Chapter 19 - Donna
“The Alpha of Loups de Lune called me,” Dominic explains once we’ve all gathered in Nicholas’s pack den. My brother is pacing the floor impatiently, hands running through his hair sporadically between huffing breaths.
“Tobias was there. I heard him speaking to Alpha Beaumont. Then, a shrill cry, and the call cut abruptly.” Dominic’s explanation is short and to the point because he’s said this three times already.
First, to me and Nicholas, then to Delilah, Hunter, and Gwen, and now to the others as soon as they arrived. He called it “urgent” because that’s exactly what it is.
No one can get hold of Alpha Etienne Beaumont, and we all know what that means.
Tobias is behind this.
“We need to be cautious,” Nicholas says, and my eyes flit to him, only to find him staring directly at me with worry in his eyes.
“Tobias is working for the dark lord, and this is probably a plot to draw us out. Tobias wants us because of Barry Louvet. The dark lord wants Donna. He’s killing two birds with one stone by targeting my fated mate. ”
Dominic narrows his eyes at me, and it’s like he’s weighing his options.
“I say we leave Donna here and go to Montreal,” he says, shocking me.
“No. I’m not staying behind,” I protest firmly, and Nicholas intervenes, stepping forward.
“Look, Dom, I would have agreed with you, but leaving Donna behind, alone, unprotected, sounds like a bad idea.”
“You can stay with her, and we’ll go to Montreal and take down Tobias,” Dominic counters, but Nicholas shakes his head, coming toward me and taking my hand.
“Again, I would have totally agreed with you, Dom.” Nicholas locks eyes with me and grins. “But I know Donna will never forgive us for leaving her out of this. And if there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that she’s ready to fight. I’ve seen her training. She’s one heck of a witch!”
I can’t help but smirk as I stare into Nicholas’s eyes, feeling seen for who I truly am. It’s such a liberating feeling, one that makes me feel invincible.
But there isn’t much time to bask in that feeling when the others quickly agree that we should all go.
Delilah agrees that four witches working together will be a force that not even Tobias can withstand. Though the fifth witch hasn’t emerged yet, we’re strong enough to take the dark lord down, even if it’s just to drive him away and buy us more time.
“Tobias wouldn’t just attack an alpha,” Delilah mutters, and we turn toward her. “Not unless he’s completely—”
“Gone,” I whisper, cutting her off.
Everyone looks at me, but I turn my eyes to the floor instead, my stomach twisting into a knot.
Nicholas must sense how I’m feeling, what I’m thinking, and he places an arm around my shoulders, drawing me against his side.
Through his silence and the small flicker of a smile he offers, he’s the grounding force I need to remain strong through this.
Tobias was my friend once. He wasn’t always someone to fear. But the boy I went to college with is nowhere in the man who’s in Etienne’s village now.
Dominic inhales sharply. “We leave now.”
No one argues.
Within minutes, we’re outside near the forest, the witches gathering close, and the black ops wolves standing in the formation they learned during their time away.
Emily goes around with a special serum that’s meant to mask our scents so we can approach Loups de Lune quietly, stealthily, without giving them a signal that wolves are approaching.
She rubs each male’s neck at their scent gland, before coming back to us to do the same.
The guys’ bodies morph and snap into their wolf forms, the cracking and popping of bones and sinew echoing across the yard.
Nicholas’s massive, powerful wolf with gray, almost silver fur, steps closer to me, his nose nudging my palm gently like he’s checking in.
“I’m fine,” I assure him through the mind link, testing if my voice only carries to his mind. When I look around, it’s evident that the others haven’t heard me, so I smile and run my hand through the fur at the top of his head.
His golden green eyes tell me he doesn’t quite believe that, and a small whimper escapes his muzzle. I lean in and plant a reassuring kiss between his eyes before rounding him and mounting his back.
The other witches do the same, climbing onto the wolves’ backs.
Gwen takes Sean, Delilah is on her mate, and Arianna is on Tyler, because the witches need to preserve their energy instead of shifting back and forth.
Emily shifts into wolf form, her medical kits hanging from her arms, and Dominic steps in front, preparing to lead us toward Montreal.
Nicholas glances over his shoulder at me, checking in with me before the journey, his eyes full of concern. It makes warmth bloom in my chest as I settle onto his back, fingers gripping his fur, and the moment I whisper, “Ready,” he takes off behind Dominic.
The run to Montreal is long, but the steady rhythm of Nicholas’s paws slamming into the earth grounds me, preparing me for whatever lies ahead. The cool wind stings my cheeks as the forest blurs around us, and it feels like riding a storm as we rush toward Montreal.
When we cross the boundary into Loups de Lune territory, everything changes, the night air arresting us in invisible claws.
The world around us falls silent, too quiet as the wolves slow down, only our heartbeats pulsing.
No birds, no patrol wolves, no rustling of leaves.
It’s the wrong kind of stillness, and a cold shiver skitters down my spine.
Nicholas slows, lowering himself so I can slip off safely. Dominic’s raven-black wolf prowls ahead, ears pinned upright as he sniffs the air sharply. Everyone spreads out in cautious formation, equally alert, equally surprised by the ominous air.
“What happened here?” Gwen whispers as she hops down from Sean’s wolf and turns to the other witches.
“Nothing good,” Arianna murmurs as she comes toward me, slipping her hand in mine.
The pack village is too empty, the borders barren, doors hanging open as if the wolves of this pack have been evacuated. Windows are shattered, and the faint metallic scent of fear lingers in the air.
Nicholas moves beside me, brushing his shoulder against mine protectively.
“Nicholas,” I whisper, wrapping my arms around myself. “I feel something. It’s like…something is watching us.”
He shifts back to human form in seconds. “I feel it too.” He steps closer, voice low as he scans our surroundings, then moves in front of me. “Donna, stay behind me.”
I frown. “Nicholas, I’m not helpless—”
“I know you’re not helpless,” he counters softly, eyes full of something raw when he glances over his shoulder. “That’s why I’m asking you, and not ordering you. Just…stay close. Please.”
The sincerity knocks the breath from my chest, but does little to take the edge off, to stop what I’m feeling.
Before I can respond to Nicholas, Dominic stiffens suddenly ahead of us.
A growl rumbles through his chest, a warning right before a sound that has us all alert.
A crack of twigs.
A ripple of shadows.
A shift of darkness in the trees.
Nicholas inhales sharply. “Wolves….”
A second later, the forest erupts with dozens of wolves bursting from the shadows, their eyes pitch-black pits of nothingness, bodies trembling with unnatural strength.
They charge toward us with mindless violence, snarling like creatures that stopped being wolves long ago.
My heart skips a beat before racing ahead of me.
“They’re under a spell!” I scream as the witches gather behind me. “Don’t kill them!”
The wolves approach us with terrifying force. Hunter shifts into wolf form mid-leap, colliding with two wolves and forcing them to the ground. Dominic barrels into another, teeth snapping at empty air. Sean and Tyler work together, knocking wolves aside without piercing skin.
Nicholas grabs a wolf by the scruff when it charges at us, and he slams it down with the force of his wolf claw, careful not to break anything. His fangs flash, but he restrains the killing blow.
“Something’s controlling them!” Gwen yells, her palms glowing with the first stirrings of her magic.
A wolf leaps toward her, and with Nicholas handling the other wolf, I lunge forward, a cry ripping from my chest.
“No!”
Gold explodes from my palms, forming a shimmering shield that slams into the cursed wolf, throwing it backward without harming it.
Arianna’s energy blends into mine, and Delilah adds more, reinforcing the barrier encircling the witches.
But the pressure increases when more wolves emerge from the shadows, and more darkness coils around them. I glance at the other witches, a silent plea to figure out what we should do next as Nicholas fights off another wolf, choosing hands over claws because claws would kill.
He plants himself firmly in front of me, bare-chested when the first wolf ripped his T-shirt off, and now covered in grime and scrapes, growling low in his throat.
“Nicholas—" I start, but his hand snaps back, gripping my forearm, pulling me behind him gently but firmly.
“I said stay close!” his voice trembles, but not with fear for himself, but fear for me.
My heart stutters.
The wolves circle us, their growls vibrating through the ground. The air thickens, heavy with dark magic. Even the witches pause, sensing something shift, when suddenly, the forest parts.
A figure steps out, its clothes hanging from its body in tatters. His skin is pale, almost grey. And his eyes…oh Goddess…his eyes glow red like dying embers.
My knees almost buckle under the weight of my shock.
“Tobias…” I whisper, my body quaking.
That's not the boy I once knew, someone I considered a friend. Now, he appears before us like a deranged monster, eyes void of any semblance of humanity.
Tobias tilts his head, studying me, eyes hollow and twisted into something unrecognizable.
“You shouldn’t have come…” he rasps, voice distorted as if layered with another, darker presence that serves as his current lifeforce.
Nicholas immediately positions himself between me and Tobias, muscles tense, chest rising and falling with barely contained rage, his claws readied at his sides. He snarls in warning at Tobias.
A smirk cracks across Tobias’s face, dark and sinister. “Aah,” he croons, gaze sliding to Nicholas. “I see you’ve taken my place beside her.”
The clearing falls completely still at the sound of his bitter voice echoing around us with malice. Even the cursed wolves stop their attacks, taking up formation on either side of Tobias as if he’s their master.
Every breath, every heartbeat, hangs suspended in the air as our friends prepare for the war.
The standoff has begun, and the raging silence threatens to consume us all.