She pulled, as fast as possible, backwards so she could drag the witch’s unconscious body behind her. Digging deep for strength she made it up the stairs and towards the front door of the Institute.
“Stop that wolf!”
Damn, someone had seen her. A bullet whizzed by her head, answered immediately by another bullet from behind her. She dropped the witch and swung around to look at who had defended her. Cullen and Gabriel stood behind her, each in their human form, Cullen’s gun raised as if he had been the one to shoot. They had exposed themselves to capture for her.
She whimpered in distress at their behavior. That hadn’t been the plan. They weren’t supposed to let their father know they were around.
Gabriel looked down at her and his smile was so much like Tristan’s she felt actual pain in her chest at the sight. “Like we would let our sister have all the fun here?”
Not what we agreed. It was her first chance to use telepathy with anyone in the pack other than Tristan but it came to her easily.
“I never agreed, and neither did Cullen. Sorry.” At the sound of his name, Cullen looked down and grinned too. It was disconcerting to see Cullen smile; she had thought of him as permanently pissed off.
Gabriel reached down and slung Mina over his shoulder. “Cullen, get Scott.” With his free hand, Gabriel picked Ashlee’s wolf up and swung it over his other shoulder.
“We’ll be in the car.”
Ashlee’s wolf groaned. She didn’t like to be manhandled by Gabriel and felt she could certainly walk. But if Gabriel heard her complaint, he ignored it.
Ashlee heard five more gunshots behind her and struggled to see what was happening but Gabriel had her tightly in his grip and didn’t let her down.
Daddy?
Both she and her wolf were petrified for her father. They got through the front gate and Ashlee looked down to see three dead guards, including the driver who had brought them to the compound, each with their throat ripped out, sprawled on the ground. Ashlee remembered a similar scene from the parking lot outside of the zoo. That time it had been Tristan and Rex who had ripped out their attackers’ throats. At least the pack was consistent in their violence.
Gabriel opened his car’s trunk and dumped the witch into it before he shut it with a thump. He swung open the back door and slid Ashlee inside.
“I’ve got him.” She heard Cullen say as the backdoor opened again and her father jumped in. Her heart pounded hard in her chest and if she’d been in her human form she might have cried out with the relief she felt at seeing him alive and unharmed. Gabriel and Cullen took their seats up front, Cullen in the driver’s seat, and sped down the road. Her father raised one eyebrow. “Ash?” It’s me, Daddy.
“Do you think you could change back now? I have no problems with your mother like this, but seeing you as a wolf is freaking me out.”
I don’t have any clothes. If I switch back I’ll be completely naked.
“Here Ashlee,” Gabriel pulled his shirt off and handed it to her father.
Thanks.
She called the shift on herself and this time it was hard. Her bones hurt, head pounded, even her teeth ached. Ashlee didn’t know if all the shifters had a hard time shifting back and forth as many times as she had, but she’d reached her physical limit.
Inside, her wolf snuggled down and went to sleep. Ashlee wished she could do the same.
She took the shirt from her father and covered her naked form.
“Glad to see you back.” Her father sounded relieved.
“How did it go with Kendrick? What happened when the alarm sounded? Where is he now? Did you see Claudius?” The words spit out of her mouth fast and she tried to slow down.
“The man likes to hear himself speak. Whatever else he might be, he is totally committed to his place. He thinks he’s going to change the world here. When the alarms went off, he excused himself and left me standing there in the foyer. I tried to look inconspicuous and walk out the front door but I never made it. He must have suspected I was somehow involved, because he came back and grabbed me by the arm. I thought for sure I was going to have to use that gun, but then Cullen showed up and I think Kendrick looked actually alarmed. He let go of me and ran off. I met Claudius in one of the labs.
Kendrick called him his chief medical researcher. But I only saw him briefly.”
Ashlee nodded. “He may have already changed the world.”
“What do you mean?” Cullen looked at her through the rearview mirror.
“He’s made himself an army and they’re getting ready to come after us.” She really was tired; she looked down and was surprised to see her hands shook.
“Would you say that you shifted more than twice this hour?” Gabriel turned around in the seat so that he stared directly at her, his eyebrows pushed down, a severe look on his face.
“Twice? Try five or six times.”
“You’re going to crash, sister.”
Ashlee opened her mouth to ask Cullen how he intended to get them over the border to the United States with an unconscious witch in the trunk, but she never got the chance as the darkness hit her and she fell asleep.
Tristan looked down at his arms. They were covered in burns and hives. He laughed, the sound choked and raspy. At least his outside matched his delusions now. Under normal circumstances, he could heal himself using meditation, but there was no way he could muster that much concentration now.
“Trip?” Tristan turned his head to the sound of the voice. His eyes hurt but he made out Theo’s silhouette over by the window. Theo stepped closer to Tristan. “Are you in a lot of pain, Trip?”
Tristan choked. “Yes.”
“Victoria is here with Ashlee’s sister, Summer. They’re outside the door. Michael says Gabriel, Cullen, Ashlee, and her father are on their way back. They’re an hour away, maybe less. When they get here we’ll start the ceremony and you’ll be better.”
Tristan blew out his breath. Theo was actually trying to be comforting. He must really be dying. “I don’t know, little brother, I’m not sure I’ll still be here in an hour. I feel like I’m going somewhere, fading.”
“No one has ever hung on as long as you have. You were afflicted three days ago; you’re still here, and so is Ashlee. You’ll make it, and so will she.” Kill her, it will cease.
“When you say her name it becomes difficult for me to resist the urges I’m focused on keeping at bay.”
Theo nodded. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay, I’m going to do my best to make it through this but you must promise me something. You won’t let me kill her. You’ll kill me, instead. I know we’re both doomed, but I can’t be the cause of it. Ashlee’s light can’t be snuffed out because of me. I can’t go off into the next life like that.”
Theo looked solemn. “I promise. I won’t let you hurt her.”
Maybe they’d all get through this, but Tristan wouldn’t place money on it. At least he’d gotten to be with Ashlee that one night. It was more than he ever imagined.
13
Ashlee stood in the center of the sacred circle she’d just created. One hundred gray rocks, each placed exactly five inches from the one next to it. The Aunts had never done this spell to save any of the men from the pack. When they’d first been bespelled, there hadn’t been time. Everyone had been dead before there was time to even reflect on what happened. That left Ashlee with the unfortunate circumstance of not being one hundred percent certain that what she was about to undergo would even work.
Her mother and Summer stood on the other side of the rocks, each with pensive expressions on their face. Their mother looked worried; concern raged on her features and Ashlee didn’t have to read minds to know Victoria’s nerves were shot. If this didn’t go well, her oldest daughter would be committing ritual suicide by the end of the night.
Summer looked confused, but as was typical with her sister, she still held a defiant glimmer in her eyes. She’d only just found out about the half-wolf shifte
r part of their heritage. In typical Summer fashion, she was just a teensy bit skeptical.
Summer crossed her arms over her chest. “Ashlee, you can’t really be serious.”
Ashlee sighed. Her sister had asked her the same question ten times already. “I’m totally serious, Summer.”
“You’re really contemplating killing yourself over some guy?”
“He’s not just some guy, Summer. He’s my mate and that makes him the equivalent of my husband. Maybe even more powerful than that. Someday you will understand.” Ashlee pushed the hair off her forehead; she’d been covered in sweat for hours.
“And seriously, you can’t really expect me to believe that I’m suddenly going to start turning into a wolf.”
Summer, her baby sister, had always been the more skeptical of the two of them. Blonde haired and blue eyed, she looked like a miniature clone of their statuesque mother. If not for the height difference between mother and daughter—Summer stood five feet tall—Ashlee always felt it would be hard to tell Victoria and Summer apart. The only other difference was that Summer had worn glasses since childhood and their mother had never needed them.
Ashlee grinned a knowing smile at her mother. “Mom, would you mind? I need to reserve all of my energy for the spell.”
Her mother nodded and called the shift onto herself. Summer shrieked and took two steps backwards as her mother became a white wolf. Ashlee cocked her head to the side. “Still don’t believe?” “And you can do that?” Summer’s voice shook.
“Yes.”
Ashlee watched as Summer approached their mother, slowly. “And I’m going to do that?”
“Maybe.”
Ashlee looked back at her circle of stones. She had her two female shifters, her circle of rocks and her understanding of how things were supposed to go in the spell. Which meant she just needed the pack and Tristan. They should all be arriving momentarily. Michael had warned her that they would be bringing Tristan out in chains to keep him from hurting either himself or her.
Ashlee’s mother called the shift back onto herself and stood before them naked. Summer closed her eyes and turned around. Ashlee grinned and wondered suddenly if it had only been a week since she’d met Tristan and had the same reaction to her mother’s nude form?
A sharp pain hit her abdomen and she doubled over onto the ground. Her mother quickly stepped over the stones and grabbed her shoulders as she pulled her into a sitting position.
“What is it, Ash?”
“Pain in my abdomen.” It passed, but she still felt shaken. She didn’t know what it was, and the last thing Ashlee needed was anything else to distract her.
Voices in the distance alerted Ashlee that the pack’s arrival was imminent. She stood up and brushed herself off. By the end of the ceremony she’d most likely be naked, but she wanted to start out looking presentable.
Ashlee’s mom still had a worried look on her face. Not wanting her mother to obsess about pain they couldn’t investigate at the current time, she changed the subject. “You left Dad where?”
“In one of the abandoned cabins. I can’t believe Tristan burned down the Institute.”
“When this is over, he’s going to beat himself up about it.” It was important to sound confident, Ashlee reminded herself. She reached down deep inside to touch her beloved’s soul. His love flung outwards to her and she closed her eyes and smiled. When this was over, she would never be separated from him for any length of time again.
Her eyes suddenly fell on the chained form of Tristan. Azriel and Theo led him up the hill. Michael walked a pace behind them, Rex to the left of the group. Tristan raised his eyes to look at her and she sucked in her breath. His pupils were huge, the whites bloodshot. What she could see of the skin on his arms and legs looked burned. He’d really been through hell while she’d been gone.
She fought back the urge to rush to him, throw off his chains, and embrace him with so much love it healed his wounds. There would be time for all of that after she succeeded in removing the spell from him. There had to be.
Tristan fought his chains, causing Ashlee’s heart to lurch. One way or another his pain would end today, she would see to that. She would either remove the spell or give her life for him. Either way, it would be her gift to him.
“Listen up.” She kept her voice authoritative; she was the only person here who could conduct this ceremony and everyone was going to abide by her rules. “Once I have started the ceremony, no one, and I mean no one, is to cross the rock barrier. It could harm you. I’m going to be calling on the communal magic of the pack to assist me towards the end of the spell. You may feel strange when I do that, but don’t worry, you’re perfectly safe.” Ashlee paused and swallowed her fear.
You will be fine.
Ashlee was glad for her wolf’s vote of confidence and she took a deep breath. “Theo, please put Tristan in the center of the circle and take the chains off of him.”
Tristan growled and tugged on his chains as he tried to get to her. Theo stared at Tristan and then back at Ashlee. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, sister.”
Ashlee shook her head and clenched her teeth. She would not compromise the legitimacy of the spell. Those chains were made of metal; they might alter the purity of the stone circle. “He has to be unchained for this to work, Theo.”
Michael interrupted Theo’s argument with Ashlee. “As you say, Ashlee.” Theo brought Tristan to the center of the circle and took off his chains. When the chains came off, Tristan fell to the ground and stayed there for a moment before he sat up and glared at Ashlee.
“This isn’t safe for you, little one.” He growled. “I thought I told you to run.”
“And so I did, Tristan.” Ashlee looked out of the circle to Michael. “Is it done?”
Ashlee needed to know if they had disposed of the witch. Before that very moment, Ashlee would have thought the idea that someone she associated with had killed another person would make her feel repulsed but she felt just the opposite about it. They needed Mina dead—her blood was part of the ceremony—and besides, the woman had signed her own death warrant thirty years earlier when she’d maliciously cursed the wolfshifters. Ashlee had watched her mother, Rex, and Tristan dispose of the would-be kidnappers outside of the zoo without many mental ramifications. Evidently, she was stronger than she’d given herself credit for.
“Cullen completes it now. You don’t need it until the end of the ceremony, yes?”
Ashlee sighed; she really would have preferred to have had it now. But the sun was right in the sky so she’d have to count on Cullen to show up with the blood.
“As long as I have it by the end. Actually, it’s not a bad idea for you all to know this in case I am not able to do it myself. Pour the witch’s blood in the center of the circle. It will finalize the spell and call off the magic.”
“Ashlee,” Michael stared at the ground. “I’m not the Alpha. Not really.”
Ashlee nodded. “I know who the Alpha is.”
“Do you think I have enough power without the Aunts to handle this?”
“You’d better.” She couldn’t be any more assuring than that. Truthfully, Ashlee had no idea what would happen if they failed.
Ashlee closed her eyes to prepare for her task. She wished she could have practiced this once before she had to perform it in front of the entire pack. Tristan made a groaning noise and she opened her eyes. She could see he was struggling, and she knew that she was running out of time.
The first thing Ashlee needed to do was invoke protection on her stone circle. She raised her left hand towards the setting sun in the sky.
“I call upon thee, Watchtower of the West. Protect this circle and those who surround it. I call upon you for sanctity against those who would cause us harm.”
The breeze picked up and bounced through Ashlee’s hair. The skirt she wore fluttered around her ankles. Ashlee smiled, she felt powerful and capable.
Keep going. Keep focus.
Ashlee might be new at mysticism but her wolf acted like she was an old expert.
“I call upon thee, Watchtower of the South. Protect this circle and those who surround it. I call upon you for sanctity against those who cause us harm.”
Lightning struck in the sky followed immediately by a loud boom of thunder. Ashlee raised her eyes to look at the clouds. They swirled above their heads, counterclockwise.
She’d gotten someone’s attention.
“I call upon thee, Watchtower of the East. Protect this circle and those who surround it. I call upon you for sanctity against those who cause us harm.”
Inside the circle, rain started to pour on Ashlee and Tristan, but Ashlee could see that the others remained dry. Her mother called out something to her, but Ashlee couldn’t hear it over the wind and the rain; she could see her mother’s mouth moving, but the words just sounded like nonsense. She turned to stare back at Tristan, who had stood up.
He seemed glued to the ground on the other side of the circle, his hands in fists.
“Ashlee, what are you doing? You cannot win this. It’s too late for me. Run while you still can.” His voice sounded desperate. “Find a spell that separates us, that undoes our mating. Then you’ll be safe. Leave me.”
Ashlee’s eyes welled up with tears, and the little control she possessed on her emotion was lost. “Leave you? Out of everything you have said to me since you woke up bespelled, that is the worst. I can’t leave you, I never will. I’m carrying a piece of your soul around inside of me, just as you have mine. Neither of us will ever be okay without the other one. If one of us dies, the other does too. Get over your macho ideas. I’m in this for the long haul.”
The wind sped its assault on her face and she raised her arm to block its way. Tristan stood still, his breaths coming in sharp pants. His fists clenched at his sides, he roared loudly before he spoke. “I will not have you hurt, Ashlee. I can’t be the cause of that, either by my own doing or because you are hurt trying to help me.”