Page 96 of Rafe

They locked eyes, her heart pounding in her chest.

“Thirty seconds,” Thorn called out.

“I want you to know that whatever happens, I’m glad I met you, loved you.” She held back tears and pressed her lips to his.

“I’ll always carry you in my heart, Sky. In my heart, you’ll always be mine.”

She didn’t linger and pulled away, wiping the corner of her eye. She bit her lip, distracting her mind from the impending loss.

“Let’s roll, people,” Thorn yelled.

Ilsbeth took a deep breath and reached for the door handle.

Skylar resisted looking up at the sun, fearing it’d sear her retinas. Her focus landed on Rafe who stood under a copper pergola, purple wisteria trailing over its edges. Upon a stone pedestal, Ilsbeth gestured to Thorn who set a cauldron in front of her and hurriedly backed away.

The High Priestess beheld the darkening clouds drifting toward them, lightning flashed across the sky. “Today we join together as a coven to make Rafe Beaumont whole. Form the circle now!”

They complied with her instructions. Skylar nodded at Greyson as he sidled next to her. Thorn and Dominique joined them, staring up at the witch.

“Rafe. Strip off your clothes, be as the day you were born.” Without hesitation, he undressed, standing nude before them.

Skylar’s pulse raced in anticipation as he complied.

“On your knees,” Ilsbeth demanded.

“Today we come together. We call on the goodness and light of the Goddess. Focus on my words. Feel your intention. Focus on the light within. No matter what happens, do not interrupt.”

Ilsbeth lifted the cauldron into the air. “I call on the Goddess to be with us today. My gifts are in your hands. Let us set right what was never meant to be. This Alpha wolf has paid his dues tenfold for his life. Let the magick flow, let the great wolf rise again.”

Skylar shielded her face as the wind gusted over them. Rafe kept his eyes trained on Ilsbeth, a white light emanating from her hands.

“Our coven presents to you sacrifices. Blood of an ancient. Vampire and demon alike. Blood of his human, who gives him freely to you.”

Skylar averted her gaze, concealing the pain in her heart. While she’d given Rafe her blood, healing his scars, he’d always be hers.

“We uplift the one true beast within him.” The High Priestess brandished a razor-sharp steel athame in her left hand over the cauldron which held the blood she’d collected. “Goddess. We send blessings from your realm. Today, we call upon your magick, we call on the energy of the universe to heal the wolf. Let no evil pass through our circle. Let no demonic energy touch our coven. Protect us as we proceed.”

A crack of lightning sliced through the darkness of the impending eclipse. Skylar shuddered as thunder clapped in its wake.

Ilsbeth glanced over her shoulder, hastening her pace. “May we draw out the vampire magick. May we send it back to the Goddess. Let this wolf run free. Let my strength, my blessed magick renew the Alpha.” She reached for the stone held within her purple cloth. “This stone of hell contains my spell. When I was dragged into Hell, I used the last of my magick to infuse it. And now, let the spell begin.” As she dropped it in the blood, smoke exploded from the cauldron.

Skylar stole a look at the eclipse which had begun to wane. Clouds emerged in the sky but a patch of clearing gave way to the great celestial event as the moon blocked the sun. A gust of wind howled, a drop of cold rain striking her arm.

Unfazed, Ilsbeth held the knife over the blood, her voice booming through the rain. “I cast the vampire out of the wolf and banish it to our creator. Any bonds shall be broken, its bloodlust gone forever. All that remains is the Alpha who fulfills the prophecy.”

Skylar bit her lips aware she was the bond. With this spell, her connection to Rafe would forever be broken. She waited for the aching feeling inside her to dissipate, her focus on Rafe as Ilsbeth continued.

The voice of the High Priestess billowed into the air as she cast the spell. “Hoc incantamento, te libero vampyrum, in regnum Deae pulsum. Surge lupus, Alpha qui prophetiam adimplere destinatur. Sanguine et igne, lupum bestiae libero. Hoc sanguine…” Ilsbeth held up the cauldron towards the sky. “Hoc incantamento, te libero vampyrum, in regnum Deae exiliatum. Te ungo sanguine circuli tui, sanguine Summae Sacerdotissae, hominis tui devincti, vampyri antiqui qui sanguinem creatoris tui communicat, et dimidio demone inferno qui cruciatus animarum novit sanguinem creatoris tui communicat, et dimidio demone inferno qui cruciatus animarum novit.”

Skylar gasped, her heart pounding like a drum in her chest as the witch splashed the contents of her cauldron onto Rafe. With blood running down his face and hands, the wolf remained still.

“Dono tibi flammas, flammas ex dolore et inferis natas. Bestiam ex animolupumaduramus.” Ilsbeth leaned over and whispered in Rafe’s ear. She held out her hands, flames igniting from her fingertips.

With the athame raised above her head, her eyes glassed over into an inky black trance, the spell spilling from her lips. “Paratus esto ad integritatem! Universum ex igne natum est, et tu ita nascēris. Dea, liberā lupum eius!”

A bolt of lightning struck Ilsbeth. Skylar’s eyes widened in horror as flames exploded from her hands towards Rafe. Engulfed in flames, he cried out in agony as he shot to his feet, his arms outstretched toward the sky.

Skylar released a bloodcurdling scream. Greyson’s strong arms wrapped around her waist, thwarting her instinct to go to Rafe.