Crescent Legacy Nicole Taylor (top young adult novels .TXT) 📖

stared into the distance. I could feel something coming. Power crackled, charging the air, and I knew. This was it.

I saw the wolves first—three massive silver beasts prowling through the mist, their eyes catching the light and shining ominously. Behind them was a woman, her footfalls silent. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this. Maybe a parade with a float and confetti and a marching band. Or a chariot made out of the bones of her victims drawn by a hellhound.

No, Carman just wandered into Derrydun on her own two feet, escorted by her three sons in their wolf shapes. It was a little anticlimactic.

When she saw us waiting for her in front of the hawthorn, she moved ahead, taking the lead. She was exactly how I remembered her from the vision she’d dragged me into. Willowy, freckled, wild auburn hair, and beautiful beyond compare. Though it was tainted with a spiteful streak that made her eyes shine like ice.

She’d donned modern clothing, leaving the flowy dress at home. Boots, leather pants, black T-shirt, and a matching leather jacket. Total dominatrix style. All that was missing was the whip, but odds were, she had a magical one she planned to spank me with.

The three wolves prowled behind her, their heads lowered and their teeth bared. The one in front was huge, its fur tinged copper around its head and tail. The second was more silver but had a puckered hole on the left side of its face. That one was rub-a-dub one-eyed Dub. Trailing behind was the third and most silver of the trio. Boone.

My heart leaped into my throat as the entourage of doom approached. I didn’t need to cast out my magic to sense the link between Carman and her sons. The thread that wound around Boone was the brightest of them all. It flared in my mind’s eye like a red corruption, stoking the fire that fueled my anger. He didn’t have a choice anymore. Not unless he was strong enough to break free.

The wolves began to shift, their bones snapping and their bodies taking back the fur as their human skin emerged. When they stood, the three brothers were completely butt naked, and each was as hot as the other. Black hair, smoldering eyes—eye in Dub’s case—six-packs and tight ass cheeks.

“Boone!” Sean McKinnon wailed as he saw his friend standing on the wrong side of the divide.

“He’s naked!” Mary Donnelly shrieked, covering her eyes.

“Wow,” Maggie breathed, tilting her head to the side. “What a sna—”

“Shhh!” Mairead slapped her on the arm, then sneaked another peek. “Wow, you’re right. That’s a huge—”

“Enough!” I said. “Boone’s got a big ding-dong, so what. He’s still connected to her. I can feel it…”

“Connected?” Sean McKinnon asked. “You mean she’s controllin’ him?”

I nodded. “Stand behind me and stick to the plan, okay? No sudden movements. That means you, Sean.”

They nodded, clutching their weapons of choice as I peeled away from them and went to meet my arch nemesis.

“Finally,” Carman said, standing a good ten meters away from the little group of villagers at my back and me. “Now we meet face-to-face, Skye Williams.”

“Still a raging ginger minge, I see,” I drawled. “Without the help of a vision to Photoshop out those fine lines, you’re a real mess. You really show your thousand years up close.” It was a total lie, Carman was perfection, but anything that peeved her off was satisfying right now.

Her eyes narrowed, but it was the only indicator she gave that my words hit home. I would take it.

“You’re only delaying the inevitable,” Carman said, raking her cold gaze over me. “I will have what I came for.”

“Nah ah!” I said, wiggling my finger at her. “Sorry to burst your world domination bubble, but I don’t think so. You’ve been voted off the island, so it’s time to go!”

“Aren’t her demands adorable, boys? What do you say Dother?”

Dub and Dother chuckled, but Boone didn’t move at all. Carman either had a strong hold over him, or he hated me so much he couldn’t bring himself to react.

“One, you’ll relinquish control over Boone,” I said, ticking my demands off on my fingers. “Two, you can leave peacefully, or three, we can do this the hard way.”

Carman’s lips curved, then she burst out into laughter, glancing at her sons. “Did you hear that? She wants your little brother.”

“My schlong is bigger than his,” Dub said.

“You want to measure?” the other brother asked.

Boone narrowed his eyes and brooded.

“Even with one eye, I can still see your dick is shriveling in the cold, Dother,” Dub said with a growl.

Ignoring the sibling rivalry, I sought out Boone’s gaze. If I couldn’t convince him to come home and come back to me, then we risked losing him forever. I couldn’t go on without him. I wanted to spend eternity at his side, annoying the cac out of him and forcing him to watch all eight seasons of Game of Thrones with me over and over until he’d learned all the lines. Then we would continue with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and do all that stuff with Mary Donnelly’s spring wedding.

I felt the ring on my finger and twisted the band around and around.

“Boone… I was wrong,” I said, my heartbeat speeding up to impossible levels. “I should’ve listened to you. I shouldn’t have reacted like I did. I should’ve fought for you.”

“What?” he scoffed. “No but?”

“No but.” I shook my head, ignoring the smug look on Carman’s face. “I want you to come home. We all do. I will fight for you.”

“Home?” Carman declared. “This place? Please.”

“I’m not talking to you!” I shouted, my magic flaring. “I’m talking to Boone.”

“You tell her, Skye!” Mairead shouted.

“Give that bitch what for!” Maggie added.

“All I see before me is a pathetic mess. A witch who doesn’t know up from down and twenty humans.” The witch laughed and shook out her hair. “You have no power here, Skye Williams, last Crescent Witch.”

“Maybe not,” I