He’s still alive… but his heartbeat is slowing down.
“Wake up!” I shake him frantically.
There’s no response.
What have I done? Cold seeps into my veins, and I stare down at him, waiting for him to wake, for something.
But there is nothing.
No sudden waking up to laugh that he’s joking.
Not a damn thing.
“Shit. Shit. Shit.” I shake Stone by his shoulders. “Please get up.”
Still nothing, and I pull back onto my heels, my eyes pricking with dread that I’ve somehow made things worse. That I will cause his death.
When I lift my head, there’s no bear coming for him. With him passed out, there is nothing for the creature to attack. Regardless, the other three Alphas never relent in their battles, but their moves grow sluggish, more exhausted.
There’s a tremble in my hands that races up my arms, and a soft whimper spills past my throat.
What do I do?
Running my fingers through my hair over and over, I get to my feet and lower my gaze back to Stone. I’m shaking and I hug myself, my breathing ragged. My mind fills with images of Stone’s death, of all the Alphas’ deaths. When I look down at my hands, the tips of my fingers will no longer be black, but covered in their blood, because this will be all my fault.
Everything is my fault.
My sisters were lost because I couldn’t control my magic.
Kaira is still out there somewhere.
Tears prick my eyes, and I want to collapse, to cry at the unfairness, to wish I was stronger. I want to be in the inn room I’ve been living in for weeks, except I am nowhere near safety, am I? Out here, I’m in a wilderness where death waits in the shadows, where even animals don’t dare to tread.
Instead, it feels like a terrible storm is coming… one I can’t escape if I don’t turn back now.
I am quiet for a long moment, hating myself for letting my parents down, for not being what they wanted me to be.
The muffled grunts from the men and growls have me lifting my gaze. They fight an unwinnable battle, regardless.
“Get your shit together, Narah. Think. Stone’s bear isn’t returning, and he’s alive for now. All the men are under the same spell. So that means one thing. They are connected under the one spell. Of course they are.”
I don’t even wait for the thought to settle before I’m sprinting toward Crius, following the one possibility of saving them.
The sheer display of his savage masculinity as he leaps out of the bear’s reach catches my attention. Crius pivots and throws himself at the animal, leaving me practically frozen with awe. Everything about Crius is seductive and powerful, particularly the way he moves with such swiftness and prowess.
“Crius.” I reach out and touch his arm.
He looks at me, his cheeks and forehead streaked with blood, and I cringe. “Get the hell out of here,” he snaps, then whips back to the creature charging for him. He catapults at the white furred monster so easily that I can’t look away.
He slams into the bear’s shoulder, and at lightning speed, spears his ax into the back of his head before being thrown off. His grip slips from his weapon still wedged into the animal’s neck, and he’s tossed across the clearing before crashing into a tree.
He groans and hits the ground hard.
I sprint across to him, terrified of him dying. The bear doesn’t even notice me, but it snarls furiously as he tries to reach for the ax embedded in his neck.
“The spell’s an illusion, and you can stop it by saying out loud the truth of what scares you.”
He cocks an eyebrow at me. “Is this some kind of trick to get to know me? You don’t need to try so hard, gorgeous. Just ask and I’m yours.”
I may have just swooned on my feet, but this isn’t the moment to get gushy. “Just shut the hell up and listen. You can’t win this battle with your strength. You need to counteract the spell.”
He’s dusting himself as the bear roars, rearing itself up on hind legs, batting at the weapon still wedged in his flesh.
“Will you hurry the hell up?” I snap, staring at the blood dripping down his hip and soaking into his pants. I don’t even know how he’s still standing from so much blood loss. He towers over me with a slight slant from an injured leg, and the scratch marks on his neck look so deep it