Page 110

“I—I don’t know.”

“It’s all right.” Tavik’s voice was gentler than I’d ever heard it before. I could sense his inner turmoil—his anguish on her behalf, his desperate need to take care of her—but his words and movements were careful and tender. With his snout still touching her, he eased forward, tucking his legs underneath his body so he lay directly beside her. “I will wait here with you.”

“She is screaming,” Sasha said. “Cerise is screaming. I cannot help her.”

Agony coursed through me. Gods, Cerise must be terrified. I wanted to help her, but there was nothing I could do.

Her wolf needed time. She needed to be free.

Cerise had to understand that. It would be jarring for her to be swept aside, her thoughts and consciousness pushed into the small corners of her mind. But over time, it would become more natural. More comfortable.

No Wolven Mage had ever suppressed a wolf for this long before. It was unheard of. It was a miracle they were both still alive.

This would not be an easy transition. But I prayed to the Goddess Lunaria to heal both Cerise and Sasha and help them move forward.

Tavik’s eyes closed, and Sasha let out a low, rumbling hum of satisfaction. Together, they lay next to each other, barely touching as the sound of the waves echoed around them.

Thirty-Four

THE WITCH

My consciousness thrashed wildly, trying to break free of this prison I’d been forced into. But I had no physical form anymore—I was simply a disembodied entity, unable to move or speak. I couldn’t even cry.

It was torture. It felt like I had died and been sentenced to this as my eternal punishment.

For hours, I struggled and fought, trying fruitlessly to summon my magic. But with no body, I had no access to my powers.

I was stuck.

This couldn’t be real. It had to be a nightmare—a vision. There was no possible way I had a wolf inside me.

My entire awareness had shrunk into a tiny rectangle, like I was a bystander watching from afar. Sounds were more muted. Everything seemed dimmer. Like I’d been thrown into a cavernous abyss and could only watch from the very bottom.

“Alaric,” I thought in agony, desperate to reach him. Through my small window, I had seen him shift, letting his wolf, Tavik take over. Did he even know I was trapped in here? Would he try to get me out?

“You must remain calm,” said my wolf. Her voice rang out in my mind, crisp and clear. She had tried to speak to me a few times since wresting control from me, but I refused to listen to her justifications.

She was my captor. And I had no interest in conversing with her.

“I can hear your thoughts, Cerise,” she said. “I understand you’re angry.”

“Do not speak to me,” I thought angrily. “Not unless you intend to let me out.”

“This is not a prison. I had no choice. We were about to rupture.”

Everything in me went still at that. Rupture.

Like the white wolf?

Like my father?

“Yes. Just like him.”

If I could, I would have glared at her. “What do you know of it? You weren’t there.”

“Yes, I was. I have always been there, Cerise. That voice in your mind—it was me. I haven’t always been able to speak to you, thanks to Elvira’s tonics and suppression, but I was with you the whole time. From the very beginning.”

I didn’t like the idea of having some unknown entity watching me my entire life without my knowledge.