Page 81 of Freed Wolfsbane

What is it with the Knights and pulling my hair?

My neck is wrenched back as I’m thrown away from the tomb. I land with a thump on the stone, and I groan in pain before struggling to my knees. I see my mates scattered around and surrounded by Knights, the protective wall they tried to form a distant memory. Ryker is standing over me, holding the sword in one hand and a dagger in the other.

Well, that’s not good.

Ryker is in possession of the curse and a weapon to kill me. He’s set up to accomplish everything he ever wanted, unfortunately for me.

Pushing to my feet, I try to go to Ryker, but strong arms band around my throat and my middle, effectively keeping me in place. When I thrash around, trying to get out of the hold, it only puts more pressure on my airway and makes me feel lightheaded.

Dido takes control of my body and also tries to get free of the arms holding us in place, but her kicks, elbows, and headbutts don’t seem to do anything. After fighting against the Knight restraining us, she eventually tires us out, and my body goes limp.

With hand-to-hand combat apparently not working, I try to aim my magic at the man behind me, but two more Knights come up and restrain my hands, rendering me frustratingly helpless. Sure, I can shoot magic to the side of me, but that does little to help me out of this situation.

“Briar!” Saint screams from somewhere behind me. I hear a struggle and pained grunts from my mates, but I can’t see any of them. The battle continues to rage on at my back, so I have to assume they’re still up and fighting—not that I can do much to help them when I can’t even free myself.

A sharp pain in my abdomen draws my focus back to me. I look down and am both surprised and unsurprised to see Ryker’s knife protruding from my stomach. He roughly yanks it up to my sternum and out, tearing skin and muscle as he does so. I let out a whimper of pain as dark red blood pours down my front.

What is it with this man and stabbing me in the stomach?

Jesus Christ, dude, pick an original place to shank me for once.

Instinctively, I yank one arm free of the Knights to bring it up to cover the gaping hole in my abdomen. He doesn’t try to recapture my hand, probably figuring that I’m in too much pain to focus on casting. Unfortunately for me, he’s right, despite my efforts to center my thoughts and pull my magic to me.

Ryker grins down at me as he smears my blood all over the sword. “While I collected your blood back at the facility, fresh blood is more potent and will power the spell better.” Once that’s done, he shoves the bloody dagger back in his waistband and pulls out a glowing vial. He notices my confused face and can’t resist the urge to gloat. “Wondering what this is? Thanks to you, we figured out what aspect of your power allowed you to shift past the curse. The councilman was kind enough to tweak the original for us to account for what’s letting male shifters get around it. Once I pour this on the blade, your wolf will be gone forever. Any last requests before I steal your animal and kill you and your mates?”

Ryker’s eyes are filled with a feverish gleam as he basks in his victory. I close my eyes because I don’t know how to stop him and don’t want to watch him destroy everything I’ve worked so hard to accomplish.

“Grab the sword with your magic!”Dido bellows in my mind, causing me to snap my eyes open.

Acting on pure instinct, I rush to follow Dido’s command without question.

Gritting my teeth as I push past the pain, I envision the sword flying into my outstretched hand. To my surprise, it leaps out of Ryker’s hand and hurtles toward me, hilt first, luckily. Dido seizes control of my body once more to grasp the sword and shove it back into the guy holding me. He cries out in pain, and his arms fall away from me.

I’m honestly surprised the ancient sword is capable of hurting anyone. It seems so old and rundown that I figured it would shatter on impact or be too dull to slice through anything. I’ve never been so glad to be wrong in my life.

Dido stabs the other Knight in the gut, which has him releasing my other arm. Once I’m free, she digs in my vest pocket and pulls out the potion.

What are you doing?I shout in alarm because I thought we weren’t going to use that. I promised my mates I’d find a way to get out of this alive.

Her face hardens in determination as she stares me down.“I’m getting rid of the curse, child. It requires a sacrifice, and you have two souls residing inside you. I will sacrifice myself to end this because I do not see another way. If you stay here much longer, you and your mates will die, and all this will be for nothing.”

Another Knight charges at us, and Dido stabs him in the throat, covering me in more blood. She then somehow wrangles control of my magic and uses it to keep the Knights and Ryker off us as they desperately try to get the sword back.

No! Dido! There has to be another way!I scream as she uncorks the vial. She raises it up and slowly pours the murky liquid onto the blade. It sizzles on contact but doesn’t seem to do anything for a long moment. I blow out a breath of relief that it doesn’t work.

Then I see Dido’s back arch in my mind, and her mouth opens in a silent scream.

At the same time, I feel excruciating pain rip through me, like a thousand knives are stabbing me and tearing me apart. I drop to the floor and curl up into a ball as wave after wave of pain sweeps over me and does its best to drown me. It feels like I’m being torn in half, and I would give anything to make the agony stop, but there’s nothing I can do.

Dido is writhing in the same pain in my mind. She’s able to open her brown eyes for a second to pin me with a serious look.“It has been an honor to watch you grow into the woman you are today. I am so very proud of you, Briar, and I know you’ll go on to do amazing things, even though I won’t be with you anymore. Do not mourn my death because I have lived far too long. While I do not know what will become of my soul, I am at peace with it. Goodbye, Briar Rose Ward-Wylder.”

Dido’s face smooths out and looks almost peaceful for a beat. Then a flash of purple light bursts in my mind. When it fades away, Dido is gone and the physical agony increases.

I scream in pain and loss and devastation.

The sound reverberates through the tomb room, and my magic explodes throughout the space. It glows so bright I have to squeeze my eyes shut. When I open them sometime later, I see the Knights, Ryker, and the mage councilmen lying in bloody heaps on the ground. They’re completely shredded apart like they took a hit of shrapnel directly to their torsos, so I’m pretty sure they won’t be getting back up again.

My eyes dart around for my mates, hoping my magic didn’t do the same thing to them. But the agony burning through me makes it impossible to turn my head to look for them.

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