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The contents dripped out slowly, seeming thicker than I’d first thought, but within thirty seconds, every drop was inside the wolf’s mouth.
I kept a hand lightly over her throat until I felt movement that I hoped confirmed she’d swallowed everything. Seconds later, the wolf’s fur took on a burnt-orange hue, then faded back to the normal charcoal color.
Her wolf sounded as if she were choking briefly, but then she quieted. My hands moved over her, confirming her breathing had evened out, but still, she hadn’t woken back up.
My hardened gaze cut to Ryder, but he was apparently already prepared for my wrath. “It’s not a cure-all. Kinsley still needs time to heal internally. Take her back to the house.”
“She was out here alone because she was saving your son,” I said in case he didn’t already know.
He nodded stiffly. “I heard, which is why I gave her that potion. It was the last one I had that I’d saved in case I needed it for Sammy one day. I figured I owed Kinsley that much.”
I watched him walk away with tense shoulders and his head slightly drooped.
The battle was over, but our fight was far from done.
Chapter37
KINSLEY
Ididn’t want to believe that I’d fought against a giant wolf and had gotten my ass kicked. Except, when I woke up in my room to three unknown women standing over me and a very menacing-looking Grayson looming behind them, I realized none of it had been just a nightmare. At least I’d won.
“Hi,” I croaked, my voice hoarse. I wasn’t sure if that was from injury or lack of use. Hell, I hadn’t even remembered shifting back to my current form, and someone must have cleaned me up because I was wearing one of Grayson’s shirts and what felt like shorts under the blankets.
“Hello, Kinsley Ash,” the eldest of the three said. “Do you know who we are?”
I tried to shake my head, but the action hurt. “No.”
The first one with silver hair, bright blue eyes, and faint wrinkles over her alabaster skin gestured to herself, then the two next to her. “We are the Crone, the Mother, and the Maiden.”
Holy. Fuckity. Fuck.
I’d heard of them growing up. The Triarchy. They werethewitches. Like, you didn’t get more badass than these three women. I had even dreamt of being one of them when I’d been a child, wishing I could have been powerful enough to leave the coven I’d resented.
“We heard you were here and had figured out your true nature,” the Mother said, her emerald eyes narrowing at me as if I’d done something wrong. Like I shouldn’t have been able to learn who I was on my own.
Then again, I hadn’t. I’d had Lia’s help and the bond with Grayson to make me see the truth buried deep beneath the lies.
“Twenty-eight years was long enough to go without knowing who I truly was, don’t you think?” I said snarkily, then I realized I should probably have just kept my mouth shut.
I was under no assumption that these three couldn’t pulverize me in an instant.
The Crone nodded curtly. “We were asked to keep you hidden, and that is what we did. Nobody ever said we had to lift the spell by a certain age.”
My eyes cast back to Grayson. He was remaining awfully quiet, and I briefly wondered if something had happened before I’d woken, but since I wasn’t sure how long these witches were going to be around, I wanted to learn what I could from them.
“Who told you to hide me?” I asked, wondering if they were who my mother had run off to, but also why she’d have gone to witches instead of another pack.
The Mother flicked ebony hair behind her shoulder and lightly chuckled. “Nobodytoldus to do anything. We were asked for a favor and chose to grant it.”
Right. That made more sense.
“Your mother came to us, offering her life in exchange for your protection,” the Maiden said, her voice almost ethereal and garnering my full attention. She wore a white linen dress that probably meant to highlight some sort of innocence. Her long, dark brown hair stood out in contrast over the linen material and her chestnut eyes blinked expectantly at me.
My heart instantly dropped into my stomach, and tears burned at the back of my eyes for a woman I’d never known but had always longed for.
“She’s…” I couldn’t even say the words.
The Crone sighed. “Your mother lives. At least, last we heard. We did not take her first offering of her life. Instead, we concealed your true form and her mate bond with Johnathon.”
