The sight of Rain on her knees with a knife to her throat sent Chase’s heart into overdrive, and he charged toward Isaac, barreling into him and knocking his boney body to the ground.

His concentration broken, Isaac’s control of the tulpa slipped, and Snow dragged Rain away from the shadow. Chase drew his arm back to slug the bastard in the face, but the tulpa hurled the knife, jabbing it into his back.

Searing pain spread through his muscles, and he staggered to his feet, reaching behind, barely grasping the handle and yanking it from his back. His head spun. Blood gushed from the wound, and the muffled sound of Rain’s scream reached his ears before his knees gave out.

Isaac scrambled into a sitting position, clutching his arm and grinding his teeth so hard that blood dripped from the corners of his mouth.

Gripping the knife, Chase advanced on the sadistic witch. The tulpa charged, knocking him to the ground again. The impact knocked the breath from his lungs, and electric pain shot from his wound through his chest. The edges of his vision darkened, and nausea churned in his stomach.

“It’s not real, Chase,” Rain called.

He squinted through his tears to find Snow clutching her arm, holding her back.

“It can’t hurt you without a weapon,” she said. “Use the magic from the cookie.”

The shadow sat on his chest, a two-hundred-pound weight crushing his ribcage. “I don’t believe in you.” Chase closed his eyes and focused his mind. The magic from Snow’s spell tingled behind his forehead, bringing his thoughts into crisp focus. “You’re a figment of this sick bastard’s imagination.” The weight of the shadow lifted, and Chase stood, passing through it like a mist.

Using the trunk of a tree for support, Isaac clambered to his feet. He stumbled forward, narrowing his eyes in concentration, and the tulpa lunged for Chase again.

It’s not really there. Chase stopped, closing his eyes briefly as the shadow passed through him yet again. He chuckled. “It’s you and me now, Isaac.”

Chase advanced on the witch, trying to ignore the searing pain ripping through his back. If his magic hadn’t been bound, he’d have healed by now. Instead, he could barely get enough air into his lungs, and stars danced before his eyes as he closed in on the man trying to hurt his fate-bound.

The snap of a tree limb breaking barely distracted him from his target. He raised the knife, and something hard smacked into his back, knocking the air from his already starving lungs. He went down, the knife slipping from his grip and landing somewhere in the mud. The tulpa lifted the branch to strike him again.

Rain screamed and charged toward them. She grabbed onto the branch, engaging in a tug-of-war with the imaginary being, giving Chase a chance to stumble to his feet. His head spun. The world tipped on its side and his stomach roiled, but he grabbed a branch to hold himself upright. It was time to end this.

Isaac leaned against a tree, his body too damaged to move, but his mind agile enough to control the tulpa as if it were an extension of him.

Where the hell was the knife?

“Chase.” Snow lifted her hand from the murky water and tossed him a two-foot-long icicle with a razor-sharp point. The intense cold stung his hand like dry ice, and a thin mist rose from the makeshift weapon like a magical aura.

Rain grunted as the tulpa spun around, pinning her between the branch and a tree. “Chase.” His name came out as a squeak as the shadow pressed the air from her lungs.

He paused, momentarily paralyzed as the primal need to save his fate-bound fought to control his movements. Instinct to hurl himself at the shadow propelled him forward, but the only way to stop this monster stood behind him.

He turned to Isaac and hurled the frozen spear at him, piercing his chest. The witch gasped, his eyes widening in disbelief before he crumpled to the ground.

A strangled gurgling sound emanated from Isaac’s throat as the tulpa dropped the branch, and it splattered in the mud. The entity reached for something on the ground and lunged for Chase.

The knife sank into his chest, an explosion of searing pain sending him to his knees.

“No!” Rain screamed and ran to him.

His vision tunneled, and he fell to his side and rolled onto his back. The tulpa rose behind Rain, lifting a branch above its head.

Chase gasped for breath to warn her, but he couldn’t suck in any air. The sound of Isaac’s hacking cough echoed in the night. Then it ceased. The tulpa dissolved, and the branch thudded to the ground.

Rain knelt by Chase’s side, her head throbbing as if her heart had leapt all the way up to her skull. This couldn’t be happening. Her mind reeled, a million thoughts ricocheting around in her brain, scrambling for coherence.

She put her hands on his chest. It barely rose and fell with his shallow breaths. “Oh, goddess, no. Chase? Talk to me, please. You’re going to be okay.”

“We need to get the knife out so he can heal.” Snow grasped the handle and ripped the blade from his chest, and the wet, sucking sound of metal leaving flesh made Rain’s stomach turn.

He groaned, his head rolling from side to side, his eyelids fluttering as blood gushed from the wound. Rain pressed her hands to the gash, trying to slow the flow, but blood pooled between her fingers, the deep-orange glow pulsing as his magic tried to break its bond.

“Why isn’t he healing?” Snow’s voice tipped with panic. “He’s a werewolf. He should be healing.”

Tears streamed down Rain’s face, her heart wrenching in her chest. “His magic is bound. He’s not going to heal. We need to get him to the hospital.”

“No.” His voice was barely audible as he put his hand on hers. “Take my blood. Break your curse.”

“My curse is the last thing I’m worried about. I’m calling an ambulance.” She fumbled for her phone and found it dead, the screen cracked, her distorted, tear-streaked reflection staring back at her from the blank surface. “Dammit!”

She looked at Snow, who held a small bottle in her hand. “What are you doing?”

“He offered his blood, so I’m taking it. There won’t be another blue moon for two years.”

Why were they both so concerned with her curse? Her soulmate lay dying. Saving him was all that mattered.

Chase coughed, sending more blood oozing from his wound. Rain pressed harder on the gash. “I don’t care about my curse.” She couldn’t live without this man. He meant the world to her and spending a single second without him by her side would be unbearable.

“Take it, Rain.” His voice was raspy and strained. “Fate bound us together for a reason, and it wasn’t so I could die without helping you. I’m meant to break your curse.”

“No.” Hot tears stung her eyes. “Our hearts are bound because we’re meant to spend forever together.”

He gripped her hand. “Some forevers aren’t that long.”

A sob bubbled up from somewhere deep in her soul. This wasn’t how it was supposed to end. She should’ve been the one lying on the ground, bleeding out. She was the one who deserved to die.

Snow lifted his shirt and pressed the bottle to his side beneath a stream of blood. The first drop fell into the nearly-completed potion, and nothing happened. Then the second drop splashed into the liquid, and a burst of light filled the bottle with shimmering orange sparkles.

Chase’s eyes fluttered shut as Snow whispered the incantation.

Panic surged through Rain’s veins. “Chase?” She took his face in her hands. “Don’t die, Chase. I need you.”

His lids opened into slits. “I love you, Rain.”

“I love you too. Please don’t leave me.”

His eyes closed, and it felt as if the knife were driven into her own chest, filleting her heart into a million microscopic pieces.

Snow grasped her hand and closed her fingers around the bottle. “Take it, Rain. Don’t let this all be for nothing.”

She looked at the shimmering liquid in the glass. The cure for her curse. If she had the ability to heal, she’d down the potion in a heartbeat and use her powers to heal her werewolf. But she didn’t. Her magic was useless against the wound draining the life from the man she loved.

She sucked in a breath. She couldn’t heal Chase…but his wolf could.

Her heart was bound to his like a tether, their souls intertwined as if they were two parts of the same whole. Maybe…

She tugged on his chin, parting his lips and holding the bottle to his mouth.

“What are you doing?” Panic laced Snow’s voice. “The spell was written for you. It won’t work on anyone else.”

“It will work on him. Fate didn’t bind us together to rip us apart.” She poured the potion into his mouth. “Swallow it, baby.” She rubbed his throat, encouraging him to let the magic flow into his body. “Please. For me.”

Nothing happened. His chest stopped moving. The potion glowed deep-orange inside his mouth, but he didn’t swallow it.

Ice flooded her veins. “Chase?” She patted his cheek as a sickening nausea churned in her stomach, reaching up to tangle with the pieces of her shattered heart. “Swallow the potion, Chase.” She moved his jaw to close his mouth and tapped on his throat. “Swallow it, dammit.”

Snow grasped her shoulders. “He’s gone, sweetie. I’m so sorry.”

“No! He’s not gone.” She wrenched from her sister’s hold and threw herself on top of him. “He can’t be gone. He can’t!”

With tears flooding down her cheeks, she sat up and positioned her hands over his chest. Locking her elbows, she pushed down forcefully, sending blood spewing from his wound. She pushed again, willing his heart to beat.

“Rain, please.” Snow rested a hand on her shoulder. “You’re making it worse.”

“You’re. Not. Leaving. Me,” she said between chest compressions. Her entire body trembled. She couldn’t get enough air into her lungs. Collapsing on top of him, she sobbed into his shirt, fisting the material in her hands. He couldn’t be gone. Not after everything they’d been through. She squeezed her eyes shut as a gaping hole tore in her chest, hollowing her heart, ripping her world apart.

She gasped for breath and choked on a strangled sob. “No, Chase. Don’t leave me.”