Page 58 of Wolf of the Storm
We're out of time.
Connor's not waiting for us to figure out the counter-ritual. He's racing to complete his murders before we can stop him.
My phone buzzes again. Another message from Brennan.
I open it, expecting logistics. Instead, there's a photo. Stone. Ancient runes. And carved fresh into the rock face in jagged letters:
Tick tock, Storm Alpha. Three more to go.
The carved message is still wet—blood, not paint, filling the grooves.
I look down at Eliza sleeping in my arms, my mother's ring on her finger catching the moonlight. Tomorrow we test whether the storm blood she carries can save lives.
Connor's already taken another one.
And he's coming for two more before he comes for her.
CHAPTER 15
ELIZA
Iwake to find Declan's side of the bed empty and cold.
The sapphire ring on my finger catches the pre-dawn light filtering through the curtains of Clifftop House—his mother's ring, his promise. I touch it with my thumb, grounding myself in the solid weight before I reach for the mate bond.
He's close. Tense. Angry.
I find him downstairs in my aunt's study, surrounded by maps and the rest of the brotherhood. They all turn when I enter, and the expressions on their faces tell me everything.
"Connor killed again."
"Last night." Declan's voice sounds like he's been screaming. Or maybe like he hasn't slept. "A druid-blood carrier. Thomas Sinclair. Seventy-three years old. They found him at the northern convergence point just after midnight."
A hollow ache opens inside me. While we were making love, while he was giving me this ring and promising forever, someone was dying.
"Don't." Declan crosses to me, his hands gentle on my shoulders despite the steel in his words. "Connor's timeline wasalready accelerating. This would have happened...” He stops, but his fear bleeds through the bond anyway.
"How many seals are broken now?" I force myself to focus on facts. It's what I'm good at.
"Four." Finn speaks from where he's leaning against the desk, his aquamarine eyes distant. "Three previous murders plus Thomas Sinclair. That leaves three seals intact. Connor needs two more regular bloodline carriers, then you."
"Then we don't have time to waste." I look at each of them—Jax, Tessa, Rafe, Grayson, Kian, Finn. The brotherhood that's sworn to protect this island. "The counter-ritual. We try it today. Now."
"The eastern shore." Grayson's voice rumbles low and certain. "The convergence point there is defensible. Steep cliffs on three sides, ocean access for Finn if we need him in the water. Far enough from the village that civilians won't be caught if Connor attacks."
"When Connor attacks," Jax corrects. "He carved 'three more to go' into the stone where he killed Thomas Sinclair. He knows we're trying something. He'll come for Eliza the moment he realizes what we're doing."
"Then we make sure we're ready for him." Declan's hand finds mine, fingers interlacing. His determination pulses down our connection. "Moira's already at the eastern shore, setting up protective wards. We move in thirty minutes."
Moira Flynn stands at the edge of the eastern shore convergence point like she was born there. Her red hair whips in the pre-dawn wind, and the salt-water magic radiating from her makes the air taste like the ocean. She's drawn symbols in the sand—intricate patterns that hurt to look at directly, as if they exist in more dimensions than my eyes can process.
"You know the theory." She doesn't look up from the final symbol she's drawing. "Practice is going to hurt like hell."
"I've had worse," I say, though I'm not sure that's true.
Moira's expression suggests she knows I'm lying. "The counter-ritual requires three components: blood, blessed salt-water, and storm-calling. Your blood anchors you to the convergence point. The salt-water carries the magic. And the storm-calling?" She meets my eyes. "That's where it gets dangerous. You're going to channel Declan's storm magic through your body while simultaneously using your will to reinforce the seal. Lose control—if the storm overwhelms you—it could burn you out from the inside."
"Comforting."
