Chapter Sixty-Seven

I closed my eyes and cleared my mind of everything. The pain disappeared into the background. I could feel the doctor still working. I could still feel the burn of the wolfsbane. I could still hear everything around me, but the room faded away.

I drew in deeper breaths, clearing my nose of blood and antiseptic, and focusing solely on the people in front of me. I pushed my father’s scent to the side, and Beck’s. I narrowed in on the two women.

The older woman smelled ancient, powerful, and very cunning. She was using dark power to keep herself alive. But the younger wolf, she was something else. She smelled as familiar as she looked. Nix and Megan sifted through the scents in the room with me, but it was Megan who found the answer. She smells like Aurora. They both do.

My eyes snapped open, and I stared at the two women in front of me. The older woman had the same eyes as Aurora. But Amara, Amara had dark hair, but she had the same eyes and nose as Aurora. They could have been twins.

They were. I remembered going through Aurora’s paperwork in my mother’s office, and I remembered she had a sister, Amara, listed. But anytime I wanted to remember the fact that Aurora had a sister, something was making my mind turn away from the fact, like there was something that wanted me to forget it. My eyes settled on the older woman, and I felt the squeeze on my shoulder.

Same eyes.

This woman was their grandmother.

Nix let out a growl, and Megan howled. What’s wrong? I called to them. But then I felt it, something biting along my insides. My eyes met the older woman, and I saw her eyes widen.

“It’s the cleaving.” My grandmother’s words came to me, and my mind flashed to the page in the book with the spell. It’s a spell to sever the ties between human and wolf. The human feels nothing until her wolf is dead, and it is already too late. Remember the counterspell. Before it’s too late.

Nix and Megan both howled in pain as I tried to remember what it was. A page flashed in my mind, and I opened my eyes to stare the old woman down. “Alta nim for cle de magh.” The biting stopped in my mind, and my wolves settled. But the woman paled. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

“L” She stumbled back, but I slammed my power and aura out, causing everyone in the room to drop to their knees.

“Amy?” My father turned to me, as he was the only one left upright on his knees, then the rest were on the ground. “What’s going on?”

“I’ll ask again… did you think I wouldn’t notice?” I felt the pine solution take enough of the wolfsbane out of my system that I could heal, so I told Nix to heal me slowly as I stood. I walked closer to the three people by the door. The old woman turned paler as she watched my wounds slowly heal.

“How?” Her jowls bobbed as she swallowed.

“How?” Amara and Beck asked at the same time. I saw Amara and Beck scenting the air, and the wolfsbane was still in the air, still in my blood.

“How are you still healing yourself?” Beck tried to stand, but I pounded my aura into him, and his wolf whimpered.

I knelt in front of them all and pulled back my power enough so that they could sit back on their heels. “How am I healing myself because I have wolfsbane in my blood? Or how am I still healing myself when Amara’s grandmother was supposed to cleave my wolf from me and kill it?”

My father rose to his feet with a snarl. “You tried the cleaving on my daughter?”

Beck’s eyes widened. “You knew?”

“Oh, Beck, I’m surprised by you.” I smiled over at him. “If you want to stage a coup, then you need to know the strength of all of your opponents.”

“A coup?” My father paced. “Tell me she’s wrong, Beck.” My father clenched his fists at his side and turned to face the three on their knees with me. The doctor and nurse long forgotten. “Tell me she’s just young and foolish. Tell me she is misunderstanding this. TELL ME SHE’S WRONG, BECK.”

But Beck just sneered and turned his face to his mate. “Amara, I love you.”

My father raged, and half-shifted as he screamed again. “You were my brother, one of my best friends.”

“One of our best friends.” Ronnie had silently opened the door to the bathroom, breaking the seal on the door.