Michaelâs POV
I was burning everywhere. What the hell was happening to me?
âMake it stop!â I scream, shaking uncontrollably on the floor. One minute I was fine, reaching out to help Aleena, then the next, the burning started and spread all over my body. It just kept getting hotter, and it never seemed to end.
âMichael!â Aleenaâs beautiful voice fills my head, causing the pain to intensify. All I want to do is reach for her, lose myself in her, but I canât, I canât move, I canât breathe, I canât even see straight anymore.
âThatâs some messed up magic right there, â Alune Laughs through my daughterâs mouth.
âWhat do you mean? Just help him, Alune, please.â Aleena begged, still clinging to any part of me she could get a hold of. I could hear the fear in her voice, and all I wanted to do was wipe it away for her, but every time I thought about her or even heard her voice, the pain intensified.
âGee, I donât knowâ Alune looked at her nails like she was bored. âI could, but it will cost you; I donât do things for free, you know.â
âAlune, donât assert your dominance now. He needs help,â Aleena begged her, causing more pain in my head.
âYouâre hurting him every time you talk or touch him; you know that, rightâ she smirked. If she werenât using my daughter like a living body suit, I would want to smack the cockiness right off her face.
âWhat are you on about? Just help him, please; I helped you now return the favourâ, she begged.
âFine, first off, you need to step away from him. and go find those brothers; get the shadow-cloaked one to stop the spell being cast in that crazy bitches office. That should stop the pain; it wonât break the spell,â she rambled on, sounding bored.
âI have no idea what youâre on aboutâ, Aleena tried to say, but Alune stopped her.
âYou donât have to understand, Elf; you just have to do it; the boy will know what Iâm on aboutâ, she huffed and pointed at the door.
I slummed to the floor as Aleena stood up and left in search of the Chase brothers. I didnât care what they had to do as long as it stopped this insatiable burning.
âYou are in quite the pickle, arenât you, my dear Alphaâ Alune chuckled, kneeling before me; I didnât have the strength to answer her; all I could do was stare at the face of the young woman I raised and hope beyond hope that she was still in there somewhere.
âDonât you worry, daddy of mine; it is so funny feeling all her emotions and actually feeling them with her but also not giving a shit at the same time. For her sake and hers alone, I will help you. Itâs in my best interest to keep my little host happy; that way, I benefit from all she has to offerâ Alune cracked a massive smile, that when Ayla would smile like that, she looked beautiful, but with Alune behind it, she looked sinister.
I tried to answer, to make any sound I could, but the pain had increased tenfold, and I had nothing left to give.
Finally, the sweetness of escape rushed up to claim me as darkness clouded my vision; the last thing I saw was Aylaâs eyes watching me and her hand as she waved goodbye.
Archerâs POV
Aiden was insanely strong. Dragging him outside with Axelâs help was a challenge. Whatever was going on with him wasnât good. He was a massive ball of pent-up anger; his eyes were dark, and his features were harsh. My brother was not my brother right now.
Arriving back in the living world was disorienting enough but to be thrown straight back into this was something else altogether. I refuse to let my mind think about Ayla right now. It was my fault she was hurt; my fault she was going through hell. If we lost her because of this, I would never forgive myself.
âYour right; it is your fault; if you hadnât gotten yourself stuck in that place, our mate wouldnât have had to go fetch your arseâ, Aiden snarled at me and thrashed around as we all but wrestled him into submission.
âWhat the bloody hell is wrong with you, Aid?â Axel was starting to lose his temper.
âWrong with me, huh, wrong with me? Nothing is wrong with me, mate. You wanted answers, so I got them for you, be grateful,â Aiden snapped at him.
Blaze was forcing his way through more and more, and it was becoming harder to hold him in place. If he pushed any harder, he would shift entirely, and it would be Blaze we had to deal with, and he was nowhere near as easy to get along with as Aiden is.
âControl your wolf, brotherâ, Axel growled, but I was sure I could hear Ace coming through a bit too.
âLet me guess, youâre going to bring Titan to the party, heyâ, Blaze growled at me, his eyes entirely in wolf form now.
I was going to reply, but something didnât feel right. Normally when my brotherâs wolves show themselves, Titan would insist he be included, but the more I reached for him to ensure he was okay after our little trip, the less I could feel him.
âTitan?â I called out to him with my mind, but there was no reply; I couldnât even sense him near. Not even a glimmer of an answer in response. Panic swallowed me whole. Titan wasnât there. I was alone; my wolf was missing.
Aleenaâs POV
Racing away from Michael, my heart in my mouth as I ran, searching for the giant triplets I had sent away moments before. I couldnât get over the words the Exalted had said back in that room, that I was the cause of Michaelâs pain, that I was making it that bad. To make it worse, finding out it was magically caused sent my mind whirling. Only black magic caused pain, and only a binding spell of great magnitude would cause that reaction.
âWhat on earth are they doing to him? Who is doing this? I canât lose himâ, I muttered as I searched every room.
I saw no one other than Michaelâs son Masonâs new girlfriend leaving the house in a hurry. I decided to follow her in hopes that the brothers had followed my direction exactly and taken Aiden outside.
Pulling the massive front door open, the cold air rushed to meet me, but for once, it didnât bother me; I ran outside. As I rounded the corner, I heard them before I saw them. Aiden was in a full-blown rage explosion, and his brothers were doing all they could to hold him back. He was the biggest of the three, and he was sure as hell giving it all he had to break free of their hold.
If what Alune had said was true. Then one of them, most likely Aiden, given his current behaviour, had been swept too deeply into the shadows. I could sense the shadowâs presence on all of them from day one, Iâm surprised I didnât realise what had happened sooner, but I guess with everything going on with Ayla, it was easy to miss things.
âCalm the fuck down, brother, I get you are worried but fuck me; this is out of order.â
I watched the scene unfold before my eyes, and it was scary but magnificent all at the same time.
Aiden was massive, and his wolf Blaze was trying to bust out. Bulging muscles and strained clothes were all I could see. Axel and Archer had anchored their feet in the ground and held on with all their strength. One had his arms locked around Aidenâs legs while the other had his arms pinned behind his back, using their own arms to lock his in place. You could see Axelâs wolf, Ace showing his eyes now too, but Archer was still fully himself. He must have strong self-control to keep his wolf in check when his brothers reared their heads. It was impressive to see their sheer strength and a warning to anyone who witnessed how truly powerful these three were.
âBoys, enough; I need your helpâ, I shouted at the top of my voice, hoping I would be loud enough to get through all the growling.
They continued to tussle, not noticing me at all. I was running out of time, and patients they would listen to me if I had to force them apart.
Lifting my hand, I cast a simple holding spell that would keep them in place so that I could speak, and they would have no choice but to listen. The look on their faces was priceless. I would be laughing my head off at them if it werenât so serious. Aiden looked like he had bitten into a chilli pepper, Axel wore the expression of a stroppy toddler, and Archer looked like he was blowing up a giant balloon.
âListen up, you blundering idiots. Michael is under some intense spell, heâs in agony, and I canât help him. Alune said someone in this house, a woman, is casting this black magic, and one of you can stop her; the one cloaked by shadow is the one who can accomplish this, so please get your shit together and sort this outâ I was almost shouting at them come the end of that, I raked my hand through my hair knowing I looked a mess after the day I had had. Still, I really didnât care; all I wanted right now was for someone to help the man I was starting to catch powerful feelings for. I didnât care how they did it or what they had to do as long as they got it done.
âIâm going to release you now, but trust me, I will put you right back under if you start this shit up again, do you understandâ I stared them down, knowing they couldnât answer me. With a flick of my fingers, they were free, and they stumbled forward, catching themselves at the last minute.
âIf that bloody Alpha didnât mean so much to my Ayla, I wouldnât even be considering doing thisâ, Aiden seethed with anger; it was obvious to see he was the shadow-cloaked brother. He was breathing heavily, trying to gain composure. Forcing his wolf back inside, sweat covered his brow, and his muscles hummed with pent-up tension.
âAiden, I can see the shadows in and around you, I can see your struggling, and I can help you, but right now, I need you to fix this, whatever this is. Please. Alune said itâs only you who can do this, so Iâm begging you, please do this for me,â and I did, I begged, and I wasnât ashamed. I couldnât lose Michael, not when I hadnât even had a chance to figure out what this between us was. I needed that time; I still needed it, even though he wasnât mine.
âFine, but I want my mate back, without that fucking body-snatching whore inside of her, you will help me find a way if I help you save your Alphaâ, he spoke with power and purpose, and I knew he meant every word,
Dragging his hands over his face and into his hair, he let out a frustrated, disgruntled howl before heading towards the house. His brothers didnât make a move to follow him. They knew this was something for him alone, and they had to accept that, plus they needed to get cleaned up. Aiden had put up a bloody good fight two against one, and he still came out on top.
I just hoped, for his sake, by doing this for Michael, he didnât lose himself completely. It was hard enough pulling a soul back from the shadows as it was, but to retrieve one consumed by shadow was almost unheard of.
I had a long and challenging task ahead of me with that one.