I forced myself to settle into a seated position on the cliff, as that tiny little string that connected me to the asshat stayed flowing and humming in my core. I closed my eyes and tapped into my awakening magic, hoping its use would be felt by Jakub-Dipshit and he’d come calling.

The deep dark cavern beside my forbidden power stretched and yawned. I dipped my awareness into it, coaxing and beckoning that new magic forth.

It slithered upward, those octopus-like tentacles writhing and lengthening as it asked to do my bidding.

My concentration turned inward further as I used that new power to search the area around us. Despite the cloaking spell that Kaillen had placed over himself and his friends, I sensed their forms. I couldn’t see them or hear them, yet I was aware of them. But I hadn’t been aware of Jakub on the ship, which meant that he had to be incredibly strong and powerful.

I felt for my mate, and he was easy to find. It was as if my new power told me that three heartbeats lay just beyond the cliff in that thin forest.

I stretched my magic farther, searching for other life forms as I let my awakening magic swell and rise, the energy around me growing and beckoning. Animals and plant life registered in my senses, but it was different with those creatures. They didn’t have the higher power of thinking that supernaturals and humans did. So while my awakening power was aware of them, it didn’t latch onto them.

A growing sense of invincibility began to consume me as I shifted my power back to Kaillen and his friends and let it grow.

I let my power swell and rise, not pulling on the men so much that they were weakened, but activating my power enough to make myself a beacon of energy, a tidal wave of might, while also having their magic on standby for when Jakub showed. Come and get me, Dipshit.

And as my power consumed me, I realized just how strong I was. Kaillen had hinted that this was what I was truly capable of. That I was a supernatural like none other on earth, and the memory of combining my awakening and forbidden powers with my witch magic and werewolf strength again entered the forefront of my thoughts. I’d only just scratched the surface of all that I was capable of.

My wolf rumbled within me, agreeing that I was truly unique and a force to be reckoned with.

A fierce smile spread across my lips. I would be ready for Jakub if he showed. I knew I could take him on. Now it was only the matter of if he had the balls to face me.

I sat like that until the breeze cooled, yet I didn’t let my focus drift, and because I was now using my wolf, I didn’t grow tired.

So I left the void to my awakening magic open, those tentacles ready, but I didn’t fully latch onto my mate or his friends. I connected with them just enough to tempt Jakub while conserving my powers for the epic battle ahead.

I shifted from where I sat, dust and pebbles moving beneath me.

Something changed in the wind, to the energy in the realm.

My back straightened, as my nerves prickled. A new consciousness drifted toward me, subtle at first, as if the recipient was trying to remain inconspicuous.

Every fiber in my body stood to attention as the newcomer approached on lethally quiet steps.

A tug on the mate bond came next, and a hint of Kaillen’s anxiety strummed to me. He’d sensed something too.

My lips parted as my chest rose shallowly. That new presence drifted closer, not concrete, though, as if the bearer was here but not quite.

It was similar to how it had felt on the ship, when I’d sensed that Jakub was near, yet I couldn’t pinpoint his location.

He’s here.

I fully activated my awakening power and pulled on my mate and his friends. Their power surged into me, and I felt their response, groans of invisible pleasure as I stroked their magic and caressed their insides.

I opened my eyes and gazed out over the vast sea as my power rose. Moonlight glittered off the water and the rolling waves, as blazing starlight filled the sky.

Jakub’s presence drifted toward me, until it felt as though he were only a few feet behind me. Now.

But just as I was about to turn, a sharp tug suddenly came on the mate bond, and then came the feel of Kaillen and his friends’ magic drifting away.

What the hell? I swung around, readying myself for battle even though the energy I’d been commanding had been siphoned away, but—

Nothing was there.

The only thing that greeted me was darkness and the quiet forest beyond. My wolf’s powers kept my vision sharp. Even in the moonlight, objects were clear and focused. Nothing was out of place, yet I could have sworn that Kaillen had just sent me a warning. And why the hell had their powers abruptly cut off?

I sent a questioning emotion along the mate bond back to him, but he didn’t respond.

Uneasiness filled me. I tugged again on the mate bond, calling to Kaillen, but he didn’t pull back. Yet, I could still feel him with my awakening power. His body was still there, but he was strangely quiet, and his magical essence, along with Barnabas’s and Fallon’s, had dimmed.

Oh gods.

I tried to pull at their magic more, to enhance my strength, but it was sluggish and slow, not readily coming to me. Shit.

I pushed to my feet in a blur of werewolf speed. My wolf strained and growled inside me as my gaze darted to the trees, then to the sea, but I still couldn’t sense where Jakub lay, or understand what had happened to Kaillen and his friends.

My heart beat harder. Dammit. It was like on the ship. Jakub had to be wearing that enhanced cloaking spell again. I’d thought maybe with Kaillen’s and his friends’ powers siphoning to me, that I might have been powerful enough to see through it, but with their powers now quiet . . .

I searched again for the three of them with my awakening magic. Kaillen hadn’t moved. Neither had Barnabas nor Fallon. They were still there, exactly as they’d been previously, but what had happened to them?

I felt along the mate bond again, my unease turning into panic. Kaillen! Answer me!

Silence.

My pulse fluttered as my feeling of panic grew. Something was horribly wrong.

I jerked around as I searched and strained for Jakub, but I couldn’t see him, or hear him, or feel him. What the hell did he do?

I took a step toward the trees as my wolf urged me to find my mate. She whined and clawed, beckoning me to go to him.

“Did you really think you could trick me that easily?” a cold, detached voice flowed toward me.

Every hair on my neck stood on end. Jakub.

I froze. “Where are you?” I no longer tried to pretend that I had the upper hand. I clearly didn’t.

I swung around in a circle, searching and hunting for him, but all that responded was a sigh which sounded as though it were coming from a void.

“Did you really think that I wouldn’t know you’d cursed me?”

I twirled around in another circle, and took a step away from the forest. I wouldn’t lead the dipshit to my mate.

“What do you want with me? Why do you keep hunting me?” I readied my witch magic, curling my power into a tight ball of crackling telekinetic and binding spells just waiting to be unleashed.

“So many questions. And they will all be answered soon.” A cold finger traced down my cheek, and I flinched, lurching back, but I wasn’t fast enough.

Pain lashed around my left wrist as something clamped a hold of me. I hurtled my readied magic toward the left, and it shot out of me in an explosion of power.

But Jakub didn’t materialize. My magic shot through the realm, the spell weakening and then dying in a cloud of dust when it never landed on a recipient.

“Kaill—!” But then the world was tumbling and falling beneath me. I was thrown through a void, everything dipping and flowing as my stomach shot into my throat and my voice was cut off in my chest.