The Omni-Wolf’s Choice novel Chapter 78

Chapter 78 – Meeting Eloise Beaumont…

Connor’s POV

“Be careful-and don’t make me wait.” Evelyn’s arms tighten around me.

Get 5 >

Menu

“I’ll be back fast,” I tell her, brushing my lips to her forehead. “And I’m bringing that

witch’s head with me.”

“Language,” my mom snaps from behind us.

Grandma Celia clicks her tongue, amused. “We’re marching off to kill a witch, and you’re

worried he isn’t speaking like he’s at tea.”

Mom’s smile turns sly. “Save the bravado for after you’re done. Then you can talk about claiming my future daughter and giving me grandbabies.”

Luna Kendra’s mouth quirks. “Let’s not rush that. He still needs my blessing.”

I meet her gaze. “When I’m back, Luna, I’ll fix things between us. I swear it.”

“Good,” she says, voice carrying to everyone gathered. “Win quickly. Come home alive. May the moon goddess watch you all.”

“Hear, hear!” the group roars back.

I steal one more kiss from Evelyn, then force myself to step away.

“Shotgun!” Grandma Celia shouts, already climbing into the second vehicle-right beside

Ryder and me.

Ten other Hummers are loaded down with vampires, wolves, and witches. Grandma

leans forward between the seats like she owns the road. “Two-hour drive. When we’re

within fifty miles, the witches and I will cloak the convoy.”

Ryder nods at Terrance in the driver’s seat. “You heard her. Move out.”

As we roll away, I catch Evelyn and Bridget on the steps, hands raised in goodbye.

I glance at Grandma. “Are you really up for this? When was the last time you killed

someone?”

Her eyes cut to mine, flat as stone. “The less you know about me, the safer you’ll feel. I

14

< Chapter 78 – Meeting Eloise Beaumont….

didn’t earn ‘Black Widow’ by sharing bedtime stories.”

Get 5 >

Menu

She shuts her eyes and starts murmuring a spell under her breath.

Ryder is on the phone with Alpha Nolan the entire way. Nolan’s pack holds the closest territory to Eloise Beaumont’s land, and he’s already sending fighters to reinforce us.

We have made incredible time by the time the town’s outskirts appear.

Alpha Nolan is waiting when we pull in. “Alpha Ryder. Beta Connor. Nice to finally meet

you properly-wish it weren’t like this.”

“Same,” Ryder says. “And thank you for the intel.”

He steps around to open the door for Grandma Celia-

-and a younger woman swings out instead.

My stomach drops, even though the scent is unmistakable. “Grandma! What the hell are you doing?”

She looks thirty at most. Black clothes, sharp lines, hair pulled from a bun into a long

ponytail. Every male from Nolan’s pack is staring like she’s an offering.

I hate it.

Grandma grins. “Connor, breathe. If this is my last hurrah, I want her to see me the way I

was. Young, gorgeous, and here for blood.”

“Don’t talk like that,” I mutter. “Just… make sure everyone knows it’s you. Please.

Witches, I swear.”

Her expression hardens. “Enough. I didn’t come to be admired. I came to end this.”

Alpha Nolan gestures toward the dark line of trees. “From here, we go on foot. There’s a

ridge ahead-best vantage point over the property.”

Ryder’s voice turns all command. “Pickup team stays with the vehicles. Everyone else. split into groups. Once we hit the ridge, we encircle the house.”

We slip into the woods at a run.

Night closes over us as the forest thickens. Water rushes somewhere close, and the

sound grows louder until it becomes a roar. A waterfall breaks through the darkness,

11 14

<Chapter 78 – Meeting Eloise Beaumont

Get 5 >

Menu

and below it-nestled at the base-is the cottage.

Ryder raises a fist. We stop.

“Now,” he says, nodding to Violet and the witches. “Cloak us. We get close before she knows we’re here.”

They chant in low, layered voices. Magic brushes over my skin like cold fog, and the world feels slightly wrong-as if light itself forgets we exist.

When the signal comes, our warriors move.

My teeth itch with the need to rip into Eloise Beaumont. She has kept my life suspended

for far too long, and the moment she tried to kill my mate she signed her own death

warrant.

Smoke curls out of the chimney. Nolan had told us she lives alone, as far as his trackers

can confirm. No visitors. No comings and goings. They have had eyes on her since he and

Ryder made contact.

Ryder lifts a hand. “Move.”

We break from the treeline and spill onto the land.

We are halfway to the cliff base when the trap springs.

Sirens shriek.

A fence snaps into place as if it erupts from the earth-barbed wire, jagged spikes of

sharpened wood, and then explosions thumping through the ground like angry

heartbeats.

“Behind you!” I shout at Alpha Nolan.

A warlock lunges. I hit him like a bullet, tackling him down. Wolf speed takes over; my

hand clamps his throat, and with a savage twist I rip his head free.

Witches pour up from hidden trenches, spilling across the grass in a wave.

Nolan grabs a wooden stake from the ground and hurls it past my face.

I turn-another witch is closing.

Grandma Celia is already beside me, moving like she never got old in the first place.

11 14

6294

< Chapter 78 – Meeting Eloise Beaumont.

‘Push through! Grounds are ours-get to the house,’ Ryder mind-links.

Get 5

Manu

We sprint past bodies and brawls, over fallen witches and broken stakes. The cottage is

ringed by what looks like a neat lawn, but my nose catches the lie-rotting water

beneath fake grass.

A concealed moat.

I hook an arm around Grandma and sling her over first. We land hard on the other side

and race the last stretch to the porch.

I take the left. Grandma takes the right.

I try the knob.

Locked.

Then the door creaks inward all by itself.

Inside is dark except for the fire’s low glow. The room is almost bare, but the mantel is

crowded with burning candles. A mirror hangs behind them, reflecting flame and

shadow.

We step in, slow and ready, sweeping corners.

“Where is she?” I demand, already sick of the theatrics.

A voice slides out of the black. “Well, well. Look what crawled into my home. The bitch

who stole my man… and the bastard she spawned.”

Grandma’s tone is cool. “Eloise. After all this time, that’s your opening? You never did

learn manners.”

A face forms in the mirror-an older woman, silver hair, eyes bright with malice. She

smirks. “And he’s pretty. I get it now. Want your curse lifted, sweet boy?” Her gaze

crawls over me. “How about a trade? I keep you as my mate, and I kill your granny for

wrecking my yard, my life, my bloodline.”

Grandma doesn’t blink. “That’s not happening. Step out of the mirror so I can look you in the eye.”

Eloise’s smile twists. “Still demanding everything your way, Celestine? And why haven’t

you aged? Of course-magic. That’s how you lured my mate away, isn’t it?”

11 14

<Chapter 78 – Meeting Eloise Beaumont.

Get 5:

Menu

“I told you,” Grandma says, voice sharpening, “I didn’t know you existed back then. But you were too busy being the victim to hear anything else. I’m here to break the curse- and I’ll break your neck with it.”

Eloise’s hiss is almost animal. “Do it. Try.”

She pours out of the mirror like smoke becoming flesh, landing in front of us.

Then her body shifts-age falling away until she stands younger, auburn hair gleaming.

green eyes bright enough to be beautiful if they weren’t filled with murder.

“Fine,” Grandma says, lifting her hands. “Let’s dance.”

Daggers whip through the air.

Eloise twists aside, sliding near the hearth, and conjures fire in her palm. She flings the

ball straight at Grandma. It whistles past by inches.

I don’t get time to breathe.

Something clamps onto me from behind-massive, crushing.

I stomp down hard and drive an elbow into its gut, wrenching free enough to turn.

A partially shifted were-bear snarls at me: human torso, bear head and limbs, shoulders.

like a wall.

“Eloise!” Grandma shouts. “Eyes on me!”

She hurls her own fire back.

The blast catches Eloise’s leg. The room fills with the stink of scorched flesh, and Eloise

screams.

They rush each other and collide, forearms locked. Eloise hooks her injured leg under

Grandma’s and sweeps.

Grandma hits the floor.

Eloise climbs on top, fists flying, punching like madness.

“This is for my life!” she shrieks. “For making him leave!”

Grandma bucks and twists, finding leverage. She rolls them, ends up above, and rains

down blows while Eloise claws for her throat.

11 14

68 14

< Chapter 78 – Meeting Eloise Beaumont

The were-bear charges.

“All right,” I growl. “You want me?”

Get 5 v

Mertu

His claws extend as I leap, but he still clips me-raking my lower leg. Pain detonates instantly, hot and bright.

Adrenaline drowns it.

I drive my claws forward, straight into his chest.

I rip his heart out.

He collapses on me like dead weight, pinning me to the floor.

Across the room, Grandma is losing ground again. Eloise has her flattened, and they are trading brutal strikes. Eloise reaches for a poker by the fireplace.

She jams it across Grandma’s throat and starts to choke her.

I strain against the were-bear’s body, but it has gone rigid-like cement settling over me.

“Grandma!” I roar.

Grandma’s eyes snap to mine-warning, command.

This is her fight. She has to win it. The curse depends on it.

Eloise bares her teeth, blood at the corner of her mouth. “Watch me crush her,” she purrs. “Then I’ll keep you for my pleasure. Then I’ll slaughter what’s left of your family.”

Grandma’s hands push at the poker, shaking. Eloise’s eyes blaze with rage. “Why won’t you just die!”

With a violent twist, Grandma flips her.

Eloise flies backward and lands in the fireplace.

Her screams rattle the cottage.

“I told you,” Grandma says, breath heaving as I finally roll the dead weight off myself, “I

never wanted him.”

I reach for her, checking for injuries, but she slaps my hands away and steps toward Eloise’s half-burned body.

11 14