“Well, the humans are letting thewerewolves go. So that’s good.” I tried to engage a morose Nahuel intoconversation.
He gave me a side glance. “You did good,kid,” he confirmed.
I never thought of it as something I didbut I just nodded. I could tell Nahuel wasn’t really in the mood for conversation.After he took the windy road for about five minutes he rolled down the windowand breathed in deeply as he pulled over and parked the Mercedes on theshoulder.
After putting the car in park, a breezecame through the window, bringing with it my mate’s scent, mixed with blood anddark magic.
“Gavin!” I half shrieked and moved toopen the door. Nahuel reached out calmly and held me in place. When I turned tolook at him, he placed both hands on either side of my head and I felt like asmall lightning bolt had struck me. “Spirit, I lay a blessing of protection onthis child. May no harm come to her while I am still breathing.”
My eyes were watering from the electricalsensations zinging around my body as mist poured down from the car ceiling andcovered my body. When Nahuel let go of my head, my tears spilled over onto mycheeks as I realized what this truly meant.
“Why does anyone have to die?” I askedhim.
He pulled his backpack from the back andpulled a thick manila envelope out of it, laying it on the dash. “Because thatis the way of cycling. Life has a cycle and some must come to an end so thatothers can rise up. Don’t fret, little wolf. No one is truly ever dead. Justpromise me you will hold the light. Be an anchor of good for the people.”
My throat seized with emotion as I nodded.“I promise.”
The look he was giving me. It wasgoodbye. My throat tightened. “I love you, Nahuel. You’re like a crazy unclewho talks in riddles and pushes me past my comfort zone and I fucking loveyou.” A sobbed escaped my lips and Nahuel pulled me into his chest as I let mygrief go. I knew Nahuel had seen something, he wouldn’t say what it was, but Iknew it was his death. I never wanted anyone to die without knowing how much Iloved them.
“I fucking love you too, Anya,” he repliedseriously and it made me laugh. The big old spiritual shaman said the F wordand it was beautiful.
He pulled back, wiped my tears, andmotioned to the envelope on the dash. “Give that to Gavin.”
I nodded as I tried to regain control of mybreath. Nahuel took a moment to steady himself, no doubt finding some innerpeace that I was unable to grasp at right now. Instead, I busied myself withgetting ready for battle. I pulled the twelve-inch hunting blade from my packand attached it to my outer thigh.
“How do we kill him? Mukesh. There has tobe a way,” I asked Nahuel.
He took one more calming breath and thenopened his door. “Never underestimate the power of three.”
As he stepped outside I felt a slight bitof confidence wash over me. The power of three was one of the most powerfulspells in witchcraft. The saying was, where three people gathered with the samegoal in mind, no one man could tear down. Especially if that goal was for thegood.
It was time for Mukesh to die. I hadrealized now why Mama said that it wasn’tmydestiny to kill Mukesh.Because I couldn’t do it alone. This was Gavin’s journey and we were all goingto help.
Nahuel hid the key under the wheel welland trekked out into the woods. He was carrying his big spear in front of himlike an ancient hunter as I stumbled after him with one hand on my huntingknife.
“Remember, you’re True Mates. That bondis one of the most powerful in the world,” Nahuel spoke.
Yeah, tell that to my mate who keptshutting me out. I wanted to help him but I couldn’t, so long as he had thebond clamped down so tight.
I just nodded and flanked his left side.We had trekked down of the side of the road and now we were walking into thethick part of the woods. Fallen logs, bushy ferns and clumps of green mosslittered the ground. I inhaled sharply and tried not to panic. Gavin was herebut so was death, oil, blood, and magic. Mukesh.
Aware that I was about to go into adangerous situation with little to protect myself, I called forth my magic. It thrummedup inside of me like a fizzy soda rushing through my blood. I didn’t yet tellit what to do but I wanted it ready so that not one second would be wasted if Ineeded to use it. Nahuel must have felt it because he gave me a side look andnodded his approval.
We were just trekking into the thickestpart of the trees when Nahuel dropped into a crouch. I did the same and myinner wolf pushed to the surface ready to change if it was needed. Out ofnowhere, Gavin gave a blood-curdling scream, the sound echoing throughout the tree-linedcanyon.
I jumped up and bolted toward the sound,ignoring Nahuel’s shout for me to stay put.
“Gavin!” I unsheathed my hunting blade,running with it by my side. As I passed a wall of thick trees, I came into anopening. The trees parted and gave way to an exposed grassy area. Only one treestood in the middle of that area and Gavin was tied to it. Tied up at the armswith some sort of magic that must have been keeping him from shifting to ananimal. It was dense and black and it crawled up his arms like snakes. But theworst part was the writing carved into his chest and abdomen. Black magic hadbeen scrawled into my mate’s skin and it sent rage and fear right through me.
“I knew you’d come.” The Skin Walker’sgravelly voice came from behind me and I wasted no time in simultaneouslyflinging a release spell at Gavin and pivoting my weight to face Mukesh,throwing my hunting blade at him.
My spell slammed into Gavin and hedropped from the tree, hitting the ground with a thud. I didn’t have time tolook back and see if he was all right because I was staring Mukesh right in theeyes. My blade was lodged in his upper thigh. Damn, I missed his balls. NothingI would love more than to castrate that man.
He looked down at the blade as if it wasa mere annoyance. Pulling it free, he chucked it to the side and it stuckperfectly into the base of the tree.
“I knew you would come for him. It’s toolate. He’s already well into the initiation.” His eyes were black saucerssucking me in with every word.
“No! Gavin!” I shouted behind me. “Let mein! I can help.” I heard cracking bones and I knew he was shifting. Which form,I had no clue.
