Chapter 24 - Hyacinth
“Please, Shane, get back,” I beg once more.
He shakes his head as he puts his arms around me. “No,” he says, resting his head on my shoulder from where he sits behind me. “I’ll never leave you alone. Not ever.”
My heart aches as if a blade has sliced it in half, and the pain is worse than anything I’ve ever experienced.
“I came here to save you,” I moan. “It’s no use if you get killed, too, don’t you see?”
“Hyacinth!” Shane grabs my shoulders and gives me a little shake, making me look over my shoulder at him. “You have to listen to me—you can’t do this alone. It won’t work.”
“Of course it will,” I reply, confusion spilling into my guts and diluting my certainty. “I saw it all, like it was written in the rhythms of the earth. I know what to do.”
“No,” he shakes his head. “That’s not true. I don’t understand it, okay, but Sadie told me it has to be both of us. If you try it alone, you’ll die, and all the packs will be doomed.”
I stare at him, not quite believing it, but feeling enough doubt that I’m not sure I should continue. The clarity I had when I left has already waned, and now it’s about to shatter completely.
I look around, seeing Owen outside the force field. The barrier itself is almost transparent, rippling with waves of milky white. The atmosphere in here is dense, as if pressure is rising. My head is starting to ache in response.
What happens if I do this wrong?
With a sinking feeling, I realize I never once considered this. I don’t even know where the certainty I felt came from—except that I felt so much harmony with the natural world, I trusted it completely.
A rough breeze begins to flick around the edges of the dome, and I can sense the pressure changing. The air is spinning, lazily for now, but with enough force behind it that it could whip into a tornado.
We’ll be shredded in here. I don’t even know if we can get out.
“Hyacinth?”
“I don’t know what to do,” I sob. “I thought I did, but now you’re here… what does this even mean?”
Shane puts his arms around me, rocking me back towards him. “It doesn’t matter. We’re together, and that’s all I care about.”
“That’s not how it’s supposed to be!” I snap at him. “I didn’t come out here so both of us could die. I came out here to heal you and your pack.”
“My pack is important,” he says, hugging me close.
“I care for all of them. But if they were cured and I had to live without you, I would live with an empty heart. My wolf would howl the loss of you into the sky every night. That isn’t how we end the curse, Hyacinth. It has to be love, not sacrifice.”
“But I felt it,” I insist. “Written in the wind. We have to make a sacrifice.”
“I don’t know how any of this works,” Shane says. “But maybe all we need to do is offer it. What exactly did you come here to do?”
“I…” I raise my hands, looking at them for a moment before placing my palms flat against the ground.
“I heard the earth singing,” I say, closing my eyes.
“And I saw glowing threads linking everything together. A pattern of life, ever renewing itself. There were dark threads within us, and I saw the curse growing inside you. I had to come here, to the source of Lynette’s pain.
I have to put my light into the heart of the curse. ”
“Then do that,” Shane says, tightening his grip on my shoulders. “Pour our love straight into it.”
I keep my hands pressed against the ground, feeling the pressure stabilizing a little now that I’m paying attention. I can feel Shane’s energy flowing into me through his hands, and I can also feel the dark energy of the curse inside him.
“You aren’t strong enough,” I say. “This could kill you.”
“I don’t care,” he says, his voice harsh.
“But I do!”
“Hyacinth!” Shane grabs me, turning me to face him. The moment I take my attention from the spell, the wind picks up again, making a horrible shriek as it tears around the dome.
“Even if I wanted to leave, I don’t think I could, now,” he says. “I’m not having the same argument with you over and over—do what you came here to do, and I will do it with you.”
Tears streak down my cheeks as I reach out for him, putting one hand on his neck to pull him closer to me. I press my lips to his and let the thrill of ecstasy run through me, waves of pleasure cascading across my skin and making my blood sing.
I pull back, stroking his cheek as I look into his beautiful eyes. The pupils are wide and deep, staring right into me, and the flickering blue of the iris seems to slowly spin with the glitter of far-off stars.
“I have never loved anyone the way I love you,” I whisper. “All my fear is gone—because I know now that true love really does exist. I’m not ready to say goodbye to you, and I will not let you die here.”
“Good to know,” he says, giving me a small smile. “I have no intention of dying, either, but I won’t let you sacrifice yourself.”
“Okay,” I whisper, kissing him one more time. “I know what I have to do.”
I turn around, feeling Shane put his hands on my shoulders again. I place my palms flat against the ground and try to remember that feeling of connection and harmony I had before.
When I raced out here, I was so sure of what to do. I was going to pour my entire life force into the ground, and I thought that would break the curse…
As I stretch my awareness into the soil, I slowly become aware of the massive web of light surrounding us. The ebb and flow is even and rhythmic, showing the balance of all life as a perfect system.
I turn my attention towards the manor, and all I can see is bubbling, boiling darkness. It’s malignant and growing in strength. The poison is begging to be free, and I know if it breaks out, all the wolves will die.
Closing my eyes, I let my astral body slip into the energy flow. The dark clouds slash at me like razors, but I don’t give up. Through it all, I can feel Shane holding my shoulders, grounding me to my body and the magic circle.
If he weren’t here, I would have gotten lost for sure.
I approach the manor, the boiling clouds hissing around me like snakes. Even though I’m in an astral form, the energy cuts me, burning deep into my soul. Instead of resisting it, I open my heart to it.
A horrible wailing rings through the astral plane, and deep in the heart of the maelstrom, I see a faint shred of light.
It’s Lynette. Oh, my goddess.
The dark energy attacks me mercilessly, tearing at my soul, but I keep pushing forward. When I stumble, the black shadows try to force their way inside me, and I feel Shane’s grip on my shoulders again.
He hasn’t followed me in—he’s still out there, in his body, holding me down like an anchor. But my soul can feel him, even this far away.
That’s when I know the bond between us can never be broken, no matter how far apart we are. Death is nothing to two hearts like ours.
Forever.
I struggle to my feet, forcing myself to keep walking towards the manor. The wailing is still pouring from the center of the maelstrom, and I know this is the heart of Lynette’s pain.
“Stop!” I scream. “You have to stop this!”
The pale shred of light turns to face me, and I see a fully corrupted form, wrapped in shadows and thorns. Over the years, Lynette’s soul became so twisted by the curse that she is barely recognizable as human. But that shred of pure, perfect light remains.
“Do you dare intrude on my pain?” The words emanate from her body, resonating through the ground. The spirit world trembles around me, and doubt flickers in my heart.
She’s so strong... I never realized how powerful she is!
“Lynette, please stop,” I beg. “I’m bringing you love—the love you’ve been dying for all this time.”
The dark shield around her wavers, and when she looks at me, I see that one of her eyes looks human again.
“Your love?” she hisses. “What about my love?”
“Lynette,” I beg her, trying to get closer. “Look into my soul. See the love of my wolf for me. We have to break your curse—don’t you see? You led us here. You didn’t want to curse all the wolves to die.”
“He killed my witches,” she wailed. “My beautiful girls. He locked me in here. He deserves his fate, and his descendants, too.”
“Are you the same as him?” I ask.
She turns to face me, and the dark countenance comes over her. Shadows pour into her eyes, and her mouth opens wider than a human being’s could as she screams at me.
“Why shouldn’t I be?” she wails. “Why shouldn’t I match his evil?”
“Lynette,” a soft voice speaks behind me.
Shocked, I turn around slowly to see a tall, handsome man walking towards us. His eyes glow a deep, reflective amber, and long black hair flows down his neck almost like a pelt. When he draws close, he touches my shoulder gently.
“Thank you, descendant of my beloved,” he says. “I couldn’t find this place until now.”
“Darian?” Lynette cries, the ugly countenance flickering as light grows within her once more.
“Lynette,” Darian answers, going towards her.
The black clouds pull back, hissing menacingly. Darian reaches the center of the circle and reaches out his hands.
“You still love me,” he says. “That’s why you left a keystone in the curse—so your ancestors could break it. You didn’t want all the wolves to die.”
“You trapped me here!” Lynette cries. “You killed my witches. I did you no wrong, Darian, and you betrayed me.”
“I know that now,” he says, pained. “A message was given to me, and it was from you to a lover. It was signed by your hand.”
“I had no other lover. It was a fake.”
“Yes,” he agrees. “But I went mad when I saw it. I locked you up. I went after your witches—but I had no stomach for the killing. I ordered the wolves back. I tried to return for you.”
“Lies,” Lynette hisses, but it comes out as more of a sob.
“Look into my soul,” Darian says. “See the truth. I was coming for you when my trusted counselor stabbed me in the back.”
“What?” she whispers. “No.”
“Yes.” He reaches for her, and the light inside her glows even brighter, pushing the shadows back. “I was coming to save you. I couldn’t live without you, and I knew it. My beta killed me, dumped my body in the woods, and sent the rest of the wolves after your witches.”
Lynette shakes her head, and the bright glow around her increases.
“You had every right to curse me,” Darian says. “I don’t blame you for that. But I must thank you for loving me enough that you built a failsafe into the curse. We can save them, Lynette. We can save everyone, even ourselves.”
Finally, she reaches for him, and I see their hands touch. White light glows between them, and the shadows recede even further.
“I’ve killed so many,” she says. “All around us, dead and sick wolves, and they are innocent. This blood is on my hands.”
“No,” Darian says. “The blame lies in the council. The family line that murdered me went after all the witches and created an arrogance in the packs that shunned all others as weak. Those souls perpetuated the curse. If they had not, your descendants would have found mine long before now, and I would have been able to find my way to you.”
Lynette turns to look at me. She is radiant, surrounded by white light. The shadows increase around us, spitting and hissing as they fight to take over.
“Beloved daughter,” Lynette says. “You must return and link my energy to the others. But hear me on this—if we succeed and break the curse, you must find Darian’s bones, and mine, and lay us in a grave together. It will seal this curse so it can never return.”
“I will,” I reply. “But what now?”
“Return to your body. The energy from the heart of the curse goes with you. If the love between my witches and their mates is true, then the curse will be broken. Go now, little one. There isn’t much time.”
I watch them for a few moments longer. Darian takes Lynette into his arms and kisses her. The bright white light engulfs them both, and I pray with my entire heart and soul that the two of them will now be together for eternity, just as they were always meant to be.
I close my eyes, focusing on the feeling of Shane’s hands on my shoulders. As I bid my soul to return, the dark forces of the curse set upon me, desperate to destroy my light before I can return to my body.