I shut my eyes and stopped running my mouth before a tingling sensation spread all over my body. Surprised gasps and whispers quit abruptly before chirping birds replaced them.
“You can open your eyes now,” Harlow whispered, keeping a hold of my hand. “I’ve cast a cloaking spell on us. We can’t be seen.”
I opened my eyes and my brows raised. “Damn, little witch. You impress me every fucking second that goes by.”
She’d teleported us onto their territory in a thick part of the woods, and we didn’t have to cross their border so we were less likely to be noticed. It was fucking insane she could do that without even being there before.
“I’m pretty great.” She lifted a shoulder as a breeze swept through the fine strands of her hair. “Anyway, we should be okay to walk around and get a feel of things.”
I pulled her hand until she was flush against me before bending down and kissing her plump lips. “You’re seriously the sexiest woman alive.”
She smiled against the kiss. “Focus. We can kiss later.”
“Fine.” I huffed as I pulled back. “His pack is this way.” I interlaced our fingers and started walking east. I’d scouted his territory in the year I’d decided to get my revenge but it didn’t matter how well I knew his land, the bastard was a monster who had mindless killing machines as warriors to protect him.
We made it to the edge of the wooded area before the clearing that held his packhouse. Lockhart’s pack members covered it, but they didn’t mingle about. Everyone kept to themselves except to start a fight. The wolves were aggressive as fuck, feral even.
They were always asshats, but never that much. A weird, sinister feeling clouded the atmosphere of the pack grounds. I couldn’t wrap my mind around it, but being here gave me chills.
“What’s that smell? It’s like sunflowers and magic. It’s… almost warm?” A guy with long brown hair stopped waking as he was passing us.
“Magic?” Another passerby chuckled. “That’s fucking stupid. You know magic isn’t warm. It’s ice-cold, dumbass.”
“The fuck did you say to me?”
“You heard me.”
The two wolves shifted and went after each other’s throats. Harlow huddled into my side and I wrapped my arm around her. The one that had the long hair lasted a few seconds before the other wolf tore his throat out.
Fucking shit. My eyes must’ve been ready to bulge out of my sockets. I’d never seen two pack members fight to the death over something so fucking trivial. Lockhart was insane. Looking around, none of the other wolves were concerned. They just went about their damn business like a member didn’t just get murdered in front of them by another.
As the wolf trotted away wearing its prey’s blood, I moved Harlow toward a big tree. “Can you teleport us to the highest branch?”
She nodded, taking my hands and teleporting us high up in the tree.
I sighed. “We should be able to observe better from up here.”
“Good thinking.” Her voice shook a little.
“I’m sorry you had to see that.”
She winced. “It’s fine. I just wasn’t expecting this pack to be so brutal among their own.”
“Me either actually. That’s new…” I trailed off as I noticed her stare go blank. “Harlow?”
She flinched, whipping her head toward me with wide eyes. “I sense magic.”
“Why do I feel like you’re not talking about your own?” I rubbed my chin. We couldn’t catch a fucking break.
“Mindlink the pack now. Tell them there’s a possibility they are working with a dark coven. I’ve felt magic similar to this, but not nearly as cold as what I feel now.” Fear pulsed through our bond. “That must’ve been why that wolf said that earlier.”
I’d only felt fear from Harlow once before and that was the first time we’d met.
Alpha? I mindlinked Riley, and she immediately answered.
Did you infiltrate the pack?
Yes. I told her. But Harlow thinks Lockhart is working with a dark coven of witches.
We’ve never dealt with witches before. Should we regroup and have you all come back?
My heart jumped. No. We will contact you in an hour.
We’d come too fucking far to stop now. Harlow and I’d push through until they showed up tonight.
Harlow scooted closer to me on the branch and rested her head on my shoulder. “We’ll be okay as long as we stay cloaked.”
The hesitation in her voice wasn’t lost on me, and I pulled her into my chest.
We were quiet for the next hour with a fog of tension hanging over us. We’d observed the wolves and noticed some anomalies. They were bloodthirsty killers from the start, but not within their own pack—and yet they were taking their own out. We’d witnessed three more fights to the death among their pack members for no fucking reason.
“I’m going to make the second mindlink.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead.
With my lips lingering on Harlow, I mindlinked Riley. The wolves are acting weird as fuck, Alpha. Killing each other over little things with no consequences. Haven’t seen Alpha Lockhart yet.
Xavier, you and Harlow be careful. I have a bad feeling.
Got it, Alpha. I ended the link and opened my eyes.
“Speak of the devil.” Fuck. I had just told Riley we hadn’t seen him, and there the fucker was, walking around pack grounds with an aura of death surrounding him. His fiery red hair made him look like a demon with his black eyes and tattoo-covered skin.
“Is that him? Their Alpha?” she asked in a whisper. I nodded. “He seems tense, almost like he knows something.”
Damn, she was right about that for sure. His shoulders were visibly stiff, and he was talking with a couple of his higher-ranked members with haste.
“Really?”
I flicked my eyes toward Harlow then back to Lockhart but whipped my head toward Harlow once I processed what she was doing. The little witch had crawled out on the branch and was talking to a squirrel. No shit, a squirrel.
She reached out and
