<Chapter 23 -1
Chapter 23…-1
Troy
Her head snapped forward with a sickening pop. The glow vanished. Silence dropped like a
guillotine.
Claim
I blinked, waiting for more, something extra. Maybe some dramatic wind, a crash of lightning, or a
spooky chant to tie the whole doom speech together. “That’s it? No flash of fire or a riddle in
rhyme? Not even a cursed crystal ball?”
The crone’s lips peeled back in a snarl. “You will respect our magic, Ryker.”
The entire cottage trembled around us like her fury had awakened the bones of the house itself.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
Now that was more like it.
Still, I crossed my arms and cocked a brow. “Alright, stormcloud. Let’s break it down. What exactly
is this darkness? And how do I play exorcist if I don’t even know what strength I need?”
“I do not know.”
I stared at Kiana again. “Well, she found me, assuming that I’m her shadow. So everything will be
fine. I promised Kiana her freedom. Will she be all right?”
The crone straightened. “Her freedom?”
“Her price for bringing me here. She gets to live her life as a rogue.” My stomach twisted at the thought. “Maybe she can stay here with you.”
Away from whatever darkness was rising.
“You must keep her with you. Keep her safe. Use her.”
“Use her?” I stared at the old witch. “Whose fucking side are you on?”
“Mine,” The crone said flatly. “If you do not keep her, then we will all die.”
The old witch and I glared at each other, and she smiled, revealing her chipped yellow teeth.
“I see the heart in you, Troy Ryker, You will not fail your pack. Your leadership will always come
first.”
She wasn’t wrong. My pack had always come first, and if they were in danger, there was nothing
that I would not do to protect them.
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<Chapter 23-1
“She is one of mine. I made a promise.”
“Is she?”
With a frown, I snapped my head up. “Is she what?”
“Enough.” the mother snapped.
Claim
The crone just continued to grin wickedly. “I don’t think it is. The man deserves to know. Surely, he’s realized by now that his pack’s bond to her is strange. One-sided. Same with his mating bond. He knows what she is. When will he learn that even wolf magic can’t touch her?”
My blood ran cold, and I stared at Kiana. I’d pushed all my alpha power into demanding she shift, and she’d resisted. I knew then that something was wrong. Then it was how she dispelled the traps. She couldn’t have used witch magic to manipulate it. I hadn’t wanted to think too hard about it. Hadn’t wanted to know what it meant.
“It’s not…possible,” I muttered. “You’re wrong.”
“The truth,” the maiden interrupted while glaring at the old woman disapprovingly, “is that we do not know how it affects her and her wolf magic. The only nulls we’ve ever come across were witches. She is the first wolf shifter null.”
Null.
I knew the term. It popped into my head watching Kiana slide through those traps after pretending to fiddle them. Magic didn’t just slide off her. It died at her touch.
“You feel something for her. After shunning her for years and feeling disgusted that she is your mate, you’ve taken the chance and gotten to know her,” the mother said as she stood. “Even if the mating bond does not touch her, as it touches you, you could find happiness with her. Keep her. Find out.”
One witch with the bitterness, and the other with the sugar, Both of them were saying the same thing. Break my promise to her. Break my promise to my mate,
Was she my mate?
My heart thundered in my chest. “And you know nothing of the darkness?”
“It rises from black magic,” a new voice said weakly. I turned just as Irene stumbled into the room. I was taken aback by her appearance.
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