Werewolf and Vampire Mate [Book 1 Complete]

chapter twenty-three.

April

The book creates a strange sensation in me, a kind of humming in my veins.

I lead Reed and Nik deeper into the cave system. It slopes down, taking us further underground. Beside us, the red river thins out to a tiny trickle of a stream.

Wickham had said that the river flows with the blood of her enemies, but his words were wrong. This stream isn't thick with the blood of the Druid's enemies; it is laced with the blood of her lover, who nearly bled out in her embrace in the very cavern where we stood not long ago, where the grimoire was laid to rest. That's why the stream healed me; it is forever imbued with vampire blood.

"Let me see," Nik says, holding his hand out for the book. With great reluctance, I pass it over to him. It feels wrong to let it go. He opens it and frowns down at the weathered, old pages.

"What?" Reed asks.

"It's not in English...or any language I know," Nik mutters.

"What are you talking about?" I question, peering over his shoulder. "It is in English. I can read it fine."

Reed stops to look as well. "That's...definitely not English, April. It looks more like runes."

I take the book back from Nik, staring down at the pages. Although the ink is smudged in some spots, I can read the text easily.

"No one can read it but you," Nik says thoughtfully, his eyebrows furrowed. "It really was meant for you."

I hug the grimoire close to my chest, feeling oddly possessive over it.

"We should get moving," I say. "We need to get back."

"We'll never make it in time." Reed's expression is tense, his eyes filled with anger and sadness. "Wickham is going to start killing our pack soon."

"How do you know we're even going the right way?" Nik asks me.

"I'm not sure how I know," I admit. "I just do; this is the way. And it cuts straight underground all the way back. If you carry me and run, we'll make it. We have to."

Nik and Reed exchange a look and I know they're skeptical of my newfound knowledge.

But I need them to trust me, just like I'm putting trust in this instinct that the grimoire has awoken inside of me.

Reed bundles me up against his chest and we start to run.

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The deeper we venture into the cave system, the darker it gets, until I can't see anything. Reed and Nik have better vision than me, so it is easy for them to navigate, but for me everything fades into pitch black nothingness.

An hour passes. And then perhaps another?

I am sick with dread—is Wickham murdering our pack as we speak? Are they already dead?

Surely he must know it is a long and perilous journey to retrieve the grimoire; will he give us some leniency now that he can hopefully see we are heading back? Does the tracker in my necklace even work this far underground?

The speed at which we run makes me feel queasy but I don't ask Reed to stop. He just holds me close, pressing a kiss against my forehead periodically.

"Stop!" I hear Nik shout and we slow down. A sliver of roof in the cave system has broken away and warm, late afternoon sunlight floods us, allowing me to see the outline of Nik's face as he listens intently.

"We're close, I can hear the Nightcrawlers up ahead...how are we back already? We traveled far longer than that to the mountain," he says.

"It's the grimoire," I say. "It has to be."

I don't know for sure if the grimoire simply made the journey to retrieve it longer or has made the journey back shorter, but there is no way of interrogating that thought further. We'll never know.

Reed lowers me to my feet and we move forward silently.

The guttural sounds of growls and jeers reach my ears and then I hear Wickham's booming voice. "...bring her forward!"

Reed's eyes start to glow amber and he jogs ahead whilst Nik helps me over the slippery cave floor until suddenly we round a bend and are met with the open cavern and immense presence of the nightcrawlers.

I had almost forgotten how suffocating it was to be looked upon with that many blood-thirsty sets of eyes.

In the center of the cavern is our pack. They are beaten and weary, hungry and exhausted, the children crying and huddled together.

Heath is being held back by four Nightcrawlers as he struggles to get free. "Let her go! Don't fucking touch her!" He shouts as he twists and snaps at the vampires.

Lark has been shoved down on her knees...are they about to execute her?

"Stop!" Reed commands, his voice echoing around us.

Wickham's eyes lock onto me and widen. "I thought you weren't coming back. The signal on your tracker stopped transmitting some hours ago," he says. And then his gaze drops to the book in my arms. "Did you find it?" He steps forward, rabid and desperate to know. "The incantation, the one that cures all ailments, did you find it?"

I hesitate, looking over at the pack, at Lark's wide and terrified gaze. "Yes," I admit. "I found it."

A smile breaks out over his face. "Finally. Finally, I will feel the warmth of the sun." He steps closer, pale eyes shining with feverish anticipation. "Do it. Right now!"

When I don't move fast enough, he snaps, "Do it or your packmates die!"

Lark whimpers as the hold the vampires have on her tightens.

I open the book, running my fingers down the page, over the various etchings. The power of the grimoire rushes through me, heady and strong. "I did find the incantation you were looking for—the one that cures any sickness, any injury," I explain. "But I found another one as well."

"Oh? And what incantation is that?"

My gaze meets his and I almost feel pity.

Almost.

But the words of the incantation fall from my lips all the same: "Let there be light."

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