Chapter 54
1416 Words
Gwen
The cold didn’t register.
I stumbled through the snow-covered woods, my breath coming in shallow bursts. My bare feet burned, my hands were shaking, but none of it mattered. All I could hear was my own racing heart—and the echo of betrayal. I’d seen it in their eyes. Cain. Cole. Cash. The way they’d looked at me like I was broken, wrong.
They tried to take it from me. The necklace.
The only thing that ever made me feel certain.
I collapsed near the old cedar tree, pulling my knees to my chest. Everything in me hurt, but most of all, it was my heart. My soul. The bond that once felt warm and steady now cracked and twisted inside me. I didn’t even know what was real anymore.
“Gwen.”
His voice.
I looked up through blurry eyes and there he was—Cain.
No.
Not Cain.
Justin.
But…he felt right. He felt safe.
He rushed to me, his arms wrapping around me like a shield. “I’ve got you,” he whispered. “I told you I’d come.”
I buried my face in his chest and sobbed.
“They—they tried to take it,” I gasped. “They said it’s hurting me but… but it’s not. It’s the only thing that feels real.”
He cupped my face gently, lifting it so our eyes met. “Because it is real, Gwen. They don’t want you to remember the truth. That you were mine. Long before them.”
I stared at him, confusion rippling through me.
“They’re not your true mates,” he continued, voice soft but certain. “They tricked you. Used magic. Bonds can be forged under false pretenses. You said it yourself—Cain knew a witch. That bracelet of his? It masked his scent. They’ve been manipulating you since the start.”
My stomach twisted. I wanted to deny it. To scream that it wasn’t true.
But his voice made sense. Everything did when I was with him.
“They don’t love you, Gwen. They’re Alphas. They just want to own you. But I…” His thumb brushed my cheek. “I’ve always seen you. The real you. Strong. Worthy.”
I leaned into him, seeking the comfort he gave so easily. “I don’t know what’s real anymore.”
“I am,” he whispered.
And then he kissed me.
It wasn’t soft.
It was desperate, consuming, like he wanted to breathe me in and never let go. And goddess help me—I kissed him back. I clung to him like he was the only truth I had left.
Cole
The snow crunched under my boots, my breath clouding in the frigid night air. Asher paced in my mind, frantic and wild. We were all on edge. Gwen had bolted. We’d pushed too hard.
Then I smelled it—her. And not just her scent. Arousal.
“Cain. Cash. Northeast quadrant, now,” I mind-linked, already sprinting toward the smell. I broke through the trees and—
My heart stopped.
Gwen. Naked. Writhing beneath him.
Justin.
Rage surged through me like wildfire. I didn’t think. I just shouted, “Now!”
Cain and Cash appeared, fangs bared. Gwen screamed as Cain yanked Justin off her just as the bastard was lowering his head to her neck to mark her.
Cain
I didn’t hold back. Achilles surged forward and I slammed Justin against the nearest tree. Gwen was crying, confused, reaching for him.
That snapped something in me.
He was wearing a necklace—just like Gwen’s. The talisman.
With a snarl, I grabbed it and tore it from his neck. The moment it snapped free, Justin let out a scream, guttural and inhuman.
“Cole! Cash! Her necklace!” I shouted.
Cole lunged and yanked it from around her neck. Gwen gasped, eyes going wide—and collapsed.
Gwen
It was like waking up from a nightmare.
One second I was in Justin’s arms, everything warm and right. The next, cold. Pain. Disorientation. My body throbbed where he’d touched me.
I couldn’t breathe.
I saw Cain holding Justin down, fury radiating off him in waves. Cole was kneeling over me, his hands shaking. Cash’s face was twisted in horror.
“What…what did I do?” My voice cracked.
“You were enchanted,” Cain growled, his golden eyes locked on Justin, who was struggling against the ground like a trapped animal. “That wasn’t real, Gwen.”
“But it felt real,” I whispered, curling into myself, shame wrapping around me like the snow. “I wanted him.”
“No,” Cole said gently, brushing snow from my hair. “The spell made you think you did.”
I stared at the broken necklace in his hand. My hands were shaking.
Cash pulled me into his arms, holding me tightly as I started to sob.
Justin
They broke the spell.
Damn them.
I thrashed, trying to fight the weight of Cain’s boot on my chest, but the pull was gone—Gwen’s magic no longer answering mine. The witch’s spell had been severed.
Too early.
Too fast.
“She’s mine,” I spat.
“No,” Cain snarled, his voice like ice and thunder. “She was never yours.”
Then his fist came down.
The Witch
The moment the spell shattered, I felt it.
Like a violin string snapping under tension. The magical tether between Gwen and Justin recoiled with a jolt, sending sparks of backlash through my veins.
I staggered, clutching the edge of the obsidian scrying bowl. Visions blurred. The image of Gwen in the snow, crumpling as the triplets tore the necklace from her neck, fizzled out. Smoke hissed from the bowl’s surface.
“Fool,” I hissed.
He couldn’t wait. He couldn’t follow one instruction.
I stormed through the corridors of Alpha Karl’s stronghold, the stone walls slick with damp, echoing with distant screams from the lower floors. I found Karl pacing in the war room, his eyes already glowing with rage. He didn’t need me to speak.
He saw my face and growled. “Tell me it’s not what I think.”
I lifted my chin. “He f****d up everything. Tried to mate her under early. The talisman shattered before it took root.”
With a roar, Karl slammed his fist into the table, splintering the thick oak in two. Papers scattered like falling ash. “I warned him! Two more days and she would’ve been ours completely.”
“She was already unraveling,” I said coldly. “But now the triplets have her back. The spell’s severed.”
Karl rounded on me, jaw clenched, veins bulging in his neck. “You told me this spell would work.”
“It would have, if your mongrel hadn’t let his lust get in the way of our timeline.”
The door opened abruptly. Alpha Vincent strode in, eyes sharp and calm like a serpent.
“What happened?” he asked, voice quiet but deadly.
Karl didn’t turn to face him. His fists shook at his sides. “Justin broke the spell. Went to her early. They stopped him. The triplets have her again.”
Vincent’s brow arched. “So it’s over?”
Karl laughed—an unhinged, bitter sound. “No. It’s time we stop relying on enchantments and subtlety.”
Vincent tilted his head. “Our secret weapon, then?”
Karl nodded once.
Without needing another word, Vincent motioned to his men stationed at the door. Two of them disappeared down the hallway, returning moments later dragging something—or someone—between them.
A woman.
Her wrists were bound in silver. Her long red hair hung in oily strands, and her frame was thin, bruised, but unmistakably regal. She raised her head, and even through the grime and wear, I saw the same hazel eyes Gwen wore when she was angry.
She looked like Gwen’s future.
Karl stepped closer, towering over her. “It’s time Gwen learns the truth about where she comes from.”
Karl’s smile was cold. “And who she was meant to become.”
The woman didn’t flinch. She stared at Karl with venom in her eyes.
“You’ll never break her,” she spat.
Karl crouched in front of her, a cruel smile curving his lips. “She was already breaking. She just needs the final push from her dear, departed mom.”
- Writer
