Page 65 of Curses and Casualties
“Or it ends us,” she says, but she’s smiling, fierce and wild.
Around us, our unlikely army settles in for the long wait ahead. Tomorrow will be the longest day of our lives, waiting for night to fall. But as I hold my mate close, feeling our bond pulse with each heartbeat, I know we’re ready.
Tomorrow night, under the supermoon, we reclaim our future or die trying.
Chapter 24
Georgia
The supernatural army sprawled around our makeshift camp looks like something out of a fantasy convention gone wild. Vampires shouldn’t look good in hiking gear, but somehow Lucien manages it. The fae are all elegance and eerie beauty, most of them perched on stones or hovering just a hair’s breadth above the grass, exchanging cryptic glances with the witches who are making coffee over the campfire like this is just another day.
I sit cross-legged on a weathered picnic table as dawn threatens the horizon, Evanora’s ritual kit spread before me like the world’s most terrifying chemistry set.
“Let’s see,” I mutter, running my finger down Evanora’s handwritten instructions. The paper is soft from handling, her spidery writing familiar now. “Luna’s heartstone—check.” The fragments pulse warm through their silk wrapping. “Wolfsbane—check.” The dried purple flowers look innocent enough, but Ryan says they’re poisonous to wolves in large doses. “Witch’s blood to bless the moon?—”
I freeze.
“Shit. Shit, shit, shit.”
Ryan’s head snaps up from where he’s been talking strategy with Erik by the fire. Kane’s concern bleeds through our bond before Ryan even speaks. “What’s wrong?”
“We need moon water. Fresh moon water, collected under moonlight from a natural spring.” I wave the instructions at him. “And we need to get it now while the moon is still up. Look—” I point at the sky where the moon hangs low and silver, competing with the first hints of dawn. “Once the sun rises fully, we’re screwed. No moon water means no ritual.”
Amara glides over, somehow managing to look ethereal and put-together despite having been up all night coordinating magical defenses. “There’s a spring about half a mile away,” she says, considering the sky. “But you’ll need to hurry. The moon sets within the hour.”
“Then we go right now,” I say, already pawing through Evanora’s kit for the right container. My hands shake slightly—exhaustion, adrenaline, take your pick.
“You’re not going alone,” Ryan says immediately.
“I’ll come too,” Erik volunteers, rising from his crouch by the fire. “The woods aren’t safe. Pack scouts have been running grid patterns all night.”
“Make it four,” Ethan says, appearing from the shadows where he’d been standing watch. “Something’s got the forest spooked. Haven’t heard a single bird in hours.”
Scarlett looks up from where she’s been obsessively sharpening her knives. “I should?—”
“Stay here,” Ryan says firmly. “We need someone to coordinate if something goes wrong.”
She doesn’t like it, but she nods reluctantly. “Twenty minutes. If you’re not back in twenty, I’m coming after you.”
We slip away from camp like ghosts, or at least the others do. My permanently damaged leg makes stealth a challenge. Every step on the uneven forest floor sends little shots of pain up fromthe old injury. Ryan hovers close, ready to steady me if needed, while Erik takes point and Ethan guards our rear.
The forest is eerily quiet. No birds, no small animals rustling in the underbrush. Even the wind seems to hold its breath.
“Too quiet,” Erik murmurs, his nostrils flaring. “Something has spooked everything for miles.”
A distant howl echoes through the trees. They’re too far away to be immediate danger, but close enough to make us all freeze.
“Pack scouts,” Ethan confirms grimly. “They probably followed Owen. Only reason they would have left him unharmed—so he could lead them to us.”
“We’ll have to work fast then,” Ryan says. His hand finds mine, squeezing it hard enough to ground me. I squeeze back, needing the reminder that even with half the supernatural world hunting us, I’m not alone here.
We push on, the moon’s light filtering through the canopy in silver streams. I can feel Luna stirring more strongly than usual, drawn by the moon’s pull. She presses against the inside of my skin like she’s trying to claw her way free.
Soon,I promise her.Next moon is ours.
Yes,she agrees, and I swear I can feel her anticipation mixing with my own.
Another howl, closer this time. Erik’s hand moves to the axe at his belt.
