Chapter 23
Sienna
Pain grips me like a vice, hitting multiple areas all at once.
My chest throbs, the pain as sharp as it is hot, my face feels like someone smashed it with a rock, and my thigh—holy shit does that burn like a motherfucker.
No one hit me—not a single opponent—so this has to be a trick.
Someone has touched my mind and contorted my sense of reality so that all I feel is the twisted knot in my gut and the knives in my lungs.
I search for Callum. As the only mind-bender I know, he must have an answer. A solution. A cure. But when I finally lift my head and steady my spinning world, it isn’t Callum that stands before me.
It’s Alistair, remaining as gorgeous as he was on my balcony, only this time with a fierce set to his jaw and a burning gaze that would set me on fire if I weren’t already ablaze. “Alistair,” I choke out, reaching for his outstretched hand.
He takes a step back and leaves me to stumble.
“Go home, Sienna,” he growls, the menace in his voice unmistakable.
I catch his emotions on the upswing and growl right back.
“Fuck you.” I’m still pissed that he treated me like a child needing punishment for something that isn’t even my fault.
I can’t change my relationship with Revyn any more than I can change my relationship with Alistair.
Pain pulses through my limbs in time with my heartbeat, and I take unsteady steps closer to Alistair.
For every step I take forward, he takes two back, increasing the distance between us with dizzying speed.
The worst part is that he’s barely trying.
I lick my lips, tempted to whine about how stupid this is, but that feels like admitting defeat, so I keep my mouth shut and push on.
He dodges every single one of my uncoordinated punches, and I stumble along after him.
“Go home,” he repeats, clenching his jaw. “You don’t belong here.”
“Fuck you!”
In one fluid motion, he grabs my wrist and hauls me against his chest, the heat radiating off him making me nauseous. “Is that all you can say, Wildfire?” He clicks his tongue as he grabs my jaw to hold my wandering gaze. “Here I was, thinking you had more fight in you.”
“Stand still, and I’ll show you.” I bare my teeth against his grip. “I won’t even use my tongue this time.”
A flush blooms across his cheeks. “You’re pathetic.” With a forceful shove, he tosses me to the snow. The top layer of ice cracks as I land. “Run away before you hurt yourself. You’re not cut out for this academy if you need someone to save you.”
I glimpse Revyn lying beneath Callum’s boot, the man himself unconscious. Shit. I don’t know how many points we earned—it’s not like I was counting—but getting knocked out is a bad sign. Injuries will compound until his shifter healing doesn’t kick in as quickly, or worse, doesn’t kick in at all.
Like mine.
Gritting my teeth, I push myself to my feet.
“I don’t need saving, just like I don’t need a mate.
” Something cracks inside my chest, and I wince, the pain radiating outward from the break.
Shit. I think that was a rib. I take as deep a breath as I can before another one snaps and the pain doubles.
My vision doubles as my body forces me into a slow, painful shift, taking much longer than normal for the transformation to complete.
It shouldn’t be this difficult, especially on a full moon. Something must be wrong. Something must be—
On fire.
My body burns from the inside.
I lie in the snow and writhe in agony as whatever burns through my blood bites into my flesh.
Flames dance across my skin as my body shifts, the fire following the path of my transformation.
Snow and ice melt from my fur as the fire spreads, tendrils of steam rising to obscure my view.
Any pain lingering inside my body burns so hot that it disappears like ash in the wind.
Power hums beneath my skin as I stand at my full height .
. . and stare a shocked Alistair Dire in the face.
Directly in the face, with no height difference between us.
He recovers quickly, snapping his head at the side to bark orders at Callum. “Shield, now!”
Pursing his lips, Callum flicks his wrist, creating a translucent dome around the five of us: Callum himself, a fuming Alistair, Revyn’s unconscious ass, another male shifter standing stone still behind Alistair, and myself.
“They already saw her,” Callum comments, his brows pulled together.
“If they don’t teleport her out, they’ll be waiting once the sun rises. ”
Ignoring him, Alistair taps his hand against his thigh as he stares at me. “You didn’t think to tell me that not only are you a hybrid, but you’re a—” His face pinches. “I don’t even know what to call it.”
A growl rumbles inside my chest. Did he just call me an it?
His anger falters as worry pinches his brow. “You’re on fire, Sienna. Actual fire.”
“Magical fire,” Callum corrects. His gaze travels my new form before he meets my eyes with the gentlest smile I’ve ever seen. “You’re beautiful, darling. In all my sunsets, I’ve never seen anything so magnificent.”
The compliment fuels my magic; the farthest edges of my flames curl in Callum’s direction as though wishing to bestow him with a warm caress. His smile grows as a flame wraps tenderly around his outstretched finger before burning out altogether.
Alistair’s face reddens while he holds his breath.
I can nearly hear his voice in my head, the rumble of disbelief and lightning-quick flash of jealousy making me flinch in their wake.
He forces air into his lungs and runs a bloodied hand through his hair.
Our eyes meet, and he quickly guards his emotions from my probing mind. “You need to shift back, Sienna.”
He insults me, attacks me, and now he wants to order me around?
I bare my teeth and take a step forward, the snow sizzling beneath my paws. I’m not doing anything he says. In fact, I’m done listening to him at all.
To his credit, he stands his ground as I approach, not the least bit concerned for his safety, and that’s what pisses me off.
How much he still underestimates me.
Leaping at him, I snap my jaw around thin air as he backsteps, his eyes flashing liquid gold as he shifts before my eyes, transforming into a wolf twice my size.
He lunges, and we collide in a tangle of limbs and teeth, wrestling for dominance on the frozen earth.
The ice melts at my touch, but the flames roll right off Alistair’s back, not even singing his fur.
What’s the point in wielding magical fire if I can’t even use it against my enemies?
He doesn’t pull his punches and sinks both his claws and his teeth into my flesh, just as determined to force me into a shift as I am to hurt him.
Our injuries compound, however, as our bond holds true.
Every rake of my claws through his flesh is quickly mended, but at the cost of our shared pain.
Mates aren’t meant to fight each other, and the proof is in how futile our efforts are.
Blow after blow, bite after bite, we feel each other’s pain as though it is our own, and when Alistair’s wounds heal, for the first time in my life, so do mine.
But my body can’t keep up with the rapid changes; I’m running on fumes within minutes.
Alistair’s blood on my tongue is sweet as honey, and I hate him for it.
For everything. Regardless of if he’s at fault.
I need someone to blame, and right now, my fucking true mate sounds as good of a target as any.
It’s Alistair’s family’s fault that I’m a shifter without a pack.
Whether or not I take a mate in the future doesn’t change the fact that I’m in this position because of their constant overbearance in my life.
His eyes narrow as though he can hear my thoughts—which would be the fucking icing on the cake if it were true—and he pounces, slamming his entire body weight onto my chest and pinning me to the ground. With his jaw encircling my throat, he huffs, sinking his teeth a fraction into my skin.
Panic races up my spine.
It’s a full moon. We may not be in the throes of intimacy, but he can’t bite my neck without consequences. Not when we’re supposed to be mates. Not when we don’t know the depth of this thing between us.
Power surges through my body and erupts in an inferno, flaring out so brightly that it burns through Callum’s shield and lights up the night sky.
Alistair yelps in surprise and leaps back.
Before he can heal, I see it—the burns scorching his fur and searing his skin, starting at his jaw and licking up one side of his face.
He drops to the snow with a whine and buries his burning flesh in the frost.
My heart pounds harder than it can withstand, the blood in my veins little more than liquid fire as it courses through me.
I whimper as my muscles twist, unable to keep up with whatever the hells is happening to me.
I cry out in pain as my body shifts back to human form, my energy spent and my miraculous healing no longer working.
Heat consumes my flesh before narrowing its focus to the side of my neck, flaring up and over my jaw until it curls along the highest point of my cheek.
I open my eyes to find Alistair as naked as I am, his body trembling as he glares at me. “What have you done?” His voice is a rasp of pain, and when he turns his head to avoid my eyes, I witness the lingering effects of our fight.
A deep burn across his neck mirrors my own, the injury trailing up the side and over his jaw, flaring out across his cheek in a swirling pattern that would be beautiful if it weren’t inflamed, the naturally tanned skin now marbling with a deep pink that refuses to heal.
“My father was right.” Alistair’s eyes water as he shakes his head, stretching the charred skin until its pain slices through my own neck, our bond ensuring that we both feel each other’s wounds.
Something must be broken between us, because fated mates are supposed to empower and heal each other. All we seem to do is break each other down into our sharpest pieces.
He stands on shaky legs, the golden warmth of his irises fading to dull bronze. “You ruin everything you touch, Wildfire.”
The nickname cuts deep. I choke as earth-shattering disappointment crushes my ribs, threatening to pierce my heart.
Alistair turns away, our magical tether weakening as he retreats.
A flash of white light blinds the area as Headmaster Loreander teleports in, joined by an alpha I’d recognize anywhere—Thaddeus Dire, the head of the Dire Mountain pack and Alistair’s father. The man who’s hated me from the moment we met.
“She’s a hybrid,” Alistair says coldly, addressing his father. “Do what you want with her.”
The betrayal cuts deep. Alistair knew what I was all along, and just like he’d said, he never told anyone. He kept my secret. He kept me alive. But now, everything’s changed. We’ve seen what I really am.
No more than a fated mistake.
“Alistair—” My voice is raw, and we both flinch from the sound.
He clenches his jaw and avoids looking my way.
“I’m done, Sienna. Whatever this is between us is over.
” He walks away with a permanent reminder of tonight on his skin while I’m left to suffer alone.
The burn on my neck ignites, simultaneously healing itself and scorching the new skin, but it’s not the fire that leaves me gasping for air.
It’s Alistair’s sorrow overflowing from his heart into mine.