Chapter 120

AURORA

“Piper!” Dane roared.

I tried to cut off the power, but it flowed through me like a river. I couldn’t stop it. Dane moved between Piper and Evander, directly into the stream of magic.

“Dane, no!” I cried.

He didn’t listen. The magic blasted into him. For a moment, the whole room flashed a blinding silver-white. Everything went silent. Finally, I yanked back my power and cut the magic off.

I blinked rapidly, trying to clear my eyes. Every cell in my body yearned to see if Dane was all right, but I’d started this because of Evander. I had to see if he was still alive first.

My vision cleared. Evander lay in the bed. His eyes were closed. My heart lurched, and I leaned forward, putting my fingers to his neck, searching for a pulse.

“Please,” I whispered. “Be alive.”

Chapter 120

I couldn’t bring myself to turn and look over my shoulder. I could hear other wolves scrambling, but I didn’t hear Dane.

What if I really was evil? What if I’d just killed Evander, Piper, and Dane all in one go?

Then Evander’s chest rose and fell in a deep, shuddering breath, and I felt his pulse jump beneath my fingers. He was still a mess, still covered in blood, and his eyes didn’t open. But he was alive.

I let out a slow, relieved breath. Then I turned to see what was going on behind me; to see if Dane and Piper were alive or dead.

I turned…

Dane was up, thank the goddess. He was bent over Piper’s bed. And Piper… sat up. Dane helped her, supporting her with a hand behind her back. But she was up. Awake. She blinked and put a hand to her head.

“Dane?” she said. “How long have I been asleep?” Her voice was rough with disuse, but there was no mistaking it. She was really back. Really awake.

I hadn’t killed her.

Chapter 120

I put a hand on the bed and nearly collapsed with relief.

“It’s been a while,” Dane said. His voice was rough, too, but with restrained emotion. He held onto his sister tightly and smoothed hair away from her face.

He sent me one long, lingering glance. As well as I knew him, I couldn’t tell if he was upset, angry, or relieved. He turned back to his sister, stroked her hair again, and said, “I have so much to tell you. Thank the goddess you’re awake.”

Piper gripped Dane’s wrist and leaned forward to press her forehead against his. “I’d never leave you, big brother. You get yourself into too much trouble.”

Dane let out a strained laugh, and I released a breath. Dane might be able to keep a tight lid on his emotions, but I struggled. I was feeling so many things: relief, confusion, fear. I had no idea what I’d just done, no idea if it was a good thing, or if they were all going to collapse again at any second.

I turned back to Evander. His eyes were still closed, but his chest rose and fell steadily. It wasn’t like the coma that Piper had clearly been in. Evander was less still—like maybe the healing had taken a lot of his energy and he desperately needed sleep to get it back.

I touched his arm. He was covered in blood, but beneath that, it looked like most of his wounds had healed. Even so, his skin wasn’t completely smooth.

Chapter 120

Celia appeared next to me. She put a bowl of warm water and a clean cloth in my hand. “If you clean him up, I can check on Piper.”

“Of course,” I said.

My mind was still reeling, but this would at least give me something to do; something to focus on while my brain tried to work through what had just happened.

I took the water and cloth and began to sponge the blood from my poor cousin’s face while I ran it all over in my mind.

I felt Evander dying. I’d felt my gift from the moon goddess. I knew, without being told, somehow, that it had to do with healing, so I had pushed it into him. But how had it jumped from him to Piper like that? My magic felt like water, but that blast had been like lightning.

And before that…

My stomach dropped as I remembered what the magic had pushed from my mind. Evander knew about the twins! The Reeds had them. They had lied, and they had nearly killed Evander. No, they had killed him. Only my new, strange power had been able to bring him back. They’d meant for him to live just long enough to deliver a message, and then they’d meant for him to die.

I whirled toward Dane. “You have to call out Waylon Reed. Challenge him. Kill him. Right now.”