Page 46 of Twilight Echoes
“I’ve already been able to pull part of the spell out from my daughter and Darrell.” Albert scratched the back of his head. “The governing council is doing their best with the sample I gave them, but they don’t have a mark yet.”
“They might not find it since the book is locked.” Merlin nodded to two men standing in front of a table filled with burners, small cauldrons, and other things necessary for mixing potions.
The men nodded back but kept working.
“I can use the same spell to pull some of it out if we decide putting the powers in Avery is the only hope,” Albert said.
“What!” Darrell snapped his head in the direction of Albert. “No fucking way. I won’t allow you to put my mate at risk like that. It could kill her. And our babies.”
Avery gripped his hand, her pulse pounding against his skin.
“She might beyourmate, but she’smydaughter, and as you said out there a few minutes ago, you both die if we do nothing.”
“Cast the powers into me,” Darrell said with a low growl. “I know it can be done. You did with Jackson.”
“That was different,” Albert said, inching closer, anger firing from his gray eyes. “I had to make him an untouchable to keep my sister from killing him. I can’t make you an untouchable with that spell inside you.”
Avery squeezed his biceps. “And if we cast wizard powers in you without an outside aura and an inside aura disappearing, it will suck the life energy out of you in minutes. Killing us both.” She took his hand and placed it on her stomach. “And our children. Casting it into me is our only option.”
Darrell yanked his arm free, taking a few steps back and raking a hand through his unruly hair. “There has to be another way.”
“That’s what we’re looking for, but our time is running out,” Albert said, staring at Darrell. “I don’t want to do this any more than you do, but these wizards are dying off faster than your pack is getting sick, and when they are all gone, your pack will die off fast, taking my daughter and grandchildren with you.” He pointed toward the ceiling. “We don’t know what kind of rippleeffect that will have on Amanda and Jackson. Or Arianna, Alicia, and their future mates.”
“And we don’t know if the spell will then start in the royal family,” Merlin said. “If they die off, we’ll have mayhem.”
Darrell turned his back, folding his arms across his chest. His gut tightened, and the room blurred. He blinked five times, trying to snap everything into focus.
Avery’s soft, loving hands glided up his shoulder blades. “It’s the only way,” she whispered, her lips kissing the side of his neck. “I might not be the most powerful witch, but I can do this.”
Darrell took a deep, calming breath. “What happens if this works and it snaps the Book of Shadows back? What then?”
“I unlock the black magic, and then we can make this right,” Albert said, placing a firm hand on Darrell’s shoulder. “All I need is that book.”
“What about the Wilcox family? Will they be brought to justice?” Darrell asked.
“If they survive, they will be stripped of their powers,” Albert said with a tight voice. “And locked away.”
Darrell turned, locking gazes with Albert. “And if this doesn’t work?”
Albert said nothing, but he didn’t have to.
“We need to do this,” Avery said, palming his cheek, forcing him to look her in the eye. “For your pack… for us. For our future and for what’s coming.”
Darrell squeezed his eyes closed. He could be the macho alpha and pull rank with his mate, or he could do the right thing for everyone concerned.
“What do you need me to do?” Darrell pulled Avery to his chest, holding on to her for dear life.
“You’ll have to fight the urge to let go of her aura no matter what happens,” Albert said. “You give it all back, you die, making all this pointless.”
“I don’t plan on meeting my maker for a long time, so let’s get this freak show on the road.”
11
While Avery practiced witchcraft every day, her higher-level skills were rusty. All witches had to go through courses that would prepare them for the use of black magic, but since her fifteenth birthday, she hadn’t actually performed any of the illegal spells permitted during training, only legal ones.
And she’d never had to absorb someone else’s powers. After seeing what it did to her father to give them up to Jackson, even momentarily, she couldn’t believe she was agreeing to it.
Life or death.
