Zander's POV
"Thirty seconds," Morgana said softly, watching us like a cat playing with mice.
My heart hammered against my chest as I stared at little Mira. She looked so real, so innocent, so living. Just like my baby brother had looked before the rogues tore him apart.
"Zander," Kira whispered beside me. "What do we do?"
I could feel her pain through our mate link. The frantic love for her sister. The heavy guilt of failing to save her ten years ago. The impossible hope that maybe, just maybe, she could have her family back.
It was the same pain I'd carried for twenty years.
"Kira?" Mira's small voice shook with fear. "Why won't you answer me? Did I do something wrong?"
"No, baby," Kira choked out. "You didn't do anything wrong."
"Then why does everyone look so scared?" Mira took a step toward us, and I saw Kira's determination crumbling. "I missed you so much. The nice lady said you were going to get me, but you never came."
Fifteen seconds left.
My wolf was going crazy inside my head, torn between protecting our mate and protecting the innocent kid. But there was something else bugging me. Something that didn't fit.
"Morgana," I said slowly. "If you could bring Mira back properly, why didn't you do it ten years ago? Why all the games?"
Her smile flickered for just a second. "I needed time to gather power."
"Bullshit." The word came out harder than I meant it to. "You're one of the most powerful witches living. You could have done this spell anytime."
"Ten seconds," she warned, but I saw worry in her eyes now.
"You couldn't bring her back before because you needed something specific," I pressed. "Something that only existed when Kira and I met."
"Five seconds."
"You needed our mate bond," I realized with fear. "You can't keep the resurrection without constantly draining power from somewhere. And a mate bond is the strongest magical link that exists."
Morgana's mask slipped totally. "Very clever, grandson."
"So if we agree to work with you," Kira said, understanding flooding her voice, "Mira stays alive only as long as we're linked to each other. The moment we try to leave or break free, she dies again."
"Exactly." Morgana didn't even try to hide it anymore. "endless servitude in exchange for endless love. Quite beautiful, really."
"Time's up," she stated. "What's your answer?"
I looked at Mira's trusted face. At Kira's desperate tears. At my pack members frozen like statues around us.
Twenty years of rage and grief warred with newfound love and duty in my chest. I'd spent so long wanting my family back that I'd almost ruined everything else that mattered.
"I have a counter-offer," I said.
Morgana raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Take me instead of Kira. I'll be your tool, help you with whatever you're planning. But let everyone else go. Let Mira rest in peace properly, and let Kira live her life free."
"No!" Kira grabbed my arm. "Don't you dare sacrifice yourself for me!"
"It's not just for you," I said softly. "It's for everyone. I'm the one who made deals with dark magic. I'm the one who got us into this mess. Let me be the one to fix it."
Morgana looked serious. "Tempting. But I need both of you. Your death magic is powerful, but without Kira's healing abilities to balance it, the spells will finally consume you. Then I'm back where I started."
"Then we have a problem," I said.
"Do we?" Morgana smiled coldly. "Because I think you're forgetting something important."
She waved her hand, and suddenly I couldn't move. Paralysis spread through my body like ice water.
"I don't actually need your agreement," she said pleasantly. "I have a spell for that too."
Horror filled Kira's eyes as she understood what was happening. "You're going to control our minds."
"Mind control is so crude," Morgana wrinkled her nose. "I prefer to think of it as... led decision-making. You'll still be yourselves, you'll just find my ideas incredibly reasonable."
She started singing in a language that hurt to hear. The air filled with dark power that made my skin crawl.
"Fight it!" I tried to tell Kira, but my voice came out as barely a whisper.
The spell wrapped around my mind like chains. I felt my thoughts getting fuzzy, my resolve weakening. Morgana's ideas started sounding logical. Necessary. Good, even.
Why shouldn't we help her build a world ruled by magic? Wasn't that better than the chaos we had now?
"That's it," Morgana cooed. "Just relax and let it happen."
But just as the spell was about to take hold fully, something unexpected happened.
Little Mira stepped between us and Morgana.
"Stop hurting my sister," she said in her small, brave voice.
"Child, move aside," Morgana directed.
"No." Mira crossed her arms, looking exactly like Kira had as a stubborn kid. "You're being mean to Kira, and I don't like mean people."
"I brought you back to life," Morgana said hurriedly. "You owe me obedience."
"I didn't ask you to bring me back," Mira said simply. "I was happy where I was. There were other kids to play with and nobody was ever scared or angry."
The spell faltered as Morgana's focus broke. "What did you say?"
"I said I was happy being dead," Mira repeated. "It was quiet. But then you grabbed me and pulled me here and everyone's upset and crying. That's not very nice."
I felt the paralysis loosening as Morgana's magic weakened.
"You're lying," Morgana growled. "Everyone wants to be living. Everyone fears death."
"Not me," Mira said with seven-year-old honesty. "Dying didn't hurt. It was like falling asleep and having the best dream ever. But being living again hurts because everyone I love is sad and scared."
She turned to look at Kira with eyes that were far too wise for a seven-year-old.
"Kira, I need you to let me go."
"Mira, no," Kira sobbed.
"It's okay," Mira said softly. "I'm not really meant to be here anyway. And the nice angels told me that sometimes loving someone means letting them rest."
The spell cracked like breaking glass as Morgana's fury disrupted her focus.
"SILENCE!" she screamed at Mira. "You will do as I command!"
But Mira just smiled sadly. "No, I won't. Because I choose to go back to sleep now."
She looked at me with those innocent eyes. "Take care of my sister, okay? And don't feel bad about what happened. None of this was your fault."
Then she walked straight toward Morgana with her hand raised.
"I forgive you for taking me away from heaven," she said. "But I'm going home now."
The moment Mira touched Morgana's hand, everything burst.
White light filled the cabin as the resurrection spell broke. Morgana screamed as her own magic turned against her. The frozen pack members fell as their paralysis broke.
And in the chaos of breaking magic and glaring light, I heard Mira's voice one last time.
"Kira! Behind you!"
I spun around just in time to see a figure appear from the shadows - not Morgana, but someone else entirely. Someone wearing Morgana's face but with eyes like black holes.
"Did you really think it would be that easy?" the thing that wasn't Morgana laughed.
And that's when I realized with bone-deep fear that we hadn't been fighting the real Morgana at all.
We'd been fighting her puppet.
And the real witch had been watching from the shadows the entire time.