Page 55 of The Witch's Spell
“What is it?” I ask.
But I think I already know.
Faolan sets his teacup down without a word, then stalks into the foyer. I hear him pull on his boots, then the door opening and closing.
Alden looks up from his book. “What was that about?”
Worry turns in my gut. “I think Cathal’s here.”
Alden’s brow furrows. He closes his book as I stand from the table.
By the time I make it into the foyer and am reaching for my cloak, my bond with Faolan is already pulsing with anger.
Goddess, I think,why couldn’t he just stay away?
Alden is right behind me as I throw open the door. Cold air strikes my face, stealing my breath away.
Sure enough, Cathal and Orla have emerged from Brookside Road, and they’re standing in the small clearing between the forest and the cottage, wearing clothes we’ve lent them for the time they’re here. Faolan faces them, standing with his arms crossed, a sentinel refusing them passage. He has his boots on, but he didn’t pause to grab his cloak, and his arms flex beneath his tunic.
“What are you doing here?” Faolan asks. His voice is gruff, already lined with impatience.
“We need to get home,” Orla says, stepping forward and putting herself between the two brothers. “We’ve been away for longer than we planned; the pack needs us.”
I try to step off the porch and join them, but Alden catches me around my waist, holding me back. I struggle against him, but his arm is firm as an oak trunk. Then I flick my eyes over my shoulder to meet his. “Alden, what are you—”
“It’s not safe.” He pulls his gaze from mine to assess the situation again. “Orla is one of them; they can’t hurt her the way they can hurt you.”
“Faolan would never hurt me,” I snap, still trying to push Alden’s hand away.
“He wouldn’t ever mean to. But in his anger, he may not have complete control of himself. And it’d destroy him if you got caught in the middle, so please, just stay back.”
Immediately, the frustration goes from my shoulders, and I stop trying to peel Alden’s hand away. Because he’s right. I’ve seen Faolan’s anger, have felt it burning through my veins, and at times, it’s like a wildfire, hot and furious and untamed. I wish to do my part in protecting him, to stand between him and Cathal, but I would be foolish to think I could do anything to stop either of them.
Now I ease backward, pressing myself into Alden’s firm chest, using him as an anchor as my bond with Faolan sings with his frustration.
“And what do you want me to do about it?” he growls at Orla.
Her sharp yellow eyes narrow, and for a moment, I see the alpha female lurking just beneath her calm exterior, waiting to lash out. But she doesn’t get the chance. Because Cathal steps forward, brushing around her to stand face-to-face with his brother.
“I want your witch to fix this,” he says. His blue eyes find mine, so similar to Faolan’s it makes me flinch. Alden’s arm tightens around me, holding me safe. Cathal sees this, and his lips twist into a snarl. “But I see she’s too busy with her othermatesto do anything about it.”
The bond burns, making me gasp.
“Aurora ismymate,” Faolan says, taking a step closer to his twin. They’re almost touching noses now, exactly the same height, mirrored eyes glaring at each other. “She bears my claiming mark. She’smine.”
Cathal’s snarl twitches into a smirk. “Does she know that? Do the others? Because I’m pretty sure they fuck her just the same way you do.”
“Cathal!” Orla snaps. She reaches for his arm as my legs give out beneath me.
The scar on my neck, the one in the shape of Faolan’s jaws, scalds me like flames. Heat pumps through my body, reminding me of the night Faolan claimed me, of the excruciating pain that rent my body as his shifter magic filled my veins. If not for Alden, I’d have collapsed to the porch, gasping for breath.
But Faolan is none the wiser. He’s breathing heavily, shoulders heaving.
Between one blink of my eyes and the next, he’s no longer wearing his human body. And neither is Cathal.
Two black wolves stand in the clearing, clothes ripped and discarded around them. Their lips are pulled back into vicious snarls, fangs dripping with saliva and the hunger for blood. I can taste Faolan’s bloodlust on my tongue, canfeelhis need to rip his brother limb from limb. There’s something else there too, something buried so deep I have a hard time wrapping my awareness around it. But when I do, my eyes fill with tears.
It’s pain. Faolan’s pain. His heart aches for the family he used to know, for the home that raised and nurtured him. He cares little about the scars marring his body; it’s the ones on the inside that tear him up, that make him ache with a sadness I will never be able to heal.
