Shadow Of A Mate Read Online Free Page A

threw away the flowers and poured the water over Jay’s chest. The water washed away the blood to reveal a cleanly shaped pentagram.
    Kyle smacked Logan’s hand away when the wolf tried to touch Jay, but Logan just growled and reached out again, touching the wound and bringing the red fingertips to his mouth. Kyle’s jaguar voiced its growing anger with a dangerous growl that had several shifters who were standing close backing away.
    Logan’s eye scrunched closed as the wolf concentrated on something. “Damn it, you’re right, Eleanor. It’s a draining spell just like the witches of Salem used to practice, that’s why he smells like her. She put some of her magic inside him so she could drain his magic and add it to her own. It’s a very old spell. It should have already killed him. There’s something minimising the drain, something very powerful.”
    “What does that mean?” Kyle was sick of not understanding what the fuck was going on.
    “It means that whatever is slowing down the spell is also keeping him alive until Katrianna’s magic drains him completely. It also means that the witch who cast the spell will be vulnerable until then. If you kill her before the spell kills Jay there is a chance you can save him.” Mam stepped forward, pulling a shell shocked Nikko with her. However, his brother didn’t pull away so there must be some part of the shifter that understood what was going on.
    “But even in the witch trials no one was able to kill a witch even half as powerful as my mother,” Logan warned, looking grim.
     

Chapter Three
     
     
    Kyle sheathed the last blade in his thigh holster and double checked the rest of his weapons. He was going to take any and every chance he could going up against this witch.
    This rig was specially made to be shifter friendly. All Kyle had to do was yank the strong strip of canvas and the weapon harness came free and he could shift without fear of inadvertently stabbing himself with his own weapons.
    Kyle’s eyes strayed over to where Jay’s body had been laid on the bed and the thick blanket that was barely keeping Jay from shaking. The medical staff had all jumped on Jay the second they were allowed back into the hall. Jay would have hated all the fuss if he’d been conscious, but his mate still lay unresponsive.
    Despite all warnings, once the staff had declared they couldn’t do anything for him, Kyle had picked Jay up and left the hall, carrying his mate to their room. There was nothing medicine could do for magic.
    When they’d found out about Jay having powerful, old magic in his blood he’d been sneaking to the library to study the old books he and his father had tracked down about magic. He’d since spent every spare minute poring over old texts and learning everything he could.
    Logan’s guess that Jay had less than four days before the spell completed its work did little to comfort him. There was no time to search for other answers. Kyle had to go after the only hope they had. He had to kill Logan’s mother, Katrianna, the witch who’d hurt Jay.
    Or die trying.
    If Kyle closed his eyes and concentrated he thought he could feel the tiniest spark of something through their mate bond, but it was still so new, so fragile that there was a big probability that it was wishful thinking. Mate bonds were unpredictable.
    The mere thought that Jay could be gone completely was so tragic that Kyle had not even a shadow of a doubt that if Jay died, he would shortly follow. His jaguar would simply give up.
    “All is not lost yet, son. We can get him back.” Papa’s words should have startled him. Kyle had been so focused on Jay, he hadn’t realised anyone else had entered the room. But instead he turned away from his mate, swallowing the anguish threatening to overwhelm him.
    Tryst and Mack were getting ready, too, refusing to let him go after the witch alone. He knew his betas were thinking they could stop him from going over the edge if the worst