† Sage †

I gasped awake in the darkness, opening my eyes and gently touching the swollen lump on the side of my head.

Coral.

I scrambled to my knees and searched blindly across the cold stone floor that was coated in a thick dust. The ache in my head intensified as anxiety heightened my senses. There was nothing but silence and darkness and the thudding of my heart.

“Coral,” I whispered her name as I crawled along the floor. My hands bumped against something warm.

Coral’s magic pushed into my skin.

Frantically, I moved my hands past her arm to her chest and felt the slight rise and fall of her breath. My fingers shook as I pressed them against the side of her neck. Her pulse was as strong as mine was.

I cried out with relief and pulled her onto my lap, threading my

fingers through her matted hair. The blood was caked and already drying. I probed her scalp, checking for an open wound, but the skin seemed intact.

How long have we been here?

“Sweetheart.” I held her close, moving my lips next to her ear. “You need to wake up. I’ve got to get us out of here.”

Coral groaned as she rolled her head to the side. The single braid and charm Lisa had weaved in place got caught on the crook of my elbow.

I shifted her weight and freed her hair, shaking her shoulders. “Please get up. We need to go.”

I didn’t know where to go or where we even were, but a crushing weight accompanied the darkness that smelled of sulfur and exuded hate.

There was no way I wanted to stick around to find out why it felt like it did. “Five minutes,” Coral moaned.

“Now.” I shook her again.

“Sage.” She gasped, taking a full breath as panic raised her voice. “What happened? Where are we?”

“Shh,” I tried to soothe her. “I’ll figure it out, but we need to move.” “That may be difficult.” A vicious barking laugh followed the voice

that rang out in the dark.

A flash of light temporarily blinded me when a lantern flicked on. I scrambled away from the voice while pushing Coral behind me as my vision cleared.

A red bearded and bare-chested shifter stood outside a row of bars, drinking from a bottle of amber liquid as he stared at us. My back hit an earthen wall as the room came into focus.

We were in a cell. An underground cell.

“Who are you and why are we here?” I licked my dry lips as my thoughts began to race. There had to be a way to get out. A set of stairs

stood in the shadows at the far right wall past a table and chair. But those were outside of the bars.

“That’s right. You two have never been properly introduced to the leaders of the Cerberus pack. I’ll forgive your ignorance this once. I am your Beta, Bruce, and I decided it was time we meet.”

Coral stilled next to me as she hissed.

“You’ve heard of me then. I suppose the little wolf bitch has been spreading more lies.” Bruce spoke with a boisterous voice, but something was different about his mouth. A sickly green poison seemed to come from his breath.

I knew it was a type of magic, but I didn’t have time to study it now. “Nope. Never heard of you. But I have met Apollo and my mate, Maddock, the Sigma Enforcer for this pack. I think you better let us go before they find out you’ve put us here.”

Yes. I was playing the boyfriend card. Whatever got us out of this mess.

Bruce chuckled as he shook his head and then took another drink. “Apollo will be here momentarily and it’ll be hours until Maddock comes back from the situation he needs to handle. In the meantime, I get to play.”

My hands grew warm as I planted them firmly on the ground. “What kind of game is this?”

“The one where you show respect for your leaders and answer some questions, witch.” He snarled as the sickly green magic continued to frame his face. “Why did you and your sister really come here? Who sent you?”

Oh, great. He’s a paranoid psychopath too. I ran my hands over my head, wincing when I touched the lump, and tried to work through how to talk us out of this or stall until Maddock got here.

“This is my mother’s pack.” Coral found her voice as she rose to her feet. “I belong here.”

I wanted to yank her back down next to me, but maybe we could work together in calming this crazy beast. I stood beside her instead.

“Your mother was a whore who abandoned this pack.” Bruce’s bloodshot eyes narrowed on my sister. “If she had any respect or honor, she wouldn’t have left her fated mate to run to the purist scum and our Delilah would not be dead.”

“Don’t talk to my sister about her mother that way and who the hell is Delilah?” I reached for Coral’s hand, hoping to ease the sting of the shifter’s words.

“Kera’s mom, remember?” Coral closed her eyes as she accepted my soothing magic.

“How is she yours?” I turned back to Bruce. Being left in the dark was really pissing me off right about now, but maybe I could use it to my advantage to keep him talking.

“She was of the Fenrir pack,” he spit. “An honorable shifter and daughter of the Alpha to whom I swore my allegiance to years ago before coming here as an escort to the chosen mate pairing. I was shunned from my pack for not protecting her.”

“Ouch. That must have sucked.” I tried a joke to lighten the mood.

Admittedly, it was a bad one. Coral’s groan told me as much.

“You know nothing, witch.” Bruce snarled as he lunged forward.

I shoved Coral back, but the bars held strong against the weight of

the man. His foul breath and odor drifted into the cell, choking out whatever breathable air was left.

I pinched my nose and smiled. “I’m all ears if you want to enlighten

me.”

Maddock, where the hell are you?

A creak of a floorboard above us snapped all our attentions

upwards.

Bruce backed away with a sadistic smile. “You’ll learn your place soon enough.”

With bated breath, I watched the staircase as a pair of boots came stomping down.

“Apollo, what is going on?” Relief coursed through me. He may be an asshole, but of the two of these idiots, I’d take the one I knew.

Apollo staggered on the bottom step, hanging onto the railing, and blinked as he took in the scene before him.

“Alpha.” Bruce lowered his head in respect and rushed over to put the bottle in Apollo’s hand. “This is the way it has to be. It’s time to take a stand and show them all who holds the power.”

The sickly green magic spilled from Bruce’s lips and found its way to Apollo’s ears. The Beta wasn’t a witch, I felt it in my soul, but this was a dark magic all the same.

Apollo nodded and took a sip from the bottle. He straightened his clothes as his wolf flashed in his eyes. Their gaze focused on us.

My blood ran cold when I realized how screwed we really were. “Leave us.” Apollo took a long drink.

Bruce hesitated. “Alpha, you should…”

“I told you to leave. Go do your job and protect the perimeter.” Apollo’s voice was cold and dry as he cut the Beta off. “I’ll call for you if needed.”

“Very well.” Bruce snickered with one last look at the cell before hurrying up the steps.

“Whatever you’re planning to do is not a good idea,” I whispered, my gaze never leaving the Alpha’s face. “It’s not too late to end this.”

The wolf flashed again in Apollo’s eyes and for a split second I thought he’d change his mind, but the man shook his head. It was there though. I’d seen it. He didn’t fully desire this.

Apollo took another gulp of the alcohol and put the bottle on the table as he kept walking toward the cell. “The Beta is right. I’m done playing games.”

“My mother would be ashamed of you,” Coral whispered as tears filled her eyes.

I almost told her to stop, but I watched the change on his face as the challenge edged him closer.

“You are weak and nothing like your mother. You don’t deserve the Cerberus name.” He laughed bitterly as he shook his head. “If you truly

belong here, prove it and shift.”

I clenched my jaw to stop from lashing out at him for speaking to my sister that way and shot her a glance, hoping she’d take the hint as I took a tentative step forward.

Keep him talking.

“I can’t shift for you.” Coral raised her chin.

“And why not, purist half breed?” Apollo taunted as he rested his arms on the bar of the cage.

He was almost in reach.

I took another step while their gaze was locked in a battle of wills. “Because I reject you as Alpha and will never see you as one.”

Coral’s voice was as sharp as a whip and sliced through the air.

I froze, wide-eyed.

Of all the things you could have said…

Apollo growled. Rage distorted his features and morphed with the undercurrent of his wolf.

I lunged forward and grabbed his hairy arm as claws extended from his hand.

“Open this door and let us free!” I screamed, forcing every bit of my intent into my words while calling on the magic.

He slammed his arm against my chest.

I flew back into the wall. Dirt and rocks cracked against my spine and the air rushed from my lungs. Pain shot through me and I crumpled on the floor.

“Nice try.” Apollo spoke in a voice that was half man, half wolf as he pulled a vial of salt on a cord out from under his shirt. “My own mother is a witch. Do you think I don’t know how to handle your kind?”

I held my ribs, doubled over from pain, and climbed shakily to my

feet.

Coral rushed to my side.

“Maddock will kill you for this. You know that,” I hissed through

clenched teeth as I tried to catch my breath.

I wasn’t even sure if it was the truth, but I would lie my way out of this if I had to. We were quickly running out of any other options.

“Bruce is right. My brother has run wild long enough.” Apollo staggered back and grabbed the bottle, but his wolf retreated as he took a

sip. “A lesson in humility will do him some good. Now that he has something to lose, he might want to rethink how things are done around here.”

“If you think that’s a threat, you’re out of your mind,” Coral screamed. “He’ll kill you for touching his mate.”

“What do you know about mates?” Apollo’s eyes glowed with the powerful Alpha magic that radiated from his being. “You are the broken wolf daughter of a whore.”

Tears sprung to Coral’s eyes.

I lunged toward the bars. I may not have been able to rip the asshole’s throat out, but I sure wanted to. “And you are nothing but an overgrown coward who hits his daughter and is a disease to his pack. Kidnapping two women makes you feel powerful? You are not a man.”

Apollo stalked forward with murder in his eyes as he reached through the bars and grabbed my neck. His fingers closed around my windpipe, crushing out the air, and I met his gaze, unblinking, as he lowered his face to mine.

“I am a wolf.” The alcohol on his breath filled my nose as he enunciated each word.

I pushed into his hold.

Just a little closer.

Stars danced on the edge of my vision as the life ebbed from my

body.

I reached out and yanked on the vial. The cord snapped around his neck.

His eyes widened in surprise and he lightened his grip, trying to take

a step back.

I sucked in a greedy gulp of air and clung to the hand around my throat before he could pull away.

“Release us.”

Apollo blinked and staggered as if caught in a trance while the magic still hummed in the warmth of my hands.

He fumbled for his keychain and pressed a key into the lock. The door swung open.

Coral ran to my side and tried to keep me upright as I gasped for more air. “What if this is a trick?”

We moved slowly, walking around Apollo while he stood like a

statue staring into the cell. My throat burned with pain and it hurt to speak. “Then we fight,” I whispered hoarsely.

I grabbed Coral’s arm and took off running toward the stairs. Still, Apollo stood there frozen.

I pushed her in front of me, not trusting our luck, and hoped that the magic took some time to wear off. If we survived, I was going to spend as much time as possible studying the effects of it.

My heart was slamming against my ribcage in tune with the pounding of our feet on the steps. We could do this. I’d get her out of here.

The door swung open as we reached the landing and Coral jumped back, straight into my arms. I barely caught the brunt of her weight and kept us from toppling back down the stairs.

Bruce stood grinning, drunk on power, as he cracked his head from side to side. “Now the fun begins.”

Below us came an earth-shaking howl as Apollo regained control of his desires.

*

The Beta herded us back down the stairs.

Apollo waited calmly in the middle of the room. “Bind her hands.” My arms were jerked painfully in their sockets behind me as Bruce knotted rope around my wrists. This couldn’t be happening. I wasn’t going

to let it end like this.

“Let my sister go,” I tried to reason. “She’s done nothing wrong. I’m the one you’re mad at for challenging you or whatever it is you think I’ve

done.”

“No. You let my sister go.” Coral moved beside me and raised her fists. I would have smacked her if I could use my hands. “It was my mother that turned you into a monster. If you want revenge, take it out on me.”

“Coral.” I stomped my foot on the floor. “Will you shut up now, please?”

Apollo rubbed his forehead as he reached for the bottle. “You two have done nothing but cause me problems since your arrival.”

“Sorry about that.” I shrugged, laughing nervously as I looked around the room for something to saw off the binds on my wrists.

“I told you, Alpha. They need a lesson to be taught how to submit.” Bruce reached out, grabbing Coral from behind, and groped her chest as she screamed.

I abandoned my search and lunged toward them. My foot was stronger than my hands anyway.

Before I could kick him in the balls, he jerked back with a screech of pain. “The bitch burned me.”

She spit on the Beta who cowered in the dark corner like a wounded dog with a slash of flayed and smoking flesh in a line on his chest. The slight burst of soft pink glow from the braid in Coral’s hair fizzed out as she stood shaking from the violation to her body.

It gave me an idea.

Maybe I don’t have to touch them to use magic.

I glanced around the room, looking for something to use. When I spotted it, a smile twisted my lips.

“Look, if you guys are going to be torturing us for a while, I could really use a drink.” I motioned to the bottle Apollo was holding.

The Alpha smirked, looking to his hand and back to me. “Are you serious?”

“I mean, it’s not scotch but it will do.” I shrugged with one shoulder, ignoring Coral’s look of outrage.

Apollo snarled at Bruce’s feeble whine and stalked toward me with the bottle raised.

“My hands are tied.” I turned to wiggle my fingers. “Nice try, witch.” He growled.

“Fine then.” I rolled my eyes. “You’ll have to hold it for me.” Apollo threw back his head and laughed.

I was glad someone found this funny.

The cold glass hit my lips and smashed against my teeth before I sucked the rim into my mouth.

My mind raced with the possibilities of intent. I wanted death, but Lisa’s words came to me at the last possible moment. I needed to work with his desires and coax them out.

I knew what to do.

Calling on the magic, I thought of the words and felt the warmth fill my body as the too sweet wine ran down my bruised throat. I begged for the magic to flow into the bottle and spoke my intent to myself.

You’re tired of being angry. You want to be kind. Let us go and stop listening to…

I didn’t get to finish the thought.

A howl so bloodthirsty and chilling that it sounded like it came from the pits of hell shook the walls around us.

Maddock was here.

I jerked away from the bottle and the wine ran down my chest as I turned toward the stairs.

The massive brown wolf bounded down the steps with murderous rage in his eyes.

Kera followed after him. The beautiful reddish gold wolf bared her teeth as fury and power radiated from her coat.

I turned back to Apollo who was already starting to shift and motioned to the bottle with my eyes. “I think you’ll need that drink more than I do now.”

Apollo blinked as his wolf surged forward and he threw the bottle to the floor. I watched my own magic spill out with the liquid that sloshed around my feet. It filled me with the same horror as watching hours of simmering sauce ruined with too much salt.

But I didn’t dwell on it for long.

“Enforcer, let me explain. We weren’t going to hurt the witch.” Bruce staggered to his feet and started to shift as Maddock leaped off the bottom step.

My mate tore out the Beta’s throat with one snap of his powerful jaws. Blood poured from the wound as Maddock shook the lifeless body around like a rag doll.

Coral rushed to my side and Kera leaped past the carnage, pausing to sniff my sister and me before turning to bare her teeth at Apollo’s large brown wolf.

It looked so similar to Maddock’s, but like their human forms, the

damage Apollo had done to his body made him bristled and wiry. Maddock dropped the dead shifter and stalked closer to Kera, daring Apollo’s wolf to move.

Then his bluish gray eyes locked on mine.

I was overcome with the need to touch him and reassure this precious wolf that we were okay.

Sinking to my knees, I pulled at the binds on my wrists. Maddock’s massive fangs were gentle as they ran down my skin and then tore off the ropes.

I threw my arms around his body and he put his snout against my neck as we breathed in each other’s scents.

“Um, Sage. This is nice and all.” Coral grabbed my arm. “But shit’s about to get real. We need to do something to help.”

I turned at the same time Maddock’s wolf did, watching as Kera and Apollo circled each other.

Low to the ground with teeth bared and snarling, they moved in a dangerous dance waiting for the other wolf to make the first strike.

Maddock’s wolf growled, nudging me back against Coral, and the muscles rippled beneath his coat as he moved slowly to the standoff.

Kera’s wolf risked a glance over her shoulder and our gaze met for a brief second. I saw the girl I’d come to love in that look and she seemed to be begging for something from me.

Apollo’s wolf lunged forward at what he perceived as a distraction and Kera’s wolf darted to the side, anticipating the attack.

Maddock growled as he stepped in the middle and turned to protect his niece. Apollo’s wolf hung back, watching and waiting, as his chest heaved with rage filled breaths.

Somehow, I knew what Kera was asking.

“She can handle this on her own.” Coral tried to hold me back. “Kera has to do this to prove herself to the pack.”

“I know.” Tears filled my eyes as I turned to Coral. My sister was flushed with anger, but she stood tall and firm in her resolve.

I saw her as a woman then and I was so damn proud of who she was becoming, but she didn’t yet understand the pain of letting someone you

love get hurt in battles of their own. Maybe I’d just learned it too.

I could feel Maddock’s emotions as my own and my heart was breaking for all of us. His protective magic radiated around his niece. It was as strong as the iron bars that held us in the cage.

“He won’t let her fight unless I stop him.” Coral nodded and released my arm.

I flew to Maddock’s wolf and cupped his jaw into my hands as I stared into his beautiful eyes. “Come with me. This isn’t our fight

anymore.”

His wolf whined, but I could feel his anger fading under my touch. “It’ll be okay,” I whispered.

He was torn, not wanting to take his eyes from the threat, but couldn’t let go of his human form until some weird need was met.

“Coral, I’m not understanding.” I buried my hands into Maddock’s fur, trying to keep the beast calm. “He can’t let them fight without some kind of human thing and won’t shift back until it starts.”

“An official challenge.” Coral darted forward to stand beside Maddock, protecting Kera with her human body as the girl started to shift.

Maddock bared his teeth at his brother, nudging me behind him as he did, and Kera nodded her thanks to me as she wiped the sweat from her face. The four of us stared at Apollo.

Foam gathered around the wolf’s jaws as he looked to us and then to the stairs. For a moment I was sure he’d leave. The wolf seemed to want to stay in control.

But he shifted and rose to his full height. I tried to stand taller to block the venom in his eyes that he looked to his daughter with.

“I challenge you for Alpha.” Kera spoke with a voice that raised the hairs on my skin.

“Very well.” Apollo cracked his knuckles as he looked to Maddock’s wolf. “Enforcer, the terms are set.”

Both wolves shifted back so quickly that the underground room seemed to shake with the magic.

I held to Maddock’s fur as we backed away, trying to ground myself. He shifted to his human form slowly like he wasn’t ready to let go.

I didn’t blame him.

With each swipe of a paw and narrowly missed bite, I wished that I was a beast too so I could protect the smaller wolf.

But she was fast.

A blur of speed, agile, with a determined fire.

I laced my fingers through Maddock’s and drew comfort from his strength. “How long does she have to fight?”

“Until he submits or dies.” Maddock’s hand squeezed mine like it was a lifeline, clinging to a comfort his wolf wasn’t sure the man deserved.

I forced magic into the touch, assuring the wolf that I loved them both. “I’m sorry it came to this.”

Apollo’s wolf tackled Kera, pinning her against the floor, and Coral stepped up as I cried.

“You’ve got this. Get up.”

The sound of my sister’s voice seemed to motivate the wolf, and she wiggled out of the hold.

Kera bared her teeth, outmaneuvering his charge, and ripped a chunk of meat from his flank.

Apollo’s wolf howled in pain, turning on his daughter with bloodlust and fury.

She lowered to the ground, letting him charge again, and leaped on his back when his weight made him crash into the wall. He fell to the floor in a heap and she pressed her fangs against his neck, holding still.

Maddock flinched and tightened his grip on mine. “Submit to her you asshole.”

Apollo pawed at the ground until his legs were under him and shook off Kera as she clamped down. He threw her and she hit the iron bars with a soft whine before scrambling back to all fours.

They circled again, snarling at each other, and we moved back to give them more room.

Kera waited patiently for her father to lunge, and when he did, she slid under and ripped a piece of flesh from his chest as the larger wolf skid across the blood-soaked floor.

In an instant, she was on his back and had her jaw soft around his neck. He snarled and shook her, taking advantage of her kindness to break free.

“Stop fighting it already,” Coral cried. “She’s got you beat.” “Submit to her you crazy old fool,” Maddock whispered a

heartbroken plea.

Apollo’s wolf was bleeding and panting as he backed into a corner.

Kera pawed the ground, giving some sort of wolfish bargain.

He looked up and we stared into each other’s eyes. I could see the magic brewing there. The hate and anger were fading, replaced by a bone deep exhaustion. I knew it then that what I’d sensed earlier and tried to make him see was his true desire.

“It’s okay,” I said, hoping he’d find comfort in my voice. “We don’t have to do this anymore.”

Apollo’s whine was full of a soul-weary pain and he nodded at his daughter, but then his gaze went to Coral and a feral darkness took over.

The wolf lunged for Coral and I pushed my sister to the floor as Kera’s jaws chomped down on his throat.

Blood sprayed us and the walls as Kera shook her head and the life drained from the Alpha wolf. His body went limp and she dropped him on the floor.

She turned to us, covered in the blood of her father, and looked up to Maddock with tears rimming her wolf eyes.

He squeezed my hand and released it. Maddock’s voice was thick with emotion as he patted Kera on the head. “I swear loyalty to the new Alpha of the Cerberus pack.”

*

Kera stayed in wolf form and climbed the stairs that led us out of the earthen cellar. Coral was silent as she walked beside me. We gave Maddock a moment alone with his dead brother as he’d asked.

I wanted to stay with him, but I was still trying to wrap my head around what had happened and if he needed space, I could give him that.

Kera’s wolf strode forward with a purpose, moving slowly enough for us to follow as we left the basement of the mansion I’d seen on the hill the other day. It was a place I never wanted to see again.

We walked in the quiet night toward the main street, past the inn and my restaurant, and headed to the cluster of homes where most of the pack lived. A few wolves had joined our voyage, coming out curiously from the woods, but like Coral and me, they were silent onlookers as they followed at a respectful distance.

When Kera reached the homes of her pack members, she raised her snout to the moon and stared at the stars above.

There was a moment of stillness where I felt the magic of the night sky that filled my veins with a comforting wholeness.

This is where we were always meant to be. I had no doubts about that now.

Kera looked over her shoulder to us, waiting for something. Neither of us really knew what to do, but we both nodded anyway. Coral held my hand as we stood side by side and Kera opened her blood-stained jaws.

The howl that came from her body was haunting and deep, like ancient drums calling to my soul. A magical music that had never existed in my life before. It awakened primitive parts of my being that I didn’t know existed.

Howls rang out in response and shifters changed forms to answer her call as they came out from their homes.

I stared in awe at the powerful magic as it burst like fireworks into the night.

The comforting scent of caramel and wood fire wrapped around me like a blanket as Maddock pulled me to his chest.

I turned to breathe it in. “Are things going to be okay or did I mess everything up?”

He cupped my chin, staring down into my eyes with a wonder that should have been reserved for the stars. “You changed our whole lives for the better, my beautiful witch. The future is ours now.”