Page 19 of Witch Undecided
Chapter Six
When they’d said pain, I’d thought they’d meant the regular pain, you know, stab wound, taser, that kind of shit, but fifteen seconds into their chanting my body was on fire. Every synapse, every nerve ending screamed for relief. I was distinctly aware of the threads that bound me to Leif, Tor, and Rune. They thrummed and fizzed, but there was no way to stop my distress from zooming down those connections.
Oh shit. Oh fuck.
We should have considered this. We should have—
My body ceased to be my own, throwing itself against the invisible barrier of power that held me captive amidst The Elites.
My screams tore the air and ripped my throat raw and then my head was in a vise, the pressure building and building.
I was going to die.
“What the fuck?” Jasper’s voice was a whiplash against my senses.
“No!” Anna cried. “It’s a test, it won’t harm her.”
“I beg to differ,” Jasper said.
I prised open my eyes through the pain and fixed them on him. “Don’t. Interfere.” I bit out the words before a wave of fire raced up my throat and cut off my air supply.
“Cora!” There was agony in his tone, as if my pain were his.
Fuck, I must be dying to think such shit.
The shatter of glass and the snarl and growl of wolves filled the air.
“NO! Stay back,” Anna ordered. “She’s safe, I swear it.”
The wolves were here. They were here, but my vision was blurred by tears and my senses were in chaos. No way to communicate I was okay.
“She must let it in,” Anna said.
Oh fuck, yes. Poppy’s advice.
Stop fighting.
How the fuck did I do that?
Every muscle and sinew was wound tight. I needed to relax and let the pain take me. I needed to give in to it.
I slumped onto the ground, breathing shallow and even, swallowing my scream as nails tore rivulets across my brain and claws scraped deep into my skin to hit bone.
I was burning, melting, and then the scorch ebbed to a simmer and a strange cold sensation bloomed at the back of my mind, a spot of ice that infected my veins until the pain was gone. Until all that was left was The Elites’ soft chanting, but then even that slowed and petered out.
“Cora…” Strong arms wrapped around me, the scent of the forest and the brush of fur. “You’re okay. We’ve got you.” Tor’s breath was warm on my nape.
I peeled back my lids to look up at the faces surrounding me. Leif’s gunmetal blues, dark with anger and concern, Rune’s hazel eyes gleaming with golden flecks, and Tor’s steel-gray gaze hard and unforgiving and fixed not on me but on Sloane.
“What the fuck did you just do?” he demanded.
“What needed to be done.”
“You don’t get to play with our mate.” Leif’s voice was a growl.
Did you agree to this?Rune asked.
I nodded, wincing when pain lanced up my neck. “We need an Elite. I needed to test.”
