Page 87 of Claimed

In case her brother either shows up or strikes again with another attack I won’t chance leaving her with someone I’m any less than sure can handle an emergency. I don’t want my attention to this coven and SCC matter to leave my mate vulnerable.

I’ve tried to prepare for all possibilities by having several men around the boundaries of our village watching while Jase focuses only on keeping Stacy safe.

I had an interesting conversation with the guys earlier when Linc and Jase told me just how close I came to ripping Finn’s head off last night. They said this as if I wasn’t fully aware of the encounter.

I recall every second and while it’s odd to me that I was so lost to the rut that I was disconnected from everything else to the point Jase and Linc felt I needed backup due to putting myself and my mate in a position of vulnerability, I know I was still in my right mind.

The state of rutting your mate is a natural state to someone like us. What’s not natural is having multiple males nearby while in the rut and not having a problem with their presence, particularly since three of the four were alpha.

As for my anger, it was probably partly down to their proximity to my mate, but it didn’t help matters that the guys weredisguising their scent while patrolling in case anyone from Silver Hills was skulking around, which would’ve fucked with my senses.

Tyson told me he and his uncle used cat grass to disguise their scents from us. I’m looking forward to learning more about the herbal connection to our magic; it’ll be useful to train with the coven and learn about herbs that could benefit us. On that thought, a memory hits me from when Jase and me, in our early to mid-teens, found some mushrooms in the woods. He was just about to chomp into one as wolf when warning bells went off in my mind because of how it smelled. I stopped Jase and we brought them to our pack healer, Ty’s mother, and she praised my instinct. Those mushrooms could’ve been fatal if they’d been ingested raw by us as wolves. They’re edible to us in our human form but anywhere from hallucinogenic to extremely toxic to us in wolf form, depending on the season, the environment, and the size of the mushroom, not to mention the size of the wolf.

My thoughts are interrupted by a loud crackle of what sounds like thunder, though instead of from the sky, it’s coming from beneath my feet and feels like the earth is about to split wide open.

Mimi’s voice rings through my mind.

“Come quickly. Have your protection bracelet on and throw a gold one onto Aviva Starling’s neck as you breach our circle. It won’t come off her unless you take it off her. Do not, whatever you do, take it off.”

A strange pulsing rips its way through what feels like a membrane in my mind. What is that?

No time to waste; the urgency in Mimi’s voice floods my systems with adrenalin and I’m already on the move, transferring the necklaces out of my pocket and into my mouth as I throw myshirt off, shove my jeans down and shift immediately, sprinting from my shoes. I feel Riley behind me as we run like our asses are on fire. I run like hell, making sure I don’t drop the necklaces, but it’s not easy because there’s a piercing pain in my gut. I don’t know the source, but I keep on fucking running. And I’m fast. Lightning fast. I’ve left Rye in the dust. The pulsing in my mind calms a little. Whatever this is, it’s new and it’s definitely not gone anywhere. Everything blurs around me and I’m there. As if magically transported. The setting I find myself in with the jagged fluorescent white streak bisecting the dark sky means there’s no time to ruminate. An instant later, the necklace disables the hippie witch who has rendered the rest of the circle helpless.

She’s got Erica, the only other one upright, but Erica’s long red curls are airborne in frozen animation. Mimi is unconscious, and so are the rest of the women, including the other SCC witch, Lucinda Alexander.

I’m aware of fiery red light as it swirls around me, throwing off sparks like last night, but bigger, brighter.

I drag this evil bitch away from Erica and immediately, we’re in darkness as the candles around the women go out.

Erica is hysterical, losing it despite that Riley has shifted back to man and is trying to soothe her. She’s screaming at Danica about not being able to find Mimi’s pulse.

Everything in me goes freezing cold as I see there’s a knife in Mimi’s stomach. The sharp pain in mine is still present. I’m feeling that. I touch my stomach but find no wound.

Erica shouts at her unconscious sisters for help while I’ve got Aviva Starling in a chokehold, losing my shit because… did she stab my great aunt in the stomach so she could… what… siphon away Erica’s formidable powers? What did she do to the others?

This witch is trying to fight me off physically, but she can’t do much as she’s a feeble middle-aged woman with no use of her power. My telepathic link with Mimi still feels active though its’ current silence feels like a low level of white noise in my brain. And I feel enraged. Livid that this bitch tried to hurt my family that I haven’t even gotten to know yet. I hope I’m right, that she’s not dead. I’ll kill this other witch with my bare hands if she’s taken Mimi away from all of us.

Red lights continue dancing around me, illuminating the space as the other guys pull all the Young witches out of their circle while Riley terrorizes a bawling and pleading Aviva Starling in his wolf form. As far as I’m concerned, he should maul her.

Rye shifts to man again and leans over the naked, trembling piece of shit.

“You fuckin’ bitch,” he barks, “Again. You tried to fuck us over again.”

She tugs at the necklace I put on her, but jolts in pain as the scent of singed skin permeates the air.

“Won’t come off unless I take it off,” I advise watching smoke rise from her singed skin.

I look over at the other witch, wondering if I should disable her with the other necklace even though she’s unconscious. I tighten my grip on it, prepared for that possibility. Mimi didn’t tell me to do that, so I won’t unless she poses a threat when she rouses.

“Your bullshit fucked us for seven years,” Riley shouts, “And it’s pretty clear to me that you did it for your own gain. And now you try and fuck us again. Well, bitch, I’m about to fuckback.”

She gives him a bullshit excuse about it being the right thing, the needed thing, while Erica keeps pleading with Mimi to wake up.

Aviva continues with excuses about being tempted by magic like Erica’s, as if temptation is an excuse. Riley gets in her face and loses it, schooling her on what he went through believing she was dead, even more pissed that she has nightmares about the river.

He shifts again and his wolf’s teeth snap at her until she’s frightened backwards, tumbling over what must be the same cliff Riley watched Erica disappear over.

“Holy fuck,” Joel mutters, staring down into the river with Riley as sudden rushing water sounds as if we’re next to Niagara Falls. I move that way to see a maelstrom sucking her flailing body into its’ core.

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