Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 49459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
The witches flooded in a second later, each female being attended to just to ensure they were truly okay. Several came over to Aisling, speaking softly and in their unique language only they understood.
I felt my wolf rise again. Hell, I didn’t even care that I was nude, having shifted right after the fight and coming straight to my mate.
“Lennox.” The voice was quiet, but it cut through my panic like a blade.
I looked up and saw the old witch–the one who’d silenced my wolf after I’d been injured. I had no anger for her. My mind was too wrapped up in making sure my mate made it through okay.
Someone handed me a robe, and I donned it as if I were just moving through the motions.
The old witch moved slowly, her wrinkle-lined face unreadable, her eyes ancient and knowing.
“Please,” I croaked out. “Please help her,” I breathed. I begged, pleaded with my words and expression. “I canna lose her.”
“All will be well, wolf warrior. Be at ease,” she said, her voice calm but threaded with something heavier. “This was always going to happen, Lennox. Your wolf, the mating, the internal fight and struggle… and now the ending. You and I were written into each other’s paths long before either of us came into existence.”
I didn’t know what she saw in my face, but her soft smile eased me slightly.
“I took him to protect you. This was never about keeping you apart—it was about bringing you together.”
I knew why she did what she did, but it was still hard to wrap my mind around it all. I was a jumbled mess of fear for Aisling, dreading what it all meant with the Leandrean and how this would affect all of us in the long run.
Aisling whimpered, the sound sharp enough to cut me in two, and pulled me back from my thoughts.
Nothing mattered but her.
Magdalena’s eyes softened. “The Leandrean didn’t come here for the women. They came to get a foothold in this world. This one built jump magic from stolen dark rituals. It had had centuries to perfect the art. And when a rip happened, it allowed them a space to slither out. They want retribution for their millennia-long imprisonment.”
And then it happened when Sebastian was pulled through.
“That venom in her—it’s a toxin that drains its victim and allows the Leandrean to suck their life force and take their Otherworld magic into themselves.”
My stomach turned to ice.
“Can we stop it?” I asked, my voice breaking. “We killed the fooker, so his dark magic should be done, no?”
Her gaze dipped to Aisling. “It can be neutralized, but there is no magic we have to fully stop it.”
My heart seized, and I stumbled, bracing a hand on the bed to steady myself. “No. No, there has tae be a way. I canna lose her.”
“Our paths were one, wolf warrior.”
I didn’t know what she meant, but I’d give anything to make sure Aisling was okay.
“It comes with a cost,” she whispered.
I didn’t care. “Whatever it is, I’ll pay it.”
“I know you would, Lennox. But this is mine to give. A sacrifice I was born to make.”
“I donna understand.” I didn’t realize my chest was heaving. I was crying and could taste the saltiness of my tears on my tongue.
“All you need to understand, wolf warrior, is that all will be well.” She gave me a small smile, her wrinkles stretching over her facial bones. She laid her palm over the wound on Aisling’s side, and right away, white light surrounded her whole body. It flooded the room with light so bright I had to turn my head and lift my hand to shield my eyes.
I could feel it—the rush of power pouring from Magdalena into Aisling. It wasn’t the gentle healing magic I’d seen and felt. No, this was hard and raw and stung the skin. It penetrated deep into the soul.
I focused on the deep gouge marks on Aisling’s side, the black tendrils of poison that had been crawling deeper into her veins being pulled out as if a powerful magnet held the force. The sound of it hissing out of my mate’s body was almost as loud as the sound of Aisling’s gasps and moans of pain.
Magdalena’s hands shook, her breathing became ragged, and her already pale skin became more translucent, the blue veins becoming visible to the naked eye.
The surrounding light grew so bright, I had to close my eyes as pain exploded in my temples. And then a deafening roar filled the room. I forced my eyes open to see the little elderly witch totally consumed by the light so bright her form was barely visible.
“Wait,” I said. Something was off. This was too much magic. Aisling’s body shook before it levitated slightly off the bed. “This is tae much,” I roared, but I was frozen in place, some unseen force keeping me rooted.