Keeva’s POVThe first rays of dawn paint the sky with hues of fiery orange as I look out the small window that looks over the lake. The silence and peace in my mind doesn’t last long. ‘Help.’ I freeze. It isn’t just one wolf calling for help. No. At least ten different voices all ping around my head at once. Channon sits bolt upright, the deep slumber he was in vanishes without a trace. His face is blank, he is talking to someone through the mind link. ‘We need to go.’ His loud voice pulls me from my seat at the window and I’m next to him on the stairs in the blink of an eye. ‘The witches have broken through our Southern border and the have a large pack of enslaved wolves with them.’ My bare feet hit the stairs hard as we race down them. I can already hear the unmistakable sound outside as large numbers of people shift into their wolves. We are only just outside the confines of our home when we both shift mid leap, into our own wolves. I look at Channon in awe. Since l

Celeste’s POVNikita watches from the living room door. There is nothing she can do to help me and I know it hurts that I have Jermiah and Jake with me, but they are seriously powerful and know what it is we are looking for. The old scrolls lay open on the floor and we pour over them with intense interest. They are yellow and brittle with age. Hundreds if not thousands of years old. Jermiah is the only one of us who is fluent enough in the old tongue to read the information out load. ‘It says here that the first witches to enslave a werewolf did so with an ancient artifact that held immense moon power and magic.’ His eyes dart backwards and forwards over the page and he mumbles annoyingly under his breath as he reads. He just syphons out the information that is of relevance to tell me and Jake, so we wait with bated breath for him to talk again. Nikita huffs and leaves again, going back to the kitchen in a strop. I haven’t got time to deal with her over emotional need

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

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 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