Chapter 67

Kairos

The burst of flames that erupted underneath Kairos had him flying through the air and across the forest. The force of the fire was like nothing he’d ever felt before. His arm instinctually went to cover his face. Then he started asking himself questions.

Like, who the fuck was Zora Smith?

That kind of High Magik, to conjure a flame powerful enough to throw a wolf back, ran deep in someone. Someone like Zora, a nobody Alpha from some place West of the epicenter of Wolf-kind, couldn’t have that power. Well, he thought to himself, they could but not if they were a High Alpha.

When the flames stopped roaring, Kairos dropped his hand. The light from the flames was still bright but not enough that he couldn’t make out the shape of a wolf from within the flames. He smirked to himself, happy that the only that the girl could shift was him.

The flames died down and his smirk left just as quickly. Standing proud in the spot where Zora Smith was standing, was a stark white wolf. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, trying to make the wolf return to it’s grey color that Kairos had last seen it at. But despite his efforts, Zora Smith was still a white wolf.

No one had seen a white wolf emerge in years.

The only other white wolf to emerge was the Wolf-Queen, Victoria Luna. As far as Kairos knew, Queen Luna didn’t have any biological daughters.

Unless…

He shook the thought out of his head as the light from the fire finally died down. Zora’s wolf glared at him from across the forest. She opened her mouth and barked and the entire forest shook with it’s force. Kairos, ever the warrior, immediately was on his feet. He shook then focused deep within himself, on the anger perpetually burning within him. Then, his hands started to crack and shiver and in less than ten seconds, his body was no longer his.

It was the massive, strong body of his wolf. He shook once, feeling the new way his limbs could mold and fold under him. Then, he took a defensive stance. He looked up and saw Zora’s wolf beginning to circle him.

Her snarl was still evident and a few times, she barked again, before breaking back into the salivating, snarling mess. Kairos was half convinced it wasn’t Zora until he caught the sight of her eyes. The wolf’s were the same hazel-gold that the girl had.

She snapped her jaw in Kairos’s direction and he took that as his sign. He lunged at her, jaws going for her throat as his paws hit the side of her body. His teeth cracked as they snapped together, narrowly missing her as she darted out of the way.

He dipped his head low to the ground and went for her throat again. If he could pin her to the ground, he could make her submit. He was the High Alpha. She was nothing to his rank.

Kairos charged at Zora again. His jaw was just about to close around her, teeth bared when she seemed to disappear into thin air. His teeth clattered shut again and he skittered to a stop. He turned and found her across the forest, still as feral as ever.

“What High Magiks was that?” He barked through the telepathic line that all wolves could use.

“A power you could only dream of, Moonraiser,” A voice, that sounded half like Zora’s and half like something ethereal, spat down the line.

Kairos jolted in response. He was not expected her to know how to do that. Just a few weeks ago, Zora could barely keep herself from shifting when he taunted her. Now, she was able to use the line? And with some sort of magik as well?

Something felt off.

Kairos couldn’t tell if the shimmer of magiks swirling around the white wolf was nefarious of godly. Truthfully, he didn’t give a fuck. He was a warrior and the way the white wolf was standing was a challenge.

Kairos never turned down a challenge.

He dipped his head low again and snapped his mouth before he bared his teeth. Zora’s wolf took the same stance and the two circled each other in a violent dance. Zora, surprisingly, was the one to charge first. She rammed her head into Kairos’s flank startling him and sending him flying across the forest.

His body thudded to a stop against a tree. He shook his head before getting back up. Zora was mid charge when Kairos reared up on his hind legs and swiped a front claw towards her. He felt contact with her muzzle and couldn’t help but smirk when he heard her cry out in pain.

The white wolf staggered back as three crimson lines bloomed on the fur of her jowl. Kairos watched, edging closer to her in the process. Zora shook her head, muddying the red blood into her muzzle and giving her a foul pink sneer. Some of the blood dripped down into the dirt by her feet. She huffed one more breath out of her nose before barreling towards Kairos.

He barely squeezed past her and was in the process of turning back to snap at her when he felt her jaw wrap around his back leg. There was a sickening crack then the burning white pain surging up his entire body. Kairos yelped and slunk to the ground.

She’d snapped his leg bone in half.

He looked back up and meet her eyes, teeth bared still as he tried to get up. He collapsed as he realized it was futile, any weight he put on his leg burned. His body didn’t have enough time to heal to attack back.

Zora stalked towards him. Her mouth came down and Kairos snapped towards it once. Zora’s wolf growled back at him in warning.

“Submit,” she demanded down the line.

“No, you fucking bitch!” Kairos threw back as he snapped towards her again, thrashing wildly on the floor of the forest. Zora moved towards his broken back leg. Her front paw pinned it to the floor and his yelps of pain sounded so foreign he didn’t realize they’d come from his throat.

“Submit!” She demanded again a swirl of magiks wrapped around her word. It hit Kairos in the face like a ton of bricks. He’d felt the same thing before when he’d disobeyed his father. The magik attached to Zora’s word was the same magik of his father.

The magik of a High Alpha.

Kairos whimpered again as the magik took over, forcing him to bare his throat to Zora. Her jaw wrapped around his neck, lightly enough not to puncture his skin, yet hard enough to send a message. She was not to be messed with.

At that point, several human voices were swirling through the forest. Zora, still holding onto Kairos, jerked her head towards them. From the brush came Professor Valencia and the other students that he was supposed to be assisting in teaching. So much for that, he thought to himself as his head hung loosely from Zora’s lips.

Valencia gasped as she saw the scene in front of her. The blood was still dripping down Zora’s snout and getting caught in Kairos’s neck fur. The trees they’d been fighting between were also caked in blood, shattered in the spots where their massive bodies had collided with them.

As Valencia caught sight of Zora, her eyes nearly bulged out of her head. “Heavens to Luna,” she gasped under her breath. “Your Highness, I—”

“Not the queen,” Kairos spat down the line, heaving a giant breath as he did. His eyes caught Valencia’s and she went pale, as if she was about to pass out. Her eyes darted back and forth between the two wolves.

“Zora,” she finally breathed.

As if one cue, Zora dropped Kairos from her lips. Kairos immediately was free falling. His wolf body smacked into the ground. The pain in his back leg was so bad, his vision went blurry. Without any focus on his wolf shape, Kairos naturally slid back into his human form. The chill of the cold air licked his skin as his fur slid back under his skin. Kairos was left bare, bloodied and broken on the floor of the forest.

He heard a thud behind him and gently turned over. In place of the wolf, was Zora’s human body. Where he’d swiped her was a gnarl, three-clawed gash on her human neck. However, in place of her wolfish features were her soft human features. To anyone passing by, she’d have looked like just another girl.

Kairos knew better.

He knew Zora Smith had secrets. And he was determined to figure out what the were.

After he had a little nap to heal his leg.

It was the last thought he had before everything faded to black.