The Alpha's Forbidden Vow novel Chapter 90

POV: Selene

The witch’s words were a cold fist of dread in my gut.

Forget me. Forget Leo. Become a mindless beast.

It was a fate worse than death.

“Can you help him?” I asked, my voice a desperate plea.

The young woman, Cora, looked from Zane’s pale face to mine, a strange, calculating look in her eyes.

“You saved my life,” she said, her voice quiet but firm. “An act of honor. My own code demands that I repay such a debt.”

A wave of relief so potent it almost made me weep washed over me.

“But it will not be easy,” she warned, her expression turning serious. “The ingredients for the antidote are rare. And the ritual to administer it must be performed in a place of pure, natural energy, to counteract the dark magic of the poison.”

“What do you need?” I asked, my own resolve hardening. “I’ll get it. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Cora nodded. “There are three key herbs. Moonpetal, which blooms only in the direct light of a full moon. Sunstone Moss, which grows only on rocks that face the dawn. And the root of a Whisperwood tree, which is notoriously difficult to find.”

The full moon. My mind raced. According to the lunar cycle, the next full moon was in four days.

“We have four days,” I said, a new urgency in my voice.

“We do not have four days to search,” Cora corrected gently. “Zane’s condition is deteriorating rapidly. The exertion of using his Alpha power has accelerated the poison’s effects. He has maybe two days before the delirium, the memory loss, begins to set in. We must find a safe place to shelter him now, and I must gather the herbs from the surrounding forest.”

A safe place. Here, in the open, with the council’s hunters and who knew what else stalking the woods. It was impossible.

“I know a place,” Cora said, as if reading my thoughts. “A place of safety. A place of power. It is where I was heading when those rogues found me.”

She looked at Zane, who was still unconscious, his breathing shallow.

“We must move him now,” she said. “He is heavy. You are a shifter. You have the strength. I will guide us.”

There was no other choice. I trusted her. My wolf, my instincts, told me that this strange, powerful young woman was not a threat, but our only hope.

Cora followed us in. With a whisper of some strange, ancient word and a flick of her wrist, a small, dancing ball of light appeared in her palm, illuminating our new, temporary home.

The cave was larger than it looked from the outside, a single, vast chamber.

And the walls… the walls were covered in ancient, faded paintings.

Paintings of wolves.

Wolves, dancing under a familiar, crescent moon.

My breath caught in my throat.

We had not just found a random cave.

We had stumbled into a sanctuary.

A lost sanctuary of the Silvermoon pack.