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Which had been me. Not Daniel.

Still, why keep Meredith under the curse? Why continue to punish her for something she didn’t do? “But Meredith didn’t bite you, so why didn’t she reverse it?”Advertisement

“Because she’s gone anti-wolf. She’s always been anti-anything we’re not, but since she had that vision, she’s been a little out of control. Even more so since you were bitten. It’s kind of an obsession. So why would she reverse it?”

A door slammed up the road, and a woman screamed. “Stay away from my son!”

Luciana came running from a house down the road. She waved her hands, saying something that I couldn’t hear, but apparently Daniel knew what she was doing.

“No. Mom!” He stepped in front of me. He stumbled back a few steps, as if something punched him. “Stay behind me. Both of you.”

“I don’t need your protection.” Dastien bit the words out. “But your mother might if she tries that again.”

My skin itched to go wolf. This was so beyond dangerous it wasn’t even funny. It’d be a miracle if we got out of here without starting a war.

“I came to bargain,” I said.

She slowed her run to a fast walk. “Seeing things my way?”

I shook my head. “No, but I want to save a good friend. An innocent girl.”

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Luciana scoffed. “She’s not innocent. None of the wolves are.”

Dastien started to growl and I elbowed him. I instantly regretted it. It was like hitting granite. I rubbed my elbow, trying to gain the feeling back.

“If you release Meredith from whatever was done to her, I’ll come here one day a week to study.”

Luciana shook her head. “No. You stay here. For good. I suppress your wolf, and I’ll put Meredith’s back to sleep so she can live.”

I tried to maintain my cool, but I could feel Dastien’s bubbling anger bleeding through our bond. “That’s not a compromise.”

“Did I say I wanted to compromise?”

I had to calm down. I took a moment to look around the compound. A few people gathered on the street to watch us talk. More people were staring through windows.

I raised my voice as I spoke, hoping that if Luciana wasn’t going to listen to what I was saying, maybe someone else here would. “You can’t expect to lead if you’re not willing to compromise.”

“I don’t negotiate with monsters.”

Rage rippled along my skin. “You’re killing an innocent girl and you dare call me—us—monsters.” Three calming breaths were all I allowed myself. “Meredith Molloney is the true mate of Donovan Murrey. One of the Seven. Killing her will win you no friends. Are you and your people prepared to make enemies of all the wolves? Not just this pack, but every pack? You wanted me here, so here I am. I’m offering one day a week in exchange for you to release Meredith from the curse.”

“No.”

Murmers went around the group. Some of the coven members looked wary.

Daniel put his hand on his mother’s shoulder. “We should accept her offer. Having Donovan as an enemy is not an option.”

“No,” Luciana said. “She needs to let go of her wolf and take her place in the coven.”

“I can’t do that.” Taking my wolf away was not an option, and Luciana was crazy for thinking it was. “It’d be like cutting off one of my legs just for the hell of it. I’m not doing it. I’m a wolf and a witch—equal halves of both. You don’t have the right or the power to separate me from my wolf.”

“If you were so powerful, you’d be able to break the cage Meredith’s wolf is in,” Luciana said. “But you can’t even see it to break it. You can’t even find it. That’s not power.”

Break the cage? See it?

Break the cage. I could find it?

That was it. Holy shit. Luciana gave me what I needed.

I was a combination of wolf and witch. I combined alpha powers with witchcraft. I hadn’t learned much about either, but I knew that my alpha powers gave me control. And control was what I needed to guide my witchcraft.

Donovan hadn’t been talking about merging types of witchcraft. He’d been talking about me specifically mixing my witchcraft with my alpha energy. Just like I’d done to contact him.

Oh my God.

Shannon and Chris had been right all along. I could break the curse. I’d just been thinking about it the wrong way. I’d been looking at it from either an alpha way—by getting an alpha strong enough to calm her wolf—or a witchcraft way—by using spells and potions to get her wolf to settle down. pqdm.com