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“Stubborn as always,” William muttered, his gaze never leaving me. “Giselle, hurry up,” he barked.
Dread settled, and I couldn’t breathe. Whatever they were doing, it couldn’t be good. I strained against the invisible force holding me down, desperately trying to move or shift into my wolf form. Something was wrong. My connection to my wolf was fading, like a thick cloud was descending over it, obscuring its presence. My head foggy, I could barely focus on anything other than the distant drumming of my own heartbeat.
“Ridge...Ridge,”I repeated over and over in my mind, hoping against hope that he would hear me. At first, there was only silence, but then I heard the faintest echo of his frantic voice. Relief filled me, followed by desperation. I had to fight whatever was happening to me, for both our sakes.
An angry howl tore through the air, growing closer by the second. William’s eyes narrowed, and he turned to Giselle. “Are you almost done?” he demanded.
The chanting swirled around me like a frenzied storm, clawing at my senses. I forced myself to focus on the witch as she moved within the strange shape etched into the forest floor. Her dark hair whipped around her face, and her wild eyes gleamed with power as she continued her incantation. Nearby, William stood, hands on his hips, his impatient gaze flickering between Giselle and me.
The world around me shimmered and swayed as if I were viewing it through a hazy veil.
Giselle’s chanting intensified, and a tidal wave of panic threatened to drown me. I couldn’t lose my wolf. I couldn’t lose Ridge. They were part of me, an essential part, and I would fight with everything I had to save them.
“Ridge,”I said in my mind once more, desperation lending strength to my mental voice.“I need you.”
For a moment, there was only silence. Then, faint but unmistakable, I heard it. An angry wolf’s howl, growing closer by the second.
I tried to move, but my limbs were heavy, like they were weighed down by invisible chains. My wolf was so far away, almost unreachable, and it terrified me. As I struggled against the magical bonds, I suddenly heard his voice in my head, shouting and frantic.
“Ridge!”I focused all my energy on trying to communicate back to him.“I’m here! I need you!”
The distant sound of an angry wolf howl reached my ears again, growing ever closer, fueling my will to fight against Giselle’s magic. I had to hold on long enough for Ridge to find me.
“Is it done yet?” William paced impatiently, casting anxious glances in the direction of the noise.
“Almost.” Giselle’s concentration never wavered. “Her alpha wolf is strong, but it won’t be much longer now.”
“Why are you doing this?” I gasped out, confusion clouding my mind. “Giselle, your cure doesn’t work.”
“Ah,” Giselle said, a wicked smile playing on her lips. “My dear, I’ve discovered the mass cure requires something special to work properly. I’ve extracted so many miserable shifters trying to make this work. When Kyle brought the alphas to me at the compound, I was certain I had everything I needed, but after I removed the essence from that one miserable excuse, still, it failed.
“That’s when I realized what I was missing, my dear. Raw power, something unique and spectacular. When William and I discovered what you’d been hiding from him, what you are, I realized I need the complete extraction of an alpha wolf’s essence. Your sacrifice will rescue all the monsters. It is a noble and selfless act. You, Tori, have been chosen.”
“Chosen?” I spat, anger boiling inside me. “You’re stealing my wolf. Destroying who I am.”
“Exactly,” Giselle said smugly. “Once I have your wolf, my cure will be unstoppable. No shifter in town will be able to resist its power.”
“Then why me?” I demanded, fighting against the fog in my mind. “Why not use someone else’s alpha wolf?”
“Because, my dear,” Giselle said, eyes gleaming, “similar to a shifter, a woman is connected to the lunar cycle, which means a female alpha is doubly influenced by its phases. It infuses you. As a female, yours is the strongest alpha I’ve encountered, and your essence will guarantee my cure’s success.”
“Fuck you,” I growled, my vision blurring as I tried to push through the pain and disconnect from my wolf. “I won’t let you do this.”
“Alpha wolves are so annoyingly hard to come by,” Giselle lamented, her voice laced with disdain. “It’s taken me far too long to collect enough of their strength to weave into my magic.”
I tried to focus on her words, but the pain and disorientation were making it difficult. The bond with my wolf was slipping away, and I could feel I was losing a part of myself.
“You see, Tori,” Giselle continued, her eyes gleaming with malicious intent, “the essence of alphas is what makes my cure force shifters to obey the spell. It works by acting in the same as if they’ve been commanded by their alpha to never shift again, only more powerful because it blocks them from their wolf and wipes them of any memories of being a monster.”
“Monster? Is that what you think we are?”
“Of course.” She smirked. “Your dear father agrees with me. With your powerful alpha essence, my spell will work even better, and William can have his daughter back as he requested.”
My heart twisted at the thought of William wanting to strip away something so integral to who I was. Before I could dwell on it further, another howl pierced the air, this time much closer than before. Ridge was coming.
As Ridge’s howls grew closer, I found I could no longer hear him in my head. Giselle’s magic was blocking me from reaching my inner wolf. It was as if she was reaching inside my chest and pulling out a part of myself.
After finally becoming one with my wolf and being proud to be a shifter, I couldn’t bear the thought of losing that connection. I remembered my first shift, how my wolf had come out to protect me. She had been trying to protect me all along, and even now, I could feel her fighting with Giselle’s magic to stay with me.
