And There Were Wolves

forty eight | Crescent moon, coast is clear

Crescent moon, coast is clear / Spring breaks loose, but so does fear

"Don't make me ask you again, Adelina." The temptation was getting bigger and harder to resist. I could almost taste the sweet, vigorous power. "He's extremely important to me, and if you don't tell me what you did and how to undo them, I've no problem erasing your memory." I leaned forward and added, "Even better, I'll make you forget that you're a witch, so you have no power to retrieve your memory."

The smug look on her face was entirely gone the moment I mentioned erasing her memory. That was what she had left. Her identity. With her involvement in Alana's ploy and killing Walker's baby — possibly an heir — she was done for and she knew it.

Logic prevailed as she swallowed convulsively before finally giving me the answer. "I did use some magic to mask his human identity and tweaked his wolf. But since I was not using dark magic, in order to do that, I have to preserve a balance in this universe."

"What does that even mean?" I was getting impatient. The closer I was to Adelina, the louder the yearning to absorb her power and suck her dry.

"I've had to make an antipode." Adelina moved her gaze to Ryker, who was now standing rigidly by the door. Her eyes were pleasing. She knew I was on the edge and only Ryker could save her. "Everything in this universe has to have its counter match. Positive and negative. Good and evil. So when I made Eros Adler the way he is right now, I had to make an antidote for it, something to neutralize it."

"How do I cure him — turn him back to the way he is?" I subtly took a step back, pulling my power with me, although I still had some of them holding her wrist and kept her palms curled. Just a bit of power, not enough to actually do any harm.

"I put one hex on Eros Adler and another on his friend, Sebastianos Accardi Junior," explained Adelina. "If you wish to cure Eros, you need to take the hex out of him. It's currently buried inside his chest. Nevertheless, if you carry out that plan and he somehow survives, then you must place it on someone else. Another wolf."

"Why on Earth would I want to do that?!" I took a deep breath, knowing that this couldn't be it. There were more things that Adelina wasn't telling me. "What happened if I didn't put it on someone else? What about Seb? What would happen to him?"

"If you don't plant it on someone, it will vanish and when it is gone, the other one inside Sebastianos's body can't be in this world alone. It would cause an imbalance. Nature simply won't have it." She tilted her head to one side. "So he will die with it."

I didn't buy any of this crap. Adelina could be lying for all I knew. She'd done nothing that would earn my trust so far. "There must be another way."

She tried to move her hand but stopped when she couldn't. "There is a way that will save them both, but it will be painful for both of them. Maybe worse than dying."

My hands clasped on Adelina's arms. "Tell me." My hold tightened, and I knew it would only need a small push before I harmed her.

"You have to reunite the two of them. When they're in proximity, they'll neutralize one another and you can destroy them without hurting the hosts." Adelina tried to break free from my hold and failed. She let out a small moan, grimacing at the pain that I was inflicting on her.

"Why did you do this?" My nails were digging into Adelina's flesh. "Why?"

"I am just doing Alana a favor. Nothing more." She shrugged. "If you realize your friend is missing, you'll go look for him and leave Alpha Ryker alone."