Chapter 188

Hannah

“Mommy, that’s him!” Wrenley said from beside me, tugging onto my arm. “That’s the bad man.”

Of course, she didn’t have to tell me that; I already knew it was Xander she’s been seeing. The fire in the center of the ballroom kept rising with each word Xander was speaking. It sounded like he was speaking Latin. I could feel the powers that were circulating the room; it seemed everybody was feeling the same power surge because they were in awe of what was going on before them.

I could see the eager faces of those around us. They knew they were going to the werewolf territory; they were going to take over the lives of those who are already living. We couldn’t let this happen.

Sebastian was the first to shove through the crowd and get closer to Xander. He had that look on his face that showed determination. He was on a mission to stop Xander once and for all. This has been a battle he’s been wanting to finish since he was young. He was finally getting the chance to defeat Xander once and for all. Take back everything Xander had once taken from him.

Caroline and Scott were the next to follow Sebastian, along with the guards that Caroline had woken. I stayed a bit behind because of Wren. I didn’t want her in the middle of the fight even though she held the powers of the moon goddess. I still felt I needed to protect her. She had a look on her face that I didn’t recognize. It was a mix of determination like Sebastian and then fear.

She held onto me tightly as we cautiously followed the others. Xander finally sensed us nearby and I could see the smirk on his face as he turned his eyes to us. The fire was now burning without his words affecting it. The heat in the ballroom was only growing more intense the more the powers grew.

Xander wasn’t focused on the others though, his eyes were on me. His gaze sent an unsettling chill down my spine.

“I must admit, Hannah. You had me fooled for a moment. You had me thinking you were ready to rule the lands by my side as my wife.” Xander’s voice boomed through the ballroom. Everyone was turned in my direction, staring at me with their dark gazes.

“I will never be your wife, Xander,” I spat in return, keeping my hold on Wren who still stood at my side. “What you’re doing is wrong.”

This only made Xander laugh.

“Some might think it’s wrong. Others call me a hero because I’m giving them what was taken from them. Their lives.”

“It isn’t their life you are giving them; you’re taking lives. These lives don’t belong to you,” I said, keeping my eyes on him.

“Your mother seems to think differently,” he said, motioning for the woman standing beside him.

My eyes wandered until they landed on my mother. She stared at me for a long while with dismay all over her face. I saw something in her eyes that I didn’t recognize, but it gave me a weird feeling. She wasn’t my mother. The mother I knew would never have wanted this for her children. She loved us and she would do anything she could to protect us. My mother wasn’t a shifter on our land, and she certainly isn’t a shifter now.

Xander was using this shifter to manipulate me, and I wasn’t going to let that work.

“She isn’t my mother,” I said flatly. “You might think you have all the control, but you don’t.”

This caused him to laugh again; as he laughed, the fire grew to cause gasps all around me. I took a hold of Wren’s arm, holding her close to me. She was staring at Xander too; I thought she would be frightened, but the fear that was once in her eyes was gone. I wondered what that meant, I wondered if she had seen something.

“Guards!!” Xander hissed.

Not before long, we were surrounded by Xander’s men; the men who weren’t awake yet. I looked at Caroline, seeing if she was able to wake them. She caught my eyes in return and I could see that she understood what I was thinking. She grabbed onto her necklace and took in a steady breath. But, after a moment, she had a look of defeat cross her face. She was powerless; she wouldn’t be able to wake them. At least not yet.

But that didn’t mean she was completely defenseless; she was still a very capable fighter. Together, I watched as Sebastian, Scott, Caroline, and the guards that have been woken, started fighting the guards that are still under the control of Xander.

I tried to shield Wren from seeing the events unfold before us, but she was eager to watch. She wanted to see what was going on. I could feel the wheels turning in her mind. Sebastian was quick to shift into his wolf form and fight with all his wolf’s strengths. Nora was itching to shift as well and fight alongside him, but I knew we couldn’t stray too far from Wren.

I wanted to get her out of there. I tugged on her arm to pull her away, but she yanked her arm away and started running in the direction of the fight. I gasped as she grew distant from me.

“Wrenley! NO!” I cried to her as I ran across the ballroom after my daughter.

But she was fast; much faster than I thought she would be. She stopped in the center of the battle, and I saw a white glow circling her like a shield. I paused as I watched my daughter’s powers strengthen around her. Nobody else seemed to notice, or maybe they just weren’t paying attention. But I couldn’t look away from her. She pressed the palms of her hands together and kept her eyes squeezed tight. Her dark curls of hair began lifting off her shoulders as her powers only grew stronger.

Soon, I saw two figures glowing beside her. She was channeling something… or someone. Maybe a couple of people. I saw the figures taking human forms and then it was clear to me who they were once the glowing began dying down a little.

Standing on each side of Wrenley, was Gemma and Liz.

She was channeling the only other two witches that we knew. I gasped as they both stood beside my daughter, looking around confused. They stared down at Wren who was staring back up at them with a smile on her face. She was channeling them for some extra magical help. She knew she couldn’t do this alone; the moon goddess knew she wouldn’t be able to do this alone.

Wrenley took each of their hands in hers and they turned to face the fire. Together, they began chanting something in Latin. The glow that circled their bodies returned more intense than ever and the fire that was once standing strong and mighty in the center of the ballroom started to diminish. Whatever magical hold Xander had over the fire, they were taking over. They were minimizing the powers it had.

They were making him weak.