Page 75 of Chosen Destiny

The sounds of two sets of light footsteps on our deck had me freezing. I glanced at the others, and their eyes narrowed with concern.

Stay where you are,Bodey linked and turned toward our deck as Dina came into view.

I blew out a breath as Chelsea stepped next to Dina, her dark-blonde hair tied in a low ponytail that hung over her shoulder and her aquamarine eyes serious.

The two of them opened the door and hurried to join us inside.

Though I’d been around Chelsea at the inking ceremony and when Kel’s first witch had attacked alongside Kel’s wolves, I didn’t know her that well. The coven kept to themselves, with Dina being the main liaison between us and them, but I knew Chelsea was the second most powerful witch in the royal coven.

“Did you learn anything?”

Dina’s mouth turned down further, sending goose bumps across my skin.

“At least one hundred and twenty witches have us surrounded.” Dina rubbed her hands together.

Michael scowled. “That’s more than our coven.”

That wasn’t good.How many coven members are here?

Eighty, and that includes the eleven in the royal coven,Bodey answered.

“Is there something we can do to stop them?” Given how isolated my childhood pack had been from witches, I didn’t know what that meant.

Dina came toward me and stopped at Bodey’s side. Her charcoal irises darkened. “We can gather the coven and try to hold them off, but with those numbers, we won’t last long.”

“Even with your power?” Bodey sounded defeated.

“They’ve moved so their gas and spell are upwind from us.” Chelsea crossed her arms. “So they don’t need to use magic to direct the smoke. All they need to do is send out magic to guide the wolves straight into the smoke.”

Biting her bottom lip, Dina paced. “Our witches are fanning out in case some of theirs move into the territory. They can hold the smoke back temporarily.”

Jack stepped toward the front door, his hand on Stevie. “We should get Callie and Stevie the fuck out of here.”

Bodey nodded. “While a group of us stay behind to retrieve the unconscious wolves. Everyone else should leave.”

“We could get a few members out, but not many more than that.” Dina rubbed her forehead as if to relieve pressure. “If you want us to hold off the witches while you rescue the wolves, we won’t be able to hold off the twenty or so enemy witches watching the road. We’d have to pull resources from the line to do it, which would impact the number who can escape, how long we can hold them off, and how many wolves you can retrieve.”

My heart sank.

“At least Callie would be safe, right?” Carl asked from behind me. “That’s what matters most.”

Dan nodded, making me swallow.

“No.” I shook my head so hard that the room spun. “I’m not leaving when my people are at risk. I won’t race out of here and save my own ass.” I clenched my teeth, hoping they knew me better than that.

“I’m with her.” Stevie nodded. “You need to conserve your power to help everyone, not just Callie and me.”

“Your capture or deathisthe worst outcome.” Bodey spread his hands. “It’s not ideal, but—”

My vision blurred as my anger soared through me. “Notideal. It’s worse than that. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened after I left everyone behind and let’s not even talk about what our people might think.”

“Fuck them.” Bodey’s determination flowed straight into me as his nostrils flared. “At least you’d be safe.”

I understood that he loved me. If I could talk him into leaving and getting out of this mess, especially after what Kel had threatened, I’d do it in a heartbeat. “There has to be another way. I’m not leaving without a solid plan to keep everyone safe. We’re all in this together. Besides, Kel will use them against me. Don’t act as if my leaving will prevent her from having something to hold over me!”

Samuel fisted his hands in his hair. “She’s right. Kel will dangle whoever they capture in front of Callie to get her to surrender, and if she doesn’t, Kel will tell people she ran to save herself, and we could lose more of our packs to Kel.”

Bodey’s jaw clenched so tightly that his teeth cracked. “That’s still a better alternative to her capturing Callie now.”

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