Serena’s fever pulsed like a heartbeat, the amber tonic from Olivia barely keeping her symptoms at bay. The charred pendant from the Witch’s Sanctuary hung around her neck, its faint warmth a reminder of the moonroot ritual she needed to survive her unbound fire witch powers. Hart’s confession to Gary and Jack about blackmailing her, overheard the night before, had left her reeling—his fear of her power, his claim of the mate bond, his mention of “others” seeking her blood. The cloaked figure’s threat and Olivia’s warning about transforming into a beast of flame haunted her, making sleep impossible. She sat on her bed in the Sloan mansion, the gothic walls closing in, her distrust of everyone—Hart, Olivia, even Gary and Jack—gnawing at her.
A sharp summons from Alpha Maveric’s study came
