acked again?
“The thing is, neither of us has been living there. That’s why the cleansing hasn’t stuck. That land is meant to be owned by a witch,” she said. “That particular plot of land was chosen because it’s a nexus of power. It needs to be cleansed again, and then someone has to safeguard it to keep it from drawing in the dark. The person that owns it needs to live there.”
No. No way. I wasn’t moving there. “Then I’ll find someone to give it to, and they can move there. But why are we talking about this now? Can’t we figure this out in the morning? I mean the normal morning when it’s light out. At a more reasonable hour.”
She shook her head. “I think that part of the problem you’re having here is tied with that land. I think Luciana’s magic that tainted the nexus of power bled here. To the spot where she did magic here. We need to cleanse both. Luciana’s magic infested both places. So, we do it together. You and Dastien here. Me and Lucas on the coven’s land. We time it out. The moon is full. We can be there with plenty of night left before sunrise. I think if we do it at the same time—me there, you here—then we can seal it for one lunar cycle. I was planning on doing the cleansing tomorrow at three in the morning, but we’re awake now, and I think if we do this, then tomorrow might be easier. And judging how tired I am already and how tired you seem… Also, tonight is the new moon, which is the start of a new cycle and good for cleansing. Doing it now should buy us some time to find someone to guard the compound, and then you can get some solid sleep.”
A solid night’s sleep? For a full lunar cycle? She was saying everything I wanted to hear right now. “Do you think it’ll work?” I had to ask. I didn’t want to get my hopes up for nothing, but they were kind of already sky-high.
Claudia was quiet for just long enough for me to doubt everything she’d just said. “What? Tell me.”
“If it doesn’t work, then my next step is to have a synchronized cleansing on the next new moon in three places—here, the compound, and the chapel in Santa Fe. But hopefully, two out of three will be enough. I have nightmares about that chapel. I don’t…”
She didn’t have to finish the sentence. I didn’t really want to go back to that chapel either. Or the compound. Or anything that had to do with that bitch of a witch.
“In the morning, we have to find a witch that’s strong enough and that we trust to take over. To make sure that the land stays cleansed and good. I’ll go over there every day to do a cleansing spell until we can find someone to agree to watch over it.”
“Done.” As long as it wasn’t me, I was okay with that. “And I’m assuming you have a list of who?” I’d ask Shane or Beth, but they might feel the same about that land. Maybe River would be open to it? But that wasn’t a long list. Claudia knew a lot more witches than I did.
“Of course, I have a list. Beth and Shane don’t want it. I already asked them, but we can go over who I think would be up for the job in the morning.”
She already had me convinced. “Great. Do we have everything we need for this?”
Lucas held up the bag. “We’ve got the supplies.”
I looked at Dastien. You ready for this? I was so tired that it pained me to move even a foot farther away from my bed, and I knew he had to be as tired, even if he wasn’t showing it.
We’re awake now. As tired as we are, if we can rally through this, then tomorrow we can sleep. A cleansing shouldn’t take that long. I’ll even tell Michael to leave us alone—
You will? That would be a first. Mr. Dawson—Michael to Dastien—was a father figure and an Alpha to my mate. Dastien usually went along with whatever Mr. Dawson said.
I usually go along with it because he’s an old wolf. One of the oldest. His plans usually make sense, but if this works, then I’ll tell him to leave us out of the daily politics for at least a few days. We need sleep.
That’s all I needed to know. I turned to Claudia. “All right. Let’s do it.”
Buzz. Buzz. Buz-buz-buz. Buzzzzz.
Shit. Axel called three times and texted once. I couldn’t ignore him again.
That wasn’t a drunk dial or him being excited about something. Three calls meant an emergency.
Dastien moved before I could say anything, disappearing back into the cabin. I raced after him.
“Hello?” Dastien said. “Axel?”
“I don’t want to die alone.” His voice was soft and thready with pain and terror, and I knew everything was about to change.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. And every inch of me was cold.
Die alone? He was hurt? More than hurt. He was dying?
Axel wasn’t just my brother. He’d been my best friend—my only friend—growing up. A moment ago, I wasn’t sure I could take one more thing—one more fight, one more discussion about the fey, one more cleansing against evil—but then I heard something in his voice I’d never heard before.
Despair and defeat and death.
They said that God didn’t give you more than you could handle, but in that brief, less-than-a-second moment, I wondered if I could handle losing my brother.
And the answer was no. I couldn’t. It would break something vital in me, and I wasn’t sure how I’d get over the loss.