Chapter 6: Silverback Territory
Nora's Point of View
The shadow rope burned like acid on my ankle. I kicked as hard as possible, silver light flashing off my skin where the dark magic touched me. The shadow spat and receded, giving me just enough time to roll free.
"Impressive," Elena said, tilting her head as if studying an interesting bug. "You're stronger than you used to be."
I leapt to my feet, strength coursing down my arms. "No thanks to you."
"Oh, but thanks to me." Elena's grin widened. "Do you believe that your resurrection was chance? I've been calling your soul back for years, sister. The Moon Goddess merely gave me what I wanted."
The statement hit me as a blow. Elena had resurrected me? But why?
"You needed me alive for your ritual," I realized.
"I needed you strong." Elena stepped closer, shadows writhing around her feet. "The puny little Luna I killed ten years ago wouldn't have been anywhere near enough. But this one? Born again in a Moon-blessed vessel, fueled by divine strength? You're ideal."
Kai shifted around to my left, half-turned body gliding with predator's silence. His darkened eyes did not leave my face, and saliva dripped from his extended fangs.
"The human," I stated, glancing at the unconscious woman. "She's bait."
"Excellent." Elena applauded slowly. "I wanted to see how your new powers reacted. How much force you could tap. The outcome is highly satisfactory."
I retreated back towards the treeline, both of them within view. My wolf was screaming at me to leave, but I couldn't leave the injured woman behind. Elena would kill her as soon as I was gone.
"Why Marcus?" I asked, delaying as I debated how to make my escape with her. "Why not kill me then yourselves?"
"Because I wanted you to die believing you were loved." Elena's expression turned icy. "Betrayal trauma makes such indelible spiritual imprint. When I brought you back, all that pain and anger came back with you. It's been fueling your strength ever since."
She'd orchestrated it all. My wedding to Marcus. My poisoning. Even my death, forsaken and alone.
"You're ill," I whispered.
"I'm practical." Elena threw up her hands, and other shadows erupted up from the ground at my feet. "Now get out of it and let's get on with it."
I crossed to the left, silver power flashing from my hands as I cut through grasping darkness. Shadows screamed when my magic hit them, dispersing like smoke. But every one I killed was replaced by two more.
Kai swiped at me, claws extended. I dropped low and swept his legs out from under him, and he crashed into a tree. He was more powerful than a normal wolf, but heavier. Slower.
I could handle that.
"You can't fight us both," Elena yelled. "Surrender now, and I'll make sure the human dies quickly."
"Counter offer," I spat, using even more force in my voice. It rang through the woods like a bell, with all the authority I'd never been able to use as Marcus's weak mate. "Let her go, and I'll consider not ripping your throat out."
Elena laughed. "There she is. The real Nora, awake at last. I've missed that spark."
She clicked her fingers, and the shadows about me thickened to chains. They clasped my wrists and ankles, burning where they made contact with my skin. The pain was incredible, but I gritted my jaws and fed more power to my hands.
The silvery light grew brighter, and the chains of shadow started to burn.
"Kai," Elena ordered. "Now."
He struck from behind while I was fighting to free myself. His claws tore into my shoulder, rending the cloth and flesh. I spun back around and slammed him with an elbow to the jaw, the power of all of Aria behind the blow.
The punch sent him flying back, but additional shadows were already closing in to take me. Elena was drawing power elsewhere now, her magic growing by the second.
"Where are you channeling this power?" I demanded.
"The pack house," Elena said carelessly. "Everyone's still fast asleep. They don't even realize I'm sucking their life force slowly to fuel this little reunion."
Horror coursed through me. She was killing the entire pack to power her magic.
"You're insane."
"I'm evolved." Elena began to shift, her human body elongating and distorting. "I've broken free of the limitations of a single body. Soon, I'll break free of death itself."
Her transformation wasn't like a standard werewolf shift. Her arms elongated unnaturally. Her flesh grayed and hardened into leather. When she dropped her jaw, razor-sharp rows of teeth reflected sunlight.
She looked like something that emerged from a bad dream.
The shadow chains tightened around me, and I felt my strength siphoned away incrementally. Elena was sucking my strength just as she was sucking the pack dry.
I had to break free now, or I'd be too frail to fight.
I closed my eyes and plunged into the depths of my power. Not just the Moon's blessing that had been given to me as Nora, but the total of Aria's pure soul. The righteous anger of all the innocent lives Elena had taken over the years.
Silver light erupted from my body.
The black chains dissolved at once. Elena shrieked and stumbled backward, her monstrous figure smoking where my power had hit her. Kai slammed to the ground with a crunch, his own black amplifications blaze up and evaporate like clouds in sunlight.
"Impossible," Elena sneered. "You're but one wolf. I have scores of powers."
"You've pilfered trash," I said to her, advancing on her. Power emanated from me in waves, warping the air around her. "I have the favor of the Moon Goddess herself."
Elena was genuinely frightened for the first time since I'd met her.
She raised her hands to cast another spell, but I had an advantage. I stepped closer and pinned her wrists, silver flames racing up my arms to engulf her hands. She screamed as the black magic burned away, leaving only ash for flesh.
"This isn't over," she gasped, falling to her knees. "You have no idea what abilities you're playing with. What I've given them in exchange for power."
"Then tell me," I said, tightening my grip.
Elena's grin expanded even as she winced. "The vampires require Moon-blessed blood for their ascension ritual. The shadow spirits require hosts to occupy. And the old gods require their worshippers returned."
Her eyes glinted with malicious triumph. "I've already given them all they need. It won't matter if you kill yourself."
A chill went down my spine. "What have you done?"
"The ritual won't bring you to life," Elena breathed. "Just Moon-blessed. And there are others, sister. So many more that I've been stalking and preparing."
I heard Kai getting up behind me. The sound of his bones snapping back into their correct places. When I looked around, he was human once more, but his eyes remained off. Still too dark.
"The sanctuary," he answered quietly. "All those Moon-blessed refugees we've been gathering. Elena's been flagging them for the harvest."
The pieces slid into place with sickening surety. The vampire attacks that had driven Moon-blessed wolves from their homes. My timely arrival. Even the protection afforded by Kai.
It had all been orchestrated, all part of Elena's plan.
"How many?" I barked.
"Fifty-three," Elena said happily. "All here together, all trusting us to keep them safe. The ceremony begins at dusk."
I looked at the sun's position. It was already mid-morning.
"Eight hours," Kai noticed my expression. "Even if you left now, you wouldn't arrive in time."
Elena crawled to standing, her hands burned and hanging limp at her sides. "Make a decision, sister. Try to rescue the refugees and watch them all die, or surrender yourself to me now and I will dispatch them quickly."
The human woman was still out, but she groaned softly, reminding me that she was still there. Still dying from Elena's magical drain.
I was alone. How could I possibly rescue fifty-three Moon-gifted wolves, stop Elena's ritual, and rescue an innocent man?
A fresh scent drifted down through the trees. A bunch of wolves, racing along. Footsteps and frightened voices.
The pack had risen. And they were heading in our direction.
Elena's smile grew savage. "Did I say the pack members are all under my control now? They'll hunt you down like the rogue you are."
I caught glimpses of silver fur and teeth among the trees. Dozens of wolves, at least a dozen, all heading in our direction.
I had seconds to decide. Fight and probably die where we were, or run and let Elena have her victory.
But as the pack emerged into the clearing, I noticed something that changed everything.
Leading them was a wolf I recognized. Scarred and grizzled, with one milky eye from an ancient fight.
Thomas. The old beta who had tried to defy me the night I had died. The only pack member who'd challenged Marcus's account of my "accident."
And he had murder in his eyes as he gazed at Elena.