Page 21 of Pack Reclaimed (Blood and Moonlight 3)

So that’s the connection that Holt was talking about.

“How is our little witch?” I glanced up, genuinely startled that he read where my thoughts had gone. His look of triumph was infuriating. “I always wondered why he never mated, we offered so many women and men to him. It seems he just was too weak to handle us.” The thought of this deplorable wolf putting his hands on my mate had me lunging forward. Of course I went right through him but it was worth it to see his surprise, like no one had ever fought him back physically before. Or maybe just women hadn’t.

“I guess he just had standards you’ve never had. But then again, his face doesn’t look like he lost a battle with a fucking chainsaw. You know, when I pictured the vile monster that you might be…” I trailed off and waved my hand at his face. “This is so much worse than I could have imagined. Did you get those by trying to fuck with the wrong witches and wolves? I can’t wait to add my own scar, though you won’t live through it for it to heal.”

“Don’t act like I’m the only one with them,” he countered. My stomach churned. How the fuck did he know about mine. I kept that shit to myself. Even his tracker didn’t know.

“Yet here I stand with mates who I’ve chosen and who chose me, despite my scars. No coercion necessary. And now, we’re going to hunt you down and kill you, end your tyranny.”

“Being fated doesn’t mean you’ll win, little wolf.” My eyes narrowed at the moniker Callum had given me. They continued to use it, tainting it. “Fate doesn’t just work for your side, it works for mine too. You see, you’ve become a sort of challenge for me, Vanya. The one wolf who refused to bend to my will, to break under my orders. But I’m not the only one risking to lose here. Let me remind you.”

His body blinked out of existence for a moment before he was back, pulling someone with him. She was bruised, broken, dirty, skin and bones, but I would recognize her anywhere.

“Meira,” I whispered. My voice cracked and I hated how easy he’d gotten to me after all of the careful wording and facial expressions I’d kept through the rest of our encounter.

“Vanya,” she said, her eyes widening when she realized what she was seeing. Then her broken mask faded away and that same feisty determination I’d always loved came flaring back to the surface. “Fight him, Vanya. Don’t worry about me, don’t give in, and do not let yourself get captured.”

“We’re coming for you, Meira,” I promised.

“Don’t worry about me,” she pleaded. “Worry about staying safe.”

“As touching as this moment is—” the Grave Alpha drew out “—I’m going to end it here.” That was the only warning I had before they were both gone, just like that, my sister was ripped from me all over again. The town materialized around me, or what was left of it, and that gaping hole in my chest I thought was gone was ripped wide open all over again. I dropped to my knees as the sobs took over, my hand going to my chest like I could stop the hole from getting bigger by the second and consuming me whole. The crazy thing about grief was that you could hide from it, tuck it away, but it’d always find its way back. And Meira’s words weren’t ones of hope. She didn’t think she would get out alive, and I was terrified he’d take her from me just because he could.

He knew exactly what he was doing by dangling her in front of me. And I didn’t care if he could see my moment of weakness at all. Meira meant everything to me, and a love for each other like we had was something he would never experience.

“What the hell was that?” Leven’s voice was harsh. It wasn’t meant for me, he was worried. And I couldn’t blame him. “You were just talking to yourself, raving fucking mad.”

“If you thought she was talking to herself, then you’re an idiot,” Holt said bluntly. “She was clearly talking to the Grave Alpha. Were you not?”

“I was,” I said, my voice wavering pathetically. “He let me see my sister for a second.”

Holt frowned. “Apparently this connection is stronger than we thought.”

“He has something of mine that the tracker stole, a locket that had sentimental value,” I admitted. “The asshole wasn’t afraid to flaunt it. There was no notice this time, no weird feeling, he just simply appeared in front of me and drowned out the rest of the world.”

“So it was a hallucination?” Leven asked.

“No,” Holt said. “He projected himself. More like a holographic image that is interactive.”

“He answered me back, showed me Meira, it definitely wasn’t all in my head. Or at least I didn’t make him up,” I argued. My emotions were too intense and chaotic right now to deal with Leven’s usual bullshit.He thinks this is weird? Well, so do I.

“This is taking a turn,” Holt said. “If they have a connection point, we can’t exactly ward against it. They have a way to get to you and they’re going to use it to get into your head, break you down.”

“He said I was a challenge for him,” I said bitterly. “It will definitely be mental warfare. He finds joy in breaking others.” At this point Emma had already joined us, catching Leven’s attitude and Holt’s unsettling words. Callum, Torryn, and Nyx were right behind, and thankfully Holt gave them a quick recap.

“Well, he won’t break you, Vanya,” Emma said as she came over and wrapped me in her arms. I melted into the touch, glad I had someone like her. She even gave Leven a glare for being a douche bag. Hades gave me a quick pat on the shoulder. He was always short with his touches, not wanting to cross any lines with our alpha or my mates.

“I’m sorry I freaked everyone out and looked like a psychopath,” I said as I scrubbed a hand over my face, like I could wipe away the insanity of the last twenty minutes. “He knows we’re looking for him. He didn’t like that I taunted him.” A smile tipped up my lips at that and Holt laughed.

“You know, that’s exactly how I knew it was him you were talking to,” he said.

“He knew about my scars,” I added on, quieter this time. “He shouldn’t have known about them. Have we seen him before?” I directed my question at Torryn and he shook his head without hesitation.

“No. Never. We had plenty of alphas coming by for business, but never him,” he admitted. “Not that I saw anyway.”

“You’d remember his ugly face,” I said as I took a deep breath, attempting to pull myself together.

“I don’t think he had any connection outside of Meira,” Torryn said as he still tried to come up with something to explain it.

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