Chapter 21
EMME
My breaths wheezed in and out, and I spent eight long seconds deciding if my rib was cracked or just bruised. The pain wasn’t horrific, but if the past twenty-plus years had taught me anything, it was that it shouldn’t hurt to breathe.
Slade’s face appeared over the top of mine, his bulk blocking out the cloudy sky above. “You destroyed Horton, Snow. You should be proud of yourself.”
With a groan, I rolled to the side, and for once he allowed me to pull myself to my feet. Through our bond, I could sense that he wanted me to prove to myself that I could get up from the battle. A battle I’d lost, but only by the minutest of margins, since Horton was as injured as me.
“My essence is so much stronger,” I said, lifting my water bottle out of the snowdrift. “I can move—” I gulped down an icy sip— “faster, and my reflexes were so quick that I could track his movements as if they were in slow motion.”
Slade nodded, a pleased expression on his handsome face. “Today you’ve proven to be overall better at shooting, handling your blades, and in general hand-to-hand. Our incomplete bond had been holding you back, little mate. But you’re finally reaching your full potential.”
“All she needs to add in is magic,” Constantine called from nearby, where he’d been patiently waiting for his turn to instruct me. The alpha had stood there in the cold all morning, watching silently, never pushing his time on me.
I gulped down more water, my gaze still locked on Slade, his pleased expression fading to annoyance.
I wouldn’t have been surprised to find him debating the importance of Constantine’s existence.
Unfortunately, he was still quite important.
A conclusion Slade must have also drawn as he exhaled an annoyed gust of smoky air.
My magic had been surging on and off during my training, assisting with reflexes and strength. But it hadn’t burst from its cage. My wolf remained the strongest side of me, standing front and center of the quintet power—and the magic. A magic I still needed to utilize, whether I liked it or not.
Just say the word, Snow. He can disappear as quickly as he arrived.
That was my dragon, giving zero fucks about any shifter outside of our pack. My wolf brushed closer to his beast, allowing our communication to continue internally. Appreciate the sentiment, Scary. But let’s table that conversation for later.
Out loud I added, “Okay, let’s do this magic thing. I want to be my strongest self against Jewels, and I can’t imagine that won’t require magic.”
Finally giving Constantine my undivided attention, I found him looking just as disheveled as the day he arrived. His hair remained tangled, which seemed odd without a beard. I had no idea if he couldn’t grow facial hair or if he just hated it, but it was the only kempt part of him.
He was at least wearing shoes today, which was important during these icy mornings. Even shifters could lose toes to frostbite if they pushed their healing capabilities too far.
His clothing, all of which came from Kellan, was clean and slightly too big. There was nothing about him that suggested he was a strong or dominant alpha, and I wondered if for him the magic tempered the wolf somewhat.
“You hide your true essence well,” I noted flatly.
He shrugged, and it was once again an almost nothing movement. “I’ve had many years of perfecting a forgettable persona.”
“Why?” I knew so little about him, and since I could no longer pretend he didn’t exist, I was ready for information.
His expression softened just enough that it made me feel weird. “Because I shouldn’t exist.”
I almost took a step back like that had been a physical blow. I’d felt that way about myself many times over the years, like I shouldn’t be here. Having to hide and run meant I never got to find the life I would flourish in—until of course, it was thrust upon me.
Constantine continued, his observant gaze no doubt picking up every one of my reactions.
“I spent many decades watching my parents—your grandparents—suffer because of a love that was bigger than their two different species. Once they were gone, I learned to blend into the background and live with humans. They might sense that I’m different, but since they don’t believe in the supernatural, they assume it’s due to my eccentricities. ”
He waved his hand over his hair. “Hence the hobo-like appearance I’ve adopted. You’d be amazed at how easily they ignore those of us who are a little… worn out.”
“I lived amongst humans for a near decade,” I reminded him, “and they’re not all bad.”
A lot of the staff I’d worked with in restaurants and cafes had been quite generous and kind to those in need.
Those without homes. Those struggling. More than once they’d pooled money to help friends out of bad situations, or to get a coat for someone who didn’t have one for winter.
Still, there had been a few who’d avoid and outright mock the humans they believed were beneath them. So, he had a point too.
Humans were multifaceted, just like shifters.
Shifters made their judgements based on power. Everything in life had a hierarchy, and it was never nice to sit at the bottom of it. As an omega, I knew that all too well, but luckily the goddess gave me a kickass pack to boost my credibility.
As if he’d heard that thought, Slade pressed in closer, and I relished the touch of his energy along my skin. “Who were your parents?” I asked Constantine. “What witch line are we from?”
“Alterni,” he said, and I shook my head, having never heard of them before. “It’s one of the ancient lines, just like Termaine. Once upon a time, our two clans were the largest and strongest in the world. Now, though, we’ve all but died out. There’s just us and Jewels left.”
Okay, there was zero chance Jewels knew about us, then. She would hate to have another ancient and powerful line still alive, especially when we were blended with wolves. There was no way she wouldn’t have tried harder to kill me had she known…
“My mom was an alpha wolf,” Constantine continued, “one who was very powerful. She was born in Europe, and at the time they weren’t forming quintets and instead had large packs. She was the Ultimate Alpha of hers, which was almost unheard of for a female. You come from a strong line on both sides.”
“Did Fletcher know about my heritage?” I asked him, wondering how Jewels couldn’t have known. “Was that why he was waiting for me to shift and designate as an omega…? To see if I also had a magical side?”
For the first time, my father’s expression fell, and his scent turned bitter.
Citrus had never been my favorite to start with, and when you added rotten orange, it was even worse.
“I believe Fletcher knew most if not all of who we are,” he confirmed.
“Your mother followed my instructions for a few years, but after she fell in with the Rogers pack, she was under their control. She would have told them everything.”
“Why did Jewels not kill Emme immediately?” Slade asked, following the same train of thought I’d had before. “That witch would never tolerate another original line running around when she wants to be the top power.”
“Either she doesn’t know or she doesn’t care,” Constantine said with a shrug. “Though that’s unlikely. The most probable scenario is that Fletcher didn’t want to share the power of an omega-witch.”
He was dead now, so his intentions no longer mattered. Jewels, on the other hand, still very much mattered.
“How did your parents meet?” I asked. As a shifter who’d always been kept in the dark about my history and family, I wouldn’t waste this opportunity to learn more about them.
“I could find no evidence of your origins,” Slade said, his warm fingertips tracing softly down the back of my right arm, sending goosebumps over my skin. It was such a casual touch, and yet it had a devastating effect on me. “There’s nothing in our history or reference books.”
Constantine’s expression tightened, and no one could miss the pain as he spoke.
“They met during a war of course. Shifters have been battling witches forever. Probably as long as shifters have existed. They were both injured, and found themselves in the same cave. Instead of following their instinct and destroying each other, they helped the other to survive, and then…” He shrugged.
“Fell in love, I guess. They snuck around for years, and after the war was over, Mom found out she was pregnant.”
We already knew Constantine was old, so this had to have happened many decades ago. “They’re no longer alive, right?” He’d basically said that before, but I wanted confirmation.
He shook his head, and there was an ache in my chest as I watched him stand so alone. Just as I’d been for many years. Before my pack.
“They died before you were born, both from aging-related illnesses. Witches and wolves have similar long lives, and those two lived longer than most. I still don’t know how they managed to overcome the rules of nature and produce a child, but apparently we are an anomaly.”
Even in nature, there were animals that occasionally slipped through the genetic cracks and found a way for incompatible DNA to stitch together.
“So, Jewels targeted our pack simply so we’d be in position to take out Fletcher when she needed him gone?” Slade asked, seeking confirmation of our working theory. “It had nothing to do with Emme, or the fact she’s our fated mate?”
“As far as I know, nothing to do with Emme,” Constantine confirmed, his grief fading away as if it had never been there.
“She needed Fletcher’s blood-related family to take him out, so she could not only break free from him, but also use his energy to enact her curse.
Fletcher was powerful from his stolen omega essences. ”
My stomach lurched. “Wait,” I said, holding a hand up. “I thought omegas could only share with bonded mates?”
Mom had said she was a scent match, which I knew was bullshit, but they were bonded.
“Technically true,” Constantine confirmed. “But rumor was that Fletcher figured out how to simulate fake bonds and scent matches. I’m assuming he also wasn’t opposed to forcibly biting omegas during his experiments. There were many ways he could steal their essences.”
A shudder ran through me, and Slade snaked an arm around my waist, as if we both needed the anchor. “I’m lucky he didn’t try that with me,” I whispered.
“I’ll bet that bastard was tempted,” the dragon growled. “Only he had bigger plans for you. One that would power his greatest weapon.”
Constantine rubbed a hand over his face, his eyes holding a weariness that only years of pain and suffering could bring. “Yeah, he wanted Emme’s power, but Talon was his shot to destroy the cities. He made the choice to boost his weapon’s strength instead.”
I had never been happier for him to have underestimated Talon’s true nature.
“Emme turning out to be your mate,” Constantine said, “was the worst thing that could have happened to Jewels and Fletcher. She was the chink in both plans, and neither of them knew it until it was too late.”
And the largest reason they hadn’t known, especially Jewels, was due to Constantine keeping me safe, hiding my magic from the world.
Slade snarled, his big chest heaving behind me. “We’re going to be her downfall. I don’t care how powerful she is, or how long this has been in the works, Jewels won’t win. The entire world will burn before that happens.”
I’d be right there lighting the first spark.
“I believe the reason Emme is your mate,” Constantine said, his focus moving between us both, “is that with her Alterni magic in your combined essences, you will be strong enough to stop the witch’s plans.”
It was my turn to scowl. “That’s not the sole reason.” I refused to accept our bonding was only about Jewels and saving the world.
Slade was right there with me. “Emme is the perfect match to our beasts and souls,” he said, a warning snap in his words.
“The heart of us all. Anything else is just an added strength from the goddess, as she knows who her most capable soldiers are. Emme would be ours even if we’d all been born human with no magical ties. ”
The urge to spin in his arms and crawl right up his big body was so strong that I had to grit my teeth and plant my boots. There was no time for that. But all the love rocketing around inside of me had to go somewhere.
Constantine didn’t argue with us, and oddly, looked happy with our declarations.
“As much as I wished differently, I knew to hide you at birth, to keep you safe, until you were strong enough to keep yourself safe. I’m sure it means nothing to you, after my years of silence and absence, but I’m proud of you, Emmeline.
You’re a gift from the goddess, and our one chance to save shifters. ”
All along, I’d rejected any concept of being the chosen one in this battle, and despite his take on it all, I still believed that. This was real life and not a book, and I had my pack surrounding me, showing that if anyone was chosen, it was all of us.
“I guess it’s time for me to learn how to use my magic, then,” I declared, forcing a lighter tone.
As if the very thought excited my magic, tingles raced down my hands and through my center. It wasn’t the first time I’d felt them, but now I recognized exactly what was happening: my witch and shifter sides were merging to fill my blood with energy.
Constantine’s slow smile was my only warning as he flicked his hands up, facing his palms toward me. A warm tingle raced over my already heated skin, and magic fizzed inside me, as if it had been shaken up suddenly.
“We start by bringing your magic to the surface and then forcing it out into the world.”
Slade pulled away from me, and even knowing I had to face this alone, I hated the loss of contact.
He turned to shout at his enforcers still training. “Everyone out! We’re using dangerous energy, and I don’t want any shifters hurt.” Not to mention my magic was still a closely held secret that not even his trusted team would know about.
No one questioned Slade, the most dominant shifter here, leaving without another word. “And none of you better mention Constantine to the council,” he added. “Those fuckers don’t need to know what’s happening here.” He received salutes and cheers in response, and then the field slowly emptied.
With Kellan and Finley having left for hockey training a few hours ago, it was only the three of us now. Ready to learn magic.