Chapter 226

Heather

I pulled more power from Brent. As he gave me more power, I started to feel the magic that was holding me hostage.

My physical body wasn’t here. That was true. But I was trapped. And this place didn’t exist in my own head.

The dark abyss that I’d been walking in was more than just an abyss. It was something far worse. And as I realized where my mind had gone—where the demon had taken my soul—my chest wound so tight, my heart raced, my palms sweated, and I knew that if I didn’t get out of here soon, I was going to be worse than dead.

I was going to be a demon’s slave in Hell.

“Let me go. Let me go. Let me go!” My magic and power mixed as I threw my will and everything Brent had sent to me at the demon.

His laugh came again.

I didn’t look back. I knew what I was up against and I needed more power than Brent could give. That he and I together weren’t enough to beat the demon scared the shit out of me. But the thing about being a werewolf was that you always had the pack.

I pushed away any doubt. I closed my eyes, shutting out the sound of his laughter and air rushing past my ears as he tried to suck me deeper into Hell.

All I needed to do was hold on while I found the pack.

I reached out mentally, but couldn’t find them.

I tried not to panic, and reached out again.

Nothing.

They were there. I just had to try harder.

I let my wolf rise a little more. Pack, please! I finally felt them like little tendrils against my inner wolf. The spiderweb of power that tied every Were to each other. There were weaker links between the packs—tied from alpha to alpha. From one bond, I could reach every single werewolf alive if I needed them.

For now, I used the St. Francis’s ties. I’d thought my bond with Brent had been thinned, but the ones to my pack were impossibly thinner. But as I called, power came through. It was just a little trickle at first, and then a huge rush hit me. My arms grew fur, and I was barely able to hold onto my shape. I let the power build for a second longer before screaming. “Let me go!” My voice was thick with my rising wolf. “Now!” I backed the word with all the power from the pack.

“No.” The single word sent a chill down my spine. “You’re mine.”

“No! No one owns me!”

He just laughed and the air grew too thick to breathe.

No. He had to be wrong. He had to be. I swallowed down the panic that was choking me.

He started to grow taller, morphing until his head touched the ceiling. “You can fight me or you can give in, but you’re mine either way. You’re the key. I tasted your magic in that circle and I knew you were the one I’d been waiting for. There’s no breaking free of me now.”

“The key?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, but I had to ask.

“The seal is gone. The portals are locked, but your magic is the key. You’re already tied to me. It’s over. Just let go.”

Fuck that. I didn’t know what seal he was talking about or what portals he meant, but I wasn’t tied to him. And if I was, I was breaking it as soon as I got out of here.

But one thing was certain. I was never giving up. Not while I was still alive.

I started saying the Hail, Mary, but his magic only grew stronger, skittering over my skin like a swarm of cockroaches.

Shit.

The demon didn’t seem to be weakening, but my arms ached and the tie to Brent was on fire. It was too much power for the little thread. I was going to burn it to ashes if I pulled much harder.

The pack bonds weren’t doing much better. They were glowing, but I could feel them weakening. It was only a matter of time and I wasn’t getting any closer to breaking free from the demon’s hold.

Which meant I was losing and I was out of ideas. I was out of time. The splinters in the table dug into my fingertips and it moaned. The whole thing was about to shatter. There was going to be nothing left to hold on to.

I gathered all the power the pack had sent me. It was time to use it. The demon might’ve been strong, but he’d made one mistake. He’d told me that there was a tie between us, and if there was a tie, then all I had to do was break it.

“Find the tie. Break it. Kill it dead. Find the tie. Break it. Kill it dead. Find the tie…” I said it over and over until I was hoarse and out of breath. The pack’s powers were waning and I hadn’t found it.

Why hadn’t I found it?

“Because it’s a part of you. You’ll never be rid of our tie, Heather.” He drew out my name, spending to much time on the s. I never knew the sound of my own name could terrify me so much, but as he spoke I realized a few things.

He was right.

This was hopeless.

And by using the pack’s power, I was going to drag them down with me.

A sob finally broke free. I’d fought so hard for so long and I’d been happy. It’d been an insane few months, but with Brent, I’d found true happiness. Never in a million years would I have thought that I’d find happiness and a home in a school for werewolves, but I had. I’d found friends. Power. And love. So much love. I thought I could hold on to that forever. But I couldn’t.

My heart felt like it’d been turned to stone and then pulverized until all that was left were tiny grains of sand slipping out of me.

I didn’t want to let go. I didn’t want to die. I wanted a lifetime with Brent. That house on our land. Travel and adventure and dancing and laughing and everything else that came our way.

Please, God. If you can hear me, help. I said a prayer, but there was no answer.