Destiny Sealed, page 23
I freeze, staring as more werewolves streak onto the scene. Luke dodges one, using its own momentum to throw it against a tree trunk, but a second clamps down on his arm. While Lola assists Toby, two weres barrel into her. Jack and Brady stand back-to-back as they spar with two each. Dylan, Sam, and Louis are knocked to the ground. I should run into the fray to help, but my mind is back with Riley and Leo. There’s no way Leo could hold his own in an attack like this.
But I’ve made my decision. I have to do what’s best for the mission, even if it tears at my heart.
I’ve crossed half the remaining distance when pain like a white hot blade slices through me. The thread that connects me to Sam snaps, leaving me gasping for air.
They killed him.
After the attacks while we were still on the water, my focus has been on what we would do when confronted with members of the Order. I forgot Drew’s claim that a pack of weres guarded the Source.
I’m shifting into wolf form before I make the conscious choice to do so. The best way to fight wolves is with a wolf.
The pain of Sam’s death ebbs as a new purpose overtakes my animal mind: save my friends by any means necessary.
I see things as if through the lens of a dream—fuzzy and indistinct except for occasional sharp images. The sensation of my teeth sinking into the soft neck of an opponent. The movement of my body through space. The sharp slice of teeth along my back. And the noise—screams, snarls, and growls—filling my ears and erasing the silence of the forest.
I’m tearing at the throat of a dark brown wolf when two sets of teeth clamp down on my spine. A whimper escapes me, but I can’t release my prey until it’s dead. The two wolves pull in opposite directions and I yelp. Much more force and they’re liable to snap my spine.
A sharp, high sound cuts above the noise of battle and fear coils in my belly as I await the inevitable shock wave from one of the Order’s magical bombs. Instead, a voice follows the initial sound. “Och, down now, aye!”
The human part of my mind processes the words and I release the neck of the still wolf before me before dropping as low as my attackers’ teeth will allow. A silver light flashes, dazzling me, and the jaws clamped on my spine go slack.
The next moments spin like a kaleidoscope until Jack’s face floats in front of me. His mouth moves, but it feels as if minutes pass before his words make sense.
“…already healing.” He rubs the fur behind my ears. “Don’t shift until I say, okay? I can carry you.”
Even if I could communicate with him in my present state, I wouldn’t. I merely dip my snout. It’s not until Jack lifts me into his arms that I try to figure out what happened.
Callum and Drew stand apart from the carnage, their hair and clothes still damp with lake water. Callum is in mid-stream of a story it seems no one is paying particular attention to. I tune in only long enough to gather he’s explaining how he and Drew made it to shore. The story involves him using magic of some variety, which make sense. Although I’ve come to regard Callum as not much more than a nuisance, he is a witch.
As we start moving again, I catch glimpses of a few far more welcome faces—Lillie, Maggie, Kenyon, and Echo. I try to remember which boat they’d been on, but my wolf’s recollection of those details is spotty. My whole body burns with a prickling sensation, as if every muscle is healing from injury.
The air takes on a metallic tinge and I do my best to bury my nose in Jack’s shirt to block out the smell, but it’s no use. The stench seems to have permeated every available atom.
Overhead, the opalescent glow of the sky brightens until it’s painful to look at and I squeeze my eyes closed against the glare. My stomach roils and my head spins, but before I can do anything more than register the sensations, the ground begins to tremble. Jack’s grip slips, but his arms are still around me when we hit the ground.
Blackness threatens to engulf me, but I fight to remain conscious. Even in my wolf form, I sense how imperative it is that I remain awake if I want to help Jack and the others stop Kiara. A primal force burns in my core and I focus on its brightness to stave off the inky blackness threatening to take me under.
I don’t know how much time elapses before Jack murmurs my name. The dizziness and queasy sensation have passed, but my body still burns like it’s healing from something. When I open my eyes, the sky is still bright, but not painful to look at. It takes two tries before I’m able to struggle to my paws.
Jack remains crouched beside me. “Callum says Kiara’s near. We’ll spread out to flank her, and when she’s distracted, I’ll shoot her with one of Ostler’s darts.”
I shake my head and release a whine at my inability to communicate with him in this form. While I’m sure Jack could hit a target under normal circumstances, Kiara is anything but normal. Whoever shoots her will have to be fast—faster than Jack.
I sit and crane around to inspect the damage on my back. The angle isn’t ideal, but from what I can see, things look to be mostly healed. I turn back to Jack and whine again.
He shakes his head. “No. You don’t want to shift. Trust me.”
I hold his gaze. I do trust him, but I have to go against his recommendation. If my wounds take extra time to heal, so be it.
“Ava, no,” Jack says, but it’s too late.
My body twists and lengthens as I change forms. The burning sensation ebbs, replaced with current of something I don’t recognize until the transformation is complete. Pain blossoms in my core, radiating outward with each beat of my heart. I sway on my feet, but Jack is there to prop me up.
“I warned you,” he murmurs, his lips close to my ear.
More hybrids are dead. The pain of their loss overwhelms my system. The sensation I likened to burning while in wolf form morphs into a crushing agony with each breath I take.
A hand rests on my shoulder. “You’ve still got me,” Poppy says. “I can’t pretend I know how you’re feeling, but I do know that you’ve got to set it aside. We can mourn them over Kiara’s corpse.”
The macabre image jars me to my senses. The pain doesn’t evaporate, but I push it down as I shift my focus to the mission at hand. I cover Poppy’s hand with mine and squeeze it before turning to Jack. “I think I should take the shot.”
I can almost see the arguments spinning behind his eyes, but after a beat, he nods. “Okay.” He crouches down and opens the case. After loading one dart into the chamber, he hands the gun to me.
“Och, are we ready then?” Callum stands a few yards away, his arms crossed over his chest. “In case ye hadn’t noticed, there’s only two hybrids left. If they die, there’ll be no stopping this spell, even if we kill Kiara.”
Jack flinches, but his jaw is set. “Brady, Lola, you come in from the north. Drew, Kenyon, and Lillie, you come from the west. Luke, Poppy, and Callum, you attack from the south.”
“What?” Callum takes a step back. “Me?”
Luke catches him by the collar of his shirt. “You heard my little brother.”
The corner of Jack’s mouth quirks. “Ava and Maggie, you’re with me. Everyone get into position. We move in sixty seconds.”
Each group zips off. Luke hoists Callum on his shoulder before running toward his position with Poppy. I reach into the tranquilizer gun case and pull out the five remaining darts before tucking them into my pocket.
Jack shifts on the balls of his feet, rubbing his palms together so hard it looks like he’s trying to fuse them into one hand. Maggie edges forward, but when I move to follow, Jack tugs me back. I open my mouth to ask why, but the word sticks in my throat when I catch the intensity in his eyes.
“I love you.” He cups the side of my face with his hand and leans down to press his forehead against mine.
“I know. I love you, too.”
He presses a kiss to my lips. “Despite everything else that’s happened, the time I’ve had with you has been the best part of my life.”
I take a half step back—just far enough to look at his face. Where’s this coming from? You’re talking like you don’t expect to come out of this alive.” But no sooner have the words passed my lips than I know they’re wrong. He’s not worried about himself—his fear is for me. Dagny’s prophecy to Jack echoes through my mind: Part of you will always be missing. In your moment of greatest triumph, you will suffer devastating loss. I swallow against the lump forming in my throat. Since she spoke those words, I’ve done my best to keep them from haunting me, but it’s clear from Jack’s expression that they’ve never strayed far from his thoughts. I want to reassure him—to promise we’ll both get out of this—but the words don’t come. Instead, I wrap my arms around him and pull him close. I wish I could tell him everything he means to me, but there are no words to describe what finding him has done. I had believed I’d never find my place in the world, that I’d never matter to anyone. Jack has given me love and family and purpose. I had to die before I could truly live.
“Ten seconds,” Maggie whispers.
With Jack’s arms around me, I feel as though I could live out an eternity within those seconds.
Then he releases me, grim determination etched on his face. He gives my hand a final squeeze before murmuring, “Two… One… Go!”
Jack and Maggie surge forward, but I hang back, allowing them time for their distraction to take effect. My heartbeat thunders in my ears as I count off the seconds.
I’ve only made it to four when the screams begin.
Chapter Thirty-Five
When I break through the edge of the tree line, the sight that greets me freezes my feet. Kiara stands at the center of a clearing the size of a football field, her hands outstretched over a yawning crevice in the rocky ground, her red hair flying around her face as if caught in a windstorm. Instead of washing out her fair complexion, the unearthly light spewing from the crack gives Kiara the glow of an ancient goddess.
A creator and destroyer of worlds.
Colored flashes of light illuminate different areas of the clearing where witches from the Order shoot off spells at my companions. Several weres streak by—no doubt more protectors of the Source who Kiara has bent to her will. But none of them seem to notice my arrival.
I have no idea what the range on the tranquilizer gun is, and the last thing I want is to tip off Kiara to what I’m attempting. I zip back into the woods and streak around the clearing until I’m behind her. I glimpse Drew facing off against a wolf, but I don’t allow myself to get distracted, and I don’t glance around for Kenyon and Lillie. While Drew struggling while I could help is something I can live with, I’m not sure my resolve would hold up for those I care about.
I suck in a breath before dashing out of the woods, straight at Kiara. The air vibrates with energy, and the closer I get, the slower I move. It’s like running through water. I’m still several yards away when I find I can’t move any further without tremendous effort. It’ll have to be close enough. I level the gun at Kiara and take aim. On my exhale, I curl my finger around the trigger.
Or I try to. The trigger is frozen. I’m in the middle of silently cursing Dr. Ostler for giving me a faulty weapon when a deeper realization dawn. There’s no problem with the gun. The problem is with me. I’m frozen.
A throaty chuckle echoes through the clearing and the hair on my arms stands on end. When Kiara turns, a smile curves her lips as her gaze fixes on me. “And I was beginning to worry you wouldn’t make it.”
Her words send a chill down my spine. “You wanted me to come?”
She snorts. “Wanted? No. But I assumed you and your friends would show up at some point. You have that annoying habit.”
I focus all my energy on squeezing the trigger, but nothing below my neck will respond to my commands. Kiara clenches her right hand into a fist—the only indications she’s using her magic on me. “Of course we’re going to show up. You’re trying to destroy the world.”
She chuckles, a cruel smile curving her lips. “You’re so small-minded. I’m not destroying the world—I’m saving it. The witches have grown complacent. Cassandra led us astray for far too long, claiming the miniscule steps taken by the humans to undo their damage to nature would be enough—that we only needed patience to see balance restored. And your darling werewolves have become so obsessed with policing vampires that they’ve lost sight of their true mission—to protect humans. They can’t see that by keeping vampires too tightly controlled, they’ve done more harm than good.”
My muscles ache from the strain of trying to move them, but her words cut through my concentration. “But your whole argument against a hybrid existing was that someone like me was too strong for werewolves to police. Why would that matter if you wanted to bring down the human population?”
She tilts her head, studying me like a teacher disappointed her student has failed to grasp a simple concept. “As soon as I learned you were Jack’s half, I knew you’d side with the weres and their counterproductive mission. If I was going to use your kind, I would need hybrids loyal to a new way. My way.”
The pieces of the puzzle snap together in my mind. “But they weren’t. After living as werewolves, the hybrids didn’t want to have anything to do with your plan.”
“Unfortunately.” She sneers. “My alliance with Gavin looked to be the answer until you swooped in and took control of my hybrids. I should thank you for that, by the way. You forced me to reexamine things. I realized I couldn’t allow my plans to hinge on someone else. I needed to take things into my own hands.”
I gasp as her eyes flash red. My heart hammers against my ribs so hard I’m afraid it might break through. Despite having come with Ostler’s antidote, I’ve hoped that her plan wouldn’t work, that she wouldn’t be able to reclaim her magic after becoming a hybrid.
As if reading my thoughts, her mouth twists into a saccharine smile. “It’s charming how you thought a mere dart could take me down. Let me guess: You were going to knock me unconscious and kill me once I was down? Ridiculous child, don’t you think I planned for that? The spells I’ve cast to protect my body don’t just turn off if I’m not awake. There are so few ways to kill a hybrid, and I’ve protected myself against them all. In a matter of minutes, you’ll be dead and there’ll be no stopping my spell. I’ll be the savior of the world. And no one will dare mistreat my new paradise—I’ll see to that. Forever.”
Sweat drips down my forehead from the effort of trying to make my body do anything, but I can’t move so much as a millimeter. As Kiara turns back to the light emanating from the crack in the rocks, I swivel my eyes in their sockets in an attempt to see anything going on around me, but it’s useless. Beyond the sounds of fighting and the occasional spell sailing through the air, I have no clue what’s happening around me.
The light blasting out of the Source changes in intensity, the color shifting to a brighter, purer white. A scalding heat tears through my body as though someone has dumped a pail of boiling water over me. When the ground begins to shake, it jars me, knocking my bones against each other. I want to crumple to the ground, to ball up and protect myself, but Kiara’s spell keeps me on my feet. A wave of black threatens to overtake me, but I fight it, redirecting the energy spent trying to move to keeping myself above the swirling darkness threatening to pull me under. But when a new stab of agony pierces the center of my being, I almost long for the abyss. It’s as if a thousand white-hot blades have cut into me and are slicing me into tiny pieces. The gossamer thread that tethers me to Poppy snaps and reverberates through my body with such force I’m afraid I’ll shake apart at the seams.
When the shaking of the earth stops, the movement continues to echo through me. The planet is breaking apart, beginning with me. Poppy is gone, leaving me as the last domino to topple before Kiara’s spell is unstoppable. How can we have come so close only to fail now?
I squeeze my eyes closed, not bothering to stem the flow of tears. Knowing we did all we could is little consolation when our best efforts weren’t good enough.
Red flashes against my eyelids and I hold my breath, preparing for final wave of agony to claim me.
I crumple to the ground, positive I’m dead. But if I’ve died, why can I feel the ground below me? And how can I hear an enraged screech rending the air?
With effort, I pry open my eyes. The white glow is almost blinding, but against the glare I can make out two shapes. One is Kiara, her usually stately form hunched into something more closely resembling an animal.
But it’s the second that draws my gaze. He’s short, with wild hair curling around his face. A bolt of purple light shoots from the palm of his right hand, sizzling when it comes into contact with Kiara.
“How do ye like that, then?” Callum calls over the increasing roar of the Source. “Ye wanna teach the humans a lesson—that I understand. But you’ve turned yourself into something worse than they could ever be.” Another purple glow forms in his palm. “Ye canne expect to fight monsters with monsters.”
I press myself to my hands and knees. My muscles are like jelly after having fought so long to regain independent motion.
Motion to my right catches my eye, but Kiara’s arm flies out to her side and the figure is caught in mid-step, looking like a cartoon character frozen in a running pose. My heart clenches at the sight of her victim. Jack.
His expression is murderous, but Kiara doesn’t spare him a glance. She fixes her attention on Callum, who shoots off another purple jolt. She deflects it, the light ricocheting off the nearby rocks before sailing off over the treetops. Callum sends a red flash in her direction, but with a wave of her left hand, it dissipates before reaching her.
“You’re irritating me,” she growls.
Callum’s neck twists at an unnatural angle and he slumps to the ground.
I swallow a surprised cry as she turns her attention toward Jack. My throat constricts with fear. My fingers skim something on the ground and I tear my eyes from Jack. The gun.
I close my fingers around the grip and level it at Kiara. I squeeze the trigger, but my weakened muscles can’t hold the barrel still and the dart plunges into the ground halfway between me and Kiara. Heart thundering in my ears, I pull a second dart from my pocket and struggle to slide it into the chamber.
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