Page 60 of Fur Ever Wicked
“This isn’t right. I must go back. It’s forbidden for me to leave.” Bjorn turned to look at the tunnel they had just exited.
“The spell,”her wolf said. The animal, who had remained quiet through the rescue, finally spoke.
“Bjorn, look at me. Please.”
He turned back to face her.
“We have to run. She will kill both of us.”
The flash of awareness in his eyes returned and disappeared just as quickly.
“Can you try reaching out to him,”she urged her wolf, hoping they could break through the spell.
Adalyn would exploit even the tiniest of cracks she could find in her mother’s majik. Anything that would allow them to keep moving.
“I’ve been trying this whole time. The wolf is there but buried deep in his mind.”
The image of chains covering a wolf filled her head.
“I’ve never seen anything like this. The spell is strong, and I have no idea how to get through it.”
Adalyn was at a loss. Her mother’s majik was powerful. She needed time to study the damn spell and to find a way to break it. Unfortunately, time was something she didn’t have on her side. Knocking her father out and dragging his limp carcass back to Black Paw started to seem like the most logical plan, but even in his weakened state, she doubted she was physically strong enough to pull it off.
“Bjorn, please. You must fight the spell Mariska has you under.” Words tumbled from her mouth, hoping one of them might spark something in his memory. “Grace. Rafe. Your family. They need you.”
Again, with the flash in his eyes. It had to be some sort of recognition. Some sign he was trying to fight off the majik.
She kept pushing. “Remember your mate.”
His feet started to move forward as the haze covering his eyes started to lift.
“That’s right. We are going to find Grace, your mate.”
Adalyn wanted to cheer with each step forward they took. It was a sign that whatever spell her mother had used could hopefully be reversed. Her father was buried somewhere deep inside of his mind. She just needed to drag that part of him out—kicking and screaming—if she had to.
The prickly feeling she’d felt inside of the castle returned. The guards standing watch on her way into the castle were nowhere to be seen.
Adalyn paused her steps to the sound of utter and complete silence. Gone were the echoes of animals scurrying around in the forest. Not so much as a single leaf shuddered in the wind. Off in the distance, a thick fog started to roll in. The air around her filled with majik so dense she nearly choked on it. Her wolf growled in her mind.
“I should have known better than to place my trust in you,” Mariska said.
“Mother!”
“Did you really think I’d allow you to just walk out of here with my prisoner?”
“How did you know?” Adalyn stammered.
“Foolish girl. I knew the minute you crossed into my territory. You shouldn’t have come back here, but you couldn’t leave well enough alone. Could you?”
“I—I can’t let you do this to my father.”
“You can and you will. Leave him and walk away, Adalyn. This is something that doesn’t concern you.”
“Doesn’t concern me? Are you kidding? He is my father! The father who I’ve longed to know. The father who you led me to believe was dead! How could you do this?”
“Adalyn, this is something that started long before you were born. You can’t possibly understand what is at stake.”
The already dense fog around them increased at an alarming rate.
