I’m sorry, Foster, I thought before I began sucking in the black magic. I had to take from them what they never should have had and what I most certainly didn’t want. Then, I’d destroy them with the very thing they thought made them invincible.

  My fingers reached for the robes, searching for anything to latch on to. Once I had a hold, I pulled, first absorbing the magic that was preventing me from breathing and then focusing on the soul before me. They may not have had a physical form, but there was still a source of life inside the shadows, one that I could take and end before they caused any more damage.

  The first witch dissipated into the air, and their energy source was gone from the tether that flickered when I stood back up.

  The two remaining witches were throwing everything they had at me, but I was glowing a dark midnight color and growing stronger by the second, thanks to their friend.

  I launched myself at the next target but was blasted back by the other. Charlie looked down at me, blood trickling from her nose. “There are too many and I don’t know where Beatrix is.”

  I glanced back, keeping one eye on the two robed witches still coming for me. Bodies lay on the ground, blood covered those still standing, and wolves were fighting each other like they were lifelong enemies.

  Foster was right there in the middle, staying as close as he could, but every time he tried to get nearer, another witch or wolf cut off his path. They were purposely trying to separate us.

  Charlie groaned, then snarled. “Keep fighting, Andie.” Then her body shimmered, like she was trying to teleport, but she didn’t move from her spot next to me. “Shit! There’s a block around us. That’s why the rest haven’t shown.” Charlie grunted while she began fighting another witch.

  I barely had time to comprehend what she was saying before the two robed witches were on me again. I’d broken their circle, but they were still powerful.

  One of them barked out a word I didn’t understand, and I was forced to the ground, putting my face right in the dirt.

  “That hurt,” I muttered as I pushed myself back up.

  When I whirled around, my hands were already filled with energy, and I blasted my two attackers with enough magic that it should have fried them to ash.

  Except, as their forms started to crack from my hit, they disappeared from sight entirely.

  I turned to look for Charlie, and she was still standing, so my gaze traveled to Foster, who wasn’t faring nearly as well as he had been when I’d last checked.

  His wolf was missing a chunk of skin from his front flank, and he was breathing too hard. Three wolves were taking turns swiping at him while a warlock stood there watching.

  They could have killed him already and, while I was more than thankful they hadn’t, I didn’t understand what the point of the torture was. It was going to end right fucking now.

  I charged forward. With every stride I took, I drew energy from the Earth and every supernatural being I could reach.

  By the time I’d closed the distance, I was once again glowing with energy that I intended to slam into the other wolves, hoping like hell I didn’t hurt Foster too badly in the process.

  Except, when my feet lifted off the ground to jump forward the rest of the way, I was yanked back by an invisible force.

  I landed on my ass and elbows, groaning from the impact. I tried to turn around, but hands grabbed my hair and jerked me up.

  Once my feet had purchase, I twisted until I could see who was behind me, coming face-to-face with a woman I knew immediately to be Moira.

  She was wearing my necklace, which was floating over her chest, almost like it was trying to get to me.

  “Hello, Andie,” Moira jeered before she grabbed onto the front of my shirt. “It’s nice to officially meet you. Let’s chat.”

  I thought she was going to bring me closer. Instead, she bent her arm only a couple inches, then shoved me farther away from Foster and Charlie.

  This time, I landed on my feet with my knees bent and one hand pressing into the ground, taking one last boost of energy as I watched Moira come for me.

  She waltzed forward wearing dark skinny jeans, a black leather corset top, and bright red heels that matched her thin lips. When she grinned, her cheekbones protruded and slight wrinkles formed around her charcoal eyes.

  I scrambled back but didn’t get to stand fast enough before she was kneeling over me, her long, sleek, brown hair creating a curtain around us. “You’re coming with me, or my friends over there will kill your pet.”

  I wanted to call her bluff, but I knew she wasn’t wrong. Foster was all alone and weakening, possibly because I’d used my syphon ability. Beatrix and the others not showing up had been the final nail in our coffin. Naïve as it might have been, I still wasn’t willing to give this particular witch whatever she wanted.

  My fingers rose and I reached for my necklace, but she pulled away, shaking her finger at me. “I don’t think so. This is mine until I get what I want out of it.”

  I raised a brow. “To save your soulmate?”

  She sneered at me. “Don’t you speak of him.”

  I leaned forward slowly, but she backed up just as much. “Why? You’re the one that told me we were alike. I wanted to know just how true that was. I see now.”

  Her eyes roamed over me, and her lip lifted. “You see what?”

  “I see that we both want to save our soulmates. Yet we’re at an impasse. You want something from me, and I can’t give it to you—for the same reasons.” While I had her momentarily distracted, my hand shot out again, this time faster, and my fingers touched the moonstone. As soon as they made contact, a light exploded inside me.

  My magic.

  I pulled on the energy, but Moira’s fist punched me in the cheek, breaking at least a bone or two.

  “Don’t touch that unless I tell you to!” she screeched.

  I held my hands up, then pressed one over my cheek, sending some healing vibes where she’d hit me. All the while, my palm still facing Moira was reaching out to my magic. I didn’t have to touch the stone to get what I wanted. Maybe Beatrix had been smarter than I’d realized, not acting before I’d been ready. Everything I’d been doing the last eight days had prepared me for this moment.

  “Moira, you need me, and I need my magic. Why don’t we come to an agreement we can both live with?” I asked, lying my ass off to keep her interest in my words while I lowered my arms but left my palm facing the dark witch once it rested at my side.

  “You’d work with me?” she asked, her tone tight and rightly suspicious.

  I shrugged. “I’ll do whatever I have to in order to save the most lives here today, including my soulmate’s. Why don’t you tell me about yours?”

  A glossy sheen covered her eyes before she blinked, shaking her head. She took a step forward, then paused.

  “What, Moira? What has you hesitating?” I taunted, needing to keep her distracted.

  The tether inside me, the one I’d felt when I’d been in the ether, I’d been drawing on that part of me, focusing on making it stronger throughout the last week.

  With practiced effort, I sent the invisible tether out of my palm and toward Moira’s chest where my necklace still floated. The clear thread circled around the necklace before halting instead of doing what I’d hoped it would.

  I didn’t know what the tether didn’t like, but I didn’t care. I drew the energy back and tried again. As much as I’d have preferred to have the whole necklace back, I was okay settling for only what was inside before blasting Moira into the next world.

  Moira scoffed at my previous question. “I’m not hesitating, I’m assessing, as any smart witch would do. You’re different than I expected, but I also didn’t foresee you having a wolf shifter for a soulmate. He’s tainted your energy.”

  I cocked my head to the side. “Has he? Or was that your doing when you took what wasn’t yours?”

  She shoved her hands forward just as my tether finally wrapped around the stone, pulling taut and holding strong. Instead of focusing on protecting myself, I concentrated on keeping the connection to the necklace secure, which was how I ended up slammed into a tree from Moira’s hit and bashing my head so hard, I saw stars.

  Moira was on me again before I could stand, but I didn’t care. I was drawing my power back and she had no damn clue.

  “You will do as I say, or you will die. They will all die,” she spat in my face.

  I shook my head. “You won’t kill me, Moira. You said too much before. You need me.”

  She backhanded me and blood flew out of my mouth. “You need me, too.”

  “No, I don’t. I’m already getting what I want.”

  The stone was almost drained. While I probably looked like death, I was growing more powerful by the second. My insides felt like lightning, and I was ready to strike.

  Except before I could do so, hellfire rained down on all of us.

  Magic pierced my skin. At first, it was burning, but then the sensation melted away for me within the next second. Though that didn’t seem to be the case for those under Moira’s control.

  Screeches sounded off all around us, and witches I recognized finally began to appear. I didn’t know how Beatrix had done it, but she’d finally broken through whatever block Moira had had around us.

  And not a second too late.

  Moira stumbled back, and as much as I wanted to go to Foster, I wanted this nightmare to be over. I had to finish removing Moira’s hold over us. I needed all of my magic.

  I launched myself at her, but her form was already dissolving into mist, and I stumbled right through her. Her transparent form turned and glared at me while she raised her arms into the air. Her misty body swirled until there was nothing left but a tornado of dark fog.

  Moira’s voice echoed around me. “Our time is up for the day, but we’re not done yet, Andie. And I’ll be taking a few friends with me to make sure of it.”

  My eyes immediately cut to Foster.

  His wolf was on the ground, and I was too far from him.

  Wolves and bodies began rising into the air, carried by the dark fog from which Moira’s witches had appeared. They were retreating, but I didn’t believe we’d come close to winning.

  Inky tendrils wrapped around Foster, and his head hung limply when he was lifted off the ground.

  Without thinking, I thrust my arms toward the black magic covering him. Midnight energy blasted out of me, but instead of just attacking whatever was trying to take Foster, the power spread out and targeted every ounce of dark magic around us.

  I pulled on the energy, forcing it to come toward me, commanding it to obey my command instead of Moira’s.

  Only that wasn’t all I was doing.

  There was light magic being mixed in, and the witches from our coven began dropping to their knees. Even though I knew what was happening, there wasn’t a single part of me that wanted to cease my actions.

  I needed to do this. I needed to take all that I could from Moira before she could steal anything else from me.

  Beatrix stepped in front of me and grabbed my wrists. Her body was covered in an opaque shield, and she didn’t seem at all affected by my magic. “Stop it, Andie. Control yourself before you kill all of us.”

  My head shook. They’d tried to take Foster from me. I couldn’t let them get away.

  The wall between myself and Foster cracked as I used more of the dark energy. A small part of me knew to listen to Beatrix, knew to stop before anyone else got hurt because of me, but I was no longer in control. I couldn’t slow the momentum of my power.

  The protection Foster was supposed to have from me shattered inside my mind. Our bond flared like a beacon in my mind, and I finally fell to my knees.

  My soulmate. My Foster.

  I tried to stop pulling on the bond. I tried to stop taking on more of the dark magic remnants, especially since Moira and her people were already gone, but I was no longer calling the shots.

  Beatrix smacked me across the face, and I merely chuckled. “You can’t stop me,” I snarled, my voice not entirely my own.

  Her silver-covered hand pressed over my forehead. “Actually, I can.”

  My eyes widened, and the world around me went black. When I could see again, I was looking up at a clear sky with a pounding inside my head unlike I’d ever known.

  “What the hell was that?” I asked with a groan.

  Beatrix leaned over me. “That was me stopping you from killing half the coven and your mate all at the same time. Now get up.”

  Foster.

  I searched for the bond, but the light I’d pulled on just moments before was gone. I could still feel him, but it wasn’t the same. We weren’t the same.

  My throat and eyes burned, and I covered my mouth with both hands to hold in the sobs I wanted to let rip from inside me.

  The wall between us was all the way gone. I’d broken through Beatrix’s potion, and I’d begun pulling energy from all around me in hopes of… I couldn’t think of the reason. All I knew was that I’d screwed up, and Beatrix was right.

  I’d almost killed people.

  She helped me onto my feet, and my stare immediately went to Foster’s wolf. Only my eyes couldn’t see the rise and fall of his chest that I hoped for.

  He was lying on the ground, unmoving, and only a faint hint of energy pulsed from him.

  When I got to his side, I dropped to my knees and hovered my hands over his bloodied fur. “Is he…”

  Beatrix kneeled next to me. “He’s alive, but he took on dark magic when the barrier between the two of you broke.”

  Holden raced toward us. He was covered in so much blood that I couldn’t tell whether it was his or someone else’s. “Foster!” he roared.

  “What can we do?” I asked Beatrix, afraid of trusting myself.

  Except it was Holden who answered.

  “You need to stay away from him until he can shift back to his human form. In fact, until we have all of our wolves back, it might be better if you just stayed away altogether.”

  My chest constricted and stomach twisted until I was certain I was going to throw up. I recalled watching the shifters and witches’ bodies being raised into the sky. I hadn’t recognized any of them, but I also hadn’t been in my right mind.

  My hand still held on to Foster, but my eyes searched for Charlie. “Where is she?” I demanded.

  Beatrix pulled me back. “We haven’t found her.”

  No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. I’d just gotten most of my magic back. Moira was gone. There was supposed to be a victory here, but instead, my best friend had been taken, and my mate was possibly dying…because of me.

  “What did I do?” I muttered, more to myself than anyone else.

  “I’m sorry, Andie, but you need to leave. I have to focus on the wolves, and you’re still pulsing with dark magic.” Holden moved between me and Foster’s prone wolf form.

  My lip quivered. “But I didn’t mean to…”

  He nodded stiffly. “I know, but it still happened. Someone will be in touch if he wakes or anything changes.”

  I gripped Beatrix’s arm but stared at Holden, trying not to completely fall apart. “If?”

  Holden closed his eyes for a brief moment. When he reopened them, they were no less furious. “I won’t lie to you, Andie. I mean if he wakes up. Now go. Before he gets any worse.”

  Beatrix pulled me up and forced me back. “We’re going to fix this, Andie. I promise.”

  I badly wanted to believe her, but with every step I was forced to take away from Foster and every thought that reminded me my best friend was also gone…

  I didn’t see how anything could be fixed.

  My steps faltered, and I wanted to turn around and go back to my soulmate, but Beatrix yanked hard on my arms. “Let Holden heal his pack, Andie. We’ll come back just as soon as it’s safe.”

  Ire exploded within my chest, spreading throughout my body in seconds and extinguishing all prior thoughts of doubt, self-pity, and woe.

  Safe? Nothing would be safe until I saw Foster’s blue eyes again and held him in my arms.

  And if that didn’t happen quick enough?

  The world would feel my wrath—and soon.

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Heather Renee is a USA Today Bestselling author who lives in Oregon. She writes Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy novels with a mixture of romance, humor, and sass. Her love of reading eventually led to her passion of writing and giving the gift of escapism.

  When Heather's not writing, she's spending time with her loving husband and beautiful daughter, going on their own adventures. She loves to hear from her fans, so visit her website: www.HeatherReneeAuthor.com and check out the Contact Me page for ways to connect.

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  Fated to the Wolf

  An abandoned witch. A rogue wolf. Can the two save each other or will their bond only lead to destruction?