Nikita’s POVWe can’t wait any longer. Night has fallen and we need to leave under the cover of dark. Channon has arranged for three Delta’s wolves to accompany us to the very northern border of our territory, to make sure we are far from the encampment of the witches. ‘Ebony will be here soon and then you can be on your way.’ Celeste reassures Jermiah. I pace restlessly waiting to go. Celeste will ride on Kobe, a big, dark grey wolf, to the border. She decided it was for the best, to save my strength. I tried to argue the point with her but it was futile. Just because I’m pregnant she thinks I’ve turned soft and weak. I don’t need protecting. I’m the one that needs to protect her, she just doesn’t see it that way. I watch with envy as she climbs on Kobe’s back. The warmth of her cunt will be right between his shoulders. I push the thought from my mind and we start our expedition into the darkness of the night. Equipped with the ancient map in the secret journal Celest
Celeste’s POVHow could she be so silly and not tell me she had hurt herself and risk the safety of our baby. I hold her tight and take a deep breath in and out. ‘Lay down. Ill try and help you finish healing.’ Hopefully my magic will work as well on her as it did the battle broken wolves yesterday. She slips on her underwear and flinches in pain when she moves. The forest around us is alive with the sounds of birds singing and the soft creak of branches moving in the breeze. It is a beautiful spring day. I quickly position some pillows into a makeshift bed for her to lay on comfortably. It is hard to look at her bruised body without crying. Once she is settled and still I begin ‘By the energy of love and light, I call forth healing from above. With every breath and with every beat, Restore and heal, make pain retreat.’I repeat the incantation over and over again as I gently rub calendula oil into her swollen stomach. I
Nikita’s POVShe warned me. All day she has been telling me something doesn’t feel right, but I chose not to listen. I was too angry at her for not letting me shift. The pain washes over me in relentless waves making me tremble in fear. This is pain like I have never felt and my primal cry of anguish and desperation pierces through the veil at the caves entrance. I look up to the ceiling of the cave and see the moon’s pale light as it filters through the crack in the ceiling. Each contraction rips through me without a break between them form me to regain my breath. The intensity of the pain is mind boggling, I feel like I’m being torn apart from the inside. Celeste squeezes my hand and her lips move fast. I don’t know what she is saying. My screams overshadow every other noise in the cave. My wolf cowers in the corner. Her ears are flat against her head and her body trembles along with mine, she can feel my pain and it tears at her with the same intensity. I feel Celes
Ebony’s POVJermiah talks non stop as we race through the deep dark forest. I love the fact I can’t respond to his incessant chatting, even if I wanted to. He isn’t a pack member so I’m unable to mind link with him. I might stay as a wolf the whole time. My mind isn’t here. It is back with Blake and Bleiz. I’m pretty sure Bleiz would have killed me if it hadn’t been for Blake. The whole scene keeps playing through my head, over and over again. Guilt consumes my inner self and I cry silently in my mind, where no one can see or hear the weakness in me. I love Blake but I am mated to them both. Bleiz and I just don’t have the connection I have with Blake. Maybe that is because we have been fucking without him. Is that why Blake pursued me alone, does he want me for himself. At least with me gone for a few days it will give them a chance to work through whatever this is. My wolf is worried but the freedom to have such a long, unbroken run is something she hasn’t enjoyed in
Ebony’s POVThe balls of fire stop but don’t leave us for even a second. I can feel the weight of his intense stare on me as I stay rooted in gut wrenching fear to the spot. I have never felt fear like it in my life. I am used to being the one that instil fear in other beings, not the other way around. It’s all I can do not to whimper, tuck my tail between my legs and make a run for it. I might be scared but I am not a coward so I take a deep inhale of musty swamp air into my lungs and take my eyes from the beast in the water and look for the source of the voice. I hadn’t even noticed the majestic tree that rises above the tangled overgrowth and towers above all the surrounding vegetation. It’s colossal trunk is at least twice as wide as the redwood trees of the North and its huge thick branches start from just above the ground and sprawl out wide and far. The twisted limbs have moss and ivy draped across them helping to blend and hide the tree in darkness that the thi
Celeste’s POVThe barrier is the only thing keeping us safe. I have searched the cave and found another entrance to the cave and sealed that for now. I don’t know what we are going to do. I had hope getting rid of the smell of blood quickly would be enough to not bring him straight to our door, but I was wrong. He was here within an hour of the babies being born and has stood at the front entrance to the cave all night growling. Nikita fell asleep after being bathed with Freya and Finn and feeding them her milk. I however have watched the beast through the impenetrable force field I created. I dread to think what would have transpired if I hadn’t had the foresight to cast the spell. We would have been slaughter like sheep. He paces now, side to side across the wide entrance to the cave. His body is bigger than a horse and his fur is a mix of midnight black and silver grey. One he must have been a mighty wolf in high standing within a pack, but now his coat is ragged an
Nikita’s POVI manage to push his huge, heavy body off from on top of me. Blood spills in a river from his mouth over me and sinks into my fur. More blood leaks from the wound in his side, but the sword stems the flow. The silver working its way through his body, destroying him from the inside out. I manage to slip from under him and make my way quickly over to Celeste who is on the floor in a heap. My breath catches in my throat with concern. Finn and Freya start bawling, their cries are loud in the silence of the forest. At least they are ok. As I reach where they lay together Celeste slips away, her body is broken and her face has a deep gash across it from where she face planted the floor to save the babies from being hurt. I quickly take untie them from her back and put them together in a nest of pillows that I’ve pulled from Celeste’s backpack. They are hungry but I don’t have time to feed them right now. I need to check Celeste first. Their cries elicit an unex
Ebony’s POV It doesn’t take long for Jermiah to fall asleep. His snores make the windows rattle and the air smell of his stale, smelly breath. He still hasn’t snapped back to his normal self. Elara was very chatty over dinner, possibly due to the four hundred years of having only a monstrous crocodile for company. I can’t imagine he is very good for a conversation. The weight of solving the riddle rests with me, the hopes of saving our race from the slavery that has plagued our kind for centuries is in my hands. My ancestors and my brethren deserve to see our people raise, above the footsteps od the people who wish to oppress us and use us against our will to their own ends. I felt I would look a bit ignorant and nonchalant if I asked Elara to repeat the riddle, instead I opted to ask for a pen and paper to write down what I could remember and see if I can somehow unpick it to get the answer she is looking for. I didn’t realise my memory was so bad before now. What th