Fear curdled my gut. “You’re hoping if we stand here long enough he’ll catch up and maul me.”

Didn’t she get it? If Graeson had truly lost his mind, she would be next.

“No wonder you work for the conclave with smarts like those.” She blocked my feint to the left, and I gasped as pain radiated through my shoulder. “You’re his chosen mate. This should thrill you. Your sacrifice will be the making of him.”

She was off her rocker. “If he kills me in a blind rage, he’ll never forgive himself.”

“He’ll never trust his wolf again.” Delight sparkled in her eyes. “Finally, after all these years, the pissing match with Bessemer will end. Cord will accept his position and settle down.”

“You want him broken.” A thready rumble pumped through my chest. “Why did you make that deal with him if this was what you wanted?”

“I made that deal, because having children raises my status in the pack. Having them with a beta? That puts me second only to Aisha, and she’s childless.” A curious expression twisted her features. “You really care, don’t you? I thought…” She laughed. “I don’t know what I thought. That you’re fae, and fae always have an agenda, but not you.”

“I won’t let you do this to him.” Graeson had enough demons riding him. I wasn’t letting this she-devil she-wolf climb aboard too. “He deserves better than this, better than you.”

Muscles tensed, I lunged for her, ramming my good shoulder into her chest, crying out when agony radiated across my upper back. My spur emerged, and I raked it down her jugular. She gurgled and staggered back, clutching the raw meat of her throat. Blood oozed through her fingers as I gaped at her.

This was not right. Something was wrong. A spur didn’t cause that kind of damage. Her hand slipped, and I saw them.

Claw marks.

Numb, I glanced at my hands. Silver-white fur covered my arms and tickled my nape, the magic climbing higher than ever. Crimson stained the fingers of my right hand. The taste of her blood tightened my throat a beat later.

Recalled magic, it must be. But how? One practice session did not a master make.

Another howl rent the air, this time in a different direction. Gods have mercy. He was circling us.

“Don’t…go,” Imogen wheezed, dropping to one knee. “He’ll…kill…me when he…smells your blood...”

Rubbing the heels of my palms into my eyes, I struggled to find the images Dell had loaned me. They were my memories now, but fear kept them blurry and out of focus. No use. I reached for the source and smashed into a barrier.

“Dell.” I chanted her name over and over in my head. “Are you there?”

A trickle of light glimmered behind my eyes, and I felt Dell’s arrival. “I’m here.”