Blood Moon (12 page)

Zelda launched herself into the woods. The
brush grew coarser and thorny, tearing at her clothes and hair. She
stepped on something sharp and cried out as it sliced through her
bare foot. Her eyes stung with tears as she hobbled through a thick
growth of saplings. From somewhere to her left, a rattlesnake sent
up a warning, and a pair of owls hooted, as if commentating on the
witch hunt transpiring below.

The trees thinned, and Zelda fell face-first
into a small clearing. She gasped for air and rolled onto her back,
turning her face up to the hostile moon.

The brush all around her grew louder, and
she suddenly couldn’t remember the direction she had come from. Her
mind reeled as she sat up and crawled onto her hands and knees,
turning in a circle.

Another howl froze her in place. The brush
parted, and three snarling wolves crept in on her. Soon, the men
from the riverbank joined them.

With nowhere to go, she curled into a ball
and covered her head with her arms. Someone grasped her by the
shoulder and yanked her to her feet.

“
I told you this wasn’t
over.” Hyde sneered in her face.

Her magic crackled beneath her skin, but it
was little more than static with her energy so depleted. She was
out of practice, and her reserves took longer to replenish than
they had before.

“
Not so tough now, are
we?” Hyde laughed as he dragged her through the woods.

She didn’t have the strength to resist, but
that seemed to make her dead weight enough. Hyde growled and
smacked his free hand across her face. Her teeth grazed the inside
of her cheek, spilling blood onto her tongue.

“
Keep up or I’ll have one
of my men carry you. Can’t guarantee they won’t taste you on the
way—it being a full moon and all,” he said.

Zelda quickened her pace, swallowing the
blood that had collected in her mouth. Her throat was raw and her
lungs ached. The werewolf bite in the bend of her elbow throbbed in
time with each painful step she took.

When they finally emerged from the woods,
Zelda collapsed. Hyde jerked on her arm, and when she refused to
stand, he handed her off to one of the mutant wolves. The creature
threw her over a shoulder and followed Hyde across a field and up
the side of a low hill.

Zelda focused on her breath, trying to calm
her mind. The panic had sapped away all reasoning, and she knew
grasping for it was not the way. The dressing on her arm sagged,
and the silver lining curled outward, catching in the
moonlight.

She slowly undid the bandage and twisted it
into a rope, turning the silver out. Then she wrapped the ends
around both hands. With a deep breath, she pulled her torso up and
looped the rope around the mutant wolf’s neck twice. Her knees drew
together, digging into his chest as she leaned backward, tightening
the noose around his neck.

The wolf’s howl of pain was cut short as he
gagged, clawing at his throat. Smoke curled around his head as the
silver ate through his flesh. His wolfish nails sliced through the
dressing, sending Zelda to the ground. She grunted as her back hit
the hard earth.

One of the fully shifted wolves pounced on
her chest, snapping and growling in her face. Scraps of the silver
dressing were still coiled around her hands, so she placed them on
either side of the beast’s muzzle. It yipped and leapt away from
her, causing the remaining two wolves to hesitate.

Zelda jumped to her feet and took off across
the side of the hill, coming to a dead stop when her eyes fell on a
stone altar. Marla cried out, her exposed, pregnant belly trembling
in the crimson light of the moon. A familiar face loomed above
her.

“
So nice of you to join
us, Zelda. Welcome to your final ritual,” Sarah said, lifting a
dagger over Marla.

Chapter Twenty
-three

Logan’s wolf clawed at his insides as he
watched Hyde drag Zelda up the hill by her hair. Her eyes scanned
the clearing, growing wide when they fell on him.

“
Logan!” she screamed,
trying to pull away from Hyde. He pulled her back and pushed her to
her knees in front of the dark-haired woman. Then he bound her
hands behind her back and shoved her face into the
ground.

“
That’s enough,” the woman
snapped. “She needs to be conscious, you half-wit.”

Hyde growled and stalked off toward the van
as Devin took his place. Zelda struggled to sit up, pushing herself
away from the newcomer as he bent down to look at her.

“
So this is the little
girl who thought she could tamper with my pack and get away with
it.” He sighed and clicked his tongue at her. “How’s that workin’
out for you, honey?”

Zelda spit in his face, and Logan’s wolf
whined as Devin slapped her, knocking her back to the ground.

The dark-haired woman’s eyes bulged and her
mouth twisted back to expose her teeth. “Don’t you people know the
definition of conscious?”

Devin stood and took a step toward her, his
eyes glowing yellow. Soon, the pull of the moon would be too much
to resist—for all of the wolves.

The woman positioned her dagger over Marla’s
belly again. “Don’t test me, alpha. We had a deal.”

Devin’s face relaxed, though his eyes stayed
yellow. He straightened and cleared his throat. “Give me the pups,
and we’ll be on our way.”

A stiff wind pushed down on the hilltop, and
Logan turned his face away from it in time to see the blond woman
step out of the woods. A silver chain was coiled around her hand,
and she dragged a wolf behind her.

The pale fur looked familiar to Logan, and
he sniffed the air, catching Violet’s scent.

“
Sarah,” the blond called.
“Look what I found.”

Sarah.
Logan looked back at the dark-haired woman. Her mouth curved
up in a malicious grin. “How perfect.” She turned to Zelda. “It
looks like you won’t be our third after all. Now you can witness
the entire ritual. Won’t that be nice?”

Sarah lifted her hand. A small flame
sprouted in her palm and spiraled around her forearm up to her
elbow. It reminded Logan of Zelda’s lightning, and he suddenly
realized these women were from her coven. She’d been right. The
ritual was too late.

Sarah held her flaming hand near Marla,
illuminating the girl’s pained, sweaty face. She panted and
struggled against the ropes tied around her wrists and ankles.

The blond woman paused at the edge of the
circle and blinked stiffly, looking around the clearing as if for
the first time. “Sarah?” she quaked, looking down at the chain in
her hand and the wolf at the other end.

Sarah’s head jerked up, worry creasing her
face. “Tie it to a tree, Maggie. Then join me in the circle. It’s
time to balance the scales.”

The blond regained her composure and pulled
Violet over to a tree near Logan, looping the chain around the
trunk and tying the ends. Violet collapsed. Dust clouded around her
snout as she panted, and the silver chain at her neck made a
hissing noise as it seared through her fur and into her skin.

Logan watched helplessly. “I’m so sorry,” he
whispered, straining against his own bindings. “No. We’re getting
out of here. Do you hear me, Violet?” When she didn’t respond, a
growl built in the back of his throat. “Look at me.”

Violet’s head shot up at the command and her
ears flattened.

Logan lowered his voice again. “We’re
getting out of here. But I’m going to need your help.”

The blond wolf licked her muzzle and dipped
her head in a quick nod.

Chapter Twenty
-four

Zelda could hardly see through her tears.
Everything was falling apart. Not only had she ruined her own life,
but she’d ruined so many others in the process.

She couldn’t let Theo die, and by saving
him, she had scarred herself and the entire coven. Hazel’s burden
was the most obvious, spoiling what she held most dear, shattering
her vanity. Maggie’s vacant eyes and sudden confusion was a sure
sign that her mind was slipping, and if Sarah had been vindictive
before, she was downright murderous now, standing over Marla’s
pregnant belly, dagger at the ready.

Marla.

She’d told the girl she was safe with her.
How wrong she had been. And now Violet and Logan were in danger
too. She glanced over to the bonfire, where Logan was tied to a
barrel. His face was covered in blood, and his eyes had shifted to
a yellow, wolfish hue.

I should have left
town,
she thought.
This is all my fault.

Devin Raymore stood back, watching Sarah and
Maggie hover over Marla. Sarah slipped her dagger under the ropes
holding down Marla’s ankles, freeing her legs. She passed the
dagger to Maggie and took hold of Marla’s ankles, pushing her knees
up and spreading them apart. Marla fought her, kicking and
screaming.

Sarah’s face twisted with effort and
frustration, until she finally let go. As Marla’s legs kicked out
straight again, Maggie plunged the dagger into her chest, just
below her sternum and right above the swell of her stomach. Marla’s
scream was met with Zelda’s.

“
You idiot!” Sarah
shouted. “We haven’t begun the ritual yet!”

Maggie covered her ears with her hands and
sobbed, turning herself in frantic circles. “Idiot. Idiot. Idiot,”
she chanted, slapping the sides of her head.

Sarah huffed and ripped the dagger out of
Marla’s chest, splattering blood across the ground and Zelda’s
legs. Marla had stopped screaming, but her chest still rose and
fell as she took slow, rasping breaths.

Zelda pulled her legs back with a sob and
scooted away from the altar, turning her head as Sarah lowered the
dagger over Marla’s belly. She heard flesh tearing and bile rose in
the back of her throat.

The sound of Marla’s breath was replaced by
a series of infant cries. Devin Raymore stepped forward and
accepted a bloody baby from Sarah’s stained hands. He passed it to
Hyde and turned to claim a second baby.

“
We’re done here,” he
said, nodding to the witch. He glanced down at Zelda and smiled.
“Consider your debt paid in full.”

The Raymore wolves loaded into the van with
the babies. The engine sputtered to life, flashing headlights
across the woods, and then they disappeared over the hill.

Zelda looked back to the altar and gasped.
Marla’s empty eyes stared straight through her as her blood spilled
down the stone pillars.

Sarah pushed her lifeless body over the edge
with a grunt and gave Zelda a tight smile. “Looks like you’ll be
our third after all. Maggie!” she shouted, catching the dazed
witch’s attention. “Bring me the wolf.”

Zelda pulled herself up on her knees and
tried to stand, but Sarah was too quick. Her hand flamed to life,
clamping down on Zelda’s shoulder and burning through her shirt and
skin.

“
Please,” Zelda sobbed.
“I’ll do whatever you want. Just let them go.”

Sarah raised an eyebrow.
“No. This time,
you
get to let them go. It’s how the ritual works. We reverse
what you did, threefold, and we get our powers back. Hazel was too
weak and too soft to go through with the plan, but Maggie and I are
more than enough to match you. Even as damaged as you left
us.”

“
Please,” Zelda begged
again.

Sarah’s eyes migrated to her throat,
freezing on the charm necklace. She tore it from Zelda’s neck with
her free hand before shoving her back to the ground.

“
You won’t be needing this
anymore.”

Zelda felt the weight of her
grief—everything she’d been masking from her past, and everything
she felt responsible for in the present—press down on her like a
waterfall. She gasped for air and her shoulders shook. The charm
necklace had been her lifeline, dragging her through torrents of
misery, keeping her head just above water. Now she was a
castaway.

Sarah drew a circle around Zelda with her
finger, sending up a circle of flames to trap her where she lay,
while Maggie unchained Violet from the tree and dragged her up to
the altar. The red moon above did little to light their path, and
Maggie tripped several times as Violet whimpered and swung her head
from side to side, trying to break free.

Sarah pointed her flaming hand at Zelda,
issuing a silent threat as her eyes narrowed on Violet. “You’re
wasting my time. Up. Now.”

Violet whimpered again, but she stopped
struggling and leapt up on the altar. Her paws slipped in Marla’s
blood, and she dropped to her belly, staining her pale fur red.

Sweat spread over Zelda’s skin as the circle
of fire reached in toward her. Her eyes watered, but she blinked
her tears away as she looked up to lock eyes with Violet. Her heart
sank as she realized the wolf had a plan, and Zelda had a feeling
it didn’t involve surviving.

She tried to sit up again and felt something
dig into her bruised hip. With her hands bound, she had to twist
her shoulders to reach her pocket. Her fingers curled around the
smooth lump of barite Ben had given her that morning, and her
breath swooshed out in relief.

It was time for a test drive.

Chapter Twenty
-five

Logan waited for Violet to near the altar.
As Sarah closed in on the wolf with her dagger held high, he
realized his plan was flawed. But it was too late now.

He pushed his back against the barrel and
shimmied the rope down as low as he could to the ground. Then he
began to shift.

Honey colored fur took over his skin, and
his shoulders popped out of place as his body leaned forward,
trying to straighten itself into a four-legged stand. The barrel
groaned and tilted up over his back, lifting off the ground, and
the ties on his hands slacked as his wrists shrunk, just enough
that the rope fell under the lip of the barrel. Logan jumped to the
side, letting the barrel roll off his back and over the fire,
spitting embers into the sky.