33. Lumi
Chapter 33
Lumi
F or a second, Emeric looks at me like he pities me. It’s only a split second, but I see it. And then it’s gone as if I imagined it.
Silently, he steps to the side. The entire pack that’s been circling us parts, and all eyes face the pathway straight in front of me into the darkness of the forest.
I hold my breath, unsure of what is making its way toward us.
Please, just don’t let it be Ambrose. I can’t bear for him to watch whatever is about to happen. It’s better if he’s getting tortured by the vampires than here witnessing my pain.
But who appears is far worse than Ambrose.
“Isolde,” I whisper.
She stares at me with a tight-lipped expression. Cold spreads through me as she stares like she’s brought winter with her. I’m used to the cold, but this is unusually cold. I know it’s her causing it.
“Are you the one who created the runes that are holding Ambrose?”
She smiles sardonically at me.
“Undo them,” I command.
She tilts her head, her smile growing larger as her eyes darken.
“I wouldn’t be worried about Ambrose if I were you.”
I grind my teeth. “Undo the runes, the spell. Let him go.” All I can think about is how he’s used to being the alpha. Used to being the one saving others. And now he’s powerless. He can’t break his pack from whatever spell Isolde has put them under. He can’t save them. We have to save him first.
She laughs. “You think you’re in a position to tell me what to do?”
I growl, knowing that if my wolf doesn’t appear now, there is nothing that will make it. My curse has to be that I can find my mate but do nothing about it because I can’t shift.
“Who are you working for? Nyx?”
She laughs harder. “Nyx? You think I would work with that abomination?”
“You are working with vampires. Working with Nyx wouldn’t be any different.”
She shakes her head. “Witches would never work with Nyx or vampires.”
I frown, my eyebrows narrowing. “Vampires are currently holding Ambrose hostage. If you aren’t working with them, then I suggest you go handle them and free Ambrose before whatever you have planned for me.”
The corner of Isolde’s mouth lifts. “You really have never been around witches before in your life, have you girl?”
I don’t answer, but my silence is enough for her.
“It’s a basic enchantment. One to make you think the witches that are holding Ambrose were something else.”
My eyes widen, and I look around at the wolves holding onto me and circling me. How can I tell what’s real and what’s not if Isolde and the rest of the witches have that kind of power?
She smirks. “You’re way out of your league, girl.”
“What do you want?”
“Shhh, enough talking.” Isolde raises her hands as her eyes start to glow.
Fuck.
I thrash against the hold the guys have on me. I have no clue what she’s about to do, but it can’t be good. Their grip on me tightens, leaving no room for me to wiggle free.
Emeric isn’t looking at me; he’s looking at Isolde. He’s my only hope. Whatever spell she cast on him, he’s still in there. He’s my friend. He’s on my side; I know it.
“Fight it, Emeric! Fight whatever hold she has on you!”
Emeric doesn’t even glance my way. His eyes are locked on Isolde.
I whip my head back to her just in time to feel the blast of her magic hit my chest with a force so powerful it’s like being struck by a cannon. Yet, my body doesn’t move.
I scream, but nothing comes out.
I cry, but no tears fall.
I thrash, but my body stays still, trapped in torment.
The blast feels endless, drawing out the agony until I’ve lost sense of time. Then, in a split second, it’s over.
I exhale deeply, trying to purge that energy out. But it’s trapped inside my veins. It quickly spreads through my body like a hot fire until I feel it down to the smallest of capillaries in my body.
I stare straight ahead, meeting Isolde’s eyes, which have returned to their normal color and are no longer glowing. But her knowing smirk terrifies me. Whatever she did, she’s pleased with herself.
“You can release her now.”
The second she says the words I’m free. I yank my arms to my sides, but it doesn’t matter that I have use of them again. I’m still as trapped as before, with them all surrounding me.
“What did you do to me?” I ask, still feeling the tingling warmth dance through my body.
There’s a twinkle in her eyes as she glances at the males around me. They all begin to shift into their human forms one by one until they are all standing bare.
I look for any signs of anyone breaking the hold that Isolde has on them, but they are all watching me so intensely, like they all want to devour me.
Isolde takes a step back as the men take a step closer.
“Emeric?” I say, panicked, even though I don’t have a lot of hope that he’s broken through the spell on him and can help me. I don’t have anyone else here that can help me.
But he’s disappeared into the crowd of men circling me.
I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself, when suddenly I get a scent of something—the evergreen, earthy, ancient scent that wraps around me in a familiar embrace and alights an uncontrollable desire in me.
A tsunami of want and lust ripples through me, starting in my core and then spreading out along my veins and capillaries, just like Isolde’s spell. My eyes shoot wide as I instantly realize what she did.
“No,” I say, barely above a whisper. “No, no, no.”
I meet Isolde’s gaze behind the circle of guys that all smell like Ambrose. All of them.
The look she gives me is one of pure arrogance.
She won.
I lost.
I still don’t understand why she thinks I’m not Ambrose’s mate. I’m not sure why she hates me so much and why she wants me gone. But she succeeded. I can feel it as easily as I can feel her magic seeping into every bone in my body. There is no part of me that can escape her, and she knows it.
“Who do you want?” one of the men says to me.
I turn my gaze to the man who spoke. The one with the red hair and sultry grin.
My eyes don’t stop at his eyes, though; they quickly sweep down his body, taking in his sculpted chest, rock-hard abs, and not even hesitating to soak in his large cock straining in my direction, more than happy to fulfill any fantasy I have.
I sweep through all of the men. I don’t hide my perusal of them. I don’t hide that I’m looking at every muscle, sharp line, and intimate part of their bodies. My cheeks don’t pinken in embarrassment. Instead, my eyes darken in arousal.
They all see it, all smell it on me.
The air shifts, and I can practically feel them all howling for me to pick them. To want them. To fuck them.
Lust fills every crevice of my body. I pant heavily, and my body tingles with insatiable cravings. The urge is so strong that I know I won’t be able to fight it. Short of someone snapping my neck, there is nothing that will stop me.
“I want all of you.”
The red-haired man chuckles and licks his lips like he was expecting me to say that.
“Me first.”