Page 40 of Blood Sacrifice

I had never considered interrogation to be civilised before, but there was a first time for everything.

“I won’t ask again,” I said to the man kneeling on the ground. “It would be best for you to cooperate.”

“Fuck off!” he snapped.

“There is no need to be rude,” Luna admonished him. “Technically, your behaviour toward us has been ghastly. First you tried to blow us up, then you followed us into the mountains, and now, here you are again joining an outing you weren’t invited to.”

She made it sound as if he had been an inconvenience that needed to be scolded. This was an adult dire wolf with murderous tendencies and a nasty attitude by the way he was staring at us. He blinked once, turning his attention to me as if to seek guidance on how to handle Luna. I had no fucking clue, as I was beginning to see that I had only ever known one aspect of her.

My mate was a complex beast that made my pulse jump with excitement. The more I got to know her, the more I craved her. I didn’t just want to mate with her, I wanted to consume her with an intensity that made every muscle in my body twitch.

I folded my arms across my chest and stared at the wolf, raising one eyebrow because I wasn’t accustomed to having to repeat myself. The seconds ticked by, and all his silence did was increase my temper.

Then Luna did something that shocked me to the core. She crouched in front of the wolf and stared him straight in the eye. The air shimmered around the two of them and I saw a faint glow that extended about a foot around his body. Luna used her right index finger that she tended to wear a ring with a quartz point on to write in his aura. It never occurred to me until this moment that the ring was the equivalent of a crystal wand for Luna to use in spellcasting.

As a wolf, I had always sensed intent and auras around people, but had never seen one before. I watched in fascination as Luna muttered in an ancient language and the facial expressions changed on the man. This was magic as I had never seen this before, a raw power of nature that thrummed at the fingertips of a woman with devastating abilities.

Luna sat back to study the man. He looked confused, blinking and screwing his face up as if trying to bring everything into focus.

“He was spellbound,” Luna said moving to beside me. “Someone is using an ancient magic that was removed from grimoires centuries ago. I’ve seen it in some of the ancient grimoires that I collect for my personal library.”

I sighed, closing my eyes for a moment. “This is a bigger problem than I thought,” I replied. “How the hell do I know who I can trust?”

She shrugged one shoulder. “My suggestion would be to target the people you need the most and remove the spell which binds them under the control of whoever is doing this. Once it is removed, it should be impossible for them to be targeted again.”

“I need Tarrack since he can access every system in our organisation and has back doors into every single programme. Jethro has been with me from as far back as our days serving together in the empire.” I paused for a moment. “Paulo is an excellent tracker, and we’re going to need that going forward.”

Luna nodded slowly. “If we’re going to do this, then we’ll need a base that you have no connection to as I don’t know when you were spellbound and how closely they were watching you during that time.”

I hated feeling this vulnerable when I should be the one in charge of this situation. “I imagine they know about my alternative bank accounts.”

“It’s possible they didn’t want to make what they were doing obvious, and used influence only,” Luna said. “This guy would be considered more under their control. I doubt he’ll remember a lot when he fully comes around from the enchantment, while you still retain your memories.”

“Many of them feel hazy, or as if I was watching it from a distance,” I admitted. “I’ve been trying to work out when this happened, and honestly, I haven’t felt like myself for a very long time.”

“This war changed two hundred years ago and became something more devious and sinister, the deaths of witches becoming targeted as particular bloodlines were selected,” Luna replied. “It almost feels as if another player entered the arena and began to influence those in power.”

“Meaning?” I queried.

“Balor was deliberate,” Luna replied. “He is a soul eater who wanted ultimate power through the consumption of different gifts. Unless he has had a personality change, there is someone else on his side who is more interested in controlling players on their chessboard.”

The wolf in front of me groaned, holding his head in hands. “What the fuck happened? Where the hell am I?” He looked up at us. “Who the fuck are you two?”

My gaze met Luna’s and murderous rage burned deep in my stomach at the thought of a cloaked enemy out there who had been turning the wolves into their own personal puppets. Now that we were once again freeing ourselves from tyranny, those who sought to oppress us would feel the force of our wrath.

Chapter Thirteen

Luna

There were two types of spellbinding, each forbidden from use by the elders who governed over magic and the creatures who utilised it. I had used spellbinding by parental consent to protect the young vampire Tasha from the hellspawn who were hunting her. The key to unlock that binding was her finding her mate Levi, a wolf strong enough to defend her and keep their family safe. Tasha had not been affected physically or mentally, merely her magic suppressed.

The other type of spellbinding was what had been used on the dire wolves. It controlled the will of the recipient, bending them to your command. A subtle form had been used on Salvator to ensure his compliance, but this other wolf could barely remember his name.

I typed on my phone, communicating with Maia.

Me:Spellbound wolf had been the person following us. Need a safe house.

A few moments later, my phone pinged.

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