by Sara Snow
“Ione? Is everything okay?”
But when blood began to drip from her nostrils and her eyes turned black, I knew something terrible had happened.
“They . . . they know who you are. They’re coming for the pack.”
They? Who is . . . ? Oh, no!
I shook my head, my heartbeat spiking. "Ione, what are you talking about? Who knows who I am? Are you saying the pack is in danger?"
“Come back.” She faded, becoming almost transparent, the trees behind her visible through her body, and I remembered I was dreaming. The world around us cracked and crumbled as blood rolled down her cheeks like tears. “Come back.”
That was the last thing she said before I pulled myself out from the dream.
Bolting upright in bed, sweat soaking my clothes, I looked around the room frantically. I ran from the room towards Saleem’s office. The door opened as soon as I got there, revealing Cyrus, who was looking me up and down, no doubt having heard my frantic heartbeat.
“We have to go!”
“What’s going on?” Will stepped past Cyrus to meet me. “Are you okay?”
"Ione mind-linked with me in a dream just now. She said they know who I am, and the pack is in danger."
“Shit,” Cyrus hissed as his Adam’s apple bobbed. “Saleem?”
“I heard,” she called from within the office before appearing at the door. “I don’t do portal spells, but I know a witch close by who does. Did this Ione give you a time frame?”
I shook my head, my heart still pounding. "No. She's a young Enchanted. All she could say was that they know who I am, and they're coming." I sighed as I closed my eyes and rubbed at my forehead. "They know who I am. Goddess, I sent them right to my pack."
“Saleem, please see if you can get that witch to create a portal for us,” Cyrus asked, and Saleem nodded, then called Scarlet forward with a finger. Scarlet pulled her red hair into a high ponytail and checked a blade that was on her thigh.
"We'll be back shortly," Saleem said to us all before she nodded at Scarlet and they left.
First, our attempt to track Skye resulted in her mother’s death when they tortured her about the cloaking spell, and now my pack was under attack because of me. I swallowed hard, my mouth going dry, and I turned away.
"This can't happen. It'll be my fault if anyone else dies." Someone touched my shoulder, but I moved away.
“Elinor, they could have found the pack through Skye or Ms. Clementine. Or even me. This isn't your fault,” Cyrus said.
I turned to him. Although his words rang true, I couldn't shake the feeling of dread rising inside me. An image of my little brother bloody and dead on the ground appeared in my mind, and I swallowed hard.
Where the hell is Saleem with that witch?
“Hey—” Will held onto my shoulders to stop me from pacing. “Look at me. Cyrus is right. Losing control now won't do anyone any good. They found your pack. And no matter how that happened, we all need to act to protect your people.”
"You can't come with us, Will."
His hands fell away from my shoulder. "You can't stop me, Elinor. If your pack is under attack, you're going to need all the help you can get."
"She's right." Cyrus nodded towards me, but his eyes were on Will. "The wolves might mistake you for an enemy during the battle. Because why would a vampire fight alongside wolves?"
Will seemed to think about that for a moment. "I haven't fed in a while, so I'll remain in my human form and my scent won't be as strong. And I'll have a beating heart. Besides, I'll be arriving with the two of you. They won't mistake me for the enemy."
"So that's it, then?" Cyrus narrowed his eyes. "When you don't feed, you slowly revert to being human. But when you feed, your vampirism returns."
“Yes, but I can only refrain from feeding for so long.”
Well, that explains that.
"Okay, then. Come with us, but stay close. And be careful," I grumbled against my better judgment.
A portal opened within the office, and Saleem, Scarlet, and a young woman in her late twenties with a violet gem on her forehead appeared.
“This is Prudence,” Saleem said, quickly introducing the witch, and Prudence nodded to us all as the portal closed behind her.
"You're the Alpha child, yes?" She called me forward. "I'll use you to open a portal to your pack. Since we don’t have the time to create a bottled portal, this is the quickest option. But it will drain you."
“I’ll do it then,” Cyrus offered, and I held my hand up.
My confidence had significantly slipped ever since the Guard trials. I’d let that tragedy make me forget who I was and what kind of strength coursed through my veins. Now, when something didn’t happen the way I thought I should have, I doubted myself.
But no more. Cyrus and Will would accompany me back to the pack, but I was going to do this part alone, at least. I wasn’t weak, and I would do it. My pack was depending on me.
I looked at Will, my love, and he nodded his head in encouragement.
“I can do it. I’ll be fine.”
“While you’re gone, we can gather a party and check out the location we got from Arden.” Scarlet’s beautiful face was determined as she shared a look with Saleem. “We’ll find you once we’ve learned more.”
I nodded, silently sending her my thanks. Then Prudence began to chant, causing the gem on her forehead to shine as bright as her violet eyes. She held her right hand out before her, and a small swirling orb of energy appeared and steadily grew. I quickly realized the orb was pulling my power from me, but I withstood it, clenching my jaw and focusing on home.
The pack could be under attack at this very moment. The weakness I was feeling wasn’t important if it helped us get there in time to help. Ione must have warned my father as well. But Theanos wouldn't have arrived yet to tell them what we knew. If the pack was attacked before any of us arrived, they'd be completely unprepared for the horror that was about to hit them.
“Here.” Saleem handed me a potion bottle. It was like the one she had given Cyrus, Theanos, and me to replenish our strength when we had first arrived and broken the cloaking spell shielding Skye. "Be careful, white wolf."
I took the vial from her as Cyrus and Will stepped into the portal. I gulped it down and closed my eyes as my body shivered and my energy swiftly returned.
“Thank you,” I sighed as I opened my eyes. “We’ll see each other again soon.”
I nodded my thanks to Prudence and Scarlet before stepping into the portal, my eyes already changing to black as I called on my wolf.
Who knew what we were about to step into? I only hoped we weren't too late.
Elinor
The moment I stepped out of the portal, my heart plummeted. All around us, there was screaming. The thick smoke in the air had blackened out the sky, hiding the stars above. The portal closed behind me with a gust of wind, sending my hair flying wildly.
Cyrus shifted into his demon form, black mist rising from his body. His wings burst from his back and lifted him off the ground.
“We’re too late,” I whispered to myself.
An explosion erupted to the left of us, and Will's eyes turned red as his fangs elongated.
“We need to split up!” Cyrus called down to me, his eyes now as black as mine.
I started running, not sparing a second thought. “I’m going to the pack house!”
Will pulled up at my side, running effortlessly. “I’ll come with you.”
We rushed through the forest, and I shifted into my first form mid-run. I stumbled as my legs broke, then I ran on all fours as my hands turned into paws. I couldn’t slow down. I needed to find my parents and my brother.
Ahead of us, a werewolf in its second form sporting a branded symbol threw a brown wolf from my pack into a tree. I howled aloud, my voice booming through the trees as I collided with the reanimated wolf before it could finish off the dazed brown wolf.
We tumbled to the ground together, but I hur
ried off, and Will took my place before the wolf could get up, ripping its throat out. Will caught up to me quickly, his right hand slick with blood. Our eyes met for a brief moment. The burning world around us slowed as my black eyes peered into his red ones. He smiled at me, flashing white fangs, and my wolf shook her head with a gentle growl.
Chaos was all around us, and I was on the verge of losing my mind with worry for my people, but with Will by my side, I couldn’t help feeling a glimmer of hope that everything was going to be okay.
As I looked at Will now, his lips curving ever so slightly with a smile, my heart thudded like it never had before. We broke through the tree line at the pack house and skid to a halt. My home resembled a battlefield. I rapidly spotted my father's second form as he fought with a resurrected werewolf.
His massive brown claw swiped across the wolf’s face as his long tail slapped an elf that was approaching him from behind, the force of it sending her flying.
His eyes landed on me, and he howled as I did in greeting before his black orbs slid to Will by my side.
I looked at Will too, but at that moment, his eyes widened at something behind me. Then he abruptly grabbed me and threw me to the side. He blinked out of sight as I crashed to the ground and a lightning bolt struck the tree where I had been standing.
The witch’s head lulled to the side, her violet eyes returning to pale green as blood sprayed from her opened neck. Her body hit the ground with a sickening thud, and behind her, Will inhaled deeply, black veins crawling up his neck to his cheeks and chin.
“Go,” he said.
I growled low to tell him to be careful, then ran towards the house. I counted five resurrected supernaturals outside, but who knew how many more were scattered throughout the pack?
The moment I entered the building, my mother’s battle cry met my ears. While in her human form, she sunk her claws into an elf’s chest despite the rose vines wrapped around her body. The vines fell away, and she removed the elf’s heart as the small thorn puncture wounds covering her body healed quickly. Our eyes met, but an explosion erupted in the kitchen, causing us both to duck.
Shit!
“Find Jackson!” my mother yelled. “He’s upstairs! Get him and get out of here!” She ran off before I could argue, and I shifted into my human form.
I looked up the stairs and then in the direction she had run. I didn't want to run away. I wanted to stay and fight. However, Jackson was going to be the next Alpha, and keeping him safe was a priority.
Grinding my teeth, I ran up the stairs, checking each room and calling for my brother.
“Jackson!”
My bedroom door flew open, and Jackson ran out, his eyes teary and wide with panic. I scooped him up into my arms and held him close. His soft sobs had my chest tightening, and I gently placed him back onto the ground as his little body trembled.
"It's okay. I'll get you out of here, okay?"
“M-m-mother?” he sobbed. “F-father?”
“They’ll be fine. But I need to make sure you will be, too. I'm going to shift now.” Another explosion went off outside, and down the hall behind Jackson, I could see smoke rising to the sky through a window. “I need you to get on my back and hold on. Okay?”
“Elinor!” he screamed, and I spun around to find an elf with half of her face burned standing at the end of the hall.
“Jackson, I need you to run!”
He started shaking his head, and I picked him up and whisked him into the room as the elf came running towards us. “You can do this. You're going to be the next Alpha. I know you can do this!” He wiped at his tears, his heartbeat still pounding, but he stood up straighter. “Find a vampire named Will. Just yell his name the moment you step out of the house. He'll find you and take you to safety, okay?”
“But . . .” he said when the room door was thrown open.
The door flew off its hinges, and Jackson rolled to the side as I ran forward, slamming into the elf and pushing her out of the room. I needed to protect my brother at all costs, even if it meant dying in the process. We’d never been close, but he was still my baby brother, the one who would continue the Blackwood name.
Protect him, Goddess. Please, I beg you!
I listened as his little feet sprinted from the room, and my fangs elongated before I sunk them into the elf's neck. Her pained shriek exploded in my ear, then she gained strength I didn't think an elf could possess. She wrapped her arms around my body, squeezing tightly, trying to get me to release her. I held on even as one of my ribs broke, the pain surging through my body, and I wailed in agony. We continued to tussle, neither releasing the other.
Without realizing it, we both reached the open window, where the smell of burning flesh scorched my nostrils. I sank my claws into her side and pulled us both out the window. She didn't scream or even seem to care as the ground rushed up to meet us. I quickly reached up, snapped her neck, then pushed her away from me before tucking and rolling.
My shoulder dislocated as I hit the ground, and I groaned in pain.
Cries of suffering met my ears as I got to my feet. I froze where I was, staring at the pandemonium around me. More resurrected supernaturals had arrived, and my people were struggling. They were being slaughtered.
Goosebumps covered every inch of my flesh, and my breathing became labored. I spotted Will vanishing into the forest with a bundle on his back that I knew to be my brother. I sighed with relief, but tears slipped from my eyes as I saw a wolf I’d known my entire life—an elderly one who’d once read to me as a child—cut down by a bolt of witch lightning right in front of me. My eyes closed, misery settling on my chest.
“Goddess,” I prayed. “Goddess, hear me, please. Save my people, I beg of you. I'll do anything, just save them. Please.”
Thunder rumbled above, and my eyes snapped open.
Give me the strength to save them. Whatever the price, I'll gladly pay it. Please let me right this wrong.
The smoke above me cleared as a lightning bolt came rushing towards me. A chill went through my body as a slight breeze brushed against my cheek. Somehow, I knew I wasn’t being attacked by a witch. This was something else. Something more.
I stood still, allowing the bolt to strike my body.
Very well, my child.
An eerily beautiful voice echoed in my mind just before the lightning bolt struck me, then another, and another after that. Burning hot pain rolled through my body, and almost unconsciously, I shifted, my bones breaking, my tendons stretching as I turned into my second form.
Smoke rose from the earth as more bolts struck the ground surrounding me. After a moment, I no longer felt like I was burning alive. Instead, the bursts of electricity were healing me, binding themselves to my body, strengthening me. Then, as abruptly as the lightning bolt barrage began, it stopped. All I could hear was silence . . . and the pained moans of my people.
I curled my fists, blinding power and rage filling me to the brim.
And when I opened my eyes, a growl strong enough to shake a mountain rocked my body.
8
Cyrus
It wasn’t black magic I was feeling. No, this was unlike any kind of magic I’d ever encountered. It felt old, crushing, and destructive. And it was rolling from Elinor in waves.
Lightning bolts had pummeled her, but she was still standing. For a moment, I’d thought a witch was responsible for the assault. But then she absorbed the bolts, and even the resurrected supernaturals stopped fighting, no doubt sensing a new power. I winced, blood rushing to my eyes as Elinor howled, her eyes and fur as white as snow.
Fear—that’s what I felt as her cavernous mouth closed, and her large chest rose and fell rapidly. No one moved, no one breathed as electricity danced on her fingertips. This creature was no longer Elinor, but something else—something none of us could fight.
Roots erupted from the earth, the sound breaking the silence, and a reanimated wolf cried out as the vine wrapped around her body, crushing her. Elinor b
linked out of sight, and my eyes widened.
She was fast, faster than even Will. Everyone started looking for her, when she reappeared behind the elf that had summoned the roots. He spun around to face her, and her massive hand grabbed his face, covering it. Electricity engulfed the elf’s body, burning him quickly, then Elinor threw him to the side like a used cloth.
The sky above us parted, and like before, lightning rained down on the earth, striking down all the resurrected supernaturals. Elinor continued her rampage, slaughtering with her hands as well as her newfound power. My victorious smile evaporated when I saw a Guard struck by lightning.
“No!” My wings flapped loudly. “Get to the house! Get to the pack house now! It’s not Elinor!”
“Elinor!” Alpha Grayson yelled.
I hurried forward to stop him from approaching her. “It’s not her! That’s not Elinor!” Another Guard was struck by lightning. “We need to get out of here, now!”
Alpha Grayson howled, signaling for everyone to retreat. We grabbed as many of the injured as we could before rushing to the pack house. Because the god-like white wolf who’d once been my best friend was killing everything in sight.
Alpha Grayson grabbed Elinor’s mother and pulled her to him as she struggled to go to her daughter. “She’s okay,” he soothed her, but he didn’t sound sure.
I wasn’t sure, either. Elinor had clearly been possessed. But by what?
I spotted Theanos’s bright wings over the trees and took to the sky. He and Skye needed to stay away, or he’d fly right into this mess. I waved frantically, motioning him back, when a bolt of lightning struck my wing and sent me plummeting to the ground.
Someone yelled my name, but I wasn’t sure who. The ringing in my ears was too loud. I could hear Elinor’s footsteps, like a beating drum, as she slowly advanced on me. Pulling myself up, I groaned and looked at my wing. A large chunk of my feathers had burned.
White eyes peered down at me as Elinor came to a stop before me. Behind her, many wolves were on the ground, and I prayed for Elinor’s sake that none of them were dead.