Page 15 of Damian

The scent of pine and damp earth never ends. The occasional rustle of leaves or snap of a twig reminds us we’re not alone.

The only comfort is the campfire’s glow. The flames dance with anticipation.

The latest arrival of newcomers confirms my suspicions—magic. It makes sense, as my herd also has a covenant with a witch. It never occurred to me to petition our witch for help.

My need to watch the witch, the new arrivals brought, open the entrance disappeared as the pain in Emjay’s tone gripped my heart, demanding my full attention.

The angry chuffs from the men around me mirrored my own when she told us of the enslaved witch who severed her mating call as Damian raced to claim her.

The rapes, the forced pregnancies, the beatings—sometimes to the death. Blood fills my mouth from biting the inside of my cheeks with rage.

My mate. Possibly her children—now my children. Can she accept me? After everything she’s suffered.

Clearly, Emjay and Damian are working things out. Their scents haven’t merged from mating. However, they stand together holding hands, so she hasn’t rejected him either.

Had witchcraft kept all of us from hearing our mates’ call until now? What changed?

“The herd found my daughters. Their mates kept them safe, but their lives were now in danger as those monsters promised to claim what they believed belonged to them—my girls.

“The only plan my mate’s herd formulated to stop them was to issue Helios’ mating ceremony.”

I stifled my gasp. We did away with that barbaric ritual decades ago.

Emjay turns to one of the girls she called daughter and her mate.

“I’m Jayce, and this is my mate, Shay. I tried to stop the ceremony. I told Shay all about the ritual. The horrors and degradation of it all.

“We were wrong. All of us. Every Minotaur and herd that has walked away from Helios’ blessing. After we said the prayer inviting our maker, each pair of mates chosen by the Fates stood before one another.

“Helios showed up next to each of us with a message. Mostly, the messages belonged to the mated pair and no one else. Why he chose us to deliver this decree—I cannot fathom.

‘My children. Remind your siblings of the blessing this ceremony is to mates. We are not as humans, and to call what I have ordained barbaric is to shun my gift. Please bring them back to me.’

“It’s true.” Damian and Emjay pull the collar of their shirts aside, revealing the kiss of Helios. Jayce and Shay follow the demonstration, along with the other couple and the young girl here without her mate.

“They killed all but three when they refused to accept the outcome of the Fates. Helios appeared and granted me the power to condemn them any way I chose. I’m not a monster like them, so I asked for banishment,

“Who these Minotaur were, how they formed this herd is a mystery to all of us. They weren’t blood relations. The best guess is they were all rejected by their mates or death took her from them,” Emjay adds.

I look Damian up and down. “You didn’t turn feral like these others.”

“It wasn’t easy.”

“I know how to get in, but I have some conditions,” the witch interrupts. Growls erupt from all, dying to get to their mates.

She waves her hands as if swatting at a gnat. “Tace.”

This could only mean one thing when all our mouths clamp shut.

“That’s better,” she states. “My trust has not been earned by those of you I don’t know. I’m Willow Wardwell, seer and protector of the Drakos herd. In addition, I have named myself defender of all who reside inside of this labyrinth. Any who wish entry will agree to a covenant with me and this herd. You will abide by my terms, or you will never get inside to find your one and only. That includes you, Peter.” Willow looks hardest at the one from Damian’s herd whose mate is calling to him.

Peter nods.

Isaak steps closer to Willow and motions his hand over his sealed mouth.

“Loqui,” she speaks only to him.

He lets out a breath as if the seal kept him from breathing. “What are your terms, Willow?” he inquires more respectfully than I would have.

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