The squirrel’s tail twitched and it nodded.
“Thank you for your help, sweet one. Be safe around here.” She sat it back down on the branch, and it scurried away.
Harlow crawled back toward me and dropped her voice. “Half-pint said-”
I almost laughed but disguised it with a cough. “Half-pint?”
She pressed her lips into a thin line. “Yes, that’s his name. Now focus, he said the wolves have been acting erratic and that he’s seen witches around here.”
My heart thudded in my chest. “No shit?”
“Mindlink the pack. I’m teleporting us back. I’m sensing something bad.” Her eyes widened and glazed over as if she was the one mindlinking.
Bad magic. Harlow is teleporting us back. I mindlinked Riley or at least tried to. It didn’t seem to be working, and she wasn’t responding.
“I can’t reach her.”
“Oh, fuck.” Harlow’s arm shot out and she grabbed my bicep, nails biting into my skin. “My cloaking spell has been breached.”
My skin crawled. It must’ve been serious for her to drop the f-bomb being as she didn’t cuss like I did.
Something in the air changed, and the last thing I remembered was wrapping Harlow in my arms as we fell out of the tree with the ground rapidly approaching beneath us.
TWENTY FIVE
Harlow
My eyelids fluttered open as I roused from a heavy sleep, and my limbs flexed in shock. Zip-ties bound my hands behind the back of the metal chair. I strained against them and felt warm blood run over the translucent plastic. Ouch.
I blinked, and the blurriness faded as my surroundings became crisp. I sucked in a lungful of the freezing air, stealing any warmth I’d had. Other than the noise of breathing, the room was silent. I craned my neck for a window but came up empty.
For all I knew I could be deep underground in Lockhart’s cellar. The only source of light was an old fashioned bulb on a bare white wire that dangled above, light spilling over the rough-textured concrete walls.
Deep groans came from behind me, and I froze. “Xavier? Is that you?”
A throaty cough came out before he answered, “Yeah. Where the fuck are we?”
“I don’t know. A cellar or a basement of some kind? Last thing I remember was my cloaking spell being breached and falling out of the tree.” I groaned, my body screamed at me in pulsating aches. We must’ve hit the ground when we were captured, and we still had at least six more hours until the pack was coming to our aid. “Are you hurt?”
Clanking from his chair hitting mine echoed through the small room. “Fuck! I’m fine, but I can’t get these damn binds off.”
“Someone enchanted them. They’re unbreakable.”
“Can’t you un-enchant them?”
My reply died on my tongue as adrenaline flooded my system so fast I almost vomited. The scream of hinges echoed off the walls as the door slowly prised open, revealing the one person I hadn’t expected.
Elder Evanora cackled as she strutted in. The old hag had to be approaching a hundred but looked half of that. Her white hair was pulled up, stretching her wrinkly face back, making her dark eyes look all the bit creepy as they were. “I’m impressed, Miss. Oak. I may have made a mistake with you.”
Xav tensed, probably wondering how I knew the crazed witch.
I kept my mouth shut. She was the monster of a witch that refused to avenge my parents, killed my grandma, and banished me from the coven. Flashbacks of all my run-ins with her invaded my mind, sending icy chills down my spine. The old hag was evil incarnate.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have banished you. Your powers are strong.” She gripped my chin, her long nails digging into my face.
I jerked my head back, and her nails sliced open my skin. It stung as hot liquid dripped down my face.
Xavier let out a low, threatening growl. “Don’t fucking touch her.”
Her lips pursed. “You’ve mated a werewolf? Impressive. Do you want to know a secret?”
I raised my gaze and met hers. “No, but I feel like you’re going to tell me anyway.”
“Our coven teamed up with the Lockhart pack ages ago. We’re going to take down all the packs in existence, and when we do we will become unstoppable. We will have power over all the wolves.”
“And why would you want that? What’s in it for you?”
She smirked. “So naive. Werewolves are stupid. They let their emotions control them. I play behind the scenes. I manipulate the dumbass dogs into doing whatever I want. It’s genius, really.”
Disgust crawled up my throat. “You’re proud of that?”
“Oh, you sound just like your parents when they found out.”
My heart stammered in my chest. “My parents?”
She gave me a mocking saddened expression. “It’s sad really, they were going against the coven. They thought it was a bad idea and were planning on leaving and joining some small coven instead.”
The Lunar coven. I swallowed a lump that slugged down to my stomach and dropped like a rock. “So you had them killed.”
She tsked me. “Of course. They were disobeying me. Betraying me. They needed a painful death.”
Tears trickled down my cheek and stung within the open wounds on my face. “And when my grandma found out…”
“She needed to be made an example out of. She tried to leave as well. So, we showed the coven exactly what happens when they disobeyed the elders. It’s why I banished you. To show them even if they are killed, their loved ones will also suffer for their actions.”
“You evil bitch.” Xavier spat on the floor behind me.
“Xavier, it’s fine,” I said. He didn’t need to lose his cool around her. She was dangerous, and I couldn’t lose him. Fear slammed into my soul and knocked the wind out of me.
“No, it’s not fine.” Her smile was one of pure insanity as she conjured up a flaming dagger and plunged it into my thigh without any hesitation.
A scream
