Page 72 of Only You, No One Else

The sound of the animal in the Alpha mending the considerable damage rose as Cy released his hold and Zeke crashed to the floor. But then a low whine replaced it, and Riley’s curse drew Caster away from the satisfaction of his rival’s pain.

His attention turned to Riley, who shook his head and reached for Zeke. The wound remained as large as it had been, blood pouring out of it. It seemed he would choose death rather than betray the witch.

But just as he thought their plan derailed, Dean grabbed Zeke by his blood-soaked shirt. “I thought you wanted to be Prime?”

Zeke sighed, still refusing to allow the animal in him to heal him.

“Do this, and I will let you challenge for Prime Alpha,” Dean said.

Caster felt Mark’s gasp, but he refused to turn to him. The significance of his brother’s offer was not trivial by any measure, but it was necessary. If Zeke chose death, their plan died with him. Plus, only an idiot would accept that offer. Dean was liable to keep his word, but even Caster wouldn’t want to challenge the Prime Alpha at any time, let alone right now when his fury seemed out of control.

Zeke raised his eyes, staring at Dean as if considering his offer. The part of him that wanted power over everything won, and he gave a small nod. The sickening sound of his broken body stitching itself together rose over the palpable relief filling the room.

Caster waited for Riley’s power to tighten its hold on the Alpha before turning to Pierce. He’d remained calm, seated on the couch, unbothered by any of it. He’d promised to step in if they couldn’t convince Zeke to summon Ethel, but Caster had hoped they wouldn’t need him. He didn’t want to owe the demon any more than they already did, not when his kind were known to collect their debts at the most inopportune moments.

His full camouflage was in place; even the considerable power he wielded with minimal effort was dialed down to zero. He tilted his head, indicating that he’d found what he needed at Uncle Lucien’s house. Until he’d told them about it, they’d remained ignorant of the cauldron that held Ethel’s power in escrow, ready to be deployed. It was still premature to take it. Pierce’s role in their plan had been to disable it, and now they were ready to summon the witch, end this.

CHAPTER 47

Mark wanted to grab Dean and shake the life out of him. What had possessed him to make such an offer? That Dean would be the one to kill Zeke had not been in question, but when he’d envisioned it, it looked more like an execution, not a Prime Challenge. Those were unpredictable at best, and although he was confident in Dean’s strength, he couldn’t get over the recklessness of it. The plan had been to torture Zeke to submission, not offer him the very thing he wanted.

He glanced at his brother, careful to communicate his disapproval with his look, but Dean shrugged and smirked. Mark narrowed his eyes. There was something going on that his brother didn’t want to share with him. He forced his focus on the task at hand. Whatever it was, it could wait until they had dispatched the witch. With her in their world, there was little hope of a future. The Prime Challenge, as significant as it was, was a future problem.

Summoning the witch was the easy part. Someone found Zeke a clean shirt; there was no reason to broadcast their violence, not when they needed her to believe their ruse, and he reached for his phone, staring at Mark as he made the call. Their initial plan had been to use magic, but Pierce had amended that part of the plan. His sound logic was that magic was unpredictable and would call to her attention the two things they wanted to keep hidden: Riley’s power and his presence.

“I have him…” Zeke said into the device when it connected. The smooth voice of Ethel’s reply reached Mark’s ears, but would not penetrate the roar in his mind. He held his eyes shut as the rest of Zeke’s convincing lie floated across the silence in the space. Mark reached for his wolf, surprised to find the animal calm, but ready. Both sides of him coalesced their strength into one. This would be the fight of their lives, the fight for their lives.

Zeke hung up with a nod and then smiled at Mark. “She’s smarter than you think. She is also more powerful, now.”

His calm assurance brought a bit of fear into Mark’s conviction to fight, but he brushed it aside. Pierce had already warned that her power had grown, that it would be unlike anything they’d faced before, and they were all prepared for the fight.

The low growl from Dean’s Alpha filled the room, just as his own animal sensed the danger, warning him with a howl. She was coming.

He glanced at Caster. It was time for Marcus to destroy her allies. Caster grabbed his hand, squeezed it once, and let go. The toxicity of Ethel’s darkness reached his senses, and Mark let the animal through as Riley’s power concealed the others in an invisibility spell and they vanished, leaving him and a still bound Zeke in the middle of the room.

He was in wolf form in a split second, the world around him narrowing to his animal’s impeccable senses. The door burst open, and she stood a few paces away, her smile indulgent, even a little warm. Mark wanted nothing more than to rip her throat out, but even in wolf form, he was bound to stick to the plan.

Hello, my beautiful wolf.

Her voice grated on his mind, but he resisted the revulsion it brought. She glanced at Zeke and her face froze mid-smile. She tilted her head to the side, but her realization of the trap she’d walked into came too late.

His wolf senses were aware of the moment the others came to view before Ethel could process her predicament. She stepped back as Zeke called out to her, trying to warn her. But they’d had a contingency for that as well. Riley’s spell wrapped around his neck, choking his words.

Mark’s paws twitched, his muscles flexing with the enormous effort it took to stay rooted to the spot. His animal saw its tormentor and wanted to rip her to shreds; the human in him saw the rational plan. Pierce’s power filled the space in his mind as his senses became aware of his presence. In the second it took him to step around Mark and closer to the witch, Mark saw their victory.

Her power, darker, more potent than it had been before, surrounded her in a black halo, surging when she saw the demon. Mark became aware of Caster at his side, the weight of his hand on his head a distraction he didn’t wish to give in to. The potential of the witch’s demise, his impending freedom, was more enticing than anything else.

Come back to me now, my love.

Caster’s voice called to that sense of freedom, and he allowed the transformation back to human form. He’d needed his wolf’s more potent life force to convince the witch of his intent, but now that part of the plan was done, and if he got the chance, he wanted to look her in the eye as the life drained from her.

“Why hello there, my little witch.” Pierce’s many voices crawled over his skin, made more sinister by the growl he infused into the odd choice of words. “My… how you’ve grown.”

Their plan, before Pierce modified it, would have failed. Until he’d enlightened them, they were unaware of the demons holding her power, of the cauldron that held the reserves of the power she’d gathered from the Underworld. He’d drained that cauldron when they’d taken Zeke, and now all she had was the power she’d gathered before coming here.

Ethel’s fear brought immeasurable joy to Mark. Her power was still palpable, stronger than even Riley’s, its darkness enough to destroy them a hundred times over. But it was matched by Pierce and his inexplicable darkness.

Pierce laughed, his many voices now deeper, startling Mark enough to cause him to step back. The power he seemed to wield with minimal effort tore from his human form and cloaked his body in a yellow haze. “What’s wrong, my dear witch?” He tsked, his casual demeanor in sharp contrast with the intense power he threatened to unleash. “No words?”