Page 92 of The Blood Witch

Get up, traitor.

Kellos moaned as his body obeyed the command, forcing him upright despite the agony in his atrophied muscles and swollen joints.

Find the others.

What others? Kellos didn’t understand, and for a moment his mind was his own, that icy grip gone and his legs nearly collapsing without that voice urging them to stand.

Find the other traitors. Find the others who sold us out.

His body lurched forward again, and an image filled his mind. Silas, Ben. Sam. The other powerful shifters who supported him, who offered him advice, and worked to hold their faction together.

No, Kellos thought, but he was slipping away, slipping into darkness as the voice filled his mind, pushing him further and further from consciousness. The world in his view narrowed to pinpoints, then vanished entirely as he disappeared into the dark.

Find the traitors.

Hunt them.

Kellos hadn’t shifted in months, preferring the pain of his human body to that of his Shifter form. But as the voice filled him and pushed him deep into the darkness, his body began to shift and morph.Commanded, no longer in control of his own body, Kellos felt himself shift into his Lion skin.

It was the last thing he felt before everything went black.

Hunt them.

Hurt them.

Kill them.

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Regina was just getting up for work when Kellos found her.

Ever since his joint inflammation had become severe enough to affect his mobility, she had taken to sleeping on Kellos’s couch, wanting to be nearby in case her brother needed anything in the middle of the night. It wasn’t much of an imposition for her, which she consistently reminded Kellos every time he complained about her staying over. After all, her bakery was just down the street from her brother’s house—closer, even, than her own place.

Her day started before dawn, and like clockwork, she awoke, ready to get started. She didn’t notice anything amiss as she got ready, sorting out her clothing and brushing her teeth in the downstairs bathroom.

She was in the kitchen, putting together a simple lunch for Kellos to enjoy later, when she heard the growling.

A Lioness is first and foremost a huntress. Keen eyes, sharp hearing, and lethal reflexes. Regina was no exception. There was a reason the Shifters had sent her and her pride to the palace the night of the Blood Moon. They were predators—far deadlier than their male counterparts.

And it is remarkably hard to sneak up on a predator.

The moment she heard the growling, Regina spun around, putting the kitchen counter at her back.

The house was dark. But not still. Something crept in the shadows, something big.

“Brother?” Regina called into the dark.

There was no answer but that growl, guttural and dangerous. A warning and a threat.

When he pounced, he did so without so much as a sound. Sixhundred pounds of Lion came from the shadows at Regina, claws extended, and fangs bared.

She barely had time to grab the knife from the counter before he was on her.

Chapter 41

JASPER

He could ignore the first knock on his door. He could even ignore the second round of knocking that started a few minutes later.

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