by Aileen Erin
Meredith’s shortest brother cleared his throat. He didn’t look much older than us. “I think she’s got a point. They’re not going to hurt her. And if she’s willing to take the risk to save our sister, we shouldn’t turn her down.” He met my gaze. “We all want Meredith alive and healthy.”
I nodded. “I’m willing to give it a try, but I need Dastien.”
When I looked at him, Dastien closed his eyes and when they opened again, they were still glowing gold. “Okay. We can go, but at the first sign of trouble, we’re getting the hell out of there. And I get to say what you agree to. If I don’t like it, we leave.”
I usually wouldn’t let him be the boss, but I was too afraid of agreeing to something I shouldn’t. I was desperate, and they’d know that. It was really easy to take advantage of the hopeless. “Deal.”
He rested his forehead against mine. “For the record, I think this is a bad idea. Luciana could’ve done the right thing and fixed this yesterday morning, but she didn’t.”
“I know. Believe me, I’m aware. I’m not letting my guard down.” I leaned away from him.
“Let’s go, before I change my mind,” Dastien said.
Max stepped toward me. “Thank you.”
“No more thank yous from you. Let’s see if I can actually do this first.”
“No, he’s right,” Shannon said. “Thank you for finally doing the right thing.”
That was a backhanded comment if I ever heard one, but now that I knew both reasons why Shannon hated me, she’d be easier to handle. Dastien had crushed a lot of girl’s hearts when he bit me, but we were mates. It was fate. Now she wanted to hold me responsible for Meredith’s curse, too?
It was easier to hate me instead of dealing with what was going on, but that wasn’t exactly fair. I didn’t curse Meredith—Luciana did. Once Meredith was better, maybe she’d know how to smooth things over between me and Shannon, but not right now.
I gave her a small nod, and then started back the way we came.
“Should we call someone? Tell them that we’re coming?” I asked Dastien.
He shook his head. “Usually, I’d arrange a neutral ground to meet them on, but that would give them a chance to prepare. So, we’re just going to show up.”
“And hope for the best.”
He smiled but his dimples didn’t show. “Oui. And hope for the best.”
***
The second time passing through the gate was easier. I was prepared for that slimy feeling as Dastien drove his car over the cattle guard.
“Did you feel it?” I asked.
Dastien glanced at me briefly before turning back to the road. “Not like you did, but I could feel your disgust.”
Right. “I’m not sure which house is Luciana’s. Just park wherever.”
He found an empty spot between a beat-up looking truck and a Prius. I stepped out of the car, not sure what my plan was. Hell, who was I kidding? There was no real plan.
Three people came out of a house down the road. Two guys and one girl. One of the guys was Daniel.
I blocked the sun with my hand as they walked toward us. I wasn’t sure if I should walk up to him or what, but he took the choice away from me.
He said something so softly to the others that I couldn’t hear, and then started toward me. The other two headed for the house across the road.
Here we go.
Daniel wore a pair of khaki shorts and a blue T-shirt with something printed on it. A band name? Not my kind of music, so I wasn’t sure. His hair was wet, like he’d just showered, and smelled of tea tree oil shampoo.
“Hi, Daniel,” I said when he got close.
“Teresa.”
I ground my teeth at the use of my name.
“What are you doing back here?” His eyebrows were drawn down. He wasn’t scowling, per se, but he didn’t look sure about me either. Daniel glanced over my shoulder at Dastien for a second before meeting my gaze again.
“I wanted to talk to Luciana about Meredith. I was hoping to come to an arrangement.”
“And you brought him with you?”
I didn’t like how he said that. Dastien stood a few feet behind me and a little to the left. His arms were loose at his sides, knees slightly bent. It was a protective posture. He was watching Daniel’s movements, ready to pounce if he needed to, and he was far enough to the side not to have to bump into me to do it.
“Yes,” I said. “We’re a package deal these days.”
Daniel crossed his arms. He was scowling now. “You weren’t supposed to be.”
Dastien growled and I shot him a look. “Cool it.”
He huffed, cutting off the growl, but his eyes stayed glowing gold and I had a feeling he wouldn’t be covering them with sunglasses.
This wasn’t going well and we’d only been here a couple minutes.
Daniel glanced at me. “You know, I always felt bad about what happened to Meredith. She didn’t deserve that. My mom threw the potion and said the incantation so fast I didn’t even know what she’d done. One second we were making out, the next Meredith was on the ground screaming like someone had died. I’ll never forget that sound. It was horrible.” He shuddered. “I hear your visions are much stronger than what my mom sees, but you get past and present stuff, while she gets impressions of the future. Only it’s never specific enough to do any real good. Basically all she got was that someone in the coven was going to be getting hot and heavy with a wolf, and would get turned. That’s why she freaked.”
Which had been me. Not Daniel.
Still, why keep Meredith under the curse? Why continue to punish her for something she didn’t do? “But Meredith didn’t bite you, so why didn’t she reverse it?”
“Because she’s gone anti-wolf. She’s always been anti-anything we’re not, but since she had that vision, she’s been a little out of control. Even more so since you were bitten. It’s kind of an obsession. So why would she reverse it?”
A door slammed up the road, and a woman screamed. “Stay away from my son!”
Luciana came running from a house down the road. She waved her hands, saying something that I couldn’t hear, but apparently Daniel knew what she was doing.
“No. Mom!” He stepped in front of me. He stumbled back a few steps, as if something punched him. “Stay behind me. Both of you.”
“I don’t need your protection.” Dastien bit the words out. “But your mother might if she tries that again.”
My skin itched to go wolf. This was so beyond dangerous it wasn’t even funny. It’d be a miracle if we got out of here without starting a war.
“I came to bargain,” I said.
She slowed her run to a fast walk. “Seeing things my way?”
I shook my head. “No, but I want to save a good friend. An innocent girl.”
Luciana scoffed. “She’s not innocent. None of the wolves are.”
Dastien started to growl and I elbowed him. I instantly regretted it. It was like hitting granite. I rubbed my elbow, trying to gain the feeling back.
“If you release Meredith from whatever was done to her, I’ll come here one day a week to study.”
Luciana shook her head. “No. You stay here. For good. I suppress your wolf, and I’ll put Meredith’s back to sleep so she can live.”
I tried to maintain my cool, but I could feel Dastien’s bubbling anger bleeding through our bond. “That’s not a compromise.”
“Did I say I wanted to compromise?”
I had to calm down. I took a moment to look around the compound. A few people gathered on the street to watch us talk. More people were staring through windows.
I raised my voice as I spoke, hoping that if Luciana wasn’t going to listen to what I was saying, maybe someone else here would. “You can’t expect to lead if you’re not willing to compromise.”
“I don’t negotiate with monsters.”
Rage rippled along my skin. “You’re killing an innocent girl and you dare call me—us—monsters.”
Three calming breaths were all I allowed myself. “Meredith Molloney is the true mate of Donovan Murrey. One of the Seven. Killing her will win you no friends. Are you and your people prepared to make enemies of all the wolves? Not just this pack, but every pack? You wanted me here, so here I am. I’m offering one day a week in exchange for you to release Meredith from the curse.”
“No.”
Murmers went around the group. Some of the coven members looked wary.
Daniel put his hand on his mother’s shoulder. “We should accept her offer. Having Donovan as an enemy is not an option.”
“No,” Luciana said. “She needs to let go of her wolf and take her place in the coven.”
“I can’t do that.” Taking my wolf away was not an option, and Luciana was crazy for thinking it was. “It’d be like cutting off one of my legs just for the hell of it. I’m not doing it. I’m a wolf and a witch—equal halves of both. You don’t have the right or the power to separate me from my wolf.”
“If you were so powerful, you’d be able to break the cage Meredith’s wolf is in,” Luciana said. “But you can’t even see it to break it. You can’t even find it. That’s not power.”
Break the cage? See it?
Break the cage. I could find it?
That was it. Holy shit. Luciana gave me what I needed.
I was a combination of wolf and witch. I combined alpha powers with witchcraft. I hadn’t learned much about either, but I knew that my alpha powers gave me control. And control was what I needed to guide my witchcraft.
Donovan hadn’t been talking about merging types of witchcraft. He’d been talking about me specifically mixing my witchcraft with my alpha energy. Just like I’d done to contact him.
Oh my God.
Shannon and Chris had been right all along. I could break the curse. I’d just been thinking about it the wrong way. I’d been looking at it from either an alpha way—by getting an alpha strong enough to calm her wolf—or a witchcraft way—by using spells and potions to get her wolf to settle down.
In the middle of this fight with Luciana, I was instantly calm.
A smile spread across my face. Meredith’s wolf was locked up. Chained inside her. All I had to do was find the cage with my witchcraft, and help her break it and call her wolf forward by using alpha powers. And if I didn’t have enough alpha energy, I could pull it from the pack.
It all made sense now. I just hadn’t seen it before.
I’d been running from the wolf stuff since I became a wolf and it was high time I embraced it along with my bruja side.
Luciana was still rambling on, but nothing she said mattered anymore. I wasn’t listening.
“Goodbye, Luciana.” She stopped talking to stare at me. “Turns out, I don’t need your help. And you’ve just made an enemy for life.” I turned my back, trusting Daniel and Dastien to keep watch. “Let’s go.”
I grabbed the keys from Dastien and hopped in the car. I floored it through the gate. The burn on the way out barely registered.
“You’ve got a plan.”
I nodded. “Yes. Call the school. I need every wolf in the area in the courtyard by the time we get there. Everyone you can find. All the Cazadores. Everyone.”
“On it.” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket, and started making calls.
This could work. Holy shit. This could be it.
Chapter Fourteen
Dastien’s phone worked overtime for nearly the whole car ride. We knew our time was limited. He checked in with Dr. Gonzales and she said Meredith was still alive, but had only an hour or two left.
I sped down the road, not caring about getting a ticket. There was no slowing down.
When Dastien was done with his calls, we were minutes away from campus.
“What’s the plan?”
I tapped my fingers along the steering wheel. “I’m going to need your help. I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I have a theory.”
He turned to face me. “Tell me.”
I glanced at him for a second before turning back to the road. “You can make me change if you wanted to.”
“Yes. I could.”
“You could make just about anyone, right?”
“Yes.”
“Even if they didn’t want to.”
“Oui. Of course. Yes.” He paused. “I think I know where you’re going with this, but I already tried that with Meredith… Actually, I tried to calm her wolf. Waking it up would only hurt her worse.”
“See, that’s what I thought too. But Luciana talked about the curse like she trapped Meredith’s wolf in a cage, and all I had to do was release her. I think if I connect with Meredith again so that I can ‘see’ Meredith’s wolf, and then I use witchcraft and break the cage while I use alpha power to force the change, then the cage will crumble. The curse will break.” I was on to something. If Dastien agreed, this could really be it. “You weren’t enough on your own to affect her change, but if we got enough of us together, I think we could make it work.”
“I don’t know. It makes sense in theory, but do you think you can connect with her enough to see that?”
I hoped so. “I saw all kinds of stuff when I was with her. Memories after she first changed. With her brothers. Hanging out with her mom. I think I can get to her, and once I do, it’ll be about timing. It’ll take some doing, but I think we can.” I paused.
“This could work. It’s just… Shit,” he said as his phone rang. He switched to French, talking for a few minutes before hanging up.
I pulled into the big black gates at St. Ailbe’s. The lot was completely full. Cars were blocking others in and there was no hope of finding a place to park. I didn’t look for one. Instead, I drove up the path that led to school.
There were people milling around. As soon as they saw me, they stopped and stared.
Jeeze. Enough with the staring already.
Dastien nodded at them when we got out and they headed off without a word.
“Everyone’s in the courtyard. Go get Meredith and bring her.”
Dastien took off sprinting, and I ran the other direction. When I got to the end of the path, the trees cleared and I stopped.
Where had Dastien found all these people? There had to be six or seven hundred. Our school had barely three hundred. I swallowed. It seemed a little odd that the newbie wolf was going to use all of them, but I could do this. At least I thought I could.
My gaze darted from face to face as I started toward the crowd.
One by one, people started muttering and pointing my way. I was sure that with the way the St. Ailbe’s rumor mill worked, everyone here knew who I was. I wasn’t sure if that made me uncomfortable or more confident. Probably the former.
They made way for me as I stepped into the middle of the clearing.
I spotted a familiar head of wavy blond hair and met Chris’ gaze. Shannon was next to him with all four of Meredith’s brothers. They nodded at me, and I tried to look confident—chin up, back straight—but I wasn’t sure if I pulled it off at all.
Adrian was standing beside Meredith’s brothers. He stuck his thumb up in the air with a grin.
Good God. How was he smiling when Meredith was barely alive?
If I couldn’t pull this one off…
Rosa’s words came back to me, and I pushed my fears aside. Confidence. And light. Put my faith, my will, my heart into the work. I had love for Meredith. I’d connect with her, and free the wolf from her cage.
Butterflies took flight in my stomach as I waited. I tried not to worry about everyone watching me. I was used to being watched. I could do this.
Dastien stepped into the circle everyone had formed around me with Meredith in his arms. She moaned.
No. This wasn’t good. “Is she awake?”
He placed her down gently. “Yes. She’s burning the drugs off faster than we can give them to her. At least we won’t have to fight the drugs and the curse to get her awake.”
Dr. Gonzales was right
behind him. “When you’re ready, I’ll give her a shot to wake her up a little more. I don’t want her to get sick or convulse, but I think we’ll want her a bit more alert.”
I wanted to say no freaking way was she giving her anything to wake her up, but that was my fear talking. I couldn’t bring fear into this. I needed to be firm. My visions would guide me to her, and my alpha powers would help her escape. “Okay.”
Her parents stepped into the circle. Her mother squeezed me tight. “Thank you.”
God. I wished everyone would stop thanking me. I hadn’t done anything yet.
The pressure made my chest tight.
Dastien moved to my side. “Thank you so much for coming. My mate and I think that together as a pack, we can break through what’s been holding Meredith’s wolf at bay.” His voice was clear and confident. “It might leave everyone here drained, but as you can see, it’s a worthy cause.”
He squeezed my hand. “Do you want to say anything?”
I shook my head. Was he nuts? No, I didn’t want to say anything.
Wait. Yes, I did. “Meredith has been a good friend to me, no questions asked. I’m going to try and repay the favor, and I need everyone’s help. I know I drained a lot of you yesterday, and I really appreciate you being up to trying it again. I’m doing something different this time, though. I’m hoping it’s enough to break the curse.” I looked at Dr. Gonzales.
She knelt by Meredith’s side, and waited for my signal.
Dastien pressed a kiss to my forehead.
My heart was racing as I sat by Meredith.
I took a breath, and grasped Meredith’s hand in my own. Her fingers felt like a bunch of brittle sticks. I swallowed and looked at Dr. Gonzales. She plunged the needle into Meredith’s other arm.
Meredith’s eyelids fluttered for a few seconds before opening.
