295- ANNA

295- ANNA
POV Anna:

“It’s fine. I know life hasn’t been easy for you. I hope you find what you’re looking for and get your happy ending. Both of you. Even Finn here has a mate. I’m proud of that.”

My eyes widened. How did he know that? I could see it with Amelia, but not with Finn. Instead of denying it, Finn lowered his head and focused on his plate. “Finn?”

His cheeks flushed red. “I spent the night with Amelia before we left,” he said gruffly. “But nothing’s changed.”

“Oh, so you slept with your mate and then left to die? Classy,” I growled.

“That’s none of your business, Anna.”

“Of course it is! She’s my friend, Finn, and she’s been torn up over you for weeks! Half of me is halfway tempted to drag your ass back to her!”

“But you can’t, because you know it’s not over yet. She deserves to be put first, Anna, and I just can’t give that to her right now.”

We stared at each other until the doctor cleared his throat. “Looks like I’ve put my foot in my mouth. Let me update the contents of your packs. Is there anything else I can do to help?”

Hector gave us food and directions to a path he thought was relatively safe. I still wasn’t ready to trust him, but if he’d wanted to harm us, he could have handed us over to Maeve while I was asleep.

Finn shifted immediately, clearly not wanting to speak to me during the journey. Rolling my eyes, I did the same, and my wolf shook off the stress and unease. She didn’t like being farther and farther from Jax, and no matter how much I tried to explain it to her, she still believed I should trust him.

After everything we’d been through, sometimes I wished she were a little less trusting—but when it came to Jax, she believed in him with all her heart.

It took only six hours to reach the first magical trap surrounding the clan, except it had already been triggered. I could see traces of the magic, but it wasn’t active. Lifting my head, I sniffed the air but couldn’t detect any wolves nearby. With a grunt toward Finn, I shifted back and got dressed.

Finn’s wolf looked at me.

“I’m literally in a magical trap, but it’s been deactivated. I know it’s just the Mother here, but I don’t like that she hasn’t reset it,” I told him. “Be careful and don’t stray from me.”

He came up beside me, and we continued up the mountain. When I spotted another trap, I placed my hand in his fur. He froze, and I approached the trap and crouched down. Another one, deactivated.

“It’s still just the outer perimeter,” I murmured. “Maybe she’s focusing on the inner perimeter.”

We moved slowly, advancing. More traps were deactivated, and then I saw something that made my blood run cold—a deactivated trap and a dead wolf.

We were close to the clan. Why hadn’t she fixed this? Finn approached, sniffed the wolf, and growled. For a moment, I thought it was still alive, but when I touched its fur, I understood why Finn was so upset.

There was still the faintest warmth in the wolf’s body.

We continued at a slow pace until we found a second wolf, and that’s when I reached for my flare gun and we began to run. I’d seen this before, when my father followed me and threw wolves into traps to deactivate them.

There was no trace of magic around the coven’s cave, and the door stood completely open.

Either it was abandoned, or the Darkwyn Clan had been attacked.

We entered the lair with slow, steady steps. Finn’s fur was bristling, but he sniffed the air and shook his head. He didn’t detect any wolves, and neither did I—but someone had been here. The door had been ripped from its hinges, and there were clear signs of violence at the entrance: broken furniture and shattered glass.

I had half-expected Lunessa to be here. If the coven had been attacked, surely she would know, right? But I had no idea how much of the magic that kept the clan connected had been part of Evalina. My heart tightened in my throat, and I realized I didn’t even know the Mother’s name.

After we searched every room, Finn finally shifted back. “Whoever did this is already gone, but those bodies outside haven’t been dead for more than twelve hours.”

“Do you think the Mother abandoned the lair, or that they took her?”

“Hard to say. I don’t know her scent. What do you want to do?”

There was no point in trying to track them. They could be anywhere. “I came here for information. I’ll try to find some. Can you guard the door?”

Finn nodded and stood watch by the entrance. I had never explored the entire coven before, and the longer I was here, the more it seemed to stretch and expand. When I stepped into one of the rooms, I stopped. Enough of the scent still lingered in the air for me to know this had been Evalina’s bedroom.

Guilt consumed me, and I tried to push it aside as I searched the books lining the wall. Most of them spoke about empowerment from her perspective, and there were several about wolf magic. My hands trembled as I pulled them down and flipped through them. She had been trying to understand bond magic.

Trying to understand how she had lost Katherine.