‘Are you okay?’ she heard him ask.
She couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, but managed to send something through the bond, like a pulse of certainty.
The spirits kept coming. Oh god. When would they stop? When would it be enough? She felt bloated with them, as if her skin was about to burst open. She didn’t think she could take any more, but she knew it wasn’t enough. She needed all of them, and then more. She had to take all the witches who had hung around through the ages, and then, through Adam and the pack bond, she had to take the spirit Were who had turned up too. They were there, unexpected, something she’d not known could happen, but they’d come. For her. For Adam. For the pack. Adam and Jason’s parents, their brothers and wives, Skye and River’s mother and father, and so many others.
They kept coming. Slamming into her so fast she couldn’t distinguish one from another.
‘Almost there,’ she heard someone yell through the void of pain that was now her entire world. Her mind was slipping, fracturing, and yet she somehow managed to hold together even though she’d let everything go.
The last spirits entered her. Her skin was vibrating, stretched and painful. Something strange itched on her back, around her shoulder blades. She glanced up at the moon. It was almost midnight. She could sense the power of her friends as they reached for their powers, building them towards their peak, pulling on the source of their power and the power of the living Were through their mating bonds and the pack bond. Even Eloise was tapped into them, her power resonating through the crystal in her chest, vibrating so fast now it emitted a high-pitched tone that made the Were howl to the moon.
The spirit Were inside her joined them in their howl, their emotions so strong that she knew she’d be swept away on the tidal wave of them. More flooded into her, ancient ones that were harder, each one so powerful because they were two souls, not one. They were so strong. She’d never had a true understanding of the symbiosis of the bond until now. The unerring oneness of it.
It was beautiful.
It was overwhelming. She was too full. Too full. She couldn’t do this by herself. She couldn’t. She didn’t have to.
She reached for Adam, for the link with him. ‘Help me.’
‘Always.’
He opened himself up and allowed her to use him as a receptacle for some of the power, the emotions, that flowed through her. He glowed with it, like an amethyst lit from within by moonlight.
‘By the moon, Kitten. That feels amazing.’
‘Adam!’ She heard the gasp of others around her, but couldn’t stop to think about what it meant. Adam had given her the ability to take in more. But not only that. She knew he held within him the ability to give it all back to her and more when she needed it. It was what she’d been so frightened and angry about before, and now it was the thing that might save them all.
If the power wasn’t blistering through her, she might have laughed at the irony.
Except laughter was driven far away. The more she took into her, the louder the banshee hum became inside her. A song of horrific warning, getting louder. She had to stop it before it drove forth, pushing sanity and all she loved into the abyss.
‘Now,’ she cried out to the others, extending her hands towards Eloise, knowing Skye and Bron did the same, their own power built to almost intolerable levels. Together, as if they’d rehearsed this over and over when they’d never done it before, they chanted:
‘Receive our power, three for one
In service to the light, bright as the sun
Receive our love, four for four
In service to the light, open the door
Receive our present, future and past
In service to the light, ley lines vast
Receive our hope to set us free
In service to the light, so mote it be.’
There was a crackling in the air, and then power shot from each of their hands, hitting Eloise from all sides, arcing through her to where the Goddess Stone sat in her chest. She jerked and cried out, her arms flinging wide, head snapping back. Power shot into the air and down into the earth, and for the first time Shelley could see the ley lines above and below, as their power was fed into them and given back tenfold.
It was so beautiful. And yet, maybe it wouldn’t be enough.
The hum inside her began to turn into a scream.
***
‘Hurry. They’re trying to stop us.’
Cain pushed on. He didn’t need the Darkness to tell him the obvious. Morrigan would have told the bastard Were and their sluts what he and the Darkness intended this night. They’d be foolishly trying to do something to stop them. Not that they could. Not without the Nexus and the Goddess Stone. Even if they’d managed to find the Goddess Stone—which he seriously doubted as it had been lost in the aether centuries ago—Eloise had no idea about her power or how to use it. They might be trying something, but it would fail. He would see to it as soon as he was close enough to tear apart their feeble magic.
The true hurry was that the moon was almost at its zenith and they needed to be near Morrigan when she gave birth.
Explosions went off around him—traps the animals had set to stop him. They barely slowed him down as he used his shields to protect him. He could sense the Were in the trees around him, wondered why they didn’t rush out to fight him. He should ferret them out, light them up with his magic, suck up the power of their deaths, but the Darkness was almost hysterical in his mind, pushing him on, faster, faster.
‘Hurry. Use your power to make yourself go faster.’
He already was using as much power as he dared on his shield and on his speed. More would make him vulnerable when he faced down the Were and Morrigan and forced the labour to begin. The bitch was stopping her labour. Her power was an itch under his skin. Couldn’t she see the damage she did? The more she held on, the more their baby would suffer when the Darkness destroyed the soul that was destined for the body and took its place. She was fighting against the inevitable. Was she so far gone that she didn’t see that?
She would die. As soon as she’d given birth to the baby.
He glanced up at the moon.
Almost time. Power tingled through his skin. The power of Samhain. Of life and death and everything in between. Soon it would all be within his grasp.
He laughed into the night.
Light shot into the sky. His laughter died as he flinched, the brightness bringing tears to his eyes. All around him, Were howled into the night, and then he saw them, brightly lit in the trees, held in some kind of stasis. Power ran from them—into the earth, into the sky, back towards the place he was heading, where the light was coming from. Lines of power glowed in the sky above him, in the earth at his feet. A terrible chill stabbed his skin, making his spine snap straight as he stared, as he began to comprehend what it was he saw.
‘No! No!’ His scream was left behind him as he used his power to speed through the bright night, to kill those who would take his dreams, his destiny, from him.
***
Shelley stared at Eloise. Tears streamed down her face at the beauty of her. She was lit up with the power hitting her, coruscating colours, blue, green, gold and amethyst with the flicker of red at its heart. She held the power inside her for longer than Shelley thought possible, and then, pulling on all that power, she tapped into the ley lines.
‘Seek out the Darkness
Light the night
No place to hide
Expelled from earth’s sight.’
The words exploded from her—a spell, but not. At the same time, more power burst from the crystal in her chest, lighting the landscape around her in a way the sun never could. The pull on her powers was incredible, but she, along with Skye and Bron, continued to channel their powers into Eloise; the power of the living and dead; the power of healing and life; the power of the land and earth and sea and fire; the variations on those powers from the other witches in the inner circle just beyond the triangle, and be
yond them, the power of the packs, all steadied and strengthened by their four mates. Three lines of power from the triumvirate, four to their mates, multiple lines of power from the witches, warlocks and Were who were in the square created by Jason, River, Iain and Adam. But more than that, lines of power came from the surrounds. Any Were in the vicinity were tapped for power too with a suddenness that made them stop in their tracks and light up with the power of the change.
Except none of them changed. They were, in that moment, both human and wolf, strong and timeless, born of the magic of the world they lived in, inexorably tied to it. They shared in the power from the centre of the clearing and gave back to it, not just because the pact demanded it, but because they could. Because they wanted to. Because the sharing and togetherness made them stronger.
Shelley could see all of that in her mind. The wonder and beauty of it. She was part of that. It was melded into her skin, her soul, her heart, as surely as the Goddess Stone was melded into Eloise. It made her strong. No. She was already strong. It simply added depth to what was already there. Gave it all meaning.
She belonged. For the first time ever, she realised she truly belonged. What had she been fighting against all this time? It was magnificent. Truly magnificent. She heard laughing in her mind. Her laughter. Adam’s. It was joy. She felt truly alive, free of fear, full of love. His love. Hers. Skye’s and Bron’s and Eloise’s. Their mates. The pack. Even the McClunes. They loved her. Cherished her. She was theirs as they were hers.
Family. She had family.
She was never going to let them go.
Her power brightened, strengthened, and something snapped in place inside her. The bond with Adam. It went from being a gossamer thread to something bright and unbreakable. She’d been so empty without it. It filled her. Made her more. Adam howled to the night, an answering echo from the distance she knew was his wolf deep in the earth, coming to life in recognition of the thing it had always longed for, even though it still wasn’t whole without Adam’s soul intact. It pulled at him—but he couldn’t go. Not yet. Not while the canker was in his skin. But it was going. She could feel the power of it being burned out of his flesh as their spell lit up the world, driving the Darkness from its hiding places.
She couldn’t wait to be truly wrapped in his arms again, his lips on hers, his hands on her flesh, him thick and hard and glorious inside her.
‘I want that, too, Kitten. By the moon, I love you.’
His voice echoed in her head and she pushed the words back to him. ‘I love you, too.’
He laughed again, a burst of wild joy.
She wanted to roll in it, to cover herself with the joy of the sound. But there was another sound, the banshee, screaming to life inside her. Someone was going to die. They were going to die! It wasn’t simply Cain or the Darkness either. There was the possibility of others. Thousands of others. Millions. No. No. She had to hold on to the scream. She couldn’t let it out.
A scream—not the banshee, but another—echoed through the night. She became aware of noises off to her right behind where Adam stood. Fighting. The sizzle of dark power skittered over her, flicking off the web of light that had grown over them as they wrought the spell.
Cain. He was here.
Fury flared through the bond from Adam. ‘You won’t kill anyone tonight, you bastard.’
‘Adam, no!’
The words weren’t just from her, but from Bron and Skye, but he didn’t listen. She knew the moment he turned to engage the evil warlock, to stop him from shooting his power at Shelley and the others. His snarl tore through the air, shuddering through her. There was another scream, frustration and rage, sizzling heat, a cry from Bron—’Adam, watch out!’ A heated bolt of Bron’s golden healing power flew past Shelley, so close the sizzle of it played across her skin. Another cry in the night and then …
He was gone.
‘Adam!’ she cried out, with mouth and mind. ‘Adam!’ He didn’t answer. The bond was still intact, but he wasn’t there.
The banshee scream was working up to her chest, rising, rising. No, not Adam. Not Adam. It couldn’t start with Adam. But she knew that it could. That it would. If he was dead. She wouldn’t have the strength or will to stop it.
There was more screaming and yelling. More bursts of power that struck at their spell. She wanted to turn, to look, to find him with her eyes, but she couldn’t move, was fixed in spot now as the spell came to its peak, as she fought not to release the banshee wail, to hold on to the fact that she could still feel the bond, even though Adam wasn’t responding. She could see Bron’s face on the other side of the triangle. Her eyes were wide with horror, her golden power flaring all around her. ‘Adam, no!’ Tears spilled down her face as she looked at Shelley, read the pleading in her eyes. She shook her head and words spilled out of her, as if she couldn’t withhold the truth. ‘Cain shot Warlock Lightning at him. I tried to help. Tried to send out healing power to where he was standing, but there was a flare of light and then he was gone. I can’t see him anymore.’
‘No. No!’ She had no idea what might happen if he were hit in spirit form by Cain’s Warlock Lightning, but given he wasn’t answering, it wasn’t good. His body was still alive—which was why she could still feel the bond—but his spirit was no longer there. She called out to him again, desperate, with voice and mind, but he didn’t answer. Oh god. His spirit had been destroyed. And without a spirit, his body would soon die too.
No. No! Not Adam. They were supposed to be together. She’d only just decided. Had only just accepted the bond. It had snapped tight. She’d thought, for one insane moment, that she was going to be able to have everything she’d ever dreamed of. Now that was gone. Taken away with no rhyme or reason. Before she’d even had a chance to tell Adam face to face. To actually hold him, body and soul, and cherish him in the way he always should have been cherished, and be cherished by him in return. She wanted to die. Oh god. She wanted to die.
The wail—more a scream—tore from her mouth. A savage sound, it ripped through the crackle of power, echoing across the land, sending Were to their knees.
‘Shelley—no!’ Skye and Bron and Eloise cried out to her, but it was too late. She’d been walking a tightrope for too many years, but after the banshee part of her had come to the fore earlier in the year, she’d been even closer to this, to the insanity of crossing the veil, of knowing and feeling things a human was never meant to know and feel. The insanity was a living thing inside her, tied into that part of her that came from the gods. And it knew, could feel, that Adam was gone. Cain had taken him from her. Her Adam. It wasn’t his time. It should have been Cain. The Darkness. They should be the ones to die tonight. And she was the one who would make it happen.
Death was her gift. She would take Cain and his master into oblivion with her in recompense for what they’d done.
The world turned darkly purple. The itching that had been in her shoulder blades since the spell began suddenly became a tearing pain. She screamed and screamed again, not of pain—but of rage and grief and retribution. Something tore from the skin on her back—wings. They snapped out, strong and glistening with blood and amethyst fire in the night. They flapped, bearing her upward, through the wards, through the powerful ley lines, until she could look down and see her enemy.
She saw herself, the astral spirit part of her, still standing at the point of the triangle, mouth open, tears streaming from her eyes, her power billowing and enormous, a silver and amethyst thread flying up in the air to the banshee part of her that had transformed her body and separated it from the witch and medium parts of her soul. Skye and Bron and Eloise were staring up, faces full of their horrified understanding of what she’d done—splintered her mind and soul to have her revenge. Jason and River and Iain still held their places, trying to steady the gap of Adam’s absence with sheer will. They shouted at the witches and Were in the circle around the triumvirate to hold their place, to help Skye, Bron and Eloise complete the spell. H
er astral self was holding onto her side of the spell with a tenuous grip that could break at any moment if she didn’t return the two parts of herself together. The others were trying to shore her up while desperately trying not to lose their hold on their own side of the spell. They were managing, but wouldn’t for much longer if Cain kept shooting his power at them.
He had to be stopped.
If she killed him, if she ensured the Darkness was destroyed, the other millions of deaths building inside her would not come to pass. Even if she had to sacrifice herself, she would ensure that future would not unfold.
She looked for him. Cain stood at the edge of the clearing, protected by the trees, shooting bolts off at anyone close by while yelling something—a spell—at the place where Morrigan stood. She was yelling words into the night, a spell, hands clutched over her distended stomach. She was driven to her knees, her face screwed into an expression of terror and agony. She was going into labour.
The power in the clearing buckled, almost broke, but Bron and Shelley and Eloise and all the others poured more of themselves into it. Cordy ran to Morrigan’s side, her doula powers flaring around her. The baby was coming. It was going to be born.
No! Cain and the Darkness would have their way if she didn’t stop them now.
Mouth open on a scream, she swooped down towards him.
Chapter 27
Screaming filled Adam’s mind. And a searing burn that made him wonder if it was his scream he heard. Screaming seemed the appropriate response to what had happened, to the pain shooting through him, to the knowledge that he was dying.
That fucker, Cain, had hit him with Warlock Lightning again. And holy shit, had it hurt! His soul must now be completely severed from his body. He couldn’t possibly survive a second time. Very soon, there would be no more pain. No more thought. Only this moment of endless regret at everything he was about to lose.
Shelley.
Wolf Bound Page 34