I couldn’t do this again. Could I?
It was just too much.
“Call the cops,” Finn said, “that’s what we’ll do as soon as we’re away.”
“And CPS,” Cash added. “Killed their own son, fuckin’ monsters.”
“I’m not surprised,” I said, feeling dull as the door closed. “How many times has my father tried to off me?”
One more house, that was all. I just had to focus on the next thing to do. If I thought about it as one family at a time, I could manage it. Just one. One more battle. One more showdown. I wiped grime from my face, the dust clinging to me.
“I’m not doing this shit again,” Ace muttered. “This is the last major battle I am ever fighting in my life. The only time I want to remotely get into an argument is over who gets to give you the big gift on your birthday and who gets to pay the bill at the restaurant.” I laughed, and he grinned at me, although I knew he was wrung out and exhausted. It was too many small little fights like the one we’d just mopped up. The heartstone, at least, was radiating power as I’d never felt, and I knew the guys could sense it too. He stepped closer to me and put a hand on my shoulder, his eyes closing.
“That’s what I need,” he murmured.
“You feel it?” I asked.
“Like standing in the sun after a long winter,” he replied before opening his eyes. The lines around them were softening like he was refreshed a bit. “C’mon. Let’s keep going.”
It was our luck that most of the council homes were arranged along a long circular road. Our luck and their extermination. Ace gave me a determined grim, and so did Charlie when he caught up with us.
“Forest is clear,” he said.
“Nothing on either side.” Finn appeared with Cash, both of them looking filthy. There was crashing in the woods, and a wolf emerged, Eli. He shook his fur out, blood spattering his muzzle. I reached down to ruffle the top of his head.
“There’s my killer,” I said. He grumbled at me, and I glanced at the rest of them. “C’mon then. Shift. This guy’s doing all the work, and you’re staying in human form for what reason?”
Ace waved his hands in the air.
“We didn’t want to all be dressed in our finest without telling you first,” he said, smiling at me. The joke was kind of a relief, and as I turned away to scratch Eli under his chin again, I heard the weird bone-cracking noises of them shifting, the pop and snap of their clothes as body parts changed shape. It was too weird to watch, but when I looked back, I was surrounded by wolves. They shifted their weights on their paws, stretching out their legs and shaking to settle their fur.
An electric thrill rolled through my chest.
“Let’s go,” I said, and Eli rubbed up against my hip as he passed me. They ranged out around me, Cash disappearing up front, taking the lead. The benefit of the wolves being wolves was, well, they were a lot less likely to attract attention than six humans walking up to the next house, especially with that next place being the Hailward’s.
My lips quirked. At least my ex, Creston, wouldn’t be home. He’d never be home again. And soon, there wouldn’t be a home to be home at for any of them.
Twenty-Five
I stood at the edge of the manicured lawn, feeling the pressure of wolf eyes on me. Make the first move. Decide what to do first. Strike now, and shake the very foundations of where they live to the ground.
This was going to hurt them a lot more than it hurt me. Inside, the storm was waiting, dying to be unleashed. I felt it first in the air, as my hair lifted off of my shoulders, then the rumble came, roaring in the air above us.
That’s it.
I wanted to unleash the heartstone on them, let it soak every last scrap and scent of magic up, drain them where they stood.
But my father wasn’t alive. He wasn’t dead, either, and I wasn’t sure how that would impact the heartstone. I wasn’t going to risk it.
We’d do this the old-fashioned way.
“C’mon,” I said, as the lightning crackled through the sky over us. The heavens opened up, and the rains were immediately on us, bone-shatteringly-cold and heavy.
They would know I was coming long before I ever set foot on their front doorstep. Maybe it is cruel of me, but that is part of the pleasure I experienced the whole moment. I wanted them to go through some of the fear that everyone else that they had tried to hurt had suffered. Binding their powers was only one part of this punishment. It was probably bad karma, but I was willing to take that on. There's only so much waiting that I can do for the universe to finally step up and do what it should be doing. And if the stars above think that I'm going to spend another minute running in fear of my life and those of my loved ones? The greater powers have another thing coming.
The wolves were around me as I walked towards the door, the grass flattening in front of me under the heavy onslaught of rain. I felt the power before the fires erupted, a tingling along my skin. Finn brushed up against my thigh, growling as a ring of fire burst out of the grass, defying the heavy rain. It crackled, burned, the heat it threw off searing my skin. I threw up one arm to protect my eyes and ducked my head against my shoulder. The wolves surrounded me, and I dropped to my knees. As the fire raged towards us, the smell of burnt hair and pelt choked me. Eli thrust his head against my chest, and I wrapped my arms around him tightly. The tendrils of my power curled upwards from inside me, towards the sky. I would douse the fire. I would bring a storm that laid waste to their entire property, the likes of something they had never seen.
There is so much power stored in the heartstone that it was almost laughable that they were trying to fight me.
"You think this is all it takes to take us down?" I asked, knowing that the winds would take my words to them. I wanted them to be shaking inside their home. I wanted them to be sweating with fear, so the wolves would have something to track them by. The heart still glowed against my chest Eli's forehead pressing it into my skin so hard that it hurt. But something about that pain cut crystal clear through all of the fog and noise in the heat. A fresh downpour of rain hit the top of my head, almost flattening me, and if it hadn't been for Eli’s solid presence, I would've collapsed straight to the ground. As it was, his head bowed over mine, and he protected me, Cash pushing in close to as the rain beat my skin so hard I knew I would be bruising in an instant.
The wolves bowed their heads with me, and I breathed hard, spinning my magic until it formed an impenetrable shield of crackling lightning, keeping out the rain while it doused the flames around us.
One of the wolves, Ace, licked at my cheek as he lifted his head, shaking his huge body off as raindrops scattered everywhere. I laughed and got to my feet, my body hurt so badly, but it didn’t matter. I was coming for them, one way or another. If I had to hold a shield over us the entire path from us to the house, I would. The shield hummed, flickering with my power, and the sheer joy of it made me smile.
This was what I was born to do. Not hide away, in some house, waiting for my husband to get home to drain me a little more of my magic. Not even to hang backstage and wait for the guys to get off the stage. This, surrounded by wolves, the skies echoing with my fury.
I was the storm.
I stepped forward, the wolves ringing around me as we walked toward the house. The fire kept flaring up in front of us, raging at the edge of my shield, but again the rains would come, sending curls of steam reaching toward the clouds.
Whoever was in the house must’ve been shitting themselves.
The balcony doors on the second floor flung open, and there he came, my winds whipping his hair into a frenzy.
Kenton Hailward. My brother-in-law. The father of my niece. I smirked as he scowled and pointed at me, his lips moving.
Finn knocked me down as the spear of fire soared over where my head had been two seconds before. I ate dirt, even as Cash nosed under my chest and helped me up as I wrapped an arm around the barrel of his trunk.
“Thanks,” I spat charred
grass out as Finn licked my ear, checking on me. “I’m fine. I got this.” I staggered to my feet, bolstered by a wolf bracing himself against the backs of my legs. The power was flowing through our pack bond, and even though I couldn’t hear their thoughts, I could feel their emotions. They believed in me. That we, together, could take down this storied family and chase them from their historic home.
More spires of fire hit the ground all around us until I growled,
“Enough!” And the echo of my cry shot right through him, the wave of power shattering the glass int he windows all around him. He toppled over like I’d clotheslined him, and I inhaled sharply.
Never in my life had I thought I was this powerful or could be this powerful.
“C’mon,” I said to the pack and started running, the glass slippery under my feet. I needed to get to him, unfurl the power of the heartstone before he could get back up on his feet.
Powerful limbs, furry and shaggy, surrounded me as the wolves surged forward, racing flat out toward the mansion. Magic carried me, helped my energy and kept me running hard and fast after them as my muscles grew tired. We just reached the grand front porch, it’s white ivory pillars gleaming with droplets of rain and streaked with soot, when I grabbed the heartstone from my throat and ripped it, tearing the chain. I held it up in the air, willing it with all my mental power to explode outward. I closed my eyes as it lit up, so bright I could see it despite ducking my head away, and high above, Kenton screamed like he was being murdered.
“More,” I whispered, voice haggard as the magic of the stone tumbled out, sinking into the ground, racing up the pillars, seeping into the cracks between the marble. It sought out the magic that the mansion was bathed in, sucking it dry, leaving brittle building materials. I’d rip the ground out from under them and leave them with nothing to rebuild with. Above me, on the balcony, I felt Kenton’s power flutter, struggle, and then snuff out. I walked forward up the stairs and toward the doors. The house’s windows were all broken from the burst of power I’d showered them with. The dragon was toothless.
And still, the heartstone was relentless, unleashed and hungry; I felt it travelling through the house, seeking out the inhabitants, binding their magic down, leaving them weak and on their knees. My blood sang in my ears, rapid and heavy.
Something nudged against my hand, and I looked down. Eli cocked his head at me and then paced forward. I smirked and grabbed the handle of the door. How many times had I come to this house, both before and after my sister had married into the Hailward clan?
That day would be the last time.
“I’m here, Creston,” I murmured, “can you feel me? You should have killed me when you had the chance.” I pushed the door open, and the wolves filtered in around me, looking up at the great walls, the grand chandelier. All of it was soaked in the blood of other wolves. We knew that. I could practically smell it. The heartstone pulsed in my hand, full of magic and yet still hungry for more. It could eat everything in here and still be ready to take down another house, bind another witch, destroy the legacy of hurt and genocide that witches had wreaked havoc on the world.
Tendrils of my magic reached outward, and I didn’t even need to fight them anymore. The Hailwards were in their bedroom, holding one another, begging for mercy as their magic ebbed from their bodies.
I felt nothing. Not even… joy, anymore, at their fear and pain. They could’ve stopped this at any point. They could’ve forced my father to back down. They could have punished Creston for stalking me and trying to ruin my life.
And as always, they stood back and stood by while the men in my life tried to end my life.
“Daughter,” a voice rasped from the depths of the house, whispering along with the floors and walls, and I froze.
No.
Not here. I wasn’t expecting him here.
“Come to me,” the force of his command had me jerking across the floor, my feet skidding on the wet marble. I needed to go to him. He needed me. My mind glassed over, and it felt like I was watching myself from the outside as my body started to walk, movements shuddery and jilted, down the long hallway.
“Com-”
As one, the wolves howled, lifting their heads to the ceiling and shaking the dust from it. It drowned out my father’s voice and broke the spell. I staggered, and Charlie was there, bumping my left leg, Cash at my right. Finn and Ace ranged in front of me, their hackles up, shoulders tensed. Eli was at my back. Always, forever, at my back.
A tickle of amusement reached me, and then his laugh, echoing down the hallway.
“Very well,” he breathed, the ice of it freezing the air around me. “It is no big matter to come to you.”
I tried to move and couldn’t, my muscles binding up, just as the wolves growled and strained to lunge forward, but their own bodies refused them. Panic flashed in my mind, and for a second, I was that small, helpless girl, Creston’s fingers ranging all over my body despite how many times I begged him not to.
And then he emerged.
My father, skin blackened, teeth broken and falling out of his mouth, his eyes glowing a sickly green.
“I’ll eat every one of you,” he whispered, his voice like nails scraping over leather, and my heart battered my chest, begging to get free.
Twenty-Six
My father didn’t take a step forward, not a single one, but he didn’t have a chance to. My wolves lunged, growling, their bodies low to the ground.
“No,” I gasped out, not wanting him to hurt them, but before I could throw up a lightning shield, Finn tilted his head back and howled. The ceiling above shuddered, Eli’s nose tipping sky-ward and joining in. One by one, their wolf-song rose and fell, and I felt it shake the power inside of me. My magic trembled, and I fell to my knees, involuntarily. The heartstone, vibrating against my hand where I kept it clenched tight,
My father clapped his hands to his ears, a scream ripping through his throat. The power in the wolves was forcing him back, one step at a time. I ran forward as Eli stepped to the side and grabbed my father by the arms, shoving him to the ground. His eyes opened and flashed at me, glaring white, then black again. He smirked.
“So close, don’t you regret getting close last time?” His hand came up and covered my mouth and nose. Suddenly the air sucked out of my lungs, and I choked, my body seizing up as his hand sealed over my airways, like it was stuck to my skin. My mind panicked, fuzzy at the edges as I tried to breathe. The heartstone slipped to the ground, falling off the chain clenched between my fingers.
The howl broke, and white teeth snapped around my father’s arm. He screamed and broke away from me to beat at the wolf that bit him. Ace snarled in return, retreating for a second and then launching again, biting over and over, mauling my father’s arm as he held it up to try to protect himself.
I staggered back, a wolf pressing up behind me so I wouldn’t fall. I fisted my finger in his, Cash’s, fur, and steadied myself.
“You should have left us alone,” I panted, glancing around. The heartstone. I needed it. Charlie appeared at my side and nudged my hand, dropping the heartstone into it. It was wet with his spit, but I didn’t care. “And this shit ends.” The heartstone’s power was gentle but persistent, unfurling like the wings of a dragon, silky and immense.
Bleeding, my father curled up on the ground as Ace retreated, his fur flared out as he growled and circled around behind the man on the ground. Eli stepped in front of me, Finn matching his pace, their heads low, threatening to lunge if my father so much as moved.
“You’ll have to destroy us all,” my father said, nursing his arm against his chest. It was missing, half of it anyway, and I saw the severed hand on the ground when I glanced over. Ace had ripped it from his body, which was horrifying, and even more so, my father was acting like it was just a scratch.
Like he could barely feel it. Nausea swamped me in rolling waves.
“I’m already halfway there,” I growled and crushed the heartstone in my hand. It’s
steady, sturdy crystal matrix didn’t cave, warming under my tight grip.
“Not here, you won’t,” he hissed in response, his eyes widening. He slapped his one hand down on the ground, and a bubble of shadow grew under it. He lifted his palm, slowly, as the dark spot swelled outward. The wolves edged back, uneasy. That darkness was increasing, and I knew if it touched us-
I grabbed onto Cash and backed up, the pack moving with me as one, Ace still snarling as he tried to circle around me to get at my father.
“No,” I snapped, closing my eyes. The air felt dead, and as the magic of the heartstone reached him, it withered away, fading as it touched the area around him. I could feel it right inside me; whatever he was doing was enough to counteract the power I’d gathered.
I swallowed.
I wouldn’t be enough.
I’d never be…
Finn leaned into me hard, pressing into my thigh and the hopelessness that had threatened to steal victory from me vanished.
My father thought he could win.
I’d never let him.
That soul magic inside of me had never vanished with the return of my powers, and this time it answered my call instantly, twisting on with a warped dizzy feeling as the world shifted sideways and transparent. My father's dark spell was conjuring was reaching out toward us, slowly expanding, but I was faster. The stars above shone, giving off an odd hum that seemed to call at the magic in the heartstone.
And I reached
The light exploded outward from us, blowing past my father, racing miles in a heartbeat, seeking out every single witch and home that we hadn’t reached yet-
I opened my eyes with a gasp and felt the shivery feel of their power curling into me, crashing into me, running along the threads of the heartstone magic, as it sucked them dry, stealing from them like they’d stolen the lives of other creatures.
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