As it turned out, we couldn't start the damned spell until the actual battle commenced.

Otherwise, Angelina's coven would sense her sudden depletion of magic and intervene before we'd even begun. Seeing as we already had a swarm of hybrids plotting against us, we didn't need the ever-powerful Gemini Coven at our heels as well. And so we waited.

I sat on the edge of the bed, eyes glued to the outside world beyond the window where my friends and family prepared to meet their fate. My heel tapped incessantly against the floor, in perfect rhythm with Angelina's pacing footsteps nearby. She'd busiest herself in continuously muttering the spell's latin incantation, as if she might forget otherwise.

"Why aren't you with the rest of your coven?" I asked, finally ripping my gaze from the scene out of the window.

Angelina didn't cease her pacing, "Same reason that you aren't with your pack. I'm too special to risk."

Too special to risk? Right. The blasted prophecy that destined the end of the hybrids at my hands. I managed to resist an eye roll, "What prophecy is attached to you, then?"

It was Angelina's turn to roll her eyes and snort, "No prophecy. Just more powerful than the Gemini Coven has seen in generations. It scares my mother, more than anything. She doesn't want the hybrids to catch wind of my abilities."

I didn't bother reminding Angelina that there would be no hiding from the hybrids as soon as word reached them that she'd brought me back from the dead. She'd be next on their hit-list, no doubt.

I released a small huff, "We make an unlikely pair. A witch that is too powerful, and a werewolf that isn't powerful enough."

If I'd been holding a glass of alcohol, I might have lifted the beverage in honor of our chaotic, unprecedented circumstances.

Angelina, too, stopped her pacing and flashed a dangerous, albeit, amused smile in my direction, "If we make it out of this mess alive, Charlie, I think we could be friends."

"You mean, if you don't leave me dead in the afterlife?" I joked, despite the unease threatening to crawl up my throat. If I focused too much on the shoddy plan we'd comprised, I would only talk myself out of participating. Instead, I forced myself to place blind trust in this girl, practically a stranger.

Angelina smirked, "Exactly."

I cleared my throat, "You once mentioned a curse on Nolan?"

Even while I asked the question, I couldn't be sure whether I wanted to know the answer. What if Angelina's discovery revealed some ominous future? What if Nolan would survive this battle only to fall victim to dangerous magic a few days later? These worries haunted my every breath, and yet... If some unseen dark force plagued my mate, we needed to know. For better or worse.

The witch, my tentative friend, frowned at the memory. Her slender fingers began fidgeting with her shirt-sleeve. "Yes, I did mention a curse... But I shouldn't have."

"You're kidding. I hope you are kidding." I catapulted the words more harshly than I'd intended, standing from the edge of the bed to confront her.

She let out a long breath, "My mother punished me for slipping that piece of information to you. I can't tell you anything else. At least not yet."

I laughed, although the sound came out as a feral snarl. "That's rich. Y'know, I'm starting to reconsider my role in our little plan."

But my words were an empty threat, and Angelina knew it. She called my bluff, "Then you are sentencing hundreds-- no, thousands-- of innocents to death."

In that moment, I realized there would be no bargaining with Angelina. The beautiful witch could withhold the secrets of my mate's future, and there was nothing I could do about it. She was a force to be reckoned with, and she also held the strings of my fate like a damned puppeteer.

The rage-filled fire in my chest dimmed, and I forced myself to step away from Angelina. She seemed to sense my defeat and cleared her throat, her words taking on a softer tone, "When this is all over, I'll tell you everything."

I didn't have the heart to fight any longer.

...

Several hours passed, and Angelina and I returned to the main floor of the packhouse. She disappeared, undoubtedly gathering information from her mother or coven-sisters or practicing the black magic that would deliver me to the brink of death. I forced myself to think of other things.

I joined a group of elders in the living room, sorting through bandages and capsules of pain-medication. Couches and chairs had been converted into temporary beds for the future wounded, and children sprinted around our feet delivering messages to various pack-members of importance. Nervous energy settled over the establishment like a thick fog before a tumultuous storm.

And then Reagan burst through the doorway and interrupted our precious calm with four words: "They are almost here."

So soon? I nearly dropped the bundle of bandages that were gathered in my arms, and my heart thundered to an abrupt stop in my chest. They are almost here...

The reality of the situation swept over the room like a tsunami, and families began hugging one another, whispering sweet-nothings to loved ones as they poured in the doorway to say their last goodbyes.

Raegan wasted no time in finding his mate and son, gathering them both up in his arms like it was the last time they'd all be together again. I had to look away. Had to give them privacy in their last moments together.

Instead, my gaze turned to the front door, searching desperately for the familiar, stormy blue eyes that I'd grown to love.

Nolan arrived a few moments, and it took every ounce of strength in my bones to keep from running across the room into his arms. Instead, he came to a stop in the doorway, a painful amount of space separating us. His blue orbs swam with the words that we never got to say to one another, the memories that we never got to make...

A dull ache echoed in my chest, and I dared to take a step forward, but a hand on my shoulder snapped me out of my grief-driven trance. Angelina stood at my side, holding me back from joining my mate. I'd nearly forgotten. We couldn't touch for fear that his scent might paint a target on my back. The realization nearly crippled me, and I forced myself to look away from Nolan. From my stolen future.

He forced himself to do the same thing. When I looked up again, he'd disappeared. Most of the warriors were shuffling out of the pack house already, taking up their position on the makeshift battlefield.

One familiar, broad-shouldered body lingered on the front porch of the pack house. Not invited inside, but looking over the occupants nonetheless. Despite the chaos surrounding him, Dominic serenely surveyed the bustling clearing in front of the packhouse.

In spite of the fear-filled memories of the night of my heat, I approached the Rogue Alpha. My old friend. So much had changed since the night we first met in the forest, and not for the better. But there was something I needed to say.

Dominic didn't turn to face me, but I knew that he sensed my approach. I came to a stop by his side, allowing my own gaze to sweep over the warriors preparing to fight. I ignored the uncomfortable prickle that sparked at my skin at our proximity.

We were silent for several moments before I swallowed the lump in my throat and dared a glance up at the male. "Dominic," I demanded, hiding the shake in my voice.

If he heard my hesitation, he made no indication of it, only lowering his gaze to meet mine. Something like fierce regret shone in his beautiful blue orbs, and I knew that memories of his birthday evening still haunted his every dream-- every nightmare. He'd likely punish himself for his actions until the day he died...

I loosed a ragged breath, suddenly aware of the fierce, selfish, desperation that clawed at my chest. I reached out to take Dominic's hand, fingers clutching onto his like my life depended on it.

"Please," I whispered. "Please keep him safe."

My words were soft, but I felt their treachery like a blow to the gut. Dominic understood what I was asking of him. Keep Nolan safe above all else.

A single droplet of emotion slipped out of the corner of Dominic's eye, and he did not wipe it away. The tear trickled down his cheek, following the path of his scar, until it disappeared below his strong jaw.

The Rogue Alpha nodded, his eyes hardening. "I'll bring him back to you, Charlotte."

Emotion clogged my throat, prohibiting any words of gratitude from escaping. He squeezed my hand three times, slowly and deliberately, and turned toward the battlefield to join his brother-- my mate.

I knew, then, that Dominic would die to deliver Nolan back to me. And I hadn't been able to offer him one last, shred of forgiveness to take to the grave.