Fates Entwined

45

She fell to the floor, and I pinned her with one paw on her throat and the other on her chest. Roxandra beat weakly at my paws as I cut off her air. On the other side of the room, Jordan drew in a deep, sharp breath that I could hear even over the din of the fighting. He sat up and Debra hugged him.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” Jordan said. He looked a little pale and his hair was disheveled, but overall he did seem to be okay. The wound on his arm was already mostly healed. He looked over at the Moon Witch. “But she needs your help."

Debra let go of her son and moved over to Maricar to begin healing her. Jordan stood, and caught sight of me standing over Roxandra. I felt a mixture of relief, pride, and love surge through the mate bond as he looked at me, followed by anger and hatred as he focused on Roxandra.

"Get off me, you mangy beast," Roxandra yelled, then squirmed out from under me using her stolen vampire speed and strength, but Jordan was there, and he punched her in face. She went down hard, but got back up again impossibly fast, touching the spot on her cheek where he'd hit her.

"Careful how you talk to my mate,” Jordan said.

“Jordan,” she pleaded. “We’re meant to be together, ruling both the Zodiac Wolves and the Sun Witches. You said you wanted that too."

Jordan's fists clenched at his side. “That wasn’t me. You had me under your control. Nothing we had together was real. I didn’t want it then, and I definitely don’t want it now.”

"But you're the future of the Sun Witches. We need you. I need you!"

"I might be the future, but you're not. And I won't let you hurt anyone else." He grabbed Roxandra by the throat, while she threw useless fireballs at him and tore at his chest. But no matter how strong her stolen vampire blood had made her, Jordan was still stronger. “I want my eyes to be the last thing you see."

With a fierce roar, he grew claws and reached into her chest, ripping her heart out in one quick, violent motion. He crushed it between his claws while Roxandra blinked at him while the life suddenly left her body. He dropped her sagging form to the floor, where blood spurted out of the gaping hole in her chest.

Jordan flung her heart away from him with a snarl. He was breathing hard, like he’d been fighting her for a long time. I rubbed against his side, and he put his hand on top of my head.

"I knew you'd come for me," he said, stroking the spot between my ears.

I shifted back and threw my arms around him. "Always. I love you."

He held me close. "I love you too."

Debra finished healing Maricar and then rushed over to check on her son again. The Moon Witch sat at the edge of the bed with her head in her hands. While Debra hugged Jordan, I glanced around the room, taking in the cauldron, the chalice, and the spilled blood.

“What was going on here?” I asked Jordan. “Why did she take you and the Moon Witch?”

Jordan bent down and picked up the chalice. “She was doing a spell to remove the Sun Curse from the vampires in order to gain their total loyalty. She needed the blood of a male Sun Witch and a female Moon Witch to complete it. She'd had the Moon Witch for a while, but she couldn't find any males with strong enough Sun Witch blood. Except for me."

I bent down and picked up the chalice, studying it. The Sun Curse prevented vampires from going in the sunlight. The wolves had once had a similar curse on us, the Moon Curse, which caused us to lose control of our wolves and our minds during a full moon. It had been removed long ago by the Moon Witches, but the Sun Witches had never removed the curse from the vampires. Instead they gave the vampires their blood, allowing them to temporarily walk in the sun, in return for their loyalty. That was how they kept manipulating and controlling them—just like they'd controlled the Zodiac Wolves for years.

The remaining vampires surrendered once they realized Roxandra was dead, and Cannon and the other Leos rounded them up and brought them to us in the cabin. A small, unexpected swell of pride went through me at the sight of my wolves returning alive and triumphant.

“We surrender," a male vampire said, dipping his head in a sign of submission. “But please, finish the spell, I’m begging you. We will be loyal to whoever breaks the curse."

“Why should we trust you?” Jordan asked.

The vampire got down on his knees slowly. “A vampire's word is unbreakable, and I can speak for all of us when I swear we will serve the Leo pack if you finish the spell and break the curse."

Jordan and I shared a wary look. Could we trust them? But then I thought of Killian, the vampire who worked with the Moon Witches, who was currently living in Coronis. He couldn't go out during the daylight either, and he proved that not all vampires were evil. Maybe they just needed a chance to change and do better, like the Leo pack once did.

"We don't want your servitude," I said, and Jordan nodded beside me. "We don't want to control you like the Sun Witches did."

The vampire looked up at me, eyes wide and a little bit hesitant. “What is it that you want then?” “A truce between vampires and shifters. No more fighting, no more attacks. We don't need to be allies, but we will not be enemies anymore either. I know it might be hard with our history, but we're only enemies because the witches made us that way. It's time we all broke free of them and charted a new path, one of peace this time." I took Jordan's hand and smiled at him. “You’d be surprised what you can do when you try to turn over a fresh leaf.”