Chapter 74
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“What are you doing!” Evelyn screams at me
I feel Evelyn casting more magic on me, the binds gripping tighter, trying to stop me from shifting, but I don’t let it deter me.
And I am instantly rewarded.
The strain on Evelyn becomes more evident.
But I don’t stop there. I am still held in her chains. I try to extend my claws, I arch my back, I snarl. I coil my body like I am going to pounce, my eyes trained on Evelyn. I see the fear in her eyes.
“No!” She screams at me, and her hood on me tightens, I feel the magic surge through her to me to keep me from leaping.
“ARGH!” Marcus screams out in pain.
I see his fur bristling as he stops his attack on Ethan. He is still bleeding where Ethan wounded him, and it doesn’t look like he’s healing.
Marcus is weakening. Evelyn’s magic is lessening on him to try and stop my transformation.
‘How quickly she gives up her son,’ I think wryly. She could have let go of any one of her spells, she chooses to let go of the one that is protecting her son.
Marcus screams again, and then he is the man, forced out of wolf form.
It’s the advantage Ethan was waiting for. Without even a moment’s hesitation, Ethan grips the sword and rushes at Marcus, running it through him before he can react. Quickly, Ethan pulls the blade out of his heart and slits Marcus‘ throat. Blood pools all around him.
I feel myself take the first deep breath in a very long time.
“No!” Evelyn screams. “You bastard! You killed my son! I’ll kill you!”
‘You let go of your son, I think. ‘You killed him as much as Ethan did.
Evelyn turns her full attention to him, and she sends a blast of energy at Ethan. But she is weaker, and by the time the blast reaches Ethan, all it does is knock him back enough to bruise his body.
Ethan gets back up, simply dusting himself, and walks over to Evelyn. I see her try and blast him again, but she’s far too weak for that now. Ethan pushes her, pushing her back into the wall behind her where she knocks her head and collapses to the ground with a thud.
For a moment, I watch her with baited breath. But she doesn’t move.
And then the magical chains that were holding me in place fall away and I fall to the ground with a thud.
I watch as Maya collapses too. I give up my shifting effort because I know I’m also draining Maya.
I take a deep breath, and then I am back in human form again.
Ethan comes over to my side, he doesn’t take his eyes off Evelyn.
“I don’t understand how we beat her,” the disbelief is clear in his voice. “She was so powerful.”
I take Ethan’s hand and allow him to help me up. I feel better with just his touch on my skin.
“She was powerful,” I admit. “But not as powerful as she led everyone to believe.”
Maya gets to her feet shakily, and I feel a pang of guilt. She is keeping me alive with her spell, it’s draining her still.
“Her incredible amounts of power came from her swamp, didn’t it?” I ask her, and Maya nods. “I realized that whenever she did powerful things. It was because she was either in her swamp or just came out of it. And here she was so far from it.”
“And she had far too many spells up here,” Maya adds.
“She was binding us,” I nod, counting them out loud for Ethan. “Protecting Lilith and Marcus, forcing the labor and who knows what else.”
Maya shakes her head.
“I don’t know why I didn’t think to try and get her so far away from the swamp before,” Maya says, shaking her head. “But that’s why she hardly ever left the swamp, and if she did leave the swamp she would never be gone for long, she’d return to replenish her strength.”
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Chapter 74
“Is that why you stayed and tried to help me?” I ask Maya. “Why did you try so hard to break the curses, to save me and my baby? Because it was your mother that did everything?”
“Yes,” Maya says after a moment. “I knew how much pain she had already caused you and your family. I knew what she had taken from I felt responsible that it was my mother causing so much pain, I couldn’t let her do it again. I had to try and stop her.”
you
before.
I nod.
“It isn’t your fault,” I tell her. “And you’re under no obligation to help. But I would still appreciate it.”
Maya nods, “I have enough strength to complete the ritual.”
“Is that what you want?” Ethan asks, standing beside me. “Even if…”
Even if I give up my own life.
“Yes,” I tell him firmly. “This is what I want.”
Ethan nods then.
“Then how can I help?” He offers.
I feel tears well up in my eyes. And the golden light that I see from him grows, until it reaches me, and then it envelops me as well.
‘What is happening?‘ I think.
‘It’s the mate bond completing, Ethan says via mindlink, ‘Your wolf is finally able to accept mine.
He is in my thoughts, and somehow, he feels closer than a mindlink.
I start to answer, but a painful contraction pulls through me.
“Your baby is ready now,” Maya says again. “We need to do this now.”
***
*Cassandra*
“Lils,” I beg my older sister. “Please, please just stand down. I can ask Ethan to forgive you. I can tell him you stopped fighting us. Please.”
“You are just so weak, Cassey,” Lillith answers with a sigh, like this is a tiring game for her. “You know, we could have had everything together. You could have been Luna Queen. Oh well, now I will be Luna Queen. I’ll just have to kill you first.”
I recoil from my sister’s words.
“You’re not serious,” I tell her. “This isn’t you talking. It’s the Witch.”
“Trust me, little sister,” Lillith answers. “This is all me. I have thought so many times that it really would be simplest to just kill you and be done with it. I suppose I should have just done it then.”
Lilith snarls then and dives for me, shifting mid air and claws come at my face. I feel something knock into me, and I’m out of the way of Lillith’s
attack.
I look up to see Kyle on top of me.
Lilith snarls as she lands on her feet a few paces away.
“We can’t shift,” I tell Kyle desperately. “We can’t fight her. She’ll kill us.”
“I will protect you,” Kyle swears, pushing me behind his back as Lilith stalks towards us.
But before she reaches us, her fear bristles and she is forced out of her wolf. She comes to her human form screaming, her skin turning horrible shades of red.
And then the red intensifies, her skin getting hotter and hotter, and then almost without warning, she is on fire.
Her body burns as she screams, my blood curling with the sound and Kyle’s arms come around me, I bury my face in his chest as Lillith screams all through her death throes.
And then the screaming is over.
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