Page 59 of Isabel and the Werewolf Beast

“Yes.”

“She must love you to give such a powerful gemstone.” He rubbed his fingers over the moonstone. “It hums with so much power. I think there’s a protection spell embedded in it too.”

“Really?” I lifted it from his fingers and rubbed the cool surface in the way he had. I didn’t sense any spell, but speaking of spells... “Do you know how to stop a warlock?”

“Remove his head.”

I grunted. I should have done that when I had Silas tied up. If I hadn’t gone on a mad hunt for Isabel’s head, then I would have. I should head back to Isabel and be ready for when Silas returned looking for her because I was sure he would. Crazy, evil warlocks didn’t give up on their quest that easily.

“Thank you. I must decline your offer to join your pack. My mate is back there, and I need to claim her, protect her from a warlock.” I stood and held out my hand.

“Your brother joined our pack, so that means you’re a part of it too whether you stay with us.” Barth shook my hand. “A werewolf’s mate is sacred. We’ll stick around and help protect her.”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that. You don’t know me. You don’t know her.”

“We’ve got to know your brother, and he said you raised him, so you must be all right. That’s what packs do. They stick together and help each other. As for your mate being a vampire, then that’s unheard of, but I’m intrigued to learn how it will affect us.” He slapped me on the shoulder.

I faced Asher. He stared at me with shimmering eyes, but he wouldn’t cry. He never had. Not in all our years together. The bad, the worse, the horrendous. We’d stuck through it all together and now we were about to part. Conflicting emotions warred inside my head. Loyalty to my only brother kept my feet from moving.

“I’ll be good with the pack,” Asher said, then swallowed.

“You will be.” I glanced around the group of werewolves. “I’ll come check on you often.”

He straightened his slouching shoulders. “Don’t worry about me. Go get your woman.”

I drew him into a hug. “Be safe out here. The warlock is evil. The vampires not so much but they are killers of our kind.”

With those parting words, I left my brother to return to the woman I loved. The one I wanted as my mate. The one who’d bitten me and now I was about to bite her.

Chapter thirty-one

Dante

The sun was setting as I made my way back to Isabel’s castle. A starburst of colors rose and dazzled the sky in a display of oranges and pinks. I’d never taken the time to watch the sunset, but today felt monumental like I should note every little thing about it.

No vampires stood outside, not that I’d expected them to wait for me, but it hurt a little that Isabel wasn’t waiting for me. Maybe she didn’t feel the same way about me? I approached the castle expecting the door to open as it had while we’d been under the curse, but it remained closed. I clasped thedoorknob and turned, surprised the door wasn’t locked, I walked into the castle.

The interior was quiet as it had been during the curse. I almost wondered if Silas had returned while I’d been in the forest but then I heard noises coming from the library. I smiled remembering how much Isabel had loved it when I’d carried the books outside and she’d read them once again. Her love of books was almost as great as mine.

I opened the door to the library. The three vampires looked at me and then returned to reading. Even Isabel.

“Why wasn’t the door locked? Anyone could walk in,” I said, stepping inside the library.

“Any fool who would walk into a vampire’s home uninvited deserves their death,” Lucian said, not even bothering to look at me while he spoke.

I hadn’t considered how deadly the vampires were. They appeared so refined and collected. I stared at Isabel, taking in her fresh clothes and damp hair. She’d showered the dried blood from her body. She looked beautiful but then she’d looked beautiful covered in blood too.

“You showered,” I said.

“Very observant of you,” she answered but still didn’t look at me. “Perhaps you should do the same.”

I glanced down at my filthy clothes, the ones I’d worn for days running through the forest to collect her head.

“Thank you for the offer. Can you show me the way?”

Isabel finally looked at me and narrowed her eyes. “I didn’t offer.”

Lucian clicked his fingers. “He smells. Take him to the shower. We can use him as a decoy when Silas comes. He’ll be livid the werewolf tied him up and he will distract him long enough for us to kill him.”

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