I cursed beneath my breath, tugging at the roots of my hair as I stared at the blur of cedar trees racing past my passenger window. My teeth ground against each other, and I tried to concentrate on steadying my breaths.

Tapping my foot against the car's carpeted floor, I risked a glance at my companion. "Angelina– you have to go faster."

The witch didn't take her eyes off of the road as she hissed her reply. "I can't go any fucking faster, Charlie!"

On any other day, her words might have stung. But, at that moment, I felt numb.

We'd been driving for over hours already, and it felt like we weren't any closer to stopping the spell that would take the lives of three beings. As soon as Angelina agreed to take me to the faultline, we raced to the packhouse garage and selected the fastest vehicle we could get our hands on. But even in the fastest car at our disposal, this was not a race that we could win easily...

The red LED clock on the car's dashboard read 11:46 PM, and Angelina estimated that we still had another 10 minutes until we reached the faultline.

I cradled my head in my hands, praying that Nolan could not feel my distress through our mindlink. If he received any indication that I knew about the cost of the spell's sacrifice, he might tell Zephora to begin the magic before midnight. That was a risk I couldn't take.

It was the only reason I hadn't dared to call him yet. It was the only reason I hadn't reached out via our mindlink to beg him to save himself.

Angelina's fingers shook on the steering wheel as she forced the car into a harsh turn, narrowly missing a tree that had fallen on the side of the road. We'd traveled to the middle of nowhere, it seemed.

"Angelina, if we don't make it in time..." Nausea threatened to creep up my throat at the thought of arriving at the faultline too late– of bursting through the clearing to find my mate dead. Drained of his blood...

"Don't talk like that," Angelina whispered, but her voice cracked, revealing her own skepticism.

Suddenly, our headlights reflected against something remarkably shiny in the distance. My breath caught in my throat as the glossy black paint of Nolan's SUV shone brighter in our headlights as we approached.

"Thank the Moon Goddess!" I gasped. "It's the car. We made it!"

I nearly sobbed in relief, but upon glancing at Angelina again, my heart fell into the pit of my stomach. Her lips were parted, and something like despair was written across her features. "Angelina?"

She remained silent for several, painfully long moments, bringing our car to a slow stop mere paces away from the rear of the SUV. I realized, too late, that fresh tears were rolling down Angelina's cheeks.

"A-Angelina?" I tried again, although her name sounded hollow on my tongue.

She started to shake her head, her knuckles turning white as she clutched the steering wheel. "This isn't right... The faultline is still a few miles away. I d-didn't r-realize..."

My stomach felt like it had bottomed out, and I struggled to pull breath into my lungs as I waited for Angelina to continue. "What?" I demanded, more forcefully than I'd intended. "What didn't you realize?"

"The faultline is in the middle of the f-forest!" Angelina finally managed to sputter. "T-the road w-won't take us there. We have to get there on f-foot, okay?"

Her words washed over me like the shadow of death itself, and the void reopened in my chest. My head snapped to the passenger side window, and I squinted into the darkness. It was a desperate, foolish attempt in hopes of seeing a distant light through the foliage, marking the location of the ritual, but there was only shadow.

"O-okay," I rasped, my fingers trembling as I fumbled to unclasp my seatbelt. "We'll need to run, th-then."

"Charlie," Angelina whispered, and the defeat in her voice nearly shattered me.

I shook my head, tears beginning to blur the lights of the dashboard once more. "No, I'm not giving up."

Angelina wept, her lower lip trembling as she reached out to take my left hand in both of hers. She whispered my name again, but I snatched my fingers away from her grasp, desperate to hold on to some shred of hope.

"No!" I shouted this time, my voice becoming shrill as the reality of our situation began to seep into my bones. "No, no, we n-need to s-stop them! I c-can't l-lose him. P-please!"

"Charlie," Angelina said again, her voice firmer than before. She leaned forward, taking Nolan's cellphone that I'd brought along out of the cupholder. "It's time to call your mate, and I'm going to call my mother... T-to say goodbye."

I felt my heart crack deep in my chest when Angelina placed the cell phone in my lap. I stared at the device, unable to move or properly comprehend the situation. I hardly noticed my friend slip out of the driver's door, palming her own cell-phone, to afford us both some privacy.

Somehow, my fingers slid across the screen to unlock Nolan's phone. Numb, I navigated to Nolan's recent calls and scrolled until I found Raegan's name amongst the list of contacts. I knew that the Beta would stand by his Alpha's side until the end, so he was the best person to call to reach Nolan.

Of course, I could have mindlinked with my mate. But I needed to physically hear him, not the diluted echo of his words in my head. So I took a deep breath and pressed the green 'call' button.

My teeth clamped down on my lips in a last-ditch effort to compose myself as the phone rang. On the second ring, someone picked up.

"Charlie?" Raegan answered, a deep sadness evident in his voice.

I forced myself to swallow the lump clogging my throat. My words were thick as I whispered, "Let me speak to him... P-please."

There was a long pause on the other line, and I knew that Raegan was likely debating whether to obey my command. Nolan and Zephora had undoubtedly ordered the group to cease any contact with us. Finally, he released a long breath. "Of course."

Static buzzed in my ear as Raegan transferred the phone, but then Nolan's voice filled the void. "Charlie?"

"Nolan," I said at nearly the same time. Pain lanced through my heart upon hearing the emotion that thickened my name on his lips.

"I was just about to call you. Listen, I need to tell you something, my love–"

"Please don't do it," I interrupted him with a sob. I wasn't sure if I could physically handle hearing him say the words out loud.

He sucked in a long breath, and his voice cracked on the other line as he said, "I have to. I have no other choice, Charlotte."

"Y-yes you do," I countered, tears blurring the world around me. I shook my head, clutching the phone to my ear like it was my lifeline. "Please, I'm begging you. I'm begging you... We have to find another way."

"How can I ask anyone else to take my place?" Nolan rasped. "Charlie, I am so, so sorry,"

He released a ragged breath into the speaker, and I realized the sound was a muffled sob. My mate, the renowned Black Lupis Alpha, was crying as we said our final goodbye.

I clamped my eyes shut, holding a hand over my mouth in an effort to dull the sound of my own brokenness. I couldn't speak– couldn't form words as I realized that there was truly nothing more to be done.

Nolan would give his life if it meant protecting those that he loved. He would sacrifice himself to create a world where his pack could live free. Where I could live free...

"I'm almost at the f-faultline," I whimpered. "Wait– w-wait for me to get to you. L-let me b-be with you. Please."

There was a sniffle on the other line. "There's no time, baby. It needs to happen at midnight."

I dared to look at the car's digital clock and could't suppress a sob. It read 11:56.

I couldn't speak. I could only curl my legs into my chest and cry– brace myself for my world to be shattered.

In my silence, Nolan continued. "You are the best thing to ever happen to me, Charlotte. My only regret in this life is that I did not get to spend more time with you. I love you."

His words poured over me, and I knew that the final goodbye was approaching. I gasped for breath, unable to bring any meaningful oxygen into my lungs. "I love you, too," I choked, although the words slurred together.

"I have to go," he whispered, his voice breaking mid-sentence. "Be strong. Be happy."

"N-no!" I cried, but the line went dead.

Agony, unlike anything I'd felt before, lanced through my chest. The sensation of a hundred daggers bursting through my ribcage nearly crippled me, and the blinding pain slowly began to spread. It extended to my limbs, branching out to every bone in my body as if the bones were snapping in half, one by one.I barely managed to reach for the car's door handle, pushing the door open, before I fell onto the wet ground, retching.

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

The torment crescendoed. Black spots filled my vision, and I screamed. But no shrill cry penetrated the night sky. No.

There was only a howl.

Just as quickly as the pain arrived, it began to dissipate. I regained feeling in my arms and legs, and my vision slowly cleared. The entire world became clearer around me, like I could see every individual leaf lining the trees that crowded around the car. I turned my gaze downward, and, instead of hands, I saw massive, taloned paws.

My wolf.

Acting on instinct, I began to move. My claws seeped into the wet earth beneath me, grabbing hold of the ground so that I could launch myself forward.

Like an arrow, I cut through the underbrush and tree limbs. I didn't need Angelina to tell me the location of the faultline. My body seemed to know– seemed to sense the magic pulsating in the veins of the earth itself. Perhaps my wolf was simply carrying me closer to her mate. As if she knew that I never would have made it on time as a human. As if the devastation of our loss was enough to finally break through the wall that had separated us for my life.

There were minutes– seconds– left until the moon reached its peak in the sky. My copper-gray paws catapulted me forward at an impossibly fast rate, and I prayed to the Moon Goddess that it would be fast enough.

Nolan?! I screamed through our mindlink, one last desperate attempt to connect to my mate. Nolan! I'm coming– please!

If he heard my pleas, I didn't know. There was a startling surge beneath my feet, almost like the ground began to radiate power– magic– from deep below the earth's surface. The disturbance caused me to lose my footing, and my strides faltered.

Poignant magic shook through me, rattling the depths of my very being, and I knew that the spell to end the hybrids had begun.

And I was too late.