Page 79 of Magic in the Woods

Kleio gasped behind me as the little girl collapsed onto the floor in a heap. The tan wolf lunged toward her, licking her face. The woman crouched down next to her limp form, placing the little girl’s head in her lap.

“And why would he do that?” I asked.

“Because he’s their father.”

I took a step back. Their father? That would mean we shared a father…that they were my siblings.

Elise opened the door of the packhouse, revealing the sea of witches standing outside. I could tell, even from where I stood, that something was wrong. Their faces were disfigured, and they stood slouched, huddled in groups with their heads hanging and their eyes on their feet. Something had happened to the Coven.

“Elise!” I barked, stalking over to where she stood in the doorway. I grabbed hold of her, pulling her behind me.

“Don’t be scared,” the man with dark bags beneath his eyes said. “We aren’t contagious. It’s something with the dirt. The longer we’re underground, the worse it gets.”

“But we replaced the stone,” I said, motioning to the green foliage around us. The woods had been healed. I’d seen it with my own eyes.

“Sometimes a pretty surface disguises the insides.” Elisestepped out from behind me. “The rot was deep beneath the soil. It will take time for the soil to recover.”

Grabbing hold of Dafni’s hands, Elise looked at her face, then ran one of her fingers over the bump above Dafni’s lip.

“Can you help us?” Dafni asked.

Elise put her arm around the girl’s shoulders as they looked out at the witches. “Of course, I will help.”

My mate guided Dafni into the packhouse, the rest of the ragtag group following. I mind-linked Kostas to pull out the tents we’d used for the Deca Tournament and to set them up on the packhouse grounds. The witches would need shelter…and food. I mind-linked Bunny next, asking her to cook enough to feed—I looked out again, trying to count the witches standing just outside the door. Two, maybe three hundred?

“Are we really doing this?”Kostas mind-linked back to me.

I looked over at where Elise was examining the little girl, my half-sister, taking time to make sure she wasn’t scared.

Elise was a healer—she’d already healed the woods on the surface, but healing the witches…maybe this was what we needed to do to finally rid the woods of the rot. I had faith in my mate, my lyka. She’d find a way to heal the witches, find a way to bridge the gap between us. The witches and shifters would be stronger working together instead of against each other.

I sent a silent thank-youinto the unknown, thanking whatever divine intervention had brought Elise to my woods over a year ago.

She was my lyka, my luna, my mate—the savior of the North Woods.