Well that explained a lot, but it didn’t mean she had to be a bitch about it. This wasn’t a picnic for me either, and no, I didn’t feel sorry for her. In fact, it was Leif I felt sorry for if Astrid did end up being his mate.
Shudder.
“Don’t worry about it,” Heather said. “Once Leif’s chosen his breeding partners, the animosity will stop.”
The thought of Leif with Astrid or anyone else made my stomach ache, but I was excellent at keeping my feelings off my face when needed.
I smiled politely. “I’m sure it will. In the meantime.” I hooked my arm through hers. “Tell me about this hunt…”
She looked up at me with a wicked smile so like Leif’s it made my chest warm. “Oh, Cora, I like you. I like you a lot.”
A prickle of awareness skated up my back and I turned, knowing I’d find Leif. His crimson hair gleamed in the sunlight, and his gunmetal-blue eyes sparkled with warmth at the sight of me. He grinned, raising a hand in greeting as he strode toward us. My heart beat faster and my pulse fluttered in my throat.
Yeah, I liked Heather too, but I liked her son more.
Too much more.
Shit.
Chapter Five
“She likes you.” Leif beamed at me before focusing on the road ahead.
“I like her too. I think we’ll get on well.”
“I’m sorry you didn’t get to meet my sisters. Mother thought it might be overwhelming on your first visit—teenage girls with a ton of questions, you know?”
I’d never been a teen, and honestly, I hadn’t had much contact with them. “You make them sound like a breed unto their own.”
“Oh, they’re pretty full on.”
Our cabin came into view and Leif pulled up into the garage. “I have patrol in half an hour. What will you do to pass the time?”
Yeah, I needed to talk to him about that. “I don’t know what Charlotte did, or what the other anchors did, but it seems to me it involved a lot of dinners, lunches, social events, and basically no kick-assery?”
He sucked on his cheeks, a twinkle in his eyes. “And I assume that won’t be enough for you?”
“You assume correctly. I can’t be that person. I want to help against the varga, against the revenants and the outlier threats in Leyton. I’m going to speak to Anna about joining patrols, and I’ve told your mother I want in on the monthly hunts. I might not have fangs and claws, but I have other abilities.”
I allowed my hands to spark.
The female shifters hunted feywarg, menacing weasel-like creatures that fed on livestock and terrorized the local farmers. They bred like rabbits and the female shifters had taken responsibility to cull the numbers.
“You’ll need more than your power against the feywarg,” Leif said. “You’ll need stamina and speed. You’ll be running with wolves. Will you be able to keep up?”
Fuck, I hadn’t thought of that. I’d relied on my ability to jump all my life. But with the amulet, even as anchor, my jumping ability wasn’t inexhaustive. I couldn’t allow myself to rely on it. Luckily stamina could be built.
“I’ll train. I’ll run every day.”
He exhaled softly. “Determination. I like it. You’re something else, you know that, Cora?”
“Well, I haven’t heard that one before.” I injected sarcasm into my tone because the way he was looking at me, all intense, made my body do strange things. “And the varga patrols? Can I come?”
He sighed and shook his head. “Even if you get your stamina up, the varga patrols are too dangerous. One scratch, one bite, and you’d be infected. The infection kills humans, but it also kills witches, driving them feral and insane first. We can’t risk your life.”
I wanted to argue, but I could feel his resolution in my chest as if it were my own. There’d be no changing his mind on this. Not now anyway.
God, this mate bond was weird. “Hey, Leif, can you feel my emotions?”
“Flashes. Sometimes.” He touched my bottom lip with his index finger and pressed down slightly. My pulse surged and my breath hitched. “Like that. I felt that.” He looked down at his crotch, and I followed his gaze to see his erection outlined beneath denim. “Damn.” He blew out a breath. “I’ll need to sort that out before patrol.”
I was tempted to offer to do it for him but bit back the words. Unfortunately, the friend zone could only be stretched so far.
“I’ll walk you to the mansion,” he said.
“No, it’s fine. I can make it myself.”
He looked like he might argue, but I needed some time alone, away from the emotions his presence evoked. “It’s daytime, I’m safe.”
He nodded. “Okay. I’ll see you later. Make sure you’re back a couple of hours before sunset and we can go for a run. Start your training.”
“Yay, running before supper; sounds like fun.”
He chuckled low and sexy and I unlocked the door to get away from him before I was tempted to crawl onto his lap and snog his face off.
I closed the door and leaned in toward the window. “Have fun on patrol.”
“Always.”
I set off down the dirt track toward the mansion, aware of his gaze on my back, warm and inviting and hungry.
Yeah, alone time was a must.
Anna wasn’t in her office and Wren was no longer in the infirmary. Neither was Pippa. In fact, I couldn’t find anyone I wanted to speak to. I was tempted to call on Jasper but decided against it.
The last thing I needed was his electric presence driving my already dizzy hormones wild, and I wasn’t ready to lie to him again, to tell him I didn’t want or need him.
I popped my head into the dining hall on the off chance I’d spot a friendly face. It was the lull between lunch and supper, and the place was practically deserted aside for one table where the pouty redhead I’d seen on my first day here and her dark-haired friend sat eating fries.
They stopped talking as soon as they saw me and stared at me with deer-in-headlight looks.
“Hey.” I approached. “Any idea where everyone is?” I looked about. “It’s kinda dead around here.”
They exchanged glances, then the redhead spoke. “They’re in the atrium, testing for a new witch to join The Elites and take…take Brie’s spot.” Her eyes welled and she sniffed.
“It’s okay, Justine. You did good.”
“Not good enough,” Justine said. “Brie would be so pissed at me.”
The dark-haired woman looked up at me. “Justine is Brie’s cousin.”
Shit. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
“You tested?”
“Yeah, they took me first—bloodline and all that—but I wasn’t good enough.”
“You did everything,” the dark-haired woman said.
“Not the negation chant, Kel. I couldn’t get the negation chant right.”
More witches filtered into the room, some looking downcast, others relieved. I guess not everyone wanted to be an Elite, in the firing line when it came to revenants.
“They’re replacing her already?” It seemed a little harsh.
Kel gave me a flat look. “The Elites are our first line of defense against the revenants. There needs to be four of them for the spell to be effective, even with the amplification crystal.”
Yes, I’d seen them use a crystal on the four revenants. The elders had stepped in after Brie died, but they’d had to channel power through me to do that, and that wasn’t a viable option for regular patrols.
Shit.
More witches filled the dining room, and the spectral staff set to work offering hot chocolate and brownies—comfort foods for these witches who’d failed the test.
“Shit,” Justine said, her gaze on the door as another group of witches trooped in. “This is bad.”
How many more witches were there to be tested? “What happens if no one can do the spell?”
Both women looked up at me with grim expressions. “The
I passed a small group of witches headed back to the mansion on my way to the atrium. One was sobbing while the others consoled her. They barely looked up at me as they skirted me on the path.
More witches who had failed the test.
The atrium doors were ajar when I got there, and the sound of agitated voices drifted out to greet me.
“That’s the lot of them, then,” Jessie said.
“We’ll retest in a week or so once we’ve upped the training for the more promising candidates,” Anna replied.
“What promising candidates?” Jessie scoffed. “You can either channel the negation chant or you can’t. It’s not a learned skill. You either have it or you don’t, and none of them do.”
“We’re so fucked.”
I recognized this voice as Poppy’s.
“There’ve always been witches to take over.” Anna sounded perplexed. “Always. I don’t understand…We must have missed someone.”
I pushed open the door and entered. Sunlight lanced through the glass panes above, lighting up the space with pleasant warmth.
All eyes turned to me, but my attention zeroed in on Sloane. She sat perched on the rim of a fountain, one boot planted on the ledge, arm braced on her cocked knee.
Her chin was tucked in, flexing as if she was holding back a tide of words.
I walked further into the building. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Jessie snorted and turned away, but Poppy smiled kindly. She looked tired, her bubble-gum hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun, her skin so pale it was almost translucent.
“Hey, Cora,” she said. “We weren’t expecting to see you.”
“It’s fine,” Anna said. “We’ll be fine.” But it sounded more like a prayer than a fact.
“How?” Sloane said softly. “How can we be fine with only three Elites?” She finally looked up and her electric-blue eyes focused on me. “Jessie’s right. We’re fucked. Pretty certain news of Brie’s death has made its way to the outlier community, to the fucking Order, which means revenants are gonna come out to play in force and there’ll be nothing we can do to stop them.”
“There’s always been a replacement,” Anna said again. “Hecate has always taken care of us…” She frowned.
Jessie’s head came up slowly to lock gazes with me. “You… We haven’t tested you.”
“Me?” Was she serious?
“The anchor can’t be an Elite,” Poppy said.
“Why not?” Jessie retorted. “She’s a witch.”
“The anchor has never been tested,” Anna said. “Elite status is too dangerous, and we’ve never had to put our anchor in that position. The Elites have always been found in our general population of Grimswood witches—”
“But that doesn’t mean an anchor can’t be an Elite…” Sloane swung her leg down and stood. “You’re right, Anna, there’s always been a replacement, and if we’ve tested everyone else then there’s only the anchor left.” She approached me and stopped a foot away, looking down her nose at me, reminding me how petite I was. “You up for the challenge, cupcake?”
Not like I had much choice. “Sure.”
“We can’t put her in danger like that,” Anna said.
“We don’t have a fucking choice,” Sloane said. “Besides, didn’t you just say that Hecate has always taken care of this shit? So if she can do the negation spell when no one else can, then it’s Hecate’s will.”
Anna pressed her lips together and nodded. “Do it.”
Sloane’s lips curved in a cool smile. “Time to see what you’ve got, cupcake. But I got to warn you, this might hurt.”
I arched a brow. “I’m not afraid of a little pain, Sloane.”
“Who said it would be a little?”
“Oh for fucksake,” Jessie snapped. “Can we get on with it?”
“It’ll be fine,” Poppy said, shooting Sloane a glare. “You’ll be fine. The pain varies for each witch. Some feel nothing, and others a little more.”
“But if you have what we need, you’ll be in agony,” Jessie said.
Oh whoop-de-do. “What do I have to do?”
It was Anna who explained. “The Elites will stand around you and cast The Call. It’s a chant that penetrates your psyche and calls to the deep recesses of your subconscious, the part able to cast a spell such as a negation spell. This part of your subconscious will attempt to protect itself. It will make you want to flee, but you’ll be held in place by The Elites.”
“It feels as if someone’s tearing at your limbs, at your brain,” Jessie said with a little too much glee.
“Shut up, Jess,” Poppy snapped. Then to me, “It hurts, yes, but the key is not to fight. To let us in, to open to us. If you have the gene to carry the negation spell, then this will activate it.”
“Okay, then I have to learn the spell?”
“No and yes,” Sloane said. “The reason only a handful of witches can carry the negation spell is because only a handful carry the gene to memorize and verbalize the spell. If you have what it takes, then all I’ll have to do is whisper the chant to you and that deep part of you, the part locked away now, will claim it, and like a limb or a heartbeat, it’ll become a part of you.”
Sounded creepy and ominous, but heck, if this was the only way to keep humans safe, then so be it.
“Fine, let’s do this.”
Bring on the pain.
Chapter Six
When they’d said pain, I’d thought they’d meant the regular pain, you know, stab wound, taser, that kind of shit, but fifteen seconds into their chanting my body was on fire. Every synapse, every nerve ending screamed for relief. I was distinctly aware of the threads that bound me to Leif, Tor, and Rune. They thrummed and fizzed, but there was no way to stop my distress from zooming down those connections.
Oh shit. Oh fuck.
We should have considered this. We should have—
My body ceased to be my own, throwing itself against the invisible barrier of power that held me captive amidst The Elites.
My screams tore the air and ripped my throat raw and then my head was in a vise, the pressure building and building.
I was going to die.
“What the fuck?” Jasper’s voice was a whiplash against my senses.
“No!” Anna cried. “It’s a test, it won’t harm her.”
“I beg to differ,” Jasper said.
I prised open my eyes through the pain and fixed them on him. “Don’t. Interfere.” I bit out the words before a wave of fire raced up my throat and cut off my air supply.
“Cora!” There was agony in his tone, as if my pain were his.
Fuck, I must be dying to think such shit.
The shatter of glass and the snarl and growl of wolves filled the air.
“NO! Stay back,” Anna ordered. “She’s safe, I swear it.”
The wolves were here. They were here, but my vision was blurred by tears and my senses were in chaos. No way to communicate I was okay.
“She must let it in,” Anna said.
Oh fuck, yes. Poppy’s advice.
Stop fighting.
How the fuck did I do that?
Every muscle and sinew was wound tight. I needed to relax and let the pain take me. I needed to give in to it.
I slumped onto the ground, breathing shallow and even, swallowing my scream as nails tore rivulets across my brain and claws scraped deep into my skin to hit bone.
I was burning, melting, and then the scorch ebbed to a simmer and a strange cold sensation bloomed at the back of my mind, a spot of ice that infected my veins until the pain was gone. Until all that was left was The Elites’ soft chanting, but then even that slowed and petered out.
“Cora…” Strong arms wrapped around me, the scent of the forest and the brush of fur. “You’re okay. We’ve got you.” Tor’s breath was warm on my nape.
I peeled back my lids to look up at the faces surrounding me. Leif’s gunmetal blues, dark with anger and concern, Rune’s hazel eyes gleaming with golden flecks, and Tor’s steel-gray gaze hard and unforgiving and fixed not on me but on Sloane.
“What the fuck did you just do?” he demanded.
“What needed to be done.”
“You don’t get to play with our mate.” Leif’s voice was a growl.
Did you agree to this? Rune asked.
I nodded, wincing when pain lanced up my neck. “We need an Elite. I needed to test.”
“Elite?” Tor’s lip curled. “No.”
“Are you insane?” Leif asked Sloane. He stood to face her, offering me an epic view of his taut ass. “She’s the fucking anchor. You can’t risk her life fighting revenants.”
I sat up on my knees. “I have to do this. There is no one else.” I peered around Leif to look up at Sloane. “I mean, that is if I passed. I better fucking have, ’cause that hurt like a fucking bitch.”
Sloane tore her gaze from Leif and settled it on me with a small smile. “I think so, cupcake. Just one last thing to do.”
Leif bristled. “Hell no.”
Tor gripped me tighter and Rune growled low and menacing.
Jasper stood to the periphery of my vision, and I didn’t need to look at him to know he was pissed, but he was watching this play out, typical Jasper style.
I took a deep breath. “I want to do this.” I looked up at Tor. “Humans will die if we don’t find a fourth Elite.”
Tor inhaled through his nose and closed his eyes. “Fuck.” His grip on me slackened a fraction, his way of conceding. “Hurt her again and I won’t be responsible for my actions, Slo.”
Sloane’s eyes narrowed. “You think I enjoyed this? You think I wanted to hurt her? If there was any other way…” She exhaled angrily and pinched the bridge of her nose. “The painful part is over.”
Tor released me reluctantly.
Sloane fell to her knees in front of me. The wolves backed up but stayed close.
“Let’s find out if it was worth it,” Sloane said.
She cupped my nape and drew me close, so her mouth brushed my ear. Her warm breath kissed my skin and then words filled my mind, words that made sense but didn’t, words that wanted to dance on my tongue. Words that wanted to be voiced.
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