Page 65 of Alpha Charmed

“What happens when it breaks?”

“The world changes.” She gazes toward the damaged enchanted windows, which are now showing what might be actual weather for the first time in centuries. Storm clouds gathering. Lightning in the distance. “For the better, I hope. That’s rather up to you.”

“No pressure.”

“Considerable pressure, actually. But you’ve proven you can handle it.” Her smile is enigmatic. “I’ve been guarding that site for longer than anyone in this room has been alive. Watching. Preparing. Hoping that someone would be stubborn enough to ask the right questions.”

“And we asked the right questions?”

“You asked enough of them. The rest will come.” She pats my arm again. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I should probably comfort poor Jasper. The man looks like he’s about to have his third fainting episode.”

She wanders off, pausing to offer comfort to a still-trembling Jasper with all the appearance of a kindly old witch who definitely hasn’t just revealed herself as an immortal guardian of ancient magic.

“She’s terrifying,” Caius observes, having reclaimed his position at my side.

“She brought me cobbler last week.”

“Terrifying in a comforting way, then.” He wraps an arm around my shoulders. “What now?”

I look around the damaged Elder Council Chamber. At the scorch marks on the walls and the cracked stone floor. At my allies and friends picking up the pieces of a confrontation decades in the making. At the future that suddenly looks nothing like I expected.

“Now we figure out what comes next.” I lean into him, letting myself take comfort in his solid presence. “As a team.”

He goes still. “You’re using different words now?”

“What words?”

“‘As a team.’ You’ve spent our entire relationship avoiding phrases like that.”

“We’ve spent three days in an actual relationship.”

“We’ve spent years in denial. Same concept.” His grin is warm, knowing. “But you’re right. As a team.”

EIGHTEEN

CAIUS

Cordelia’s hands shouldn’t be moving.

The guards haven’t reached the door yet. I notice the problem a heartbeat before anyone else—the subtle twitch of her fingers, the gathering of power beneath the magical restraints. She’s bound by Grandmother Peach’s ancient magic, suppressed and contained, but she’s still reaching for power that shouldn’t be accessible.

“Peach—”

“I see it.” The old witch’s voice is sharp, urgent in a way I’ve never heard. “She’s drawing from reserves. Hidden ones. This was planned.”

Cordelia’s eyes snap open. Not the warm brown of her grandmotherly facade—dark, almost black, pulsing with power that makes my wolf snarl.

“You think you’ve won.” Her voice is different too. Layered. Echoing with decades of accumulated magic. “You think exposing me ends this?”

“It certainly complicates your plans.” Anouk steps forward, and I have to fight every instinct not to pull her behind me. She wouldn’t appreciate the gesture.

I didn’t agree with that decision.

“The pairings are abominations.” Cordelia’s bound hands twist in patterns. “But if I can’t stop all of them⁠—”

Dark light spirals from her fingers, ancient words spilling from her lips in a language that predates modern magic. The energy isn’t aimed at the room, the council, the witnesses⁠—

It’s aimed at us. At me. At Anouk.