I make my way through the swamp, moving steadily toward the witch’s house. She thought she could outrun me, but I’ve proven to her repeatedly that I am the relentless scourge of her existence. It was her bad luck to be born into the family that I have vowed to hunt and exterminate. The witch progeny of Lyra the Terrible, the woman who took my brother’s pride and wits and scattered them to the wind. The woman who threw Wolf-Haven into the dark ages and separated my brothers from each other and their mates.
There is much for the witch to answer to.
Her kind say they’re protecting the natural order, but I see nothing natural in their sorcery. They twist the world to fit their own vision, perverting nature and treating the other creatures on our planet like bugs beneath their heels.
In the years since Lyra’s curse shattered Wolf-Haven, I’ve made it my mission to take out every witch or warlock I encounter. The spell I used to save my eldest brother’s life when he was challenged was taken from a warlock whose throat I tore out. Before I killed him, the warlock also gave me valuable information about a particular witch, the most powerful of Lyra’s descendants.
My plan? To get my hands on the witch progeny and force her to reverse the spell that is keeping my brothers from their mates. Only Lock has achieved happiness with his fated mate, and I have my suspicions about how it was possible.
It’s my belief that it was Lyra’s spell that pushed my brother, Lock, into leaving Wolf-Haven two hundred years ago and drove the King’s pack to kidnap Lock’s mate, Sarina. Lock missed finding her by a matter of two years, and then she was nearly killed. All because of a witch’s spell. I’m pleased that my brother seems to have broken the spell, but I still feel the agony of Lennox, Keenan, and Fallon, and I’m determined to end their suffering. I’ll do it by spilling the blood of Lyra’s ancestors.
As I near the cabin the witch shares with her aunt, I pick up her scent. My paws carry me faster, pounding harder against the ground as I rush toward her, my instincts screaming at me to mate with her.
I try to silence them, but my wolf is nearly feral from years travelling in my wolf form. I’ve always been more comfortable in my wolf body than my human one. Fur feels like my true skin and if I could live this way forever, I would.
Unfortunately, my wolf knows something I’ve spent years trying to deny. When I first encountered the small, blond immortal witch, shortly after her birth, I sensed her power and with each year, it has only grown stronger. For seventy-two years, I’ve known that this woman will be the one to break Lyra’s spell. She’s too powerful not to.
She’s also powerful enough to keep a lone wolf shifter at bay, which she has successfully done since the day I started stalking her. I slow my pace as I near the cottage in the swamp. The tantalizing scent of basil and roses, her particular scent, nearly overpowers my logic, driving me relentlessly toward her.
I crouch low and crawl through the reeds until I catch sight of her. She’s truly breathtaking in a pair of tiny shorts that show off the twin half-moons of her lush backside as she bends to pick weeds, one hand squishing her straw hat on her head. She’s wearing a sleeveless shirt that’s cropped just beneath her breasts to show off her belly. There are no shoes on her feet and her toes sink into the muck of the swamp. Mosquitos and flies buzz all around her, but none lands on her body.
She freezes and slowly turns, her eyes scanning the surrounding swamp.
“I know you’re out there!” she shouts, dropping the weeds into the basket next to her and holding a pair of sharp scissors aloft. “If you come near me, I’m going to cut your other ear off.”
