Wolf Pack Chronicles Box Set

by Amelia Wilson

  "Oh, heavens, no. He turned out to be a real snore fest," she said. "Quite literally. He fell asleep during our lunch date. But, luckily I was at the grocery store the other day when I bumped into an old friend of mine from my college days. We picked up right where we left off. He has just lost his wife too, and we've been seeing each other ever since."

  Krista was taken aback. Her visions were bound to come true at some time or another, and it completely floored her to hear Mrs. Remy’s outcome had been different. “I thought for sure you would have hit it off with that other man,” Krista said, almost to herself. Mrs. Remy was still all smiles. “Life has a funny way of surprising us, doesn’t it?” She asked. “I better get going. I hope you like your gift. I’ll be back next week for our scheduled reading.”

  “Of course, Mrs. Remy,” Krista said with a warm smile, though her mind was stormy now. “Same time, same place.”

  “By the way, who are those handsome men standing outside your shop?” The old woman prodded. “Is there a ‘someone’ in your future now?”

  “Not quite,” Krista said, a flutter of sadness in her chest. “They’re just inspecting the place.”

  The little bell rang against the door as Mrs. Remy smiled at each of the shifter men standing by the entrance.

  “Anything wrong?” Krista asked them.

  “Nothing out of the ordinary,” one of them said.

  “And no sign of Ryland?”

  They only shook their heads at her. She gave a sad shrug as she turned her attention back to reorganizing the remaining upset behind her counter. Those evil shifters had made quite the mess during their search for her, and she still had a few things to put back in order.

  As she swept away the remains of a broken clock face and a pile of junk mail, she noticed a hint of black ink looking up at her. ‘Krista' was written on it. Her stomach did a flip. Was it a note from Ryland about his whereabouts? She could only hope as she sifted the trash to the side and pulled it from the rubble.

  It was sealed with wax, certainly not Ryland’s style, but he was full of surprises. She slid her finger under it the seal, breaking the envelope open and pulling out the letter inside. As soon as she opened it, she realized it wasn’t Ryland who had written to her.

  Her mother's handwriting was concise. She was surprised she had even found the note in the shop. It seemed as though her mother had left her a goodbye message after all, despite Krista's belief that she wouldn't. Krista sat in her usual chair by her reading table, focusing deeply on the note:

  Krista,

  By the time you read this, I’ll be very far off on my spiritual journey in the Himalayas. There are monks there that claim they can strengthen a psychic’s abilities and I must train with them to learn their ways. Funny, we are always learning, aren’t we? Even though I’ve left you everything, including my shop, there is still plenty for you to learn.

  Before I go, I will leave you with my advice. Our gift is incredible—how we can see into the future. However, you should always remember one thing: the future is an unknown shape, which we must grab hold of and mold into something new. Whatever shape you make of your future, I hope that you’ll eventually understand the power that you hold deep inside yourself. No vision or spell or tarot card spread can tell you otherwise.

  I love you and hope you'll understand my leaving. Take care of the shop, but more importantly, take care of yourself, always. You hold a very important spirit inside of you—one that will reveal itself in due time and one that you should never doubt. Goodbye, my daughter. May blessings follow you everywhere you go.

  Much love, and plenty of magic,

  Mother

  Krista’s hand shook and she read her mother’s words over, and over again. Here she had thought she was forgotten about and that her mother left her without even muttering a goodbye—that all of her training had been for nothing. But, as she sat, mulling over the goodbye note, she began to realize there was something important that she had missed.

  She left the note on the table and grabbed Mrs. Remy's gift, before bounding up the steps. Although she felt shaky in her abilities, she knew that her mother had believed in her all along and that she might have another chance to use her power for something great.

  Slamming the door behind her, Krista grabbed the silk bag on her counter and headed straight for her coffee table. She sat cross-legged on the ground, looking at the old pack of tarot cards. It felt like so long ago that she had done the reading for herself. Now she had a whole new understanding of what being a psychic meant. It wasn't in the cards, or in the lines on her palm.

  She shook the contents of the bag into her hand. For the past few days she had been studying her runes, but none of it would mean anything if Krista didn’t believe in the one final element she needed to read the prophecy.

  Her breath felt heavy in her chest as the bones rattled back and forth, their message yearning to be determined. If her vision for Mrs. Remy hadn't come true, then who's to say that her vision of Ryland would come true as well? She could only hope she had enough time.

  She stopped shaking the bag, and took a deep breath. Finally, it became clear to her why she couldn’t read her cards in front of Tristan and Ryland, or why she couldn’t understand the oracle bones during the shifter meeting. Krista believed the future was always certain, and that only brought her a fear that stunted her abilities. It’s why she was too afraid to pursue a relationship with anyone, or too scared even to leave her shop, or indeed why she had gone home instead of looking for the one man who understood her.

  The oracle was inside of her. It always had been. Now she was trying to speak, loud and clear. The future is uncertain, she told herself, and there’s no reason to fear something you can’t see clearly.

  She picked up Mrs. Remy's present, wrapping the delicate chiffon scarf over her head. It was her own ritual, and for once she felt as though she was in perfect control of this moment. Now, she was more than a psychic. Her thoughts already felt like magic flowing through her brain. She felt a rush of energy—her veins pulsing as she finally untied the bag. "Give me sight," she whispered to the bones, to the oracle guiding her hand as she flipped the silk upside down.

  Time slowed, as the bones fell. Krista felt as if they were her own bones. They spread out, each of the tiny pieces falling into a perfect shape of a crescent moon on the table, as if they had their own consciousness. Krista felt a rush of excitement as she pored over them. There were twisted symbols, squiggles and ancient scrawling in an unrecognizable language. Yet Krista could understand all of them with ease. It was as if someone had lifted a curtain from her eyes.

  The words flowed from her mouth like honey as she clearly spoke the language of the bones. At first, she had been frightened, but then she thought of Ryland and the Rogues, of Tristan and the shifters that she refused to let die in vain. She would hold onto this strange magic that began to surround her and never let go until she learned the truth.

  As she spoke, she noticed a faint glow emanating from the bones. She was reading the prophecy! Every word of it. An intense heat spread from her toes, all the way up to the top of her scalp, and she couldn’t stop herself from shaking as pure energy began to flow through her.

  She could hardly breathe. Her lungs were filled with cold, arctic air. The bones began to rattle on the table, shaking violently before they slowly levitated up into the air in front of her face.

  Then, she heard a voice. It was a woman’s voice, as stern as her mother’s. It was almost like an ancient song to her ears. “Hail, Krista…”

  “W-who are you?” It was hard even for Krista to speak, especially since there was nobody around to hear her.

  “Do not be afraid, for you have awakened my spirit with the ancient words. The oracle hears you. I will grant you with sight.” The words echoed, bouncing off every part of Krista's skull. She suddenly felt a rush of power flowing through her entire body as the oracle's spirit revealed itself to her.

  Krista turned her
head to the sky, the power suddenly overwhelming. She was surrounded by a distant roaring and felt as though she were flying through all of space and time. Her eyes widened, filling with a swirling blue light as she experienced her vision.

  It was the clearest she had ever seen and it was as if she were standing right there. She heard the ancient words, and again she understood all of them.

  "The power of old returns to the new. The Wolf God will rise once more. He will bring the Earth to its knees."

  Krista felt the non-existent ground shaking beneath her. She saw flashes of Ryland, from the moment he had stepped into her shop, to the moment they had first made love. Then, she saw the dark shadow from her nightmares. It was tightening itself around Ryland, choking him and entering his mouth. Krista flew forward, further in time until she found herself in a pitch-black space. A fire began to erupt from the ground, as an enormous wolf monster, the size of a skyscraper, rose up. He was half-man, half wolf, his jaws agape as he laughed maniacally.

  The fire began to spread, and Krista suddenly found herself standing on a busy street. The roads were cracked as if an earthquake had taken place. Bodies rushed past her, screaming in terror. She watched in horror as the massive wolf monster laid an entire city-scape to waste with its paw.

  Buildings crumbled, and a massive wave of dust flew over Krista. She braced herself, but it passed right through her as if she were a ghost. The wolf monster grabbed a fistful of screaming people and threw them into his mouth.

  Then, Krista heard the voices again, whispers in ancient tones. "But the oracle will emerge, once again. Only she can dispel the darkness."

  The dust and debris flew around Krista like a massive whirlwind. A blinding blue light was cast on the streets as a cloud-like orb began to pick up everything around it. Pieces of buildings and cars were crushed under the gravity of the orb before they were sucked up into its gravitational pull.

  Krista's eyes widened once she saw what was in the center. A woman, just like the picture she had seen in Ryland's old books. She held out her arms as if she could control every part of the Earth with her fingertips. Her ancient robes flew wildly about her. She floated in the center of her sphere of energy, as it moved up to the wolf's face. It growled and roared at her, but she was not afraid.

  Instead, she simply held out her hand, placing it on directly on the wolf’s nose. Then, as if an atomic bomb had hit the ground, a blinding flash of energy burst from in between the two forces, spreading out wide and covering the entire world.

  Krista was knocked back, off of the street, back into space and time as she was being yanked out of her vision. White light still blinded her, as she heard the deafening roar of the wolf monster as it was defeated.

  She woke up on the floor in a cold sweat, her heart throbbing violently in her ears. A gasp tore at her lungs as she sat up. The oracle bones fell to the table, scattering every which way, as their power was exhausted. She had done it. Finally, she had seen the curse, and everything it would bring.

  Of course, she had witnessed and experienced the power of the oracle. She gazed at her fingertips, which still had swirls of blue energy racing around them. As she made a fist, the swirls conjoined into a handful of what looked like blue smoke.

  Her breath still felt cold in her chest, and she quickly changed into her leggings and sneakers, the familiar outfit she wore with the Rogues. As she raced back down the stairs, she threw open the door and startled the two shifters standing guard.

  “We have to gather the factions, now!” She said. “Something wicked is about to be awakened. It’s time for us to stop it!”

  18. AWAKENING

  Ryland winced as the rope was tightened around his wrists. Even if he had tried to shift, he’d still be caught in the ropes. Two cultists were holding his sides as his feet were tied to a metal loop on the floor. His entire body was stretched out, preventing any sort of escape from his oncoming death.

  “We have to cleanse him first,” Christoph stood in the center of the cult’s main room, where Ryland had first been reunited with his brother. They had spray-painted the symbol of their pack on the floor in black. Candles filled the room with an ominous light, casting terrifying shadows onto the wall.

  A woman approached him, her face and body obscured with a long hooded robe. Ryland couldn’t believe such archaic garb was being worn in a place like this. It only added to the cult’s mystery. The woman held out a stick of sage, tied neatly together with a leather cord. She lit it ablaze, casting the smoke over Ryland as she incanted a chant.

  The embers stung at his skin. At this point, the spirit had consumed nearly all of his body. “We have to do this soon,” Christoph said without looking at his brother. “There’ll be nothing left to give, if the spirit consumes him completely.”

  “Christoph…you can stop this right now,” Ryland tried desperately to get his brother to understand. But Christoph was wrapped up in his own scheme. He was remorseful about sacrificing his own brother, but the wild look in his eye told Ryland that he wasn’t going to change his mind.

  “How much longer until the dagger is ready?” He asked the heavyset shifter by his side.

  “The dagger is still being purified and blessed,” the shifter replied.

  “Are the exits sealed?”

  "Since this morning, My Liege."

  "Of course they'd call you their liege," Ryland scowled.

  "This coming from the only alpha I've met whose pack calls him, ‘Sir'" Christoph retorted.

  Just in that exchange, Ryland thought there was a glimmer of his brother still inside of him. There just had to be a better way to coax it out.

  The burning sage stung his nose and engulfed his senses. For some odd reason, it was making him feel dizzy and strange. He wondered if it was even sage that was being burnt. The room grew fuzzy around him—his brother’s face slightly blurry as he moved about the room.

  Again, he tried desperately to contact Krista, although he couldn’t hear her from the other side. “Please be safe”, he kept saying to her, as he feared the shifters would be coming for her soon and locking her up. Christoph didn't want any flaw in his plan and was taking specific measures to prevent it from failing.

  “Krista, I didn’t run, He’s going to kill me”. Suddenly it became more real to him. “He’s going to kill me.” His heart ached at the thought. How he wished now that he could see where his pride had led him. If only he had been a more understanding alpha. If he hadn't pushed them so hard, he wouldn't be tied up and about to be sacrificed—spending his final moments in a cold and lonely dungeon.

  “He’s going to kill me…”

  Krista heard Ryland’s voice ringing loud and clear in her mind. She tilted her head down and her eyes cleared as she gazed out at the five shifter factions. They watched her with shock and awe.

  “Ryland is going to be sacrificed by his brother,” she warned. Her voice boomed, full of power in the Rogue’s warehouse. Even though she hadn’t been away from it for long, it was comforting to be back in its meeting hall.

  “How do you know?” Rizz called from his seat.

  “I have just heard his voice,” she said.

  As the blue clouds of energy faded around her, she placed her hands on the table. Nobody believed she was the oracle. Now, here they were, witnessing the true power that they had doubted. It was a slight shock to Krista, to say the least.

  “I’m sure you can guess why you’ve been gathered here today,” she said. “There is a spirit, an all-powerful being mentioned in shifter texts. He’s the Wolf God, a symbol of fear and power in the ancient world.”

  “How do you know?” Sam asked.

  "Because I've seen him myself," Krista's confidence was growing now. "He's bigger than any of us can imagine. I watched as he swallowed buildings and people whole."

  “So, what about the curse?” Ben asked. “Is it part of this prophecy?”

  “There is no curse,” Krista said. “Ryland has been carrying the spirit of the
Wolf God inside of him. Once he is killed and the spirit is finally unleashed, the Wolf God will wreak havoc on the city.”

  “From its roots to its skies…” Declan said quietly, remembering the note he had brought into the last meeting in his attempt to slander Ryland’s name. “I had it all wrong,” he added.

  "You've learned your lesson, but now we can come together and right all wrongs," Tristan said from behind Krista. It was so odd for her to sit in Ryland's seat. She relished every moment of it. Fear was foreign to her now. At any other time she would have hidden inside of herself. But, now she had the power, and she knew the truth. Now, she just had to use it for its true purpose.

  “We don’t have much time,” she said. “Each faction can round up a team, and we’ll infiltrate the place where this dark presence is hidden.”

  “What’s in it for us?” Sam said, nodding to her strongest shifters.

  "Is it not enough of a reward to be able to stay alive another day on this Earth?" Krista's voice was rising. It was as if the oracle was speaking for her, giving her the right words to say.

  The alphas looked to one another, each of them waiting to give a reply. Krista wondered if it would just be her taking on this mission. Even with her new abilities, she knew she couldn't take on an entire pack of wolves on her own, let alone the Wolf God if he were awakened. Surprisingly, Declan was the first to stand from his seat. The entire room fell silent as they waited for his answer. "The Stalkers will send a team with the Rogues."

  “So will the Nightcallers,” Rizz chimed in. “All she had to say was ‘staying alive’ and I was in.”

  “The Furies will provide aid,” declared Sam

  “And I give you some of my South Stars,” said Ben.

  Krista had to catch her breath. The support had been overwhelming and unexpected. She held her hands up, the static of electricity crackling through her fingertips. “Very well,” she said, “let’s assemble immediately!” The shifters scattered from their seats, calling out orders to the shifters they had brought with them. The plan was beginning to form now, and as she turned she noticed Tristan deep in thought.