“Our initial plan was to simply confirm we had Jewels’ safehouse,” he continued, “and we honestly thought we did, right up until Blaine told us she wasn’t there. We made sure to call in backup though, and didn’t enter until they arrived.”
“We didn’t want you to be near danger,” Slade said with a shrug, making no apologies.
Not that I expected he would. His arms crossed over his chest as he gave Talon a run for his money in keeping his unblinking gaze on me. “Once we entered their domain, we had no choice but to fight. The entirety of the witch population and all her shifter loyalists were down there. It was an ambush that had been set up in hopes that we’d stumble into it. And we did.”
Just like Warrick and Cora’s place. Jewels hadn’t been kidding when she said she had plans on top of plans.
“She wanted you all to find it,” I told them. “Warrick was at the planning dinner to plant the idea and send us down the path of her design. She knew you all would try and keep me safe until such a time there was no other choice. That was why I kept having such a bad feeling about us separating.”
Hunter grunted his agreement. “I had the same feeling, and the entire time I was flying away from you, all I wanted to do was return. No doubt the way she attacked you in your dreams was to ensure we’d try to keep you protected at home. She’s clever, and that’s the only compliment I’ll ever give her.”
Hunter was spot on about the dream. In the end, we’d all been in danger but had managed to survive, which was the important part.
“It’s scary how many witches and shifters you battled. If you didn’t have the dragon’s resistance and backup…”
“She underestimated all of us,” Talon said, his body relaxed, but I knew he could snap into motion in a heartbeat if needed. “She expected that by removing your strongest alphas, you’d be the weak link she could exploit.”
That was absolutely what she’d thought. “She was afraid of Slalon,” I told them. “More than that, though, you three could have destroyed her curse at any time.”
Finley shifted forward. “Any time?”
Oh whoops. I’d forgotten to reveal the most important part of all.The motive.
“Yeah, that’s actually what sent her into this plan to start with, rather than just laying low until the next full moon. Since it was Slade, Talon, and Hunter who destroyed Fletcher and set this all in motion, there was some sort of kill switch they could hit even after it came to fruition.”
There was a scuffle from the doorway, and a voice rang out. “What?”
I spun in my chair to find Constantine with a genuinely shocked expression on his face. “I don’t understand how that’s possible. A fulfilled curse generally cannot be easily undone.”
I shrugged, relieved that he hadn’t given us false information. “I don’t know the finer details, that’s just what she said.”
Constantine continued to blink, before shaking his head. “There’s always something new to learn about magic. Much of which will belost now that she’s wiped out half of us. At least all the ones in America.”
“No more threats to shifters though,” Hunter said, looking entirely unrepentant that an entire race was dead. “Shifters will just have to adjust without magic to aid them, but they’ll figure it out.”
Oh, right. I’d forgotten about the different spells that we used in our day-to-day, especially those for birth control and healing.
“Constantine and I will be able to supply all the magic this pack needs,” I said, relieved that we wouldn’t be completely without it. I might not like aspects of magic and witches, but I was coming to accept all sides of myself.
“We sure can,” my father confirmed, and more than a few of my pack looked satisfied. They loved having all the power, and I trusted them never to abuse it.
“We should tell you what happened on our side,” Finley started, before going on to explain how they left the game, and then Kassidy called them, half-hysterical.
“Did you hear if she’s out of the healers?” I asked, turning to Hunter. “Is she okay?”
He propped his hip against the bench. “Yeah, she’s more than okay. She’s back home safe and sound, but mentioned that she needed to kick your ass for sacrificing yourself for her. Not quite sure if she’s kidding or not.”
My laugh was strained. “She’s not,” I said. “I didn’t like what I had to do, but I would do it all the same way again, so she won’t get an apology from me.”
Hunter shook his head, and I wondered if he was praying to the goddess for the patience needed to handle me through our years of being mated.
My pack stayed together in the kitchen long after Constantine retired to bed, filling in all the details of the three separate situations we’d been in.
“I think the most shocking part of the whole experience,” I added around a yawn, “was opening the front door to find two stunned face alphas hidden behind the car.”
Kellan grimaced, looking positively pained. “Honestly, not our finest moment. But we were concerned the prototype was going to explode and leave us scattered in pieces around the front of thehouse.” Hunter didn’t offer any reassurances that that wouldn’t have been the case, which confirmed they’d made the right choice.
When I yawned for the second time, Talon lifted me from my chair, cradling me against his chest. “Let’s get you to bed, Honey.” He pressed his lips to the side of my head. “We can sort the rest of this out later.”
