The Severance

Lena woke up to the smell of burnt rosemary. The cauldron had overturned, spilling the severance potion across the floor.

She groaned, sitting up. Her ribs screamed. Her head throbbed.

She looked at the puddle of potion. It was shimmering, silver and green.

"Nobody," she whispered to herself. "I'm nobody."

She remembered Roman’s eyes. *You navigate chaos.*

She wasn't a High Priestess. She wasn't an Alpha. She was a fixer. And she had a job to finish.

She grabbed a plastic water bottle from the trash, scooped up as much of the spilled potion as she could, and shoved it into her pocket.

She didn't have the magic to teleport again. She didn't have a weapon.

But she had the subway.

She limped down the tunnel, finding a service cart. She pushed it onto the tracks. She placed her hands on the rusty wheels and whispered a spell she used to jump-start her radiator.

*"Motus."*

The cart sparked and surged forward.

Lena sped through the dark tunnels of Manhattan, heading north. Toward the upper tip of the island. Toward The Cloisters.

It took her an hour. By the time she reached the surface near Fort Tryon Park, the moon was high. The Cloisters—a museum assembled from medieval European abbeys—loomed on the hill, dark and foreboding.

She could smell the wolves. Hundreds of them. The Jersey pack had invited an audience.

Lena sneaked through the gardens, using a glamour to blend into the shadows. She reached the main courtyard.

It was a scene out of a nightmare. Torches lit the stone arches. Dozens of shifters stood in a circle. In the center, kneeling on the cobblestones, were Roman, Silas, and Kian.

They looked broken. Bleeding, bruised, heads bowed.

The Alpha Rogue stood behind them, holding a silver executioner’s sword.

"Tonight!" the Alpha bellowed to the crowd. "We cleanse the city of the false idols! The line of Voronov ends!"

He raised the sword. He was aiming for Roman’s neck.

Lena stepped out of the shadows.

"Hey!" she screamed. "Jersey!"

The Alpha paused. The crowd turned.

"You again?" The Alpha rolled his eyes. "Someone eat her."

Two wolves lunged at her.

Lena didn't run. She pulled the plastic water bottle from her pocket.

"Catch!" she yelled.

She didn't throw it at the wolves. She threw it over their heads, high into the air, directly toward the triplets.

"Roman!" she screamed.

Roman looked up. He didn't need a telepathic bond to know what she was doing. He needed trust.

He surged up, snapping his silver chains with a burst of hysterical strength, and caught the bottle in his teeth. *Crunch.*

The plastic burst. The liquid splashed over his face, onto Silas and Kian beside him.

Lena slammed her staff (a piece of rebar she found outside) onto the ground.

*"SEVERA!"*