Page 82 of Wolf Touched

Keith, get off the bobcat. He’s giving me a minute.My body was already shifting back into human form.

The bobcat plopped over onto his back, putting all his weight on Keith. Keith’s breath whooshed from him, but at least they’d stopped fighting.

The witch removed a dagger from her thigh and barreled toward the bobcat.

My heart clenched, and as my spine straightened, I bellowed somewhere between wolf and woman, “Everyone, stop!” My body radiated pain, likely not recovered enough for me to shift comfortably, but I needed to talk to the witch to stop this. Pain sliced through me, but my skin tingled as the fur retreated.

The witch glanced at me, her feet slowing as her eyes bulged. Clearly, she hadn’t expected me to shift back into human form.

You shouldn’t be shifting yet.Raffe whimpered, stepping in front of me, ready to protect me if the witch threatened me again. His worry tightened my chest, making it hard to breathe again.What the hell are you doing?

“Getting answers.” I stood tall, the cold rain hitting my body. Even though I was a wolf shifter, I still wasn’t the most comfortable with nudity.If Keith doesn’t want us to hurt her, then I need to talk to her and see if we can find a way to trust her.

The witch lifted her dagger, her gaze flickingbetween the bobcat and me. “What are you doing? I can hurt you all. You saw what I can do.”

A faint wisp of magic came from her, something I couldn’t usually feel until magic was used on me. Now, I could feel it seeping from her soul, telling me everything I needed to know. “You can’t hurt us. Your magic is depleted. That’s why you’re not using it and how you got bitten. And you’re injured and weak enough that, even if you attacked us, we could eliminate you easily. Besides, you’re outnumbered.”

She took in a shaky breath. “You can sense my magic?” Her face lined with concern. “They said you were untrained and would be easy to kill. I don’t understand what’s going on and why the animals aren’t attacking you too.” Her face was pale, likely from the blood loss and pain.

“The animals came to protect me, my pack, and my friends.” That much Supreme Priestess Olwyn should have known by now, or at least suspected. I wasn’t telling her anything that would be shocking. “And who are they?”

The bobcathmphed as it rolled onto its stomach, freeing Keith. Keith slowly climbed to his feet and moved next to the witch.

“Wait.” The witch stepped back, her bottom lip trembling. “The animals are protecting Prince Raffe? That must be why you don’t have more shifters with you for protection. We wondered why there were only six wolf shifters, knowing how important you are. We thought it was strange that your dad would allow that.”

“You’re talking about King Jovian placing more shifters here with us to aid us?” My brows rose.

She nodded. “Who else would I mean?”

Dad wouldn’t have notified everyone that I left the pack yet,Raffe linked.His one and only heir leavinghis pack would make him appear weak, and Aldric wouldn’t risk it because that sort of information would get back to Dad quickly.

That made sense, but what the hell was going on? “No, the king isn’t concerned about having his people protect us.” I wanted to tell her we’d broken away, but that was a decision more for Raffe to make than me.

Her brows furrowed, and she took a hesitant step back.

Adam tensed to my left, preparing to give chase if she took off, while Keith stood in front of her, the fur on the nape of his neck rising.

“Are you going to kill me?” Her bottom lip quivered. “’Cause if you are, I’d rather you get it over with.”

Keith growled, his eyes locking with mine as if he were trying to read them.

“For some reason, someone important to me doesn’t want me to, so that depends on what you say.” By some miracle, we’d gotten the leverage. “Why did you attack us?”

She swallowed audibly, and Keith stepped back, his tail brushing her ankles above her black shoes. “To kill you and capture the prince.”

My hands clenched, but I had to admire her bluntness. Granted, lying would be futile around us wolf shifters, and her power was too weak for her to mask a lie from us. “Why? Don’t you think the king will be upset if you kill his son?”

“That’s sort of the point.” She flinched. “Eliminating you and kidnapping his heir will force King Jovian to listen to the East. We want to separate, and we will prove to him that we’re strong enough to do it. Between that and the alliance this attack should create among nonshifter supernaturals in the West, King Jovian won’t be strong enough tofight us. He’ll have enough problems within his own territory to spare us any time.”

My breath quickened. “I take it you’re referring to the Veiled Circle?”

Her jaw dropped. “How do you know about them?”

Raffe tensed.Holy shit. How many people does Supreme Priestess Olwyn have working for her? How did she get her hands on the Eastern wolf shifters?

I suspected I already knew the answer, but I didn’t want to throw Aldric’s name out until I knew for sure. What I’d overheard could have been pure coincidence, though that was unlikely.

“They tried to recruit me, and I fled.” None of this added up. The Veiled Circle wanted to make all wolf shifters pay, so why in the world would the Eastern wolves and covens team up with them? Clearly, they didn’t know Olwyn’s whole plan, which proved what I’d suspected all along and tried to look past—Supreme Priestess Olwyn was a manipulative bitch.

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