No response.
I’m doing this to protect you,I said into the silence.
As if reading my mind, Laurel took my hands and smiled. “Long ago, your mother, father, and I cast this spell to protect you. Today, Casey and I are going to help you protect yourself. You can do this, Savannah.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“Now lie down. You won’t want to fall.”
“Fall?”
She shrugged. “The binding might get a little rough.”
Okay, what the hell was I getting myself into?
With a final wary glance at Jaxson, I took what might have been my last breath and leaned back onto the cold stone floor, resting my arms at my sides.
Laurel took her spot. “Clear you mind of everything but your intention, then summon your magic and begin the spell. We will help you shape it, but you’ll have to form the bonds yourself.”
Even though my nerves were failing me, I tried to calm my racing heart with long, deep breaths. Finally, when I began to feel a modicum of control, I called my magic.
Icy chills spread over my skin as shadows began spiraling around me. As the power built in my chest, I began to chant the words of the spell that my aunt had taught me. Hard words, to make my shadows like iron.
Then I wasn’t the only one speaking. Laurel’s whispers moved through the room like a breeze. The flames in the braziers flared, and the scent of nutmeg burned my nostrils. Her whispers turned into chanting, and light poured out of her hands as she held them in front of her.
Nausea rooted in my gut as the room outside of the circle of protection began spinning. Or was it the shadows that were creating the illusion of spinning? It felt like we were in the eye of a hurricane or tornado.
Although I knew how to cast the spell, I realized that I had absolutely no idea what to expect.
Not breaking my chant, I glanced at Jaxson and Sam—she was either in shock or awe, but Jaxson’s gaze was fixed on me. I locked onto it, like a beacon in a storm. I knew how much this didn’t sit right with him, but in the end, he’d left the choice up to me. And he was going to stand by it, no matter what. Something about that made my stomach flip.
A rising wind tore at my hair.
“Casey, join your power with ours!” Laurel shouted over the gust. “Savannah, you will need to open yourself up to our magic. Let us in.”
Fire and light swirled around me, blending with my shadows. I called it all to me and into me. Like a smith at a forge, I was the iron, while they were the heat and hammer, molding and shaping the power I called forth. The shadowy ribbons of my magic suddenly grew hard.
I gasped, and my back arched off the stone as an unexpected wave of sorrow rose from the depths of my soul and flooded my chest. A choked sob escaped my throat as every muscle fiber clenched and my vision darkened. I couldn’t see Jaxson, but I felt his presence reaching for me.
“She must do this alone! Do not risk breaking the circle.” Laurel’s voice echoed through my warring mind.
I fought against the rollercoaster of dread, sadness, and deep heartache that pulsed through me, tearing apart my insides like a cyclone. I gritted my teeth as my mind felt like it would break. What. The. Fuck. Was. Happening. To. Me?
My skin began to crawl, and a low rumbling rose around me. Could the others hear that?
The rumbling grew into a growl that shook the building to its core, and my heart seized as the wound in my shoulder began to burn.
The Dark Wolf God had arrived.