Gail stared at her aunt, horrified. She was not only the one behind her parents’ death, but she tried to drain Gail too. All these years of putting her trust in her aunt, all those years of lies. She couldn’t believe it. “How could you do that to me? A child entrusted to your care, and I did trust you!”Her aunt scoffed. “Oh please. I told you it didn’t work, so it’s not like I actually drained you.”Was she serious? It didn’t work so all good? “Oh, gee! Is that all?” Her aunt must have gone insane at some point. “You don’t understand, Gail,” Aunt Rose told her. “It wasn’t fair!”In that, Gail agreed with her, but she didn’t think they referred to the same th

“Look at the mess we have here,” Aunt Rose said as she looked around the hotel room. “You should clean it up while I refresh myself in the bathroom.”“Yes, ma’am,” Gail said in an even, unemotional tone. She turned and picked up a chair that had fallen in the scuffle with her aunt. Next, she made the bed and picked up the clothes that had fallen on the floor.Once Gail finished, she continued cleaning until her aunt returned and said, “Okay, enough of that, Gail.” Gail stopped and stood stiffly with her hands by her sides, waiting for her aunt’s next order. Aunt Rose looked over her with a speculative look. “Let’s see how far this will go. Come with me.”

“What do you think he’s going to do?” Elijah asked as they drove back to Christopher’s territory. “The witches are on the move,” Joel told him, his stomach twisting with worry and fear. Gail was under another spell. Was it her aunt or was it the coven? Was there even a distinction between the two? Had her aunt always been working for Ricinius and biding her time until Joel was no longer there to protect Gail? “How can you be so sure?” Lucas asked from the back seat. “I’m sure because Gail is missing. If she had gone back willingly, Gail would’ve never left that house. She understood the other witches would drain her. Gail would’ve stayed. They have her and they’ll drain her so the leader can steal her power and use it against us. We need to act before they do.” “Or p

It took much more time than Joel would’ve liked for Christopher to organize his people and get them moving; and then their numbers weren’t even close to what Joel suggested he take with them. With what was left of Joel’s pack and what Christopher was bringing, they were only twenty-five strong. From what he’d seen from the attacks on Gail and her house, Ricinius had a lot over twenty-five.He tried to convince the alpha to bring more wolves with them, but Christopher was completely underestimating the threat of the coven. When Joel tried to push the matter, he only reinforced the alpha’s stubbornness. Afraid to make things worse, Joel dropped it and left the pack house with the others. They left in six cars. Joel, his mother, and friends got in one car together. “This isn’t good,” he told the others as they

Pain thrummed through Gail. Her head pounded as if someone had hit her over the head with a hammer repeatedly. Sweat ran down her face, pebbled all over her body, but she was cold. So cold the blood flowing from her nose felt hot against her skin. Joel’s resistance surprised her. After how easy the first alpha had been, like snuffing out a candle, she expected Joel to be the same. But he fought, and at first it gave her hope. Maybe he might stop this. Perhaps he was strong enough to break the charm.As they fought, Gail realized that the only thing that would break was her. Before all this, using her magic always exhausted her. Gaining control over her magic and all that practice didn’t change that. Despite the magic and life Gail stole from Ricinius, Gail had used most of her energy already. Controlling Ricinius’ werewolves, fighting with Joel had been too much. He was really a true alpha, but the charm wouldn’t allow her to giv