*Maddox*
My head is ringing as I open my eyes and try to remember where I am and what’s going on. The last thing I remember is a bright light shining in my face and then being thrown. Judging by the pain in the back of my neck and my shoulders, I must’ve hit something hard.
Turning around, I see I’m still in my wolf form, and the object behind me is a tree—a palm tree.
I’m in the jungle, that’s right. Trying to find Isla and my unborn child.
We’d been running through the woods toward the blue light in the distance when suddenly, there’d been another light, a brighter light, right in front of us. Then, some crazy-looking woman had appeared in front of us.
I had no idea who she was or even what she was. But then she’d flashed some bright blue wave of light at us, and all of my men had crumpled to the ground.
Now, I can see that I’m about the only one getting up. The forest around us is eerily quiet. I wonder if that woman hit the animals with her bolt of light as well. Did she even kill off all of the damn bugs?
Staggering to my feet, I shake my head a few times and try to get my bearings. What was I doing?
Oh, yes! Chasing after Isla!
Using the mind-link, I send a message to all of the other wolves on the ground around me. “Is anyone conscious? Can anyone hear me?”
I only get a few faint murmurs that tell me the answer to my question is really no.
It looks like I’m on my own—for now.
Looking around, I try to find some sign of where I should be headed, but the blue light in the distance is faded, and I can’t see anything to let me know where Isla might be.
Using the mind-link, I try calling to her. “Isla? Where are you?” I use my Alpha voice so she will be compelled to answer me.
The answer I receive is in the form of a shout, not the mind-link, and I hear it way off in the distance.
“Help!”
That was her! I know it! Without thinking twice, I take off running in the direction from which I heard the scream.
* * *
*Isla*
“Help!”
Aunt Mary isn’t moving, and the witch from the woods is overwhelming me now, pushing me backward. There has to be something I can do to fight back stronger, but I don’t know what it is.
Then, out of the corner of my eye, I see Aunt Mary beginning to stir. “Aunt Mary!” I shout. “Get up. Help!”
She shakes her head a few times, as if she’s trying to get her brain to work. Then, she’s back with me. Sitting up, she whirls her hands out in front of her. I see a trail of blood pouring down the side of her head, but she doesn’t seem too bothered by it as she hits the witch with her light.
Between the two of us, we are stronger than the evil witch, and she knows it. “No!” she screams. “How is this possible? The girl wasn’t even supposed to know of her powers!”
“She’s a quick learner!” Aunt Mary struggles to her feet. Her powers increase, and the witch is clearly trying to disengage herself to get away, but whatever Aunt Mary is doing has her pinned to the place where she stands. “For all of these years, you’ve been nothing but a nuisance to all of us, Selma! Now, you will be dead—and I will finally be able to release the curse and give this girl back what she needs for her new pack.”
“No!” The witch, Selma, was clearly struggling now. Aunt Mary must’ve known more about her than she had let on earlier since she did, in fact, know her name. Still, I tried to concentrate, wondering if it were possible for us to defeat her once and for all.
All of the legends, the rumors, the alleged curses, witches, and who knew what else…. All of it was about to come undone, here, right in front of me. I couldn’t help but wonder what that would mean for Maatua.
“Stay here, you bitch!” Aunt Mary told her. She did something else with her hand, and the light shifted. Rather than being a blue beam, it was now swirling. It wrapped itself around the other witch, as if it were truly holding her in place.
The witch shrieked a high-pitched noise that made my ears ring.
“Now, blast her with everything you have, Isla!”
I thought I was already doing that, but when my aunt insisted, I increased the power, and the next thing I knew, the witch was vibrating. The blue light she’d been shooting at us began to dissolve.
We had her! We were doing it! We were destroying her! It was only going to take a little bit more power, and then, this would all be over.
From my right, I heard a howl and saw a blur of dark fur, headed right for the witch.
Instinctively, I reacted. “Maddox, no!” He was going to end up getting right in our way when we were so close to finishing this.
Before he got to her, another blur of fur came shooting out of the woods from the other side, knocking Maddox backward, out of harm’s way.
“Antony!” Aunt Mary shouted.
My cousin kept the Alpha King pinned to the ground. How he was able to do that, I didn’t understand. Maddox was the strongest wolf in our pack. Unless he’d been injured.
The beam of light increased, and then, the witch’s vibrating spun out of control.
With a sound like a loud gust of wind blowing by, the witch sizzled into a bright white light and then shot out into the night in a million different directions.
Our power bounced off the trees, so Aunt Mary and I lowered our hands.
It was over. The witch was gone. We’d done it.
Taking a deep breath, I turned to Aunt Mary. She looked exhausted, but a huge smile adorned her face. I was just about to go to her when the ground beneath our feet began to shake.
My eyes bulged. “What in the world?” I asked.
Had we caused another earthquake? Had my coming here caused more trouble when I’d just been trying to fix things?
Aunt Mary began to laugh as the ground around us rumbled. Even though it was dark, though, I suddenly saw a change in the ground around us.
The volcanic ash and lava rocks faded away. The vines and other aggressive, ugly plants, with thorns and razored edges, all disappeared, replaced with lush, beautiful plants and flowers. The mountains in the distance changed as well. No longer jagged and menacing, they looked like friendly rolling hills covered in fresh vegetation.
“What’s happening?” I asked my aunt.
“The curse has been broken!” She clapped her hands with glee. “The island has been returned to its original form. It won’t fix the buildings or bring back the dead, but it has restored our beautiful Maatua!”
“Get off me, you asshole!”
My attention turned from my aunt to my king. Antony was shoved off Maddox, who was in his human form now, his head bleeding, an angry scowl on his face.
“Maddox!” I took my backpack out and handed him a spare pair of shorts I’d been carrying for Ben. My brother and Poppy stepped out from between the trees, dressed and human.
Maddox put the shorts on but then stood up angrily. “What the fuck?” he asked Antony.
My cousin stayed in his wolf form, so I answered. “You were running right into the beam of my magic,” I explained. “He was keeping you from getting killed!”
“What? No! I was trying to kill the witch who was killing you!” Maddox argued.
Shaking my head, I assured him, “No, we were winning. We did win, as you can see. Maddox, sometimes you have to trust me. Why are you even here?”
“Why am I here? Are you serious, Isla? What the fuck are you doing here?” He narrowed his eyes at me, full of anger.
“I’m here to help my family and my kingdom,” I told him. “And I’ve done it. We reversed the curse. Now, all we have left to do is free the treasure on the night of the Blood Moon.”
“The Blood Moon? Do you think I’m going to let you stay here and do that? Absolutely not.” Grabbing hold of my arm, he started to walk back in the direction I thought was toward the beach. “Absolutely not. You’re coming with me.”
“No!” I yanked my arm away.
He didn’t stop. “Yes! This is not up for debate, Isla!” He continued to pull me until a flash of blue light hit him, just hard enough to make him let go. Recoiling, Maddox turned and looked at my aunt.
“I’m sorry, Alpha King Maddox, but I can’t let you take my niece away from me just yet. We still have work to do.”
“Did you just fucking shock me?” he shouted at her.
“I did. And I will do it again if you try to touch her again.” My aunt spoke confidently, and I could tell that Maddox was about to lose his mind with rage.
Turning to me, he said, “All right, Isla. You choose. You can stay here and complete this ridiculous quest, or you can come back with me now. But you have to choose. I will not stand around and wait on you when you’re acting impulsive and stupid. You’ve put yourself at risk, my son at risk, and now, I’ve had to drag my ass out into the jungle to find you. So… what’s it going to be?”
With his eyes locked on my face, I opened my mouth to answer him, but no sound came out.
How can he make me choose?