Page 51 of Bullied Wolf Mate

I held her close, reveling in her scent. Just being able to touch her again, to know she was safe and all right, set me and my wolf at ease, finally telling me the danger had passed.

I could have held her like that for a century, but eventually, we broke apart. The temporary salve of Lorelei and her embrace vanished, and I suddenly remembered all the pain running through my body.

I winced. She noticed and immediately looked me up and down, cataloging all the injuries.

“You’re hurt,” she said, her eyes locking on the wound on my side, oozing something black. She crouched to examine it. “She hit you with a curse.”

I grimaced. “I thought those were supposed to go away when the witch died.”

“Only a few curses work that way. Common misconception.” She crouched and examined it. “Here. I think this might help.”

She walked a little ways away and bent to pick up the knobby staff she was holding before. She came back and pressed it against the wound. I hissed at the initial touch, but moments later, all the pain dissipated. When she pulled back the staff, the injury had vanished.

I raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t realize you had gotten that much better at magic in the last twelve hours,” I joked. “I’m impressed.

She snorted, shaking her head. “No. I’m still a fairly mediocre witch. It’s amazing what having access to a bunch of highly powerful magical artifacts can do for you, though.”

A cough coming from the edge of the clearing rang out. We both turned to see Declan leaning against a tree, the other wolves behind him and Jameson. When he saw he had our attention, he pushed off the trunk and came to stand in front of us.

“Glad you’re safe. Both of you,” Declan said. He glanced over at the shattered boulder. “I’m guessing that was the entrance?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Lorelei said. “But yeah, no getting back in there for a while. I might be able to get in there at some point. I’m sure Mom and Dad have notes somewhere, and now that I know how to do it, I might be able to come up with a new way in. Until then…” Lorelei shrugged. “No one will be able to get any of the items there.”

Declan nodded. “Probably for the best. I don’t want someone else trying to follow Inara’s footsteps. The power vacuum she’s going to leave will be hard enough to handle.”

“We’ll see.” Lorelei shrugged. “Inara was something else entirely. I wouldn’t be surprised if her group scattered instead of reforming around someone else. Orin was probably the most likely person for them to rally around, and he’s not going to be starting any covens anytime soon.”

Declan nodded, not asking her to elaborate. Neither of us needed her to. “I guess we’ll have to keep track of them,” Declan said. He raised an eyebrow, scanning the clearing. “What happened to the diadem?”

“It’s in The Trove. I threw it in there right before breaking the entrance.”

“Risky,” Declan remarked.

“Necessary,” she corrected.

“This is all well and good,” Jameson growled, coming to stand next to me. “But we don’t know where Georgia and the others are. With Inara dead, how are we supposed to find them?”

My wolf and I let out a low, warning growl to Jameson at how he was talking to Lorelei. I only stopped because she put her hand on my arm, quieting me. To her credit, Lorelei looked the furious alpha dead in the eye, not fazed in the least by his obvious panic.

“I’m assuming you portaled here somehow,” she said. “Considering how far away we are from Brixton.”

Jameson gave a curt nod. “One of our witches gave us this.” He held out the knife.

Lorelei bent to examine it, then nodded her approval. “Great. We’ll use that.”

Jameson frowned. “You haven’t been wherever they’re keeping them, though,” he countered. “You don’t know where to go.”

“I haven’t been there, but Holly has.” Lorelei gestured toward Holly, who had been lurking in the shadows, her eyes wide with shock, her hands wrapped around her stomach. “She can get you there, no problem.”

Holly nodded, though she still looked pale and shaken up. Jameson handed her the knife.

“Wait here,” Jameson told me and Lorelei. “We’ll come grab you once we’ve gotten the girls.”

I nodded, trying to communicate my appreciation for that gesture. I didn’t need to be a mind reader to understand he was also giving the two of us the chance to be alone. I watched as Holly drew the knife through the air, creating a portal. She and Jameson stepped through, and the other wolves piled into the portal after them, all itching for a fight after being pushed out of the last one.

The instant we were alone, I turned to Lorelei. “Lorelei, I’m sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t have locked you up like that again. I should have worked with you to come up with a solution, not locked you up the way I did.”

I wasn’t sure what would happen. I half-expected her to yell at me for locking her up, and I wouldn’t have blamed her. Instead, she pulled me into another hug, holding me tight against her like she didn’t want to ever let me go.

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