Chapter Thirty-One Dylan
The goddess disappeared, and my wolf remained illuminated enough to keep the creatures at bay.
I wasn’t sure what her choice meant as I stared at the dark wall pushing on my wolf’s magic and light to get to me.
Reject the shadows or embrace them? That couldn’t mean what I thought it meant, right?
She wasn’t telling me I had to decide on embracing those shadows, could she?
I glanced at my wolf, her badass shadowy light flaring around her, and smiled.
You chose me because of this choice, didn’t you?
Her head bowed and then looked up at me. I knew before I even saw it that you would make the right choice.
It wasn’t a hard choice. A scary as fuck choice given what I was about to do, but one I knew would do exactly what I needed to win this fight.
I let out a sigh before sucking in a deep breath.
It would not be an easy one to deal with, but I think I even knew what she was talking about.
A way to tip the scales in my favor and win this war with Lupe.
Drop the light. It’s time for me to embrace the shadows.
My wolf obeyed without hesitation, and I watched as the wall of darkness surged forward, relentless and consuming.
It was going to be close. I reached for her, our connection as instinctive as breath—just as it had been since the moment she chose me.
She had never failed me, and this time was no different.
Power flooded through me as she merged into my being, her strength threading through every fiber of my body.
The darkness swallowed me whole; the creatures lurking within its depths, but they no longer mattered.
I pushed my power outward, calling upon the astral force that thrummed in my veins.
The shadows passed through me, dissolving as they should, and with that knowledge. .. I knew.
This battle was mine.
I watched them swirl, weightless and powerless against me.
Although everything was shrouded in darkness, the figures remained visible, yet powerless against me.
They couldn’t touch me. I pressed deeper into my power, letting it thread through me, knowing exactly what would happen if I surrendered fully to the shadows.
The more I merged, the more I faded, until the last tether to me loosened, and I vanished into the void.
I closed my eyes, drawing in a deep breath, and let the shadows flow into me—claiming them as my own. They curled and twisted, but my power surged, swallowing them whole. My shadows overpowered theirs, consuming every fragment until they shattered, dissolving into nothing.
When my eyes fluttered open, I found myself sprawled on the ground, the vast night sky looming above me.
I didn’t remember collapsing—not after forcing the serum from my body, not after reclaiming myself.
The moon shimmered, its silver glow washing over me, and for a fleeting moment, I swore I could feel its strength humming in my veins.
Then came the snarls—low, guttural, closing in.
In an instant, I was on my feet, scanning the chaos around me.
The battle raged on, unrelenting, but I had no time to falter.
My mind reached through the bonds, searching—first for my mates.
Strength pulsed from them, steady, fierce, and the relief that flooded me nearly sent me to my knees. But I couldn’t stop.
I stretched my senses farther to my parents. They were still fighting, still holding their ground. Another breath of relief coursed through me.
Then came the others. The pack. Loss seeped through the bond, faint but undeniable, and my wolf keened, the sound a mournful echo of my own heartbreak. Some had fallen. And before this battle was done, I knew the weight of it would only grow heavier.
There was no time for that. This needed to end, and I was the one that needed to do it.
I couldn’t see my mates, but their presence thrummed through the bonds, steady and undeniable.
For now, that was enough. One enemy remained.
The one who needed to fall. The head of the wolf.
And once it was severed, the body would crumble, leaving nothing behind but silence from the shadows that needed ridden from this world.
It didn’t take me long to find her. Lupe was in a fight with her mate, who didn’t look like he was going easy on her at all.
It gave me some hope to see him giving it his all to take down the love of his life.
The bond between them being severed must have given him the edge to see her for who she truly was instead of the person who was the other half of his soul.
Yet I watched Lupe jump in the air, twisting her body to slam her foot against his temple.
Teowulf went down and there was a loud thud when his body hit the ground.
I winced on the behalf of the combat teacher.
There had to be hope that Teowulf was just knocked out, but he was pretty bloody.
I wasn’t even sure how long I had been knocked out.
The difference between everything around me was the amount of bodies on the ground.
But this also opened Lupe up for me to come in.
With her back to me, it gave me the perfect opening to catch her off guard. I ran. Sprinting toward the one person who I thought I couldn’t win against, there was no backing out now. Win or lose, this was where it would either make or break this world.
No pressure or anything.
Lupe didn’t turn in time to see me flying, using the very move she had just used against her mate on her. My foot connected with her face, and she spun through the air before she hit the ground. When she looked up, recognition went through her eyes, and she growled.
“You’re supposed to be mine! How did you override the serum?” She snarled as she jumped to her feet. “No one could have pushed out the serum! I was sure of it! The shadows should have killed you!”
I smirked at her. “That’s where you went wrong.
You thought you controlled the shadows.” I stretched out my arms, reaching for every bond tethered to me.
The moment I pulled, power surged, crashing into me like a tidal wave.
My teeth clenched as the force consumed me, rattling through every bone, every nerve.
My body trembled under the weight of it, the sheer intensity unlike anything I had ever known.
When I felt myself ready to burst, my wolf pushed out the power before it destroyed me.
Without having to even think too hard, I called in the darkness and pulled it to me.
“I am the shadows, Lupe.” I wrapped the darkness through the field and I felt every one of my wolves stop fighting as they couldn’t see. “And you don’t control me.”
The truth no one speaks of when wielding the shadows is this—you alone can see within them. They bend to your will, shielding you from your enemies, obscuring everything from those who do not command them. But if my pack was going to win, that had to change.
The shadows curled around me, dense and alive, waiting for my command.
I reached out, threading my power through them, demanding they open themselves to my pack—to let them see as I did.
My strength surged outward, stretching through every connection, lending them the sight to shift the course of the battle.
I felt their astonishment ripple through the bond, but there was no hesitation. With their vision cleared, they dove into the fight, turning the tide with ruthless precision.
Dylan! Hunter roared in my mind. Jackson and Silas followed up with calling out to me and their shock, fear, and relief flooded the bonds.
We thought we lost you! Don’t ever fucking do that to us again! Silas chimed in.
Or we will have to spank the shit out of you.
The smile that spread across my face distracted me for a moment until I felt Lupe’s power swell around her. I erected the walls again to keep them out of my head. Blocking them out was the best thing to do right now. I couldn’t afford any distractions.
Lupe’s power surged against mine, clawing at the shadows, trying to rip them from my grasp. She pressed harder, forcing her will into mine, but the shadows fought back. My energy lashed out, striking hers with brutal precision, and I caught the flicker of pain as she winced.
Satisfaction curled in my chest as I watched panic flash across her face.
She felt it—knew, without a doubt, that everything had shifted.
From this moment forward, the battle would no longer be hers to control.
Lupe’s eyes flashed with her wolf before she leaped in the direction she thought I would be in.
I smirked, knowing she went in the wrong direction before appearing in front of her just to nail her in the face with my fist. Her head snapped to the side, and I traveled behind her so when she swung, she met the air.
“I think you missed,” I whispered in her ear.
Lupe’s arm swung again, but I was already five feet away, moving with effortless precision.
Commanding shadows like this had once been impossible—before my connection to my mates, before the balance they brought.
I’d heard the stories growing up, whispers of how mates could restore harmony within a Shadowborn’s body, unlocking their full potential.
But back then, I hadn’t understood what it truly meant.
Now, I did.
With every bond forged, another piece of my power awakened, stretching beyond what I once believed possible.
Controlling the shadows—something rare, something few Shadowborn could do—had become second nature.
Completing the bonds with my mates had changed everything, allowing me to embrace not just my strength, but my true self.
And now, wielding this power was easier than any ability I had ever mastered.