Kaden pounced on her, following her all the way down, and slashed at her chest. Blood welled up there, and for a moment, I thought we had her.
Then a blast of sun magic hit all three of us, knocking Kaden completely off of Evanora and making Jordan and I stumble. I swung around, ready to fight. Roxandra's enraged face charged toward us, but then her eyes settled on Jordan and began to glow with bright sunlight.
"Jordan," she called out. "Come to me."
I felt the immense power in her words, and though Jordan began to tremble, he managed to hold his ground. The moonstone necklace seemed to be warding off her magic, though I wasn't sure how long it would last.
I wove tendrils of moon magic around Jordan, shielding him from her power, and she let out a sound of angry protest. With her magic no longer lashing at him, he launched himself at Roxandra, who let out a yelp and disappeared in a puff of smoke. She reappeared behind us and blasted me with more sunbeams, but this time I was ready and I managed to block them.
While Roxandra had us distracted, Evanora slowly sat up and met my eyes. I had enough time to see the utter hatred and spite contained in them, and then she reached for her staff. I opened my mouth to scream for Kaden to kick it away from her, but her fingers closed around it before I could even make a sound. Then she disappeared in a burst of light and smoke.
The other Sun Witches began vanishing as well, teleporting away much like I could. Dammit, they were getting away again!
Then Kaden suddenly appeared out of nowhere next to Roxandra, his invisibility dropping just before he sank his teeth into her arm, injecting her with Ophiuchus pack poison. She looked over at him, infuriated, and then the light left her eyes. She slumped forward, and he let her go, letting her fall to the ground in a slump.
The other Sun Witches had all disappeared, but a flicker of hope rose up in my chest. We finally had a Sun Witch.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
With the Sun Witches gone, the control over the fighting shifters was broken. It went from a loud, messy battle to absolute silence in just a few heartbeats. It was incredible, how quickly the control was broken, and then the assembled shifters remembered themselves.
A howl went up, followed by a few human screams, murmurs of confusion, and many pained cries. I looked at the carnage, at the number of both wolf and human bodies that lay on the ground, unmoving and covered in blood. There were too many dead, and even more were injured. I didn't know how many more of the living shifters would die from their wounds alone. I closed my eyes against the grisly scene, trying to reconcile it with the plan we'd had in our heads. Even closing my eyes, there was nothing I could do to block out the pained cries of the shifters as they realized what they'd done, and how they'd attacked their own pack members, friends, and family.
The Virgo alpha's voice cut through the panic and pain that was welling up in me. “Virgos!” she called, and I opened my eyes to see her pack gathering around her. She looked worn, tired, and completely horrified, but still fierce as hell. “Start healing whoever you can. Start with our pack members first so they can help us, and then take care of the other packs. Friends and enemies alike," she added, giving them all a meaningful look.
The Virgo pack members all dispersed quickly and started picking their way through the blood-drenched clearing, crouching over shifters to check if they were breathing or not. Their movements were slowed a bit by the snow on the ground, but they didn't let it stop them.
“Join them,” Kaden ordered, looking around at the Ophiuchus pack members closest to him. They nodded and moved forward to help the Virgos with their own healing powers.
Kaden then moved to my side, and together we gazed across the clearing at the aftermath of the battle. Everyone was bloody and exhausted, and there was a sense of defeat permeating the air. We hadn't won anything, and we'd lost a lot. Too much, really. Wolves had been made to fight and kill each other, all because of the Sun Witches' control. There was no way we could have foreseen this or prepared for it, and I wasn't sure if the survivors would be able to deal with the guilt over what they'd done.
“How are we ever going to defeat the Sun Witches when they can control us so easily?” Ethan asked. His gaze was fixed on Stella, who was tending to one of his pack members. The fallen shifter looked on the verge of death, and Stella's eyes flicked up, bright with tears.
I didn't have an answer, and from the resounding silence from everyone else, they didn't either. I was still reeling from the amount of violence we'd all just been subjected to. The Sun Witches really did see us as nothing more than animals. To them, we were completely disposable, just pawns to be moved about and tossed aside when we'd served our purpose.
But at least now we knew what they were capable of, and so did all of the other Zodiac Wolves. Maybe we'd be able to change the minds of the other packs and convince them to join us too, to help make a truly united stand against the Sun Witches for once. It wouldn't be easy, but we'd have to try—and we had Jordan on our side now. Of that, I was sure. If he could change, then anything was possible.
Besides, we had a Sun Witch in our captivity too. We would finally be able to break the mate bond between me and Jordan, and hopefully, Roxandra would have some answers for us as well. We would interrogate her about ways to break the spells that locked away our wolves and our mates, and figure out how to stop Evanora from controlling everyone too.
"We'll find a way," I told Ethan, finally answering his question, and the words resonated through my bones like a promise. I wouldn't let the Sun Witches win. Not after what they'd done to me, to all the shifters, and to the Moon Witches too.
I looked around for Larkin, remembering my promise to keep an eye out on her. She was with Wesley and looked as pale as a ghost, but they both appeared unharmed. I let out a relieved sigh.
Kaden wrapped his arms around me and I leaned into him, grateful for his touch, even if a part of me was still mad at him. I couldn't face that yet though, not when I was relieved to just be alive. Someday soon we would have a reckoning, and I wasn't sure where we would end up after that, but for now, I just wanted him to hold me.
The sun cast a grim glow over the already grisly scene, but as I watched, it brightened just a bit. Shifters stood up, brushed off the death that hung over them, and walked together side by side as they left the clearing. Among all the pain and suffering, there was a small glimmer of hope for the future. It was barely enough to light a fire by, but it was still there.
And I was going to cling to it with everything I had.
THANK YOU for reading Sun Crossed! Will Ayla and Kaden finally get their happy ending and stop the Sun Witches? Find out in Zodiac Aligned, the final book in the Zodiac Wolves saga!
On a personal note, I want to thank all my readers for your patience and understanding while I wrote this book, which had to be delayed multiple times. In December 2021 I was suddenly diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer and underwent immediate surgery to remove the tumor. I had to put this book on hold to deal with my recovery and the start of six months of intense chemotherapy. Somehow I managed to keep writing even while undergoing my first few chemo treatments, and if the book isn’t as perfect as I might have liked, I hope you will forgive me for doing the best I could under the circumstances. The book also changed a lot after my diagnosis, because having cancer changes you in ways you could never imagine. Things are tough right now, but when I think of the future, I’m still filled with hope, just like Ayla is at the end of this book.