The Broken Queen

Chapter 25: Location

Erin's POV:

They all start dropping like flies. Once Dani is under, I prop each of the wolves up against the wall and grab my blood kit from one of the kitchen cabinets. I tie the tourniquet around their arms, before drawing a vile of blood from each of them. When I reach the last one, Sophia, she twitches as I take the blood. Her vitals are normal, so I choose to ignore it. I run back to the kitchen, taking out a bowl, filling it with herbs and sage before I slowly pour in five drops of blood from each vile.

I click my fingers and watch in excitement as it sets aflame. After a minute, I blow it out, allowing it to smoke and smolder. I take the bowl over the couch and place it under Dani's nose for her to inhale. I take the dropper, fill it with the potion and release three or four drops onto her left palm, burning the skin in a slightly blurred whirlpool symbol. 'Ah' I sigh. He is five miles north, and on the move, meaning they must have had help or transport. I scurry over to the cabinet by the back window, hurriedly pulling out a map, my brows furrowing in concentration as it unfurls.

Sophia's POV:

I'm suspicious of the stew. What if Fionn is right? What if it's poisoned? I'm not eating this. I know Dani trusts her and she's probably right, but I've made the mistake of being too trusting before when it came to food from a stranger and I paid dearly for that mistake. I won't be fooled again. I truly do hope she is right and this witch has only pure intentions. Once finished my bowl, I excuse myself and head straight to the bathroom. I turn on the tap before kneeling down over the toilet bowl.

I take a deep breath and hesitantly stick my fingers down my throat, forcing myself to gag and throw up. Hopefully, this will mean it won't have been in my system long enough to take effect, if it is poisoned. After everyone finishes their bowls of stew, Dani is laid down on the sofa. Erin starts whispering some kind of ancient spell, waving her hands about dramatically and Dani falls into a deep sleep. She places a hand on Dani's head and hums to herself.

As she pulls her hand back and gets to her feet, she turns and addresses Hulu. "Honey, are you feeling alright?" he goes to answer but before he can, his eyes flutter close, and he falls to the floor unconscious. What the hell? My heart immediately starts racing with fear and panic. Next Fionn drops, then Quinn! I start feeling a tad drowsy myself, so I decide to play along and drop to the floor too. My body drops harshly and my goddess it hurts like a bitch. My head starts to ring and throb as it collides with the wooden floorboards, but I can't allow myself to move.

I lie there silently with my eyes closed, and breathing steady, as I listen to my fellow pack mates fall to the ground one after the other. The witch sighs before leaving Dani's side and walking in our direction. One by one I hear their bodies being dragged across the floor and the witch huffing as they thud. She comes to me last and when she picks me up under my arms, I lay limp and let her drag me over to the wall and prop me up against it. I feel groggy, and my breathing starts to slow down. I hear her walk away and then my hearing fades out for a moment.

The next thing I know, an elastic band is being tied tightly around my upper arm and something sharp is being pressed into my skin. I want to hiss at the sharp piercing pain at the crook of my elbow, but I avoid the instinctual urge. I can't help it when my body twitches, I just hope she doesn't notice. My hearing and mental focus fades in and out as I feel myself getting weaker and weaker. I can hear a dripping sound, like the dripping of a tap. I cautiously open one eye just enough to catch a glimpse of the witch. She has this smoking bowl and is pouring something onto the Alpha's hand, burning the skin. What is she doing?! My brain grows foggy again before I can think anything more as I fall into total blackness.

Erin's POV:

I pull a chair over to the desk in the kitchen and start to take some notes to develop a plan. I know that Dani has been draining herself by stretching her scent dampening powers so much so, that even one more wolf could break her so soon after her new shifts. Though scent dampening is crucial to her Beta's rescue, that much is clear

An idea starts to form in my mind and I stand up, hurriedly grabbing a range of herbs and other ingredients for a potion. I take some blood from Dani while she sleeps, taking a little extra to store for emergencies. She gave me her blessing to do so through her mother before they arrived, clearly willing to do whatever is necessary to get her friend and Beta back. I throw everything together in a large pot. This, when ingested, will dampen a wolf's scent. This should make it easier on her and help her pack a lot. I take out my spell book on blood magic, flipping to page eighty-four. I start reading out the incantation. "Estos, asparitos, ceylo tuper lithad, brutha eser linto premur, esti lamos estoritos tulad" I chant, waving my hand over the pot. The mixture starts to swirl anticlockwise, smoking and turns clear as fresh water.