Terror made my power surge within me, and I used my new gift to pick up the tree that I’d thrown at the mage. It shot through the air, slamming into three of the figures before continuing to fly through the forest. I lost control of it and watched as it sailed into the distance, right into another tree.

More of the attackers converged on me, taking the place of their fallen comrades. I backed up, drawing my potion bag from the ether.

I heard the blast of another sonic boom and prayed that Lachlan wasn’t hit. He could shift into wolf form, but then he wouldn’t be able to use the transport charm.

Quickly, I hurled bomb after bomb at them, not stopping to check what the bottles contained. They exploded in colorful blasts, knocking some attackers unconscious, while others dodged the projectiles.

There were just too damned many of them, and the Moon Stone was long gone, along with the Maker. They’d got what they’d come for.

They’d probably grab me as well, if they had a chance. I couldn’t let them.

“Eve!” Lachlan shouted.

I looked toward him. He raced to me, his hand clutched in a fist.

He has the transport charm.

Escape was our only option.

One of the figures grabbed my arm, and I kicked him off me, then sprinted toward Lachlan.

He hurled the transport charm to the ground in front of us, and we both dove into the silver cloud. The ether sucked me in and spun me around, then spat me out on the lawn in front of his tower.

I tumbled to the grass, gasping. Winded, I stared up at the sky.

“Damn it.” I clenched a fist and pounded it against the ground. “Almost had it.”

“He’d have taken you. There were too many.” Lachlan sat, turning to lean over me. “Are you all right?”

“Fine.” I pushed myself upright, feeling a bruise beginning to bloom where the attacker had grabbed my arm. Lachlan was right—we could fight a lot of people, but not two dozen. “He planned this all along.”

Lachlan nodded. “He’s been following you, hasn’t he?”

“Somehow, yes.” I thought of the two times he’d appeared to me. “He’s orchestrating all of this. No doubt he knows some of my story, and he was waiting for me to find the Moon Stone.”

“He wants you to transition.”

“But why? I’ll just be more powerful when I’m a dire wolf.”

“I think he wants you to be a dire wolf.” Lachlan frowned. “But why?”

“That’s what we need to figure out.” I shuddered hard, pain tearing through my insides. I gripped my middle and drew in shallow breaths. “Because I need to transition. No matter what the Maker intends, I have to shift, or I’m not going to survive.”

Concern creased his brow. “Do you have another of your pain potions?”

I nodded, digging into my pocket with a shaking hand. The potion was bitter going down, but I appreciated the relief that flowed through me.

“We’ll fix this, Eve.” Lachlan stood and helped me to my feet, pulling me upright. “You’ll transition, but we’ll stop him before he accomplishes whatever it is he’s after.”

I nodded, hoping he was right. “We need to find him and steal those stones back. Do you think your captive might know how?”

“Perhaps, but I’m not hopeful.”

“Let’s try anyway. It’s our only hope.”

16

Lachlan

 

* * *

 

Before we could question my captive, we needed to get cleaned up. I escorted Eve to her tower, but every step was agony. The third sonic boom had done a number on me, and it would be a while before my natural healing fully repaired the damage.

She didn’t look much better with her wild hair and a slight lag to her step.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

“Fine. Using my magic just makes me feel like hell, is all.”

“That will get better after you transition.”

“I hope you’re right.” She looked up at me. “How are you? Did that third blast get you?”

“I’m fine.”

“Did it get you?”

I gave a sharp nod.

“Damn. It’ll take your healing a while, won’t it?”

“It’ll get there.” We’d reached her courtyard and started across.

“Let me give you something for that,” she said. “You need to be one hundred percent for what’s coming.”

She was right about that, so I nodded. “All right. Thank you.”

She nodded and led me upstairs to her workroom. Carrow called out from one of the other rooms, and I heard another feminine voice, though I couldn’t place it.

“Seraphia,” Eve clarified as she started searching for something. “I know I’ve got a strong healing potion around here somewhere.”

“Have the truth potions finished brewing?” I leaned over one of the boiling cauldrons and watched the teal bubbles burst and smoke.

“Soon.” She pulled a vial out and handed it over.

I accepted it but frowned. “If you only have one, you should take it.”

“I’ve taken enough potions, and it’s not healing that I need to do.”

I nodded, hating that she was in such pain and danger. The beast inside me growled and raged, wanting to protect her. But there was nothing it could do. Not now, at least.

I drank the potion and sighed, feeling the effects immediately. “Thank you.”

“Of course.”

As my pain faded, her proximity struck me even harder. We stood only a couple feet apart, so close that her scent wrapped around me and made my head spin. This close, I could see many shades of green in her eyes. Hundreds, it seemed.

It should be impossible. No one’s eyes could have that many colors in them.

But Eve…

I reached up to cup the side of her face, unable to help myself. Her skin was silk against my palm, and my wolf relaxed at the feel of her.

She leaned into my palm, her gaze on mine. “This is a bad idea.”

“I know.” And yet, somehow I couldn’t help myself. It was as if my body and my heart had run away from my mind. “I just—”

“A note arrived for you!” Carrow’s voice filled the room, and I jerked back, startled. A second later, the blond woman appeared in the doorway, waving a slip of paper.

Eve looked away from me, the moment broken. “From whom?”

“Don’t know. But it says both your name and Lachlan’s.”

“Mine?” I approached, my heart racing. Only one person was likely to write to us, but it couldn’t be…

“Here.” Carrow handed the note to me, and the sight of the once familiar handwriting struck me like a blow to the face.

“Garreth.” I opened it and scanned the short contents. “He wants to meet us at the back of a pub called The Hanged Man.”

“Does this mean he’s in control of his own mind?” Eve asked.

“Or that it’s a trap,” Carrow said.

I hated to agree with her, but it was possible. “It could be either.”

“How do we know which?”

“We don’t.” I turned the note over, looking for more writing, even though I knew I wouldn't find it. “He didn’t tell us to come alone, though.”