I moved to take a seat across from her on the coffeetable, resting my elbows on my knees as I leaned forward.
“She entered the maze. We left her alone for as long as we could, we tried to fight the urge to chase. The higher the moon rose, the less we had control over ourselves. At first, it was a basic desire to pursue. Next came lust to indulge in carnal sins. Then, ultimately, something darker: bloodthirst.” A small pause. “It’s always the same year after year.”
“So, the Council chooses someone to sacrifice?” she asked in evident disbelief that any of this was real.
At that point, Corbin shifted to take a seat next to her. “Sometimes. They defer to us first. If we refuse to give them a name to rig for the event, they select someone on their own.”
Suddenly, realization came over her as she looked between the two of us. “They’re drawing the name tonight for tomorrow’s chase.” Her voice rose with an edge of panic. “Does that mean you’ve given them a name?”
Heavy silence.
“Don’t freak out,” Corbin began like an idiot.
Harlow’s face paled as her breathing even stopped—immediate freaking out clear as day flashing across her face.
I grabbed her hands, not to restrain but to reassure. “I’m going to need you to trust us. You’re different, Harlow. Fuck, I’ve known it since I saw you walk out of that bookstore.”
Corbin’s hand wrapped around the side of her neck, thumb caressing the nape as he murmured against her ear. “If you think for one fucking second I’d risk my only mate in this world, you’re wrong.”
Finally, she exhaled a shuddering breath. “You just told me that no one survives the corn maze hunt, and I’m supposed totrustthat I won’t end up like all the others?”
I squeezed her hands gently. “Look at me. We’ve never had a shifter enter the maze. We’ve never had Corbin’s lifelong mate be a participant. The two of you are connected on another level.”
“Why risk me at all?” She stared at us incredulously.
Watching Corbin struggle through the reality that we were taking a risk — a massive one — he finally rasped out. “Because if you get out of that maze and light the bonfire? It breaks the curse that shackles us here, the curse that dooms us to repeat this fucking hunt every year.”
With lingering skepticism, she turned and looked at Corbin, “How do you know that? How sure are you? Because if it’s just on a hope and a whim?—”
I interjected. “It’s not. We’ve had almost a century of trying to exact our revenge on the Council. We may have learned a thing or two over the years.” A wry smile graced my lips, and a dangerous glint shone in my eyes at the hope of finally getting retribution on those who had crossed us.
Releasing her hands, I pushed myself up onto my feet and grinned. “Besides, you seemed quite capable ofescaping me in the fields once, kitten. You really think you can’t do it again?”
I sure as hell hoped she would. For all our sakes.
Beyond the surface of her green hues, something shifted. Her inner feline predator appeared to rise to the challenge with a dangerous confidence in wanting to taste success.
Chapter
Nineteen
Could life fuck my head over anymore? No? Yes?
Somewhere in the great beyond, my Aunt Laurel likely cackled in delight at how my life had taken a turn towards dealing with forces greater than myself. The way she always had faith in celestial elements, powers found in combined herbs, and intangible vibes was coming back tenfold.
Something told me this is what I got for rolling my eyes at her every time she suggested manifesting my destiny or lighting sage to cleanse bad energy.
Yet, what I was dealing with wasn’t the interference of some omnipotent and universal overlord tinkering with the lives of its underlings. This wasmagic,curses,and ritualistic sacrifices. Oh my!
Corbin and Bale wanted to throw my name into the hat that would mark me as their next target, potentiallytheir final one if I had anything to say about it. I’d be their kitty heroine in shining armor if that was what it took for all of us to survive.
It scared me shitless, not because I doubted myself. The unknown forces behind their annual hunt, and the dark powers that cursed them both, were the aspects of this entire plan that terrified me. There was no telling to what lengths the Council would actually go to in order to continue their addiction to unrivaled power.
Something that Aunt Laurel always told me, that stuck out in my mind, was that magic had a sense of humor and never behaved. She likened it to wishing for a silver pair of shoes only for them to arrive in a dazzling shade of redandtwo sizes too small.
I just hopedthismagic didn’t make me their fatal punchline.
There wasn’t a lot of time to come to terms with the moment I’d been dreading since the guys dropped this bomb on me. The moment when my name was drawn and announced before everybody in this damn town.
