During Conan’s distraction, I throw the same spell at the others and free them from the wall. Three sets of legs shift into twelve paws and they bolt toward the witches. In the same breath, I conjure all my hatred into a spell that sends water crashing at Sloane and Adalyn, throwing them both away from the shifters.
“Go!” I shout to them.
Sloane stops the attack midair, throwing up a shield of vines that my water soaks instead.
Damn it.
Use me.The voice offers a decadent temptation.
I should. Darkness versus Darkness. It’s what she’d prefer, isn’t it?
Sloane shoots out a hand and sends a streak of black across the entire room, an arc that sends all of us falling to our asses. Four wolves, two witches, and me, while she remains standing, her presence heavy as it approaches me.
“You’ve upset me, Carina. After proving what’s at stake, you’re choosing to be selfish. Staying Light isn’t in your future any longer. No matter what happens here, you already have Darkness, and it’ll seek more. You assume I’ve only killed one person to get where I am? No, it constantly longs for more. There’s a reason why Harlow Sinclair became a vampire. Why she made the choices she did. Darkness pushed her into tasting her vampire’s blood to initiate the transition.”
I lean up on my elbows, scanning the room and our possibilities. The knife remains in my grip, my fingers turning it over.
“Youwillbe my soldier,” she continues, spitting through her anger. “You will do what is right for the covens, and you willthank me. We are fighting a fucking war, while you struggle to understand this is the right side of history.Thisis how we save everyone.”
“At the price of my soul.”
Her laugh is throaty and harsh, her hair flinging back as her head tips. “Next time you see Freya, ask her about her own start on this planet. You’ll understand why fighting this is useless.”
Behind her, Ryder slowly gets to his feet, stalked by both his pack and Archer and Adalyn, but no one moves. Eyes the color of death, which promises that to Sloane’s soul, flicker as his head lowers. With a twitch of an ear, he tells me what he’s about to do, seconds before acting.
My gaze averts back to her face before she realizes he’s launching himself at her. Even without the warning, she somehow knows. The instant his paws leave the ground, her hand flicks into the air, sending all the shifters—Ryder included—back to the wall, pinning them by their paws to the ground.
“Enough.”Black magick whips from Sloane, whacking the ground with the same force of her words. It forms winds that counter Mom’s when she’s pissed, and it throws my hair into my face, dirt crumbling from the walls and creating a small vortex in the cell. “Choose or I’m choosing for you—and I’ll pick them all. You have five seconds.”
Five seconds to pick someone to die.
I glance at Ryder, shaking my head.
Five seconds to come up with a plan.
I glance at Archer, begging for help.
Ryder whimpers, gaining my attention. His snout lowers to his chest.
Him?I can’t. I can’t—willnot—kill him. Not Ryder, who I’ve—who’s—who is—no, not Ryder.
Xander has to return home to Leah and Claire. I won’t do that to her. He’s Ryder’s best friend, beta to the pack, and I won’t take that from them too. Holly and Conan are two prominent members. Both strong. Both loved. Both came here with their Alpha to helpme. I refuse to pay them back by murdering them.
“One second.”
I climb to my feet, hand tightening around the knife as I move between the wall of shifters and Sloane, giving her my back. Adalyn wanders closer for what she’s clearly deeming a show, and Archer straightens from his slouch.
Kill,the Darkness in me whispers, and this time, I obey.
Gripping the blade, I jerk my arm up and aim for Sloane’s stomach. It’ll result in an injury that may put her down, but nothing fatal that she’s gotten her way regarding my soul. After she’s mollified, I could only pray to Hecate that Archer takes care of his sister.
With the force of magick, both Light and Dark inside me, it aims for her stomach.
She sees me coming like everything else happening today, and a black tendril snaps for my wrist. Being much better at controlling black magick than I am, it’s a fight I’ll lose, so I twist, staying just out of reach as I aim again, this time using water to push the knife across the room.
Her magick snaps to action again, wrapping itself around the blade until she’s in control of it.
“No!” I scream, rushing at both her and the weapon she now wields, realizing too late how much I’ve fucked up.
