My palms pressed against Cillian’s chest, and I smiled. “It’s okay. It will be a temporary pain for an even larger reward.”

  “I hate that I couldn’t save you from this,” he muttered quietly.

  “You’ll need to be okay with not always saving me,” I said. “I’m an alpha at heart. There isn’t much I’ll back down from, especially when it means saving the lives of others.”

  “The one thing I equally admire and hate about you.” His lips briefly twisted into a smirk. Just as he was getting ready to lean in for a kiss, Beatrix snapped her fingers again.

  “We don’t have all day, children. Don’t waste my time.”

  All I could do was smile. I knew my GiGi loved me more than the sun and moon, and her curt attitude only proved that more. She was nervous. Nothing made her crankier than that.

  Cillian headed toward the group of crystals in the cabinet behind Beatrix while I found my way to the wooden chair at the center of the attic space.

  Shelves filled with ancient books lined the wall to my right, and there was a window with stained glass in front of me. The wood floors creaked with every step Cillian took, and Beatrix hummed behind me, where I assumed she still stood with her books and potions on the table.

  There was a house full of witches and warlocks below us, but with the magically sealed door that led to the rest of the house, they were none the wiser that we were up here. Unless one of the higher-ranking witches decided to come up.

  Though, I had a feeling my grandmother had purposely made sure they’d be busy elsewhere before bringing us to the attic. She liked her secrets, and it was no fun for her when someone ruined them.

  Cillian finished placing the clear crystal pillars around my chair. I thought he was going to come over to me, but I heard him approach Beatrix instead. I turned out of curiosity and heard him ask about something I’d forgotten about.

  “Do you have the siphon spell here?”

  She glanced up from the bowl of ingredients she was mixing. “Why?”

  “I don’t think I’ll need it now that I know who we’re dealing with, but if you have the potion ready, it might not hurt to have,” he replied, leaning lightly against the tall table.

  GiGi grinned. “I lied before. The spell calls for the leaf of a plant that doesn’t seem to be grown any longer, and considering my granddaughter was missing, I haven’t exactly been focusing on other things. Though, I had no problem letting you think I had what you needed.”

  Cillian didn’t seem the least bit surprised by that revelation, and neither was I. He walked toward me instead of replying back to her. A smart choice, because my grandmother seemed to be in more of a mood than normal, thanks to the complexity of my situation.

  “You’re sure we won’t need the spell still?” I asked when he kneeled next to me, placing his hands on my thighs.

  His shrug was slight. “The grandmother I now know I can’t trust was the one who told me it was what we needed. Maybe she knew it was going to be impossible to get and merely wanted me out of the way.”

  He made a valid point. “So, you think we free your father and kill Knox, then all of this will be over?”

  “That’s the plan until someone does something that decides otherwise,” he said, looking up at me with a tense jaw. “I don’t know what I’m going to do about my grandmother, though.”

  “I’ll gladly handle her for you,” my GiGi said, making me inwardly grin. Seeing the two of them battle would be quite the sight.

  I may not have known Cillian’s grandmother, but by the short moments I did spend with her and the things I’d heard Cillian say about her before, I had little doubt that it would be one hell of a showdown.

  GiGi bumped her hip into Cillian’s back. “You’re going to want to leave this circle unless you want to suffer irreversible consequences.”

  He didn’t bother to look back at her. His stare stayed with mine as he rose far enough up that his forehead pressed against mine. “You’re going to be okay.”

  The words were said with a fierce intensity and penetrated right into my chest, but I also knew they were said for his benefit as much as mine.

  I nodded and offered him a smile. “I am. Beatrix won’t let anything happen to me.”

  “Not anything that you can’t heal from,” she muttered, making Cillian’s lip lift into a snarl.

  My hands squeezed around his face. “I’m in the most capable hands for the job. Even if she has shitty bedside manner. I promise.”

  “You better be right.” His mouth pressed against mine, staying in place for longer than I expected. The kiss never deepened, but just feeling his warmth, allowing it to soak into me, was all I needed in that moment.

  He pulled, or more accurately, was pulled away from me, eliciting a growl from both of us.

  “Don’t go feral on me now,” GiGi said. “The longer you drag this out, the more it’s going to hurt.”

  That was likely a lie, but I let her have it.

  I squeezed Cillian’s hand, and he kissed the top of my head before walking out of the circle.

  My eyes closed, and I called out to my wolf. I hope all the meditating you’ve been doing is about to do us some good right now.

  Not likely, but one can hope, she replied. Don’t worry. I’m right here with you.

  She didn’t really have a choice in the matter, but I appreciated her words, nonetheless.

  Beatrix pulled rope from her pockets and started to tie my hands to the chair without saying a word.

  “Care to explain what you’re doing?” I asked.

  “I’m making sure you don’t punch me and ruin the whole thing,” she deadpanned.

  I shook my head. “Might want to tie my legs, too. Wouldn’t want me to kick you, either.”

  While I was being incredibly sarcastic because I had faith in my self-control, she seemed to take me very seriously and bent to one knee.

  “Do you really think those are going to hold me?” They were thin, maybe a half-inch thick and made from what I assumed to be cotton.

  “If I’d just brought them home from the store, no,” she said. “But these have been upgraded. Shifter and vampire proof.” Then, she waggled her brows. “Even sorcerer proof.”

  I gagged and squeezed my eyes closed. “GiGi, I do not need to know about your extracurricular activities.”

  “Then, you shouldn’t have asked,” she quipped.

  As soon as she tied the last knot, she reached into the bowl I’d seen on the table and flicked some sort of rancid concoction into my face.

  I squeezed my eyes closed and coughed as my head shook. “Seriously, GiGi.”

  She didn’t say anything else. Instead, something warm poured over my head and I kept my eyes sealed shut.

  My fingers curled over the arm of the chair, nails digging into the wood. I tried not to breathe in the stench, but that was nearly impossible as my heart rate sped up.

  I wanted to ask what the hell was happening, but goo slid down my face and there was no way I was opening my mouth for any reason.

  “This might pinch a little,” she warned right before her palm slammed over my heart.

  My back arched, forcing my chest to push against her hand that I was nearly certain was burning through my skin.

  The festering black hole of a connection that I had to Knox flared to life. It grew stronger inside me, expanding until I was certain it was going to swallow me whole.

  Whatever shit Beatrix had poured onto me started to burn into my pores, and I swore it was entering my bloodstream and lighting a fire inside my veins.

  She finally removed her hand from my chest. “He’s stronger than I anticipated.”

  I badly wanted to ask what the hell she meant by that, but before I could chance opening my mouth, an electric current felt as if it was being stabbed through my skull then shooting down my spine.

  A partial shift started, and my nails turned to claws, while I was certain fur had sprouted along my skin. My teeth elongated, and there was no keeping my lips together any longer.

  As soon as the wretched sludge entered my mouth, I was convinced I’d throw up, but with the current of electricity still pulsing through me, I had no control over my body.

  Dawsyn.

  My name was a whisper of rage through my mind.

  What the hell was that? I asked my wolf.

  Knox. He’s trying to connect deeper with you.

  Fuck that nonsense.

  “Get this bastard out of me,” I yelled. Or at least, I think I did. There was a pounding inside my head that made me unsure of my volume.

  I sensed my grandmother moving faster around me. I’d have expected her to answer, but there was no response. Or maybe I just couldn’t hear it.

  Either way, whatever she was doing next didn’t seem to be helping.

  The rope tied around my arms and legs was beginning to cut into my skin as my body tried desperately to get free of the restraints, only it wasn’t me that wanted free. I wasn’t controlling my movements.

  The spell Beatrix used must have opened the connection between the two of you further, my wolf said. It’s as if his spirit is right here with us, fighting against whatever she’s doing.

  Based on the conflicting actions of my body, I could believe that, but I didn’t understand why. Knox had hardly paid attention to me while I’d been in his possession. Did he truly hate his brother enough that he just didn’t want Cillian to have me?

  I didn’t know for sure, and a part of me hoped I never found out. That the fucker would be nothing more than a corpse the next time I saw him.

  There was a pulsing sensation inside my chest, and my hands wanted nothing more than to sink my claws through my skin and rip my own heart out. The desire wasn’t mine, but it felt so fucking tangible that I could taste the fury inside my mouth.

  My eyes finally opened, wider than I thought should have been possible. My head jerked back, then slammed forward over and over again.

  “Stay still, damn it,” GiGi demanded, but it wasn’t me. I’d lost control of my own body.

  “Can’t…stop…him.” My words were garbled, but I got them out right before the pounding in my head intensified so severely that all I could hear was the sound of an invisible windstorm circling my body.

  Dawsyn.

  Knox’s faint voice echoed through the cyclone, but I ignored him and focused on Cillian. The bond I’d had with my true mate, while never completed, had ignited a warmth inside me that I’d never felt before. Something I knew I would never feel again with anyone other than him.

  Cillian’s strength and resilience were all I needed to keep me grounded in this moment. It didn’t matter that our tether had been turned to ash. I could still imagine the power of knowing he was mine. Even if I’d wanted to reject him at first, a part of my heart had always known.

  He was ours.

  Not Knox. Not anyone else.

  It would only ever be Cillian.

  His brother was an unwanted houseguest who needed to get the fuck out of my mind and heart.

  With a roar that started deep in my stomach and grew with every inch it rose through my body, I snarled and yelled, using the drive inside me to fuel whatever my grandmother was doing.

  My body vibrated with energy, and with every beat of my heart and scorching pulse in my veins, I felt Knox getting further and further away.

  You’re going to regret this, he taunted faintly. I will kill them all.

  The howl in my mind turned into a growl that reverberated through my chest until the heat left my body and I had control again.

  A bucket of water was poured over my head, and then the ropes were cut from my bruising skin. I swiped my hands over my eyes, then turned toward a magically restrained and very pissed-the-fuck-off-looking Cillian and Beatrix.

  “We need to go,” I snarled. “Now.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  CILLIAN

  Watching Dawsyn be stripped of the bond felt like someone had been cutting my heart out with a dull blade. When I couldn’t take her screams any longer, I’d lunged for my mate, wanting to do anything I could to help ease her agony, but Beatrix had been prepared for that.

  Her magic had wrapped around my body like a rope, locking me into place, then somehow silenced my voice. I’d stood there helpless to do anything, my ire growing with every rapid beat of my heart. I had no clue how much time had passed, but it was like an eternity in hell, knowing there was nothing I could do to stop whatever was happening to Dawsyn.

  The longer I’d had to stand there trapped, the more hate I began to feel for my grandmother, not the one who had restrained me. Estelle had been the only one who had suspected I’d met a woman while I was at the academy. She must have told Knox. She was the reason my mate was suffering.

  I thought I’d known Estelle or at least understood her, but it seemed as if everything had been a lie. All these years of her caring for me… She’d merely been passing the time. But that was the least of my worries at the moment.

  The green shit that Beatrix had poured over Dawsyn turned into smoke as soon as she dumped the bucket of water over my mate’s head. Then, Dawsyn’s vengeful eyes turned to us, and I knew something had gone wrong.

  “We need to go,” she practically growled. “Now.”

  Beatrix snapped her fingers, and the hold on my body was released. “You’d thank me if you understood the pain I just saved you both from by forcing you to stay put, but I won’t be offended by your lack of gratitude.”

  I ignored the witch. I wasn’t angry or grateful for her. I just needed my hands on Dawsyn. I was at her side before she even had the chance to stand all the way up. “What happened?”

  “Knox was in my head,” she said with a shudder. “I could hear his voice, faint yet clear. He wants to kill everyone because I broke the bond. We need to warn them.” She turned to Beatrix. “Can you get us back to the portal?”

  I glanced at Beatrix, waiting for her answer, and noticed dark circles starting to form under her eyes. She might have been a powerful sorceress, but even she couldn’t hide her true age when she used the amount of magic that I suspected she’d just needed to.

  “Do I look like a damn taxi to you?” she snarked, then walked over to the table she’d been at before, a slight wobble to her steps.

  She lifted a stone cup to her lips and closed her eyes as she drank whatever was inside.

  A visible shimmer started around her head and moved its way down her body. When I glanced back at her face, the dark circles were gone, but the lines and creases were still prominent.

  The old witch rubbed her palms together and stepped around the table before thrusting them forward.

  A silver circle formed, and a portal opened, but much slower than it had when she’d brought us here. As it opened, Beatrix turned to Dawsyn and waved a hand in her direction.

  “That was more appreciated than you know, GiGi,” Dawsyn said, and I realized Beatrix had used magic to dry my mate’s clothes and clean up the mess they’d made.

  “I felt the new energy inside you,” Beatrix replied. “Be careful with that until you know how to control yourself. Power like that can just as easily strike you down as it can save your life.”

  “I won’t use it unless I have to,” Dawsyn said, then strode to my side and grabbed my hand with a tight smile on her face. “Are you ready?”

  “I’d rather stay here and make sure that you’re ready,” I replied honestly.

  She could walk and stand, but I’d heard her screams, felt them deep into my bones.

  She’d just gone to hell and back, and now we were likely headed into a battle. I wasn’t sure if she was ready for this, which made Roman’s previous words filter back through my mind.

  “I need to know that if she’s putting herself in danger, you’re not going to be afraid to step in and stop her.”

  I didn’t want to control Dawsyn, but I also wouldn’t be able to live with myself if she died because I didn’t make sure she was rested and prepared to fight.

  Her fingers rubbed over her chest, and I watched the movements, realizing that she never confirmed if Beatrix’s spell had worked.

  “Is the bond gone?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

  While I fucking hoped so, a small part of me wished she’d say no, because where our bond should have reignited, there was nothing other than a whisper of a memory of what used to be.

  She nodded stiffly, eyes casting downward.

  I lifted her chin with one hand and stared deep into her eyes. “Bond or not, you’re mine, Dawsyn Chase.”

  I meant the words with every fiber of my being, and I hoped she knew that. Nothing else mattered to me any longer. From the moment I saw her in that shower back at the academy, she was all I needed in my life.

  Beatrix cleared her throat. “It’s cold enough to freeze nipples out here, and I’d like to go drink my weight in whiskey after all that. So, if you wouldn’t mind…get the hell out.”

  A grin played on Dawsyn’s lips, and she squeezed my hand before stepping toward her grandmother. She embraced the elder witch, then lightly kissed her cheek. “Thank you, GiGi. For everything.”

  Her eyes softened, and there might have even been a shimmer of tears there before she blinked. “Yeah, just try not to need that kind of help again, okay?”

  Dawsyn laughed. “I’ll do my best.”

  I gave Beatrix a curt nod. Something told me she didn’t need or want my gratitude.

  Together, Dawsyn and I stepped through the portal that led back to the mountain in Montana. Before we could fully turn around, the opening was closed and Beatrix was gone.

  Dawsyn wrapped her arms around herself and leaned into me. “She’s getting old.”

  “I think she’s been old for a while now,” I tried to joke as I guided her toward the entry to Drago.

  She grimaced. “But it never showed like it did just now.”