She clawed at my ribs and stomach until Kane came to my rescue and cut her head clean off with his sword. The raven-haired one screamed mercy, and Dante gave her a little room.

  “You have killed my sisters. I have nothing left, just leave!” she shouted.

  “Tell us how to forge the stone with blood magic,” Dante growled.

  “I am not a blood witch, I know no such thing,” she snapped.

  That was going to take some explaining to the neighbours.

  We made a hasty exit, and I stole one of the leather jackets hanging up near the front door to try and cover up the blood splatters on my shirt.

  “I never want to see another witch,” Gideon said as he wiped the blood off his face.

  “Present company excepted,” Dante said with a smile.

  “They tasted really bad. Do you have some mints?” Gideon said.

  I laughed from relief. We could forge a new ward stone, assuming I had enough magic. We were going to save the world.

  FORTY-NINE

  It was one thing to say we could use blood magic to forge a new ward stone and another to actually do it. I pulled out the book Rowan had given me and began looking through it for any sign of ward stones. It had a good bit on healing, which I got absorbed in for a little bit. It was nice to see that I could use my magic for good. There was a section on fae healing specifically; due to their higher natural magic and different connection to magic, healing them was very different than other beings. I wondered what meant for Kane, given he was half fae, half Nephilim.

  The book explained that Nephilim also have a higher amount of magic running through their veins, so they are closer to fae in make-up.

  “Anything on ward stones?” Dante asked.

  I looked up guiltily. “I got side-tracked reading up on healing. It’s nice to know I don’t have to be destructive and end lives.”

  He smiled at me and sat down on my bed neck to me, curling his legs next to him.

  “What else is in here?” he asked as he put his arm around my shoulders.

  “Well there’s this offensive stuff that I already use, the blood boiling, stopping the flow of blood, and ripping the blood out entirely,” I said as I flipped through.

  “Oh, there’s sigil work,” Dante said as he pointed at a page I’d almost flipped past.

  I hadn’t really looked into sigils. I knew one when I saw it. There were so many styles and uses for them that Kane had spent a month reading up on them, but I’d assumed they wouldn’t lend themselves well to blood magic.

  “You can form glamours, control people, and assume their appearance,” Dante said as he began flipping through the book.

  I squeezed my eyes closed at the ‘control people’ part.

  Kane kissed my temple. “It’ll work out. And he was an infernal here to kill you.”

  “I know, but it was so easy. What if someone else irritates me and it becomes convenient?” I asked.

  Dante gave me a knowing smile. “Do you really think that will happen or are you fretting because everyone says you’re meant to be a monster?”

  I wrinkled my nose.

  “We continued to flip through the book before we came upon it: ‘Ward stones - the forging of.’”

  I let out a whoop of joy and settled down to read it.

  Gideon came running into my room.

  “You found it?” he asked.

  “We did!” I grinned.

  Kane came in not far behind him.

  “The book tells you how to forge a stone?” Kane asked.

  “It’s right here,” Dante said.

  The guys burst into huge grins.

  As I read the chapter on forging ward stones, I began to frown. The opening history of why the blood witches did it was interesting. It showed that we have access to the purest, most potent magic, which made us the most viable for the job. When it got into the actual method, I started to feel a bit queasy.

  “We need a sacrifice, a skilled magical being from a pure bloodline,” I said quietly.

  Given the nature and sheer level of magic in a ward stone, we needed to put the complete life essence and every drop of blood from a pure magic line into the ritual.

  “There’s also a chance that Wren won’t survive the ritual,” Dante said gravely.

  “We’ll find another way,” Kane said.

  “What other way?” Dante said softly.

  “We are not losing her!” Kane growled.

  “We will do everything in our power to keep her safe,” Dante said.

  Kane dragged his fingers through his hair. “World be damned, she’s my Wren.”

  “Our Wren,” Gideon growled.

  “Then you agree we can’t lose her,” Kane said.

  “Wren?” Gideon asked.

  “We have no choice,” I said softly.

  “So, we have to go looking for a sacrifice,” Kane said as he came and sat next to me.

  Gideon paced back and forth in front of us. I held my arms out to encourage him to come and sit in my lap. He was bigger than me, but I needed all of my guys close. This wasn’t a small or easy matter.

  Gideon tucked his long legs up and nuzzled against my neck. Dante stroked the hound’s hair and kissed my cheek.

  “I will not break my promise, Wren. We’ll keep you safe,” Dante said.

  FIFTY

  We waited until the next day to face the politics of the situation. Dante told Rowan, and Kane rang his sister. He couldn’t face Moira, and I didn’t blame him. Carys spread word around the key covens in the area. Dante told the shifter and lycan packs in the area once Rowan had been notified. We arranged a meeting on neutral territory about an hour away from the castle.

  I put on my alchemically enhanced clothing, which acted as light armour. I made sure to have plenty of iron and silver on me, too. The witches would die by any blade, which I knew from extensive experience. The feeling that we were going to war weighed on me. We needed a story that would hide the fact I’m a blood witch.

  “Dante’s half life witch; we tell them that the sacrifice is part of his magic, done,” Kane said.

  I ran it through my head. It was well known that his mother was a life witch. It seemed to hold up.

  The journey to the designated meeting spot was quiet and tense. Rowan had already warned us that there would be uproar, and Moira had demonstrated she was unstable and infuriating. The shifters and lycans were likely to be reasonable, assuming they didn’t react too strongly to Gideon. Some of the packs couldn’t stand hellhounds.

  We’d chosen a spot nestled between a group of small hills that tourists had no interest in. They were rocky and barren, not the idyllic walking locations they loved to photograph. A cluster of cars was waiting for us, including Moira’s red car. Kane tensed and gritted his teeth in preparation for meeting his mother.

  We’d barely gotten out of the car when Moira marched over to us.

  “My bloodline is the oldest and purest. I will run this ritual. If it must happen, then I will be in charge,” she said.

  Kane gave her a positively sadistic smile and slowly drew his sword.

  “Moira Galbraith, if you try and demand control from me one more time, I will sever your head from your body,” Kane said coldly.

  Moira blanched and stepped back.

  “I knew you were a wicked boy,” she hissed.

  We walked as a tight group around the livid witch towards the rest of the gathered people. Tauno and Rowan were present, along with a young puka woman, her black cat ears pricked up above her short black hair. A female lycan alpha and a male wolf shifter alpha were on the edge of the group, looking around with their hackles up.

  “I trust you know why you’re here,” Dante said, his shoulders back and his presence commanding.

  “You have found a ritual that will allow you to forge a new ward stone,” the shifter said.

  “Why must you do it? The fae have a long rich heritage and tie to the veil,” Tauno said.

  “You wish to tear it down, why would we entrust the ritual to you?” the lycan demanded.

  Tauno glared at her.

  “The ritual requires life magic, which means that I will do it,” Dante said.

  Everyone went rigid and looked at him.

  “We need a sacrifice from a pure bloodline,” Kane said, looking around the group.

  The puka stepped back and flattened her ears.

  “You will not have one of my people,” she said softly.

  I respected her desire to keep her people safe.

  “You can have Carys on the condition that I control the ward stone once it’s made,” Moira said, lifting her chin.

  She had just offered up her daughter, just like that.

  Kane pointed his sword at her throat. “Do I need to remind you what I said mere moments ago?”

  Moira exhaled slowly and said nothing.

  “No one will be taking control of the stone,” Rowan said as he stepped forward to join us.

  Carys got out of the car and came over to us, unshed tears glistening in her eyes.

  “You think so little of me, mother, that you would sacrifice me without a single thought?” Carys demanded.

  Moira looked around at everyone who was staring at her.

  “It would be an honour. The Crone would bless you,” Moira said.

  “Then why don’t you offer yourself?” Kane asked.

  “I am the coven crone!”

  Carys and Kane shared a look.

  “I will go willingly. You will be hard pressed to find blood as pure as mine, and I do not wish to see the veil fall and war break out,” Carys said.

  Kane sheathed his sword and pulled his sister into a deep hug. He whispered something in her ear that sent tears streaming down her face.

  “When will this ritual happen? Our guards are at their limit trying to protect the humans from the fae coming through the veil,” the lycan asked.

  “Three nights from now. Can you hold that long?” Dante said.

  “We can,” the lycan said.

  “Carys will stay in her home with me tonight,” Moira said, tugging on her daughter’s arm, trying to get her away from Kane.

  “You can stay with us after that,” Kane said gently.

  “I’d like that. Thank you, baby brother,” Carys said as she swiped at the tears running down her cheeks.

  “She will be safer-” Moira started, but Dante stopped her with a death glare.

  “Carys will stay with us after tonight,” Dante said firmly.

  Carys stood a little taller and composed herself.

  “I’ll tie up any loose ends tonight and be ready by nine tomorrow morning,” she said.

  The lycan and shifter alphas approached her and dipped their heads low.

  “We thank you for your sacrifice. You will be celebrated,” the lycan said.

  Carys smiled.

  “You are strong, and you will not be forgotten,” the puka said as she gently put her hand on Carys’ arm.

  “Let’s go home,” Kane said as he turned away from the group.

  The heavens opened when we got in the car, and it had never felt more fitting.

  FIFTY-ONE

  Kane tried to hide in his room when we got home, but I curled up on his bed with him and held him close.

  “Carys is a kind, strong woman. She deserves better than this,” Kane said.

  “I’m pure blooded,” Gideon said from the doorway.

  “We are not sacrificing you!” Kane said as I said, “No!”

  “Come here, I want hound hugs,” Kane said as he held out an arm.

  Gideon stripped naked and shifted into his hound form before he hopped onto the bed and curled up around Kane and me. Kane stroked the hound’s head and smiled gently.

  “You’re loved, hound, you know that, don’t you?” Kane asked softly.

  Gideon gave a happy huff. I cupped Kane’s face.

  “So are you,” I said firmly.

  “You have to survive this ritual. “You and Carys are the only women I care about,” Kane said.

  “Have you met anyone more stubborn than me?” I said with a smile I didn’t feel.

  Kane kissed me tenderly.

  “I mean it, Wren,” he whispered.

  I stroked his hair out of his eyes.

  “I’m not going to roll over and die,” I said.

  Dante cooked us a feast. He kissed my temple whenever I got close to him. Cooking was how he destressed, and he was a damn fine cook.

  “Do you remember the time Carys covered for us after we went looking for a hag?” Kane said.

  I laughed. “We came back caked in mud, covered in cuts and bruises where we fell into the gorse bushes, and Carys said that we had saved the coven from a rogue redcap.”

  Kane smiled. “She’s an incredible woman. She got us out of so much trouble.”

  “And into just as much,” I said, gesturing with my fork.

  “It was her that got us in trouble because she swore blind that potion would give us temporary cat ears, and we both grew big hare ears that we couldn’t get rid of!” I said.

  Kane laughed. “How did I forget that?”

  “She sounds like one hell of a woman,” Dante said with a twinge of sadness.

  I squeezed his hand. “You don’t have any fun stories with your brother?”

  Dante snorted. “My brother wouldn’t know fun if it bit him in the ass.”

  “My brother tried to sell me to another infernal prince once,” Gideon added.

  “You both have the worst siblings,” Kane said.

  The mood lightened once more, and we cleared the table, ready to curl up on the sofa in front of a movie. Things were finally working out. It wasn’t over yet, but we had a respite.

  Dante picked up his phone and his face contorted into one of pure rage.

  “Someone kidnapped Carys from your mother’s house,” he growled.

  “Any clues on who or what?” Kane demanded.

  Kane’s phone buzzed with a number of texts. “Looks like a sidhe; my money’s on Tauno. I’m calling Rowan now,” Kane said.

  I ran to the cupboard near the front door and began putting my daggers on. Gideon ran upstairs to get dressed, and Dante paced back and forth as he rang people.

  “It has to be Tauno trying to stop the ritual from going ahead. She and Moira are very close,” Dante said.

  “This is political suicide,” Kane said.

  “She’s desperate. Rowan has destroyed her power base,” Dante said.

  “Do we have an address?” Gideon said as he vaulted over the banister.

  Kane looked at his phone.

  “Yes, not far from here. The shifters are loaning us their two best guards,” Kane said before he pulled his boots on and we all ran for the car.

  We broke every speed limit on our way to Inverness. A pair of dark figures on Japanese motorbikes were waiting for us in a layby. Kane opened the window and gave them a wave; they nodded and pulled in behind his car before he took off with a squeal of tyres.

  “If they hurt Carys, they will beg for death,” Kane growled.

  We shot down the dark road, the streetlight nothing but orange blurs as we went around the edge of Inverness into the inky darkness of the countryside. The motorbikes remained close behind us as we hurtled around the corners and turned onto a narrow lane that led down to a small white cottage. I could feel the buzz of life essences inside.

  “Twenty inside; one’s Carys,” I said.

  “Sidhe?” Kane asked.

  “I think so. I’m too far to really hear their bloodsongs, and I’m new to this,” I said.

  Kane gave me a gentle smile before we got out of the car. The shifters approached us with wide grins. They each had swords on their backs and a pair of daggers on their hips. Both were tall muscular men in their early thirties. The slightly taller one had deep blue eyes flecked with gold and short golden-brown hair.

  “Ben and Adam, at your service,” the taller one said, extending his hand for someone to shake.

  Dante stepped up, taking the role of alpha. He shook the shifter’s hand.

  The one with golden-brown hair was Ben; Adam had pitch black hair down to the tips of his ears and a small scar in his right eyebrow.

  “Where do you want us?” Ben asked Dante.

  “We don’t know the situation. Stay close to us and be prepared for sidhe,” Dante said.

  Kane had unsheathed his sword and was marching towards the front door. I pulled my daggers and jogged to catch up with him. Kane kicked the door open and stormed inside with the rest of us close behind him. The hallway was narrow, making it difficult to fight any attackers. They’d be able to pick us off one by one if they chose.

  “Out back,” I said.

  We jogged through the small kitchen, with dirty dishes covering the counters and the fridge that hung open, out into the small patch of grass that passed as a garden.

  A low stone wall marked the boundary of the garden with small hardy flowers growing at uneven intervals along its base. Carys was surrounded by a group of sidhe, all dressed in pristine suits with white and pale blue striped ties on. Tauno stepped forward. The suit highlighted her delicate form and sharp cheekbones. Her thin lips were pressed together, almost making them invisible.

  “If you kill her, you and your bloodline will die with her,” Kane said coldly.

  Tauno’s nostrils flared. “You will bring us into the ritual. Our blood is pure.”

  “No. You have demonstrated you want to tear the veil down. You would only fuck up the ritual,” Kane said.

  “We are the good guys here. Your precious Prince Rowan has stolen our lands, our magic from us. Do you know what magic is to a fae?” Tauno asked.

  “Do not spread your filthy lies, Tauno,” Rowan said.