Page 66 of Wolf Touched

A howl sounded from the woods, but it was far away. If something went wrong, they could slit Raffe’s throat in a second.

“If anyone interferes, he dies.” Priestess Caroline lifted a brow. “Which means you’d better hurry since they’ve already been summoned.”

My stomach gurgled, and the food I’d eaten inched its way up my throat. This was worse than I’d ever imagined, and I wished I’d never asked these coven members for help. When Raffe was free, I would make each of them pay, and if he died, I’d make sure their deaths were slow and painful.Don’t come after all. She’s threatening to kill him if you do.

What?Lucy asked, her surprise filtering through despite the lack of mate connection.This doesn’t make any sense.

Don’t listen to her,Raffe interjected.Come here and save her. I don’t care what happens to me as long as Sky is safe.

Shit. Out of the two of us, they’d listen to him as the alpha, which meant I had minutes to figure out how to control my power when I hadn’t been able to in the past twenty-two years of my life.Easy-peasy,I mocked myself internally.

No matter how hard I focused on the apple, nothing happened except for my power fritzing even more. Well, that and seeingtwoapples. My eyes burned, my jaw ached, and I could hear Adam panting as he raced toward us and the sound of a tree crashing not too far away.

He linked,I’m almost there. Sky, be ready to leave.

“Listen, you’re overthinking it.” Priestess Caroline took a step closer. “Picture in your mind what you want to happen. Don’t just lock on the object and visualize the end result in your mind. You don’t need to tap or pull or anything, not with the amount of power you yield. Your power always protects the ones you want it to because it feels your intention. You need to learn how to streamline it.”

The last thing I wanted to do was follow her advice, but my own efforts weren’t amounting to anything, and the wolves were nearly upon us. They’d be here in seconds, and I could still feel the turmoil raging through Raffe.

“You can end it.” Priestess Caroline nodded at the apple. “Just make it explode.” Her voice shook as our bodies lurched, the ground shaking and groaning from my wrath.

I blew out a breath and rubbed my sweaty palms on my jeans. This was the most important test of my life, and I refused to fail.

I stared at the apple again, and against every instinct, I closed my eyes. I needed to block out the noise and chaosthe best I could, which meant holding the image in my mind. I focused on the red color of the apple and the small green stem at the top. I imagined something barreling toward it and into the stem, settling right inside the core.

My power stopped swirling within me like normal and merged. I pictured the core exploding and the apple hitting Priestess Caroline in the face.

The collected energy shot out of my body like it had snapped and surged forward. Every ounce of my power left with it, and I heard the sound of something bursting.

My eyes flew open, and I froze. I blinked, making sure it wasn’t an illusion.

Holy shit. I’d done it.

“Let her mate go.” Priestess Caroline’s voice rang with authority despite the bits of apple falling from her hair.

Adam ran from the woods, and I spun toward Raffe and saw them let him go.

The edges of my vision darkened. My legs gave out as the fatigue that struck me whenever I exerted too much power slammed into me. I crumpled to the ground and heard Raffe growl, “What did you do to her?”

I wanted to tell him I was okay. That everything would be all right. But I couldn’t find the energy to link with him.

That was fine. Let him kill them all. They deserved it after what they’d done to us.

Sleep enveloped me.

“You knewthat was going to happen?” Lucy said from somewhere close by. “And you didn’t think to tell any ofus?” Venom laced each word, making her tone lower than normal.

“Hey, I didn’t come up with the plan,” Fane replied frantically. “And I didn’t know you’d be this upset.”

I turned my head, my face pressed against a muscular chest that smelled of sandalwood and amber. Arms tightened around me, and my eyes cracked open to see Raffe’s face looking down into mine. The buzz of our bond eased me back toward calm.

Thank gods you’re okay,he linked and kissed my forehead.I was so worried that I couldn’t see straight and knew we needed to get you back here.

I moved my hand to touch his face, but I felt a slight tug. I glanced down to find another IV in my arm, and I followed the tubing to a bag of fluids. My chest warmed at both of their concern.

I don’t know how, but blowing up that apple zapped me like my power did before we completed our bond.It was like I’d used too much of my power and drained my entire being.

Lucy’s voice edged louder as she said, “Knowing that my cousin was going to be threatened and not informing us is participating in the act too.”

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