AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Six
Kelley
Ipace the floor in the cabin as my wolf, letting my animal form heal the damage Bane left behind and begging the universe for mercy.
For a sign that I’m still on the right path.
I was nearly unconscious when a team of fairy soldiers came running from the camp, interrupting Bane before he could finish the job of beating me to death. My ears were so full of blood and my breath wheezing in and out of my lungs so loudly I couldn’t make out exactly what they said.
But it was something about “the prisoner” and “vanished” and “jumped into the river.” And then they said Willow’s name and Bane let out a scream of rage and vanished, leaving the other men to drag me into the cabin.
One of them—Kieran—was on our side.
He whispered that he’d send Elsbeth with medicine and that they “had a plan” and I shouldn’t worry.
I had no idea what he was talking about, but I was in no condition to question him. I had at least one broken rib, bruises blooming all over my skin, and something in my lower back felt like it was leaking poison into my blood. By the time Elsbeth arrived, I was shivering and moaning, so lost to the pain I couldn’t understand a word she said as she washed and nursed me.
That was…aday ago.
Maybe more.
All I know is that it was morning when I woke up a few hours ago, feeling miraculously improved. I drank the mug of herbs by my bed and felt even better—well enough to shift and walk.
And walk and walk, my thoughts racing but unable to settle on anything for long. There are too many variables. The dice are still in motion, and I have no idea where they’ll land.
Whatever “plan” Kieran was talking about—did it work?
Where are Willow and Maxim? Was their escape successful or have they been recaptured? And if they haven’t, how on earth are we going to recover them before the full moon?
Assuming we haven’t already missed our window for this month.
If I’ve only been asleep for a day, then the moon will be full tonight. If I’ve been asleep for longer, we’ll have to wait another lunar cycle and only the stars know if our alliances will survive until then.
We’re losing our hold on the other packs. Cam’s gift works incredibly well on individuals, but less so on large groups. Cracks are already beginning to form, doubt seeping into the minds of the people we manipulated into believing Maxim is a monster.
Bane making personal visits to coordinate battle plans with the other Alphas hasn’t helped things. No matter what they’ve been tricked into believing, most shifters can sense there’s something wrong with my mate. Fairies and witches don’t seem to notice it, so maybe it’s an animal instinct—like that feeling you get when you come across something dead in the woods and know it’s been there too long to be safe to eat.
Wolves will eat carrion if fresh meat isn’t available, but we know better than to snatch up a mouthful of poison.
That’s what Bane is. Poison.
He’s a plague that has to be stopped before he spreads any further.
And I was so close to stopping him. So fucking close, and then I made one tiny mistake, took one wrong step that may have ruined years of sacrifice and doomed our hopes forever.
I come back into my human skin with tears already flowing from my eyes and immediately try to shift back again. I want to remain a wolf. Wolves can’t cry or see the bruises turning their skin purple, blue, and green.
But I’m too weak to make the transformation again so soon.
I stretch my legs in front of me, studying the fist-sized mark on my thigh, not even remembering when Bane hit me there. After a while, I tend to go numb to everything but the blows that hit tender places—my stomach, my lower back, my head and neck.
I stretch my neck to one side, wincing at the pain that flashes into my shoulder. But I can tell I’ll be all right. I’ll live through this beating and come out whole on the other side, the way I have so many others.
At least…physically whole.
My soul hasn’t been whole for a while. My soul is like the Venom addicts that haunt the dark corners of Prospect Park in the Parallel—empty-eyed, traumatized, and numb, stumbling around on stick-thin legs, waiting for the hit that will snuff them out for good.
I thought secretly filling that bomb we set off in the North Star pack’s theater with Venom—sold exclusively by Victor, the Alpha of my old pack—might start a war between our alliance and the packs loyal to Victor, slowing Bane’s rise. But Victor isn’t as tough as he pretends to be. After one quick conversation, he let it go, swallowing the explanation Bane gave him—that the bear shifter who’d placed the bomb must have done it.
