AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Witches,” Pandora corrected, “normally all agree on who will become Bonded before the ceremony. We don’t keep picking up strays as we go.”
“Tell me about my father,” I begged.
“I told Preston not to fall for that mangy shifter, but he said he loved Lilith.”
I restrained my wolf, who urged me to snarl and snap just like she was doing. But even though my mother’s name fell from Pandora’s lips with a condescending tone, I still treasured hearing her name once more. Pandora and I walked side by side, as though she hadn’t just insulted my mother.
“My brother refused to see reason, even moving with her to these savage lands, away from the safety of the covens. He got himself cast out and became a mage for her, and for what?” she scoffed. “As far as I’m concerned, you and your mother are the reason he’s dead.”
“But I—”
Pandora glared at me as though I’d personally shit in her cereal.
“You’re no blood of mine.”
I shook my head. All this time I’d longed to find my family, and now that I finally had, she hated me. Which didn’t add up.
I stopped in my tracks. “Then why are you here?”
Pandora faced me fully, coming to a stop as well. The hairs stood on the back of my neck. Why did I feel like she had me right where she wanted me? My fingers twitched, itching to open the satchel, but I didn’t want to give anything away.
I glanced over my shoulder, but Flint stood impassively, as though unconcerned with anything Pandora had said. Didn’t he realize she might be a threat?
“I always wondered whether bottling up your magic would stifle its growth. But you’ve proven you can sense magic even though you can’t access it,” Pandora smiled triumphantly at me, “which makes it ripe for picking.”
She outstretched a glowing hand, and I flinched away, stumbling backward, my heart hammering. I twisted, reaching out to Flint. But the moment my hand found his, he shimmered and… disappeared. My hand passed through nothing, and I almost fell.
I gasped in shock as I recovered my footing. Flint hadn’t followed me. I was alone.
“Pretty good illusion, right?” Pandora cackled like an actual villain.
I’d been so foolish to take my dream at face value… to send those wolves away. Wolves who were probably assigned to protect me in my mate’s absence. That’s why they hadn’t reacted to Flint’s growl… they hadn’t even seen the illusion of him.
“This might hurt a little.” Pandora’s eyes lit up as though the thought thrilled her.
I snatched the handgun out of the satchel, raised it, and fired.
The bullet tore through my aunt’s sternum and disappeared without a trace. Her expression remained fixed on me, unmoving. Unnaturally still… frozen.
Gage!I screamed inside my mind, hoping the bond would somehow carry my desperate thoughts to him.I’m at the edge of packlands.
Run,my own wolf answered.
The entire world rippled around me. I no longer stood in an inviting, open clearing. Illusions peeled away to reveal a sloping hill and dark crags all around us. My aunt stood a few feet away in a different direction, her expression furious. She’d fooled me with an illusion of herself.
“How dare you shoot at me, you ungrateful half-breed! I saved your life as a child!”
I whirled to face her, raising the gun in the hopes of actually hitting her this time.
Pandora’s hands flew up, and pain arced into me, radiating from my stomach outward to my limbs. The gun clattered to the stones at my feet. Invisible magical needles lanced my lungs, stealing my breath away and making me bow before her in agony. All the blows I’d suffered, all the split lips, all the vicious kicks, all the broken bones… none of it compared to the pain I suffered at Pandora’s hands.
“Denraider would’ve killed you. Those dogs don’t care whether a witch is an adult or an infant. They’re rabid, feral beasts. I spared you from that fate.”
She said it as though she were merciful, even as her magic painfully wracked through me. I couldn’t run or even form coherent thoughts.
The endless suffering of this eternal moment tortured me into a soundless scream. And something inside of me… began to come loose.
“Give me your magic,” she said through clenched teeth.
