Page 25 of Midlife Animal Rescuer Dragon

Overhead, there was a whistle and a burst of blue light. The fireworks display wasn’t yet over, it seemed. The other coven members continued to stare at her. Nora thought she saw distrust and resentment flicker across their faces.

Isobel gave a sigh that filled the entire clearing. “I was in the middle of the ritual when it happened. You started shifting.”

Nora definitely remembered that. She’d felt that tingling sensation in her body and believed it was part of the spell. Only when she began to shift all of a sudden had she realized something else was going on. The details replayed themselves in her mind. She’d been unable to reverse the process. And the next thing she knew, she’d blacked out.

You killed her,Isobel had said.

She shook her head slowly, almost choking as she glanced at the corpse on the ground again.No, no.It couldn’t be. This had to be some sort of sick joke.

“There was nothing I or the others could do,” Isobel went on, and Nora thought she saw the witch shiver. “We tried to stop you, to defend ourselves, but there was no stopping what was happening. The rest of us managed to get away in time, but Martha...Martha wasn’t so fortunate.”

In the firelight, her face looked even more eerie than usual, shadows cast across her features. As she spoke, her eyes widened slightly with disdain, and Nora felt herself shrink under the coven leader’s gaze.

“We couldn’t stop you. We couldn’t save her.” Isobel shook her head. “Thank the moon and stars the rest of us didn’t share her fate. You shifted back before you could hurt us.”

A collective shudder rippled through the semi-circle of witches. Nora turned her gaze to the body once again. She’d done that?

It couldn’t be true. It wasn’t possible. She would never hurt anyone. She’d never even killed anyone before. Not to mention she’d never shifted against her will. But wasn’t that what had just happened? If what Isobel was saying was true, she’d shifted and killed one of their own.

If.She might’ve scoffed at herself, if she wasn’t so overcome with horror. There was noif.The proof was lying dead only a few feet away. Nora considered approaching the body but immediately thought better of it. The bloody stench alone was enough to make her want to throw up. She remained where she stood, a tremor making its way through her body.

“No,” she said. “I don’t...I don’t remember any of this happening.” Why couldn’t she remember? She’d never lost awareness when she shifted. She’d always been in full control of herself, of her wolf. But tonight, something had changed, and horribly so. Not only had she shifted against her will, but she couldn’t even remember a second of what had happened afterward.

“The ritual has failed because of you.” Isobel’s tone was even more accusatory now, and there was no mistaking the disgust in her voice. “You disrupted everything. Now, not only have we lost the opportunity to augment this coven’s strength, but one of our own is gone.”

It’s a dangerous spell.Isobel’s words from a few days ago repeated themselves in Nora’s mind.And the risk is the highest possible: death.

This was it. This was the highest possible risk. When Nora heard those words, she’d feared for her own life. Not once had she imagined someone else would end up dead, or that she’d be responsible.

Her vision blurred slightly, and it dawned on her that she was crying. Tears rolled down her cheeks, but she made no move to wipe them away. It felt like her world was collapsing around her all of a sudden.

“I killed someone,” she said with a shuddering gasp. “I killed one of my own.”

The witches seemed to recoil at those words.

“Yourown?” Isobel gave a scoff. Her eyes flashed with anger. “Yourown? You were never truly one of us. Your mother was a true witch, but she broke our rules when she fell in love with that wolf shifter. And to add insult to injury, she hadyou.”

“No,” Nora breathed.

“I knew that your presence in this coven would only cause problems for us sooner or later, and I tried to warn her. I refused you as many times as I could. But your mother, foolish as she was, was insistent. She did not rest until I gave in and let you join us. I should have removed you the second she died. That was my mistake.”

The tears were burning Nora’s eyes now, falling faster down her cheeks. She wiped her face and made the mistake of staring down at her hand.

It was covered in blood.

“No!” she cried.

“I blame myself,” Isobel said. “I knew you were a danger to us, and I allowed you to continue to exist among us. I know better now.”

“Isobel, I—”

“Silence!”

The coven leader’s voice filled the clearing, drowning out all other sound. By the time it faded, the entire woods seemed to have gone completely quiet. Nora couldn’t even hear any creatures moving in the distance. Isobel might as well have stopped time itself.

The older witch took a step forward, and her silver hair seemed to glow brighter under the moonlight.

“You filthy hybrid,” she spat. “You’re a disgrace to this coven. And you’ll pay for what you’ve done tonight.”