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.
Chapter Thirteen
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 shifter 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.