49. Brinley
Chapter 49
Brinley
T hey weren’t going to make it in time.
Not only was Gabriel going to be killed, but it was nearing midnight, and Brinley still didn’t know how to break the curse.
Gabriel’s attention turned toward them, as if he sensed them. Or rather, as if he sensed her .
And it was like all of time slowed to a stop.
Mildred appeared behind him, a blade in hand.
Joel shifted into his wolf form to run faster, and Brinley wished more than anything she could too. She needed to stop her vicious grandmother from killing her mate.
“Brinley, you have to shift,” André said between breaths from beside her, reading her mind.
She looked at him but kept running. “What are you talking about? I can’t.”
“You are part DeLoup.” He grunted as he shielded them from another witch’s attack. “You just… need to accept it.”
Accept it . She faced forward, her mind racing as her feet pounded across the cobblestone. When a witch fully loves and accepts a wolf . Loving Gabriel, loving these people who’d brought her in, protected her, hadn’t been enough.
“I have to accept it,” she repeated, peeking at her friend as they made it another block closer. Up ahead, her grandmother stood over a fallen Gabriel saying something. Joel was nearly to the stairs.
André nodded. “Save him, Brinley. Save all of them and end this.”
Memories flashed through her mind of running through the meadow with Gabriel as a toddler. Of him showing her how to shift. Of him hugging her years later when she returned the first time.
Realizing he hadn’t died because of the curse. Him rescuing her and them figuring out they were mates.
Gabriel appearing in that cellar when she didn’t know who he was but felt something deep within stir at his presence.
The first time she felt him inside her, pulling her apart and bringing her back together. The first time he kissed her the next week and never gave up.
He was her mate, chosen by the moon goddess specifically for her.
Because she was DeLoup.
Something cracked deep inside her, and she screamed.
Except, it wasn’t her voice coming from her throat.
It was a howl.
Her knees bent in the wrong direction as she fell forward in agony. She landed on her hands—no, paws. Furry white paws. Her entire body felt like it was on fire as it shattered and took on a new shape, but she refused to stop now.
The first few steps in this form were jarring. She stumbled until she gathered her bearings, and then she was off, running faster than she ever had before. Somewhere in the distance, she heard a clock chime midnight. Had she done it? Was the curse broken?
She didn’t know. All she knew was she had to get to Gabriel.
Joel bounded up the stairs ahead of her, launching himself at the queen. Her reflexes were quick though, and she turned to block him in time. She tossed him aside as if he was nothing, throwing him off the wall and back to the street below.
Brinley let out a whine, her heart breaking as he landed with a thud. André was still following though, and she looked over her shoulder to yip at him. He nodded in silent understanding. He would take care of her friend if he was still alive.
She passed his body and noted the shallow rise and fall of his chest. But she didn’t slow. Navigating the steps on four legs was tricky, but she managed to reach the top. The queen’s eyes widened just a fraction. It was enough to tell Brinley she was surprised.
Growling, Brinley stalked forward. The woman she’d once called grandmother held out a hand in front of her, and she stood between Brinley and Gabriel’s still form. A dark stain had started spreading beneath him on the stone. It made Brinley’s hackles rise.
“This shouldn’t be possible,” Mildred said. “You… you are not one of these monsters.”
At that, Brinley growled and stepped closer.
“Don’t.” She raised her hand, and Gabriel’s body lifted into the air.
Brinley froze.
Mildred moved him over the edge of the parapet, hovering him just outside the wall. He didn’t shift. He was still alive, and he didn’t shift into his wolf form.
“No,” her grandmother said, shaking her head. She glanced up at where the moon was hidden behind the clouds. “ No !”
The curse was broken.
Brinley’s mate remained in the open air. They were at least two stories up, but the ground on the other side of this part of the wall was an incline. If he fell, it would be more than a two- story drop. She needed to shift into her human form to access her magic, but now that she was in this form, she didn’t know how to transform back. A whimper came from her throat, and the queen’s demeanor changed.
“You want your precious mate?” She pushed him out farther and lifted him higher.
If he fell from this height, would he survive? Would his DeLoup healing save him? Brinley didn’t know.
“I should have killed you both as children,” Mildred said. “The way he held you that day I suffocated your father… He made sure you couldn’t see, and then he refused to hand you over. Even after seeing what I could do. He was a brave little brat, I’ll give him that. But I saw how protective he was, how he pushed through my magic to try to reach you, and I knew… I should’ve done this then.”
Her fist began to open, to release him, and Brinley jumped. She lunged at the woman, aiming her teeth at her throat. They hit the parapets hard, and the trajectory knocked Mildred off balance. She slipped through the opening between stone blocks and fell to the darkness below.
Along with Gabriel.