Page 22 of Fated Exile

I hesitantly reach up to place my hand over hers, and a shock of something like recognition goes through me. Touching Vivia's spirit feels like connecting with a deep, primal, and vital part of myself.

It's nice not to be the only wolf-witch hybrid around anymore. Even if the other oneisdead, and her presence here is only temporary.

"I won't let Delphine have me, and I won't let her destroy the pack and take our territory either," I vow. I force strength and confidence into my words, even though I'm not sure exactly how I'll pull all this off. "Tell me what I have to do to lift the curse and defeat her once and for all. I'm willing to do it."

"You have to usurp her." Vivia takes my hand and interlocks her fingers with mine, her grip shockingly real and strong. "Right now, Delphine is the locus of the land's power and control. She's drained so much of the pack's connective tissue that no mating bond can stand. In order to defeat her, you'll have to turnyourselfinto the pack's central locus by becoming the strongest, most powerful mated female of the pack."

I blink a few times. "So I have to take a mate?"

"No. You must take allfivemates. One for each point of the compass."

She gestures towards the four biggest, most central pillars of the Mating Circle. "North, South, East, and West."

Then her fingers motion towards the platform in the center, and its unlit torch. "And the fifth point, for the otherworld. You can only become the locus of the pack, repair the Mating Circle, and face Delphine if you have strong mating threads with all five, to connect you to each of the five directional points."

"How much time do I have?"

"None." She squeezes my hand. "The bonds must be cemented right away. All of them, in order to repair the circle. Because even now..."

She's barely even finished her sentence when I hear a grinding noise. Looking down, I spot one of the hairline cracks in the ancient stones. It's spreading, throwing off new breaks and widening. Given time, the very stones at our feet might actually break.

I feel like I need to sit down. As much as I've enjoyed spending my time with Kieran, Roarke, Lance, and Finn, the thought of bonding with all four of them at once is a little overwhelming. Not just for physical reasons, but emotional and logic ones. I have no idea what they'll say if they find out this tremulous group thing we're doing might have to bepermanent.

And as for the fifth... "Bastian?" I blink at her. "I know I've seen mating threads between us, but his mind is broken. It can't possibly be for the best if I mate with him. That would mean sharing my mind with him, and it hasn't even been twenty-four hours since he turned on us."

"You must connect yourself to all five points, or all is lost," she insists. "There are those who think that Delphine became corrupted when she lost the fifth point on her compass. To be honest, I believe the rot was there long before, but losing a mate is never an easy thing. And the fifth point anchors a strong wolf-witch hybrid's magic to the otherworld, giving her strength and grounding her."

Magic. The otherworld. Those red threads. It would make sense if Bastian somehow represented a connection between me and my more witchy side, but I can't possibly form a mate bond with him while he's half out of his mind.

Panic sets in as it occurs to me that I might not actually be able to pull this off and lift the curse. "What happens if I'm not able to do it? What if... what if I take one or two mates, or even four?"

"Then you won't be able to face Delphine." Vivia shakes her head, pursing her lips. Her tone turns fierce as she insists, "The Mating Circleneedsa strong mating ceremony to happen here. After all these decades of being weakened, and centuries without a witch coven at its side, the Glass Pack doesn't have proper connections to its five points. The past, the future, the pack, its strength, and the otherworld—they must all be healed by a strong female wolf who can wrest control of the pack's power from Delphine. Otherwise, all of this will crumble."

Her words are like a physical blow. Dropping her hand, I step back, the responsibility of it all an unbearable weight on my chest. I want nothing more than to heal my pack, and I'm willing to do what it takes to do so—but knowing that it's up to me and me alone is too much to handle.

Until I remember that I'm not alone. I have the guys, sweet, strong, fierce, protective, and imperfect. And I have to believe that the strength I've forged from my years in exile will be enough to help me stand up to Delphine.

"If I mate with all five of them," I swallow in embarrassment at the thought of what I'll have to say to the guys to makethathappen, "how do I fight Delphine? What do I do to stop her forever?"

"You have to kill her. To do so—"

She's cut off by a sudden, roaring wind.

No. Not a wind. More of a howl.

As every hair on my body stands on end and a deep foreboding feeling fills my chest, I pinpoint what the sound is.

It's the dark presence returning.

Eleven

Delilah

Black strands of dark energy curl around me and tug at my hair like an errant gust of wind.

Just like before, the presence looms over us. This time, it's not shaped like Bastian, because we're not inside his mind. Instead it's as tall as the Mating Circle pillars, with a formless dark energy that transforms until it mimics the shape of the Elder of Strength, Gregor.

Standing nearly twenty feet tall, with ember eyes, the dark presence raises a bastardized version of Gregor's sword and howls with rage as he brings it down on our heads.

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