Chapter 230
LOGAN
The Blightwood stood before me like a promise and a punishment all at once.
Branches arched high above, skeletal and twisted, their tips clawing at the bruised sky like they wanted to tear it open. The air was damp and metallic, thick with the scent of rot and old things buried deep. Even the light here felt wrong–diffused, gray, like it had passed through a veil of shadow before reaching the forest floor.
I hadn’t meant to come back here.
The first time, it had been Cassandra’s idea. Her voice, full of false confidence, whispering that there were powers older than the Council, powers that didn’t care about bloodlines or mating bonds or whether or not you were a disgrace to your pack.
But now? Now I was here because I had nowhere else to go.
Maggie had been captured. I didn’t know what she’d already said or what she might say if they pressed her hard enough. And if the Alpha Council had issued a warrant for me, then it was only a matter of time before someone tracked me down.
I needed protection.
Leverage.
Power.
Something.
Anything.
I didn’t know what I was going to ask the Priestess for–only that she was the last hand left to play. And I was out of time.
I stepped into the forest, and it swallowed me whole.
The canopy blocked out what little sunlight remained. My boots crunched over brittle leaves, and with every step, the air grew heavier. Wet, almost. The kind of thick that clung to your skin and crawled into your lungs.
Around me, the trees whispered.
Not the usual rustling of leaves. Not wind.
Actual whispers.
I froze, my ears straining, but the voices melted back into the hush
I pressed on.
Farther in. Deeper still.
Something slithered across the path ahead, just out of sight. Something too long, too low. I didn’t look.
The forest was watching. I could feel it. In the gooseflesh on my arms. In the sharp prickling at the base of my neck.
And then-
She was there.
One moment the path was empty. The next, she was standing in it, draped in smoke and shadow.
The Dark Priestess.
“Logan of the Forsaken Vow,” she said, her voice like leaves scraping over bone. “You’ve come back.”
My mouth opened, but nothing came out.
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Chapter 230
+25 BONUS
I hadn’t expected her to look so… real. Tangible. She wasn’t some phantom or whisper. She was flesh. And something else entirely.
Finally, I managed, “I’m in some trouble.”
She tilted her head. “On more than one plane.”
I frowned. “What?”
She smiled slightly, and I hated how it made the shadows lean in closer. “It’s not just the wolves who are after you now.”
I didn’t ask what she meant I didn’t want to know.
“The wolves are enough,” I muttered.
She regarded me for a moment, unreadable. “Why have you come?
I hesitated.
This was it. My moment to bargain. To turn the tide back in my favor.
“My… fated mate,” I began. “She knows things. Things that could destroy me. She’s in custody. They’re going to put her on trial. If she speaks, my life will be over.”
The Priestess watched me like a cat might watch a bird that hadn’t noticed the open mouth below.
“And what would you have me do about it?” she asked.
I swallowed hard.
It hit me then–what I wanted. What I needed.
“If she’s dead,” I said, voice raw, “she can’t talk.”
The words hung there. Heavy. Poisonous.
The Priestess arched a brow. “You would have me kill your mate?”
“She’s not my mate,” I snapped. Too fast. Too defensive.
“Just because you’ve rejected your bond,” she said softly, “doesn’t mean the Moon Goddess has.”
I looked away, jaw clenched.
