her blood fell into the bronze chalice. Then I punctured my own finger and added my blood to the cup.
