Page 33 of Capricorn Blessed

I sigh. “No,” I answer. “Capricorn said I need my mates to finish the trials and perform the ritual. She didn’t say my best friend and sister needed to come with me.”

She huffs and crosses her arms over her chest.

“I know it doesn’t seem fair, but losing you would break me. It almost did today when they took you. I didn’t think about the relics or saving magic for everyone in the world. I only thought of finding you and getting you back.”

She continues to glare, but her lips twist to the side in her tell that she’s thinking hard.

“You were unconscious for hours,” I tell her. “If you were human, I doubt you’d have survived whatever they gave you to knock you out. And the lack of magic seems to be getting worse.”

“What do you mean?” she asks.

“I mean, when we were in the headquarters or hideout or whatever, only one person’s magic seemed to be working. No one shifted, and it felt like the well of power inside me was empty. Even now, I can barely feel a flicker of my power.”

Her eyes go unfocused as she searches inside herself. Her mouth pops open.

“I can tell my panther is there, but it’s like there’s a wall between us. She’s never been this far away from me.” She reaches up and absently rubs at her chest.

“I’ve heard others talking at work,” I say. “If you lose your animal with all this magic stuff going on, It might not come back. Could you live with yourself if you lose your panther?”

“That won’t happen,” Izzy states. “I just won’t shift, but I can still help.”

“Will you really be able to keep from shifting if they attacked us?” asks Kenric. “I know my instinct is to shift to protect my mate. I don’t know if I would be able to stop myself if they attacked again us. And let’s face it, we will be attacked again.”

“We’ve tried to buy time by coming to a new location,” Beorn says, “but these are the people who stole two years of my life. If they can do that, who knows what lengths they’d be willing to go to to serve the council’s will.”

Izzy sighs and chews on her lip. “I don’t like it,” she says, “but I can see your point. I don’t know who I’d be if I lost my panther, and as much as I think I could control my shifts, if my life is in danger, she’d sacrifice herself to save me. But what about you four?”

“We’ll figure it out,” says Dennis.

“We only have one more relic,” I tell her. “Then we have to find the temple and the clearing, perform the ritual on Winter Solstice, and ta-da, save the world.”

She smiles slightly. “You make it sound so easy.”

“Hopefully, it is,” Beorn says.

She sighs heavily before nodding.

“I’m not happy about this, but okay.” She nods. “I will go home. Mystic Treasure needs to be checked on, too. Maybe we can get lucky and your last relic will have found its way there while we were gone.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice?” I say with a laugh. “You’ll have to let me know.”

We spend the afternoon relaxing in our temporary villa and letting Izzy’s healing slowly bring her back to full health. Kenric uses his phone to look up plane tickets, booking Izzy a trip home with several layovers and a leg after she made it home to throw off anyone trying to track her.

When the sun sets, we load into the car and drive Izzy to the airport. I fight back tears as I hug her goodbye, hoping this isn’t the last time I get to talk to my best friend.

Chapter 16

The Missing Piece

We head back to the villa, piling into the living room collapsing onto the couch and chairs.

I sigh, feeling the ache of loss but knowing it was for the best. If my mates weren’t needed to finish this mission, I’d send them away too. The council seems to not follow any moral code to keep the prophecy from coming true.

“Any ideas on where the last piece is?” asks Beorn. “Because I, for one, am ready to leave France behind me for a while.”

We laugh softly.

“Can’t blame you there,” Dennis answers.

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