Chapter 481

We don’t have enough silver collars for them all to keep them from shifting, so we reserved those for the most violent of the wolves we have trapped.

“You need to rest man. It’s been almost twenty four hours for you.”

“You too.” I look at Dev, Jax right behind him and I have this pit in my stomach. It’s easy to talk about rest and taking a break when your mate is standing right next to you.

“Hey! Don’t do that. That deflection sh*t won’t work for you any more than it works for Elara. We’re good here, for now at least. The magic is messing with you more than the rest of us. It has your mate and your wolf. Apparently it’s talking to you, based on all the muttering you are doing. Unless you are, in fact, losing your mind.” They both smile at me. I can’t return it.

He’s not wrong, I am exhausted and it’s more than just being up all day. The bond to my wolf is suppressed, I can’t feel the mate bond at all and I’m not getting any real answers. I’m in a massive guessing game. I lean back against the nearest hard surface and slide down to my butt.

“An hour; that’s all. I will sit here for an hour, then we need to figure out how to get inside.”

“I think you should focus more on the fact that you look like a glowstick.” Jax smiles wide.

“What?!” I look down and my arms are in fact glowing. “What the hell?!” I jump up. As soon as I’m standing the glow stops. “What just happened?”

“Well, it seems, you’re the only one who’s allowed to touch the magic wall.” Dev speculates.

I turn and see what I was leaning on is the Rift magic barrier. I step forward to put my hands in it again As soon as I make contact, my- whole body lights up. “It wasn’t doing that before when I was pounding on it to let me in look at both of them, but they shrug looking as confused as I feel. “What do you mean I’m the only one who can touch it?”

“It has let you pound on it, yell at it, and now rest against it. When any of us get close it starts to crackle and got shocked brushing up against it whert was helping one of the witches. It only likes you, for some reason.” Jax sounds offended at the idea.

“Maybe it’s a trade off?” Dev muses. “It has your wolf and mate, so you have, sort of, access to the magic He shrugs again: “Either way, it Seems to want you to rest as well. So sit. Now. And rest Alpha.” Dev emphasizes the tile the same way Emmery did. As*hole.

I take a deep breath. I don’t want to rest, but he’s not wrong, I need it. If the situations were reversed, I would probably use my Beta aura on him to force him to rest.

I sit back down and lean against the Rift’s barrier. It’s warm and comfortable. I can feel the magic wrap me up and my eyelids are instantly heavy.

“We’ve got this Ben, get ready to save your mate.” Are the last words I hear from Dev, before I’m plunged into darkness then wake up, huddled in some dark bushes. A voice that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up speaks low.

“It’s more perfect than we could have planned. Soon, we can come out of hiding and those righteous hags won’t stand a chance.” Copyright 2025 Miss L Writes and

Ember Mantel Productions.

I feel a vibration. When I look, a terrified girl is sitting next to me, shivering with a

glint in her eye. I know that look. It’s excitement or wonder.

“Hey. What’s happening?” I whisper, and she ignores me. I move to touch her arm, and my hand passes right through. What the f*ck?!