“We stay,” Tor snaps.
“He has a point,” Jasper drawls from the back seat.
Rune growls, low and menacing, and Tor twists in his seat, teeth bared.
“Oh puh-lease, cut the theatrics,” Jasper says. “We all know if Cora is in any danger, I’m the best person to have around. I can be with her in a blink.” He smiles thinly. “I can even take you three with me.”
“We don’t need your fucking help,” Tor snaps.
“I wouldn’t be so hasty,” Jasper says. “You might not like me, but I’m not going anywhere. Best to learn to live with me. Cora needs us all.”
“Cora doesn’t need you, Jasper.” Tor’s lip curls. “You need her.”
“Maybe at one point.” He shrugs. “But things have changed, and you know it. You’re bonded to her, after all. Don’t tell me you can’t feel it.”
Tor and I exchange glances. Jasper is right. Cora cares about him, and those feelings aren’t clouded by a mating bond. So there is no doubt as to their validity. The only thing holding her back is the seal and her doubts as to what exactly Jasper is.
What is he? Rune says, as if reading my thoughts.
Jasper rolls his eyes. “Bored. I might take a peek on Cora all by myself.”
“Don’t,” Tor snaps. “She wants to do this alone.”
But I’m fixated on the fact that Jasper just responded to Rune…had he heard his thoughts?
He’s running away, Rune says. He’s trying to avoid my question.
Jasper snorts. “I don’t run from anything.”
Oh shit. He can hear him.
Rune stares at him levelly. You hear me.
“I’m connected to Cora. Of course I can fucking hear you.”
Well, that begs the question as to what else he can pick up.
“Too fucking much,” Jasper mutters.
So much for his connection being separate to the anchor bond we have with Cora. Tor’s jaw ticks. Yeah, he is thinking the same thing.
Stop dodging my question, Rune says. What are you?
“I’m a malevolent spirit.”
“And what is that?” Tor asks. “Who were you when alive? Were you ever alive? Where did you live? What did you do?”
A dark look crosses Jasper’s face and then his mouth flattens. “My life is none of your business.”
And then it hits me. “You don’t know, do you?”
Jasper’s jaw ticks and he looks out the window. “I remember being a captive. Being a blood witch’s plaything. I remember being bound to brick and mortar over and over again until she came. Until she set me free.”
Cora.
“I need her, yes. But I want her too.” His eyes blaze. “And nothing and no one will come between us.”
Tor growls and lunges between the seats, hand reaching for Jasper just as a sharp shock passes through me, followed by a desperate tug in my solar plexus.
We all freeze, gazes going wide.
“Cora,” we say in unison.
“Grab hold of me,” Jasper orders.
We do as he asks, and then the world splinters.
Chapter Twenty Cora
Heat rushed through my limbs, adrenaline pooling in my veins. My connection to the guys flared and thrummed in my chest, a deep vibration that made my teeth ache. I focused on it, sending the bat signal because there was no way we could take on the varga alone. Unable to shift and without weapons, the wolves were defenseless.
I dipped and drew my daggers from my boots, then stepped in front of Halle. “Back off, fuckers.”
Okay, I probably looked ridiculous to them. What damage could one witch with no access to magic and two daggers do to three vicious varga? But I wasn’t planning on having to fight them. All I needed to do was stall until the call I’d sent out was answered.
“Cora, no!” Halle grabbed my arm.
“Have you got weapons?”
“No.”
“Then hush.”
The three varga had fanned out to circle us. One was larger than the others with fur so thick and spiky it looked like spines. It watched us with pale, arctic-blue eyes.
Three-on-one, effectively.
Not great odds if Tor, Leif, and Rune didn’t get here on time, but it was my fault the wolves had shifted to human form. A silver wolf dashed into the clearing and froze.
“Astrid, run!” Halle cried.
The silver wolf looked from the varga to me. I saw indecision in her gray eyes and then her lip curled, eyes flashing as she leaped over the varga and landed in front of me. She growled deep in her throat, body vibrating in warning.
Fuck, who would have guessed.
Okay, so part of me wanted to kick her for not listening to Halle and getting backup, but as another varga materialized from the shadows, I couldn’t help but be grateful for her presence. If the guys didn’t make it…
I twirled my daggers and fell into a defensive stance. “Get out of the circle as soon as you can. Put distance between you and them so you can shift.”
“Yeah,” Halle said. “Not leaving you.”
“Right now, you’re a liability. You get bitten or scratched, and you’re fucked. As soon as the guys get here, you run.”
“The guys?” I heard confusion in her voice.
My lips curved in a smile as heat flared in my chest. I resisted the urge to close my eyes and revel in the thrum at my solar plexus. This was their answer. They were coming. My wolf mates were on the way.
The varga inched in slowly, gaze passing over me dismissively to fix on the women behind me. Astrid snapped at them in warning, inching forward to urge them away.
I joined her, slashing out with my blade to ward them off.
Come on, guys. If these fuckers attacked, we were fucked. Wait, why hadn’t they attacked yet?
Shadows moved around us, and three figures stepped into the clearing. Guys I didn’t recognize, dressed in strange clothes that looked like they were made of stitched-together leather. Furs hung around their necks and their hair was long, shaggy, and golden. Piercing blue eyes sat in faces that may have been handsome if not so gaunt. Their frames
