“Are we on the same page with this?” I asked Asher, holding back my third yawn.
One more and he threatened to carry me to bed, even though we both knew neither of us would be getting any sleep. The sun would be rising in an hour or so, which meant we had no choice but to start our day.
There was too much to do, but I refused think about that right now. I was happily curled up in Asher’s arms, surrounded by his scent and the soft material of the sectional we sat on. We’d been silent since getting home, both of us lost in our thoughts as we replayed the sad ending to Flora’s story.
Almost ten months Flora’s mother had until the witch gave birth to a little girl. One week later, Flora and her mother watched as their housed was engulfed in flames, destroying what sliver of home they both had. After that, life grew dark for the widowed Luna. Flora recounted the numerous times they moved over the years, always somewhere new. They stayed longest in other packs, but
I took a break from my usual schedule this week which is why Asher didn't receive as much attention. I'll be back on my schedule starting Monday! :) Thank you all so so much for reading!
Even though the sun was up and he’d surely be heading to sleep soon, we went to talk to Giovanni first. I was eager to get my hands on the magical text he managed to get, especially since Cordelia called and said she’d be back this afternoon to perform the séance.I put all of my focus towards getting this binding removed so I could get ahead of these witches and hopefully stop this mess in its tracks. There was every chance the witches working against us would find out and try to stop us, so the faster we moved the better.Since Asher refused to let me out of his sight for the day, he tagged along. Even in broad daylight I couldn’t help but keep my eyes peeled on these twisting and turning roads, waiting for another pair of dark boots.‘You alright?’ Asher asked, his voice flowing through my head. He glanced over at me from the driver’s seat and took a hand off the wheel to place it on my thigh.‘Yeah&hell
Tristan stalked off once Giovanni came downstairs, not giving the vampire so much as a glance. Clearly things were still tense between the two, but that was something they’d have to figure out on their own.‘We need to talk to Brandon and Clara about this.’ I told Asher through mind-link, ‘it’s no coincidence the place is destroyed hours after we left.’“This…” Giovanni’s gravely voice filled the air. In his arms was a thick leatherbound book. The pages were stained, but it was in surprisingly good condition. “…took a lot of convincing to get my hands on.”My best-friend hovered nearby, always glowing whenever he was in the room. I looked up at him, taking in his mountainous physique and curly hair. Thick brows hung low over eyes so dark they looked black. The connection between myself and the vampires under my rule wasn’t as strong as an Alpha and his pack, but I could tell th
While Breyona finished getting ready, Giovanni pulled me aside. The leatherbound book sat on the table between us. On its cover was a triangle with a circle inside. Inside the circle were different symbols, none of which I knew the names to.I couldn’t detect a trace of suspicion in his voice, only his usual amount of severity. “Your father deemed this important enough to have it locked in a vault. He wasn’t the kind person who passed up power, so if he kept it from the witches then it might be a good idea if you did the same.”Before heading to Cordelia’s for the séance, the three of us stopped by the hotel we had dropped Clara off at. Since it was on the way, it gave us the perfect opportunity to ask about the nightclub, which was now nothing more than a pile of rubble.I wasn’t surprised to find that Brandon had vanished early in the morning, never to return. Mason looked a bit disgruntled, his hair a mess and his fa
“Spirits from the other side……hear my words, hear my cry…Only one of you we do seek……a mother of two, whose secrets still sleep…We ask you to cross the great divide……to share the truth you chose to hide.”I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath until I felt Asher’s eyes on my face. Still, I couldn’t exhale. There was this part of me that was terrified I’d be disappointed, that the worst would happen, and she wouldn’t come.Through all the fights I loved the mother I knew, but I wished she were here to tell me this herself.Cordelia repeated her chant a second time, and then a third. The air around us was thick and heavy, like a tangible substance that weighed us down. I watched as Breyona wiped the sweat from her forehead with the sleeve of her hoodie. She pointed at it and grimaced, regret in her eyes. Asher was stoic, his
I didn’t have long to accept the fact that I’d just spoken to my dead mother’s spirit because we were on our way to find my grandmother, whose uncovered heritage I was also trying to process. Bright spot, grandma was with the rest of the town at the bake sale hosted in Carson’s memory.The plan was to grab Grandma and head back to the house to get the blood we needed. Cordelia had every other ingredient on the list and was surprised that the spell itself was a simple reversal spell. What made it complex was the final ingredient, grandma’s blood.Rowena was right, bake sales had a different meaning around these parts because what I had in mind involved perky PTA members with plates of store-bought chocolate chip cookies and children with fists clenched full of old ones and quarters.What I hadn’t expected to see was every sorority and fraternity milling around outside, hanging out in clusters of ten or fifteen. All of them shou
Asher would’ve killed him on the spot with only my word as evidence. That was how much he trusted me, how much he wanted to protect me. The gut-feeling twisting and tearing into my stomach like razor blades was telling me to scream for my mate—or worse, tear Lars’s throat out myself. I had to keep my cool, especially at a bake sale for a girl who had just been murdered. There was no way I could cause a scene. I couldn’t accuse Lars of something like this with nothing more than a hazy memory of black boots and a gut-feeling that set off a symphony of alarms in my head. His lips curved up in an amused smile, which was my only warning that I had taken too long to answer. Keeping my eyes on his face and not on his boots was excruciating, but I wasn’t sure if he had seen me look the first time. If this gut-feeling of mine was correct—which both witches said it would be, then that meant Lars was connected to all of this. Perhaps he was a puppet and
Sean stopped us just as we were getting into the car, his arms piled high with sweets. Like dad, he chose to stay behind for the séance. He hadn’t spoken much of the day mom died, but Sean found closure for that on his own.In a way, Sean made getting over mom seem easy, but I knew the truth. No matter how disciplined, a person could only take so much pain. The agony of losing your mate was said to be the worst in existence. Just the thought of Asher fading was unbearable. Never hearing the husky sound of his voice in the morning or feeling his hair through my fingers as he showed me how loved I was with his lips and tongue; it was a fate I wouldn’t wish on any wolf.Some part of Sean seemed to be at peace when I told him that mom looked happy, that the smile she had was genuine and warm. I wasn’t sure if I’d have some talent for spirit magic like Cordelia or if my skills were elsewhere, but I liked to think that Sean wasn’t alone a
“Of course you aren’t, and even if you did catch on fire that’s what Cordelia is here for.” I waited for Cordelia to laugh or smile, to show some sign that Rowena was joking, but all she did was nod. “Plus your friend has a fire extinguisher.”Breyona held up the fire extinguisher and grinned, which did absolutely nothing to ease my worries.“What’s going to happen to her?” Asher’s voice held an edge that silenced the room. He looked at me as he spoke, softening his tone so it didn’t sound like he was ready to start murdering people.The smooth lines of Rowena’s face sharpened, and she gestured to grandma. “First I’ll be needing her blood. It’s the final ingredient in the potion Lola and are to drink. From there I’ll unravel the bind by hand.”“I thought Cordelia was removing the binding spell?” I asked, shuddering as I repressed a ru