“No, most importantly, you’ll be eliminating my longest and greatest enemy. You could have just started with that,” Gwen says dryly. Anger and pain flash over her face as her gaze goes unfocused for a moment, like she’s lost in some memory. “Cleopatra has poisoned her coven. Some fervently follow her, believing all the lies she tells them. And others are too afraid to speak out against her. A few of us did speak out. We challenged her. And I was the only one who survived the confrontation. The man I loved wasn’t so fortunate.”
Her lips quiver just slightly before she presses them together, forcing whatever emotions are rising up inside her back down. She takes a shaky breath and stares down into her lemonade for a few seconds before she speaks again.
“I’ll tell you, Sable. I don’t think you have much chance of beating Cleo. You don’t understand how long she’s been honing her powers. She didn’t take control of the coven with just her winning personality. She took it by force.”
I nod. “I know. I’m not underestimating her. Trust me. But I’ve been working on my abilities, and something new happened recently. Something that I think has the potential to turn the tides.”
Gwen motions with one hand as if to say well, get on with it. The earlier vulnerability I saw on her face is gone, and I wonder fleetingly if she meant to tell me about the death of someone close to her, or if the words slipped out by accident.
I don’t want to press for more details though. Everyone’s private pain is their own, and I don’t need to know the specifics to understand that Gwen is even more of a kindred spirit than I thought at first. We’ve both been through hell, and Cleopatra is at the root of our pain.
So instead of asking her any more questions, I tell her about the fact that I can pull my mates into the astral plane with me. I explain about our mind link, and the dream, and how I’ve manag
ed to recreate the phenomenon intentionally. How I intend to keep practicing right up until the moment we attack.
Her jaw is hanging open by the time I finish speaking. She lets out a deep breath and sinks back against the back of her chair, swiping a hand back over her ponytail. “Wow. Just… wow. To be honest, I sat here at first thinking you were out of your fucking mind for wanting to take on Cleo and the coven. But this… holy shit, this might be the answer.”
My heart picks up its pace in my chest, and I clutch the edge of the table, trying to keep my excitement from running away with me. “Do you really think so?”
“Absolutely.” She nods, her green eyes burning. Her stone-faced expression has melted away, replaced by an almost religious zeal. I can see in her features the hatred that she’s nurtured against Cleo all these years. “Attacking her within her mind with your wolves by your side? It’s brilliant. If the five of you can take her down from the inside, the whole empire will fall. The coven won’t stand a chance—she’s the driving force behind their anger, the one who constantly stokes their rage with her bitterness. And Cleo won’t be able to fight as dirty if she’s locked inside her own mind.”
“So will you help us?” I ask, then hold my breath as I wait for her answer.
Gwen nods. “Yes. I agree to your bargain. I pledge to protect your lands and your people as if they were my own. I’ll keep them safe until you return.”
My relief is immediate. Those who can’t fight with us will be protected while we’re gone, which means our men and women will fight stronger, faster, and better. They’ll be able to throw themselves into the battle without worrying so deeply about those they left behind.
I stand, and Gwen does the same. The two of us shake hands over the tabletop. The men have remained silent this whole time, letting me take charge on this like I asked of them, but now they greet Gwen and thank her for her service to the pack. We all refill our glasses, and the guys bring out maps and battle plans so we can fill Gwen in on what’s happening.
But in the back of my mind, a little voice reminds me that this was only the first of many obstacles in our path—and one of the easiest hurdles to clear, really.
Now I just need to make sure the rest of the wolves can actually win the fight.
I’ll never survive the guilt if we lead the packs right into the line of fire, and they never return home.
25
Sable
With the first hurdle taken care of, a sense of greater urgency falls over the village. From the elders to the warriors to my mates, everyone feels a stronger need to get moving, to attack, to finish this before the witches have a chance to screw it up for us.
But we aren’t prepared.
Not quite yet.
While Gwen gets to know the men and women who will be staying behind with her, the pack continues prepping for battle. The fields outside the edge of the village become training grounds, where everyone who will be fighting practices their moves. Weaponry, wolf combat, anything that they might need to take down the witches.
Meanwhile, my men and I continue practicing with the mind link.
It takes half a dozen times to really get the hang of pulling them into the astral realm, and then half a dozen more times to practice dragging them all in at the same time. Then we start working on transporting them in wolf form, which turns out to be even more difficult than when they’re human.
But eventually, it works.
I still can’t believe how much my strength and power have improved since I learned to trust the witch inside me. I’ve studied Gwen’s spell book front to back, and I’ve even spent some time going over things and practicing with her, now that I have the option of training with a real witch.
She seems impressed by my abilities too. I’m still far from a master at any of this, but she tells me that my instincts are good. I’m learning to use a combination of sigils and raw power that I bend to my will, and although it isn’t how most witches practice magic, it works for me.
The evening before we’re set to head out toward Cleo’s territory, my mates and I cook a feast to end all feasts, each of us chipping in on the preparation. I try not to think of it as a “last meal” but that’s what it feels like, and I wring out every last drop of happiness from the time we have together. Just in case it really is the last happy time I’ll spend with these four men.