I walked over to the fireplace, clicked my fingers, and started a fire in the grate. My hands were cold and numb.
“Michael,” Xander called out, his deep tone darker and noticeably different to his Beta, Kyle. “Tell us what’s wrong.”
I turned, putting my hands behind my back so that the heat of the fire might defrost the sudden ice in my veins.
There wasn’t an easy way to say this, so I needed to just tell them the truth. “My father is power-hungry. He’s always wanted to be the most powerful warlock in the world...”
“But he is the most powerful—” Monique began, but I cut her off.
“No. He’s the most powerful warlock in our teeny tiny realm. He wants the type of power that would blow away any warlock, or witch for that matter, anywhere on the planet.”
Xander pulled Monique in closer to his side as if sensing danger, his eyes flickering with a strange glowing yellow that I’d seen earlier when I’d burst in on them. Did that yellow sheen appear when their emotions were heightened?
“What’s that got to do with us?”
I inhaled sharply, not wanting to say the next words, but I had to. They sat like lead in my belly.
“Blood magic is always dark. But blood magic using wolf shifter blood... The spells he’s talking about... They’ll give him more power than he’s ever known—but at a steep cost.”
“What sort of cost?” Monique whispered.
I didn’t want to tell her, but with their lives on the line, I had to.
“Well for starters, you won’t be leaving tomorrow.”
Kyle growled at me. “Why the hell not?”
I turned to him. “Because my father’s new magic, his new powers, will now be linked to your blood. Once he realizes that, he’ll never let you go again.”