Chapter 31

Kody pressed Mila down onto the tent floor, kissing her hungrily. She arched against him, welcoming.

Then they paused, hearing the tiniest of voices. “Mila?”

It wasn’t a voice Mila immediately recognized from their party and it sounded a little weird. She shifted away from Kody, searching for the source.

“Mila?!”

She slid one of her daggers from its sheath at her shoulders and peered into the blade. There was a wobbly reflection that was not her own. Her brows knit together. “Hello?”

“Mila, thank the goddess,” a witch named Kimber whisper-yelled, her image distorting before coming back into focus. She was a thin little whisp of a witch that had taken especially to Winnie and Rori.

Mila sat up, nodding Kody away. He moved swiftly, crawling awkwardly from the tent to shift into his wolf form, alerting the others that something was amiss.

“What’s happening?” Mila asked, her throat feeling a little tight.

“Winnie went into labor a few hours ago. One of the pups was in breach so Rori called us in to assist the midwives,” Kimber whispered hastily, the eyes reflected in the knife were wide and terrified, but oddly narrowed by whatever perspective she was looking through to see Mila.

“Is Winnie okay?” Mila bit in before Kimber could continue.

“She’s alright. Still in labor. We got the first pup out safely, but while we were in there, a pack member was murdered.”

A howling went up at once outside the tent. Mila squirreled around to pull on her clothes one-handed. “Who?”

“The elder. The Blood Moon Pack’s eldest leader was poisoned by wolfsbane-laced tea. Listen, the thing is, they’re saying it’s because of us. That she-wolf Kiara and her followers are blaming us witches and Rori. Rori was staying with the elder while Winnie’s in the birthing room. They’re going to start a tribunal.”

Mila hissed. She felt her skin burning uncomfortably. It wasn’t like the excitement she’d just experienced with Kody. This was white hot rage.

Kiara was making her move now of all times and using Rori to do it. Through murder. The Blood Moon Pack elder was a treasured member of the pack and Kody’s grandmother. What a disgusting way for the woman to leave this world.

“I’m on my way,” Mila snarled, sheathing her dagger and crawling out of the tent.



The howling had bothered the unicorn. It greeted her just outside the tent, bleating and tossing its head. If she was going to ride it back to the pack, she would need to calm it. But she felt a little sick.

It wasn’t as though she had never experienced worry in her life. Of course, she was a creature with responsibilities and that came with worries, but this was different. Her hand reached to pet the unicorn’s neck, trembling slightly.

Her touch didn’t entirely soothe. Her head spun a little while she considered the face she’d seen in the dagger. The face had been warped, moving in and out of focus. Witches weren’t sloppy. Not old ones that formed covens.

Her image had appeared on Mila’s blade which was coated in silver. While it did little damage to her own body, silver was often used against other species such as wolves, vampires, and even witches. If the witch was using silver as a conduit to connect to Mila, it was because she didn’t have any other options available.

No witch would willingly keep silver around her person without cause. She’d had to touch it at the cost of her own body because she was locked away from any other reflective surfaces. She was being held captive, probably caged in silver to keep her from leaving the pack’s territory.

She and her sisters in the coven were being caged by the wolves. They were murder suspects and Rori must be as well. But where was he if not with them?

Silver didn’t generally work on wendigos. They were creatures made to function like guard-dogs, made to have very few weaknesses, but Rori was kind and gentle. He didn’t even like hunting, much less fighting.

What would the wolves do with a docile murder suspect? Or had he run? Or tried to run?

Mila knew that he was only there because she’d brought him to the pack. She had taken him from his home where he might have been alone, but he’d been safe.

The only reason she’d even found him was because she had agreed to help the wolves take over the area. They wouldn’t have been so coordinated if not for her.

She had taken Rori from his place. She had made him her own responsibility. She had left him to wolves.

Her stomach gave another lurch. Her breathing was becoming shallow and rasping. The unicorn began to settle, but she still wasn’t able to lift herself up onto its back. She felt woozy.



A large, very warm hand touched her face. She recoiled from it momentarily. “W-where’s Jed?”

Jed was faster than any of them. Even if she could ride, he would be able to make it to Rori faster.

“No one has seen him for hours and there’s no scent on the air. He must have gone further into the city. I can try to send someone...” Kody broke off when Mila shook her head jerkily.

Jed wasn’t here. She needed him and he wasn’t here. Okay, she could cope. But she was still feeling woozy and it was hard to meet Kody’s eyes.

The elder had been of his pack. She was his great grandmother. He was surely desperate to return to his pack now, but he was offering to send someone on a solo suicide mission to find Jed.

His hand went to her shoulder, steadying her. Just behind him, wolves were quickly taking what they could, readying to hurry back to their children and mates.

Dillon, ashen and still half naked was clinging to the back of one his fellow beta wolves. He looked the way Mila currently felt, but he held himself up determinedly. Winnie needed him to be strong so he would be.

Mila looked up at Kody’s face. He was looking back at her. His eyes were warm and sympathetic. He was surely just as anxious as the wolves behind him and sad, but his gaze didn’t flicker in the slightest.

He was focused on her. Making sure she was safe.

Mila forced her body to cooperate. She relaxed her breathing and put her hand firmly on the unicorn’s neck. “Let’s go.”