Page 1 of The Wolf's Captive
Chapter One
“So, I just have to put this here,” I muttered inside the damp, dripping cave, “and wait for just a few moments.”
Lowering the blood smeared dagger onto the centre of the salt pentagram, I shuddered violently. The chill within the rock swirled around me, sinking into my skin.
The cave was tucked just above the Seine River in Paris. I’d been staying in the city for a month, trying desperately to come up with a spell to sever myself from Kieran.
Keeping my magic use to a minimum, I’d managed to hide myself from Malone.
Malone.
My chest squeezed so hard, I could barely breathe. I had tried to push every thought of my mate out of my brain, but alas, it was useless. He permeated every fibre of my being, and no matter how hard I tried to rid myself of the grief that gripped me, I failed.
The days had been endless until I’d found myself a job in a café, serving pastries – and eating more than my fair share. By day, I was a barista, by night, a mad woman searching for the answer to my mystical prayers. Yet, it had been almost impossible to stay hidden at the same time as trying to find a powerful spell.
“Just one more minute,” I whispered, shuddering as the cold lifted the hairs on my arms.
The first full moon since Kieran had become my familiar was about to hit. I’d been saving all my magic and energy to try to force the break in connection. If I blasted him with all of my magic, maybe it would kill his wolf body.
Clearing my mind, I glanced at the pentagram made of salt, checking that the dagger tarnished with my blood was pointing north. I was going to call on the power of the full moon to harness my witch and wolf magic. If it didn’t work, I would have to find help from another witch, and I really didn’t want to do that.
My eyes flittered shut when the apex hit and my head fell back. I began the chant as I clutched my knees. The wolf spirit within me strained and stretched, ready to burst from my skin. I had to hold on long enough to cast the spell.
A blast of energy flew through my being, starting from the floor under my butt, rising up through my hips and gathering in my chest. My bones started to crack as I cringed, collecting as much magic within me as possible before slamming my hands on the ground, right into two sections of the pentagram.
The magic erupted from me, filtering up through the earth and almost tearing me apart. I moaned as I held on, resisting the urge to shift. The more magic that travelled through me, the more it went through into Kieran. Hopefully it would destroy him while he was at his most vulnerable. A wolf had no defences when they were shifting.
A scream wretched from my throat as my whole body violently shuddered, the magic pulsing every vein and muscle within me. I was only just holding on to consciousness when my body morphed into a wolf, releasing the witch magic I’d been channelling with a ping.
Huffing, I went still as I laid on my side, my skin itching from my fur and the bright flames of the candles stinging my eyes. Every trace of energy had drained from me in an effort to kill Kieran by channelling my magic through him. I wouldn’t know whether it had worked until I returned back to my witch self.
My eyes fluttered closed as images of Malone came into my mind. I was too weak to crave him, my whole being anesthetised. Maybe, just maybe, the spell had worked.
The ring of my phone made me jump, bringing me out of my light doze. I instantly felt better, springing to my feet and inspecting the scattered salt around me. I hadn’t exactly been tidy when shifting and writhing on the ground.
My canine huff echoed through the empty cave as I glanced at my phone, which was placed on my bag nearby. Drake.
The thumping of my heart intensified as I forced myself to shift, not caring about the pain as I pleaded with my brother not to hang up.
As the fur descended into… goddess knew where, I reached out my morphing arm and grabbed the phone, swiping the screen as quickly as I could.
“Brother!” I gasped, the growl in my throat blurting the word in a peculiar gruff sound.
“Della?” His voice was tight. “Are you okay? Did it work?”
Clearing my throat, I leant against the crudely cut wall to catch my breath. “I’m alright. And no, it didn’t.”
The icky warm feeling of Kieran’s presence was still buried deep in the pit of my stomach. Shit, it hadn’t fucking worked.
“You didn’t tell Malone, did you?” I blurted, breaking my rule of not speaking about my mate.
Drake exhaled. “You know I’ve kept your confidence this whole time. You made me swear the brother secrecy code, which went out of date in our teens, by the way.”
“Well,” I said, smiling to myself, “it still works, doesn’t it?”
When we’d been young and misbehaved, we’d snitched one another, until our father punished us both by ordering us to sleep in the bathroom all night. That time, it was because Drake had painted a mural on the bathroom wall, and I’d told on him. After an uncomfortable night, we’d sworn to keep the sibling secrecy code. And the idea had been genius, if I said so myself.
“Why didn’t the ritual work? You had everything you needed.”