Chapter Sixty-Seven
Skylar Cathal
“Skylar!” Daxton called out, racing to catch me. “Skylar, wait!”
“Sky!” Shaw’s voice echoed in a panic.
I knew he’d figured it out. He was always so gods-damned clever.
My heart thundered in my ears, drowning out the footsteps and the cries of my name behind me. Selfishly, I needed them here, but I couldn’t allow them to join me on this last step of my journey.
“Skylar!” Daxton screamed, begging me to answer his call. I could hear the horror in his voice, his fear morphing into my own through the threads of our bond.
I withdrew the dagger from my back as a shimmering barrier appeared at the end of the tunnel.
The tunnel opened into a clearing at the volcano’s epicenter, with the Heart of Valdor locked inside on a pedestal encased inside a magical barrier.
The pools of magma below this raised platform blanketed the opening in a thick layer of heat that felt like pushing through a dense barricade.
Still, I pressed ahead, sprinting toward the magical barrier encasing the Heart.
In one swift movement, I sliced through the veil of magic, allowing only me to enter as it sealed shut behind me.
My hands trembled as I froze, my voice catching in my throat.
I dropped to my knees, the sharp rocks biting into them as the alpha’s dagger clattered to the ground beside me.
A surge of primal energy tore through me, my animal awakening as my eyes locked on the Heart, gleaming atop a pedestal, my ancestor’s bones laid to rest beside it.
The ruby-red stone shimmered with a magical glow. It was beautiful, utterly breathtaking. Pulses of my magic intensified in my presence, as if the stone recognized my blood and whoever dared to enter in an attempt to wield its power.
“Skylar!” my mate roared, pounding his fist against the barrier at my back. His magic assaulted the divide between us.
“Daxton, stop,” I whimpered, feeling the depth of his wrath. His rage masked the dreaded and all-consuming sorrow that threatened to shatter his soul.
I am doing this to save him, I reminded myself, to save all of them.
Rising from the earth, I braced myself to turn and face them.
“Skylar!” Daxton bared his teeth, pure outrage filling his stare. Yet, behind his veil of anger, I could sense his devastating heartbreak.
The guilt of hiding this secret from my mate darkened a piece of my soul. The look of painful understanding mirrored in his expression expanded the cracks in my heart, threatening to alter me from my destined fate.
“Sky—” Shaw skidded to a stop beside Daxton, his eyes widening in a desperate plea.
Castor was the last to join. His footsteps echoed off the stone walls of the darkened tunnel as he turned the corner to meet my gaze. He knew what I intended to do.
What I needed to do.
“Skylar,” Castor whispered, pursing his lips. His eyes widened as color faded from his cheeks.
Daxton’s head spun to his brother before rapidly returning to me. “Fuck this! No!” Daxton screamed as his fists pounded against the magical barrier. The tunnel threatened to collapse around them in his attempt to reach me.
“I’m sorry,” I rasped. “Daxton, I’m—”
“No!” he roared again.
“Dax—”
“Don’t you dare speak like that! Don’t you dare look at me like that, Spitfire!”
My limbs hung lifeless at my sides. Summoning my courage, I forced myself to raise my gaze and find my mate’s. He would never forgive me for this, but I prayed to the Gods above that he would someday understand.
“Stop,” I commanded inside each of their minds.
Daxton and Castor’s expressions dropped as they heard my voice, and Shaw—Shaw’s eyes widened in a pained understanding of what I was about to do.
“You will not pass through the barrier until my magic releases you.” The power of my words settled as an unbreakable command none of them could resist.
“Shaw,” I pleaded, biting my lip to keep it from quivering. “Bring the dagger back to our people. Guide Gilen in his role as alpha and help protect our pack. They’ll need you now more than ever, my friend.”
“No!” Shaw sobbed, followed by a bellowing roar as he shifted into his panther, trying but failing to resist my command.
“That’s why you didn’t kill him during the challenge,” Shaw growled. “You’ve known since then?”
“Someone had to lead in my place,” I answered. “Gilen will become a strong leader and protect our people, but only if you are there to help guide him. I’m asking you to do this as a final request from your alpha, and as your friend.”
“Skylar, please, there must be another way.”
“There isn’t, Shaw. It must be an alpha, the same as it was before.”
The roar from Shaw’s panther shook the walls as he fought against my command. His forelimbs shuddered as his tail twitched, his head finally bowing in defeat as his eyes clenched shut.
“Castor,” I said, turning my back toward them and stepping to the pedestal holding the Heart of Valdor, careful not to disturb the bones of my ancestor near the base.
“Bull-fucking-shit reason for having me here, Skylar!” Castor sneered, his anger a mask for the agony he tried to hide.
“I’m still holding the promise I made to you when first arriving in Silver Meadows,” I said, meeting his hardened stare as I turned around the pedestal. “But you, Castor. You must bring him back from this.”
“He won’t… Daxton won’t—”
“He must!” I screamed with angst. “You must bring him back. Daxton is the key to this victory and the freedom of your people.”
I understood what I asked of Castor was steep, but that was why I needed him here. If anyone could help Daxton, it would be him.
Castor remained silent. His brows furrowed as he cursed under his breath, turning away and fisting his hair in frustration. “I don’t… Skylar—”
“I know,” I answered softly, feeling the emotion behind his words.
And for once, he couldn’t seem to speak.
My hands trembled as I raised them to the Heart, the magic calling to me and my animal. The star markings on my arm began to glow as my fingers lightly brushed against the ruby-red stone.
“Skylar,” Daxton cried out with pained emotion in his voice. “You can’t—”
My body trembled as I gazed toward the barrier, feeling my mate’s wrath daring to tear through the magic separating us.
“There’s no other way,” I sobbed, fighting to hold back my tears.
“We’re in this together, Spitfire. This… This can’t be it. I can’t lose you when I’ve only just found you.”
“You will never lose me, Daxton,” I said, my heart shattering as I gazed into his eyes, knowing how much this decision was hurting him. “I’ll wait for you,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “At the crossing, when it’s time for you to join me… I’ll be there waiting for you.”
“I can’t,” Daxton screamed, his fists clenched so tightly they turned white. “You can’t ask this of me!”
“Daxton, you must!” I yelled, utilizing every facet of strength from my animal to keep my feet rooted in place.
“You’re the prince who was promised to unite your people, and…
you promised to look after mine.” My chest heaved as Daxton forced himself to meet my gaze.
“You must keep your promise. You have to save them. Only you can.”
“Not without you by my side, Skylar!” Daxton roared as his magic assaulted the barrier, blasting the three of them backward toward the passageway.
I gasped, my breath stilling in my chest at the force exerted against the veil of magic. The ricochet sent the three of them soaring across the opening.
Shaw and Castor collided while Daxton was thrown against the rocks on the far side. The volcano began to rumble. The pit of magma pooling in the vent beneath churned with the threat of an eruption.
We were out of time.
“Daxton,” I yelled in a panic as he struggled to rise. “Immortality would never grant us enough time together—” The walls of the magma chamber rumbled as rocks began tumbling into the rising pool beneath the ledge. The heat became unbearably thick. “I will always find you.”
I locked onto his stare, begging him to grant me this final gift of strength to do the impossible… To say goodbye.
“Daxton,” I cried as I gripped the stone.
Tears flowed down my cheeks as the magic swelled around me in a devastating vortex. My animal stirred inside my chest. Her soul and magic barreled into the stone with my own and unleashed the well of our power into the weapon that would require the ultimate price—our lives willingly given.
My pulse stuttered in an unnatural rhythm as the Heart of Valdor consumed every nerve, every fiber of my being. Snaring it inside the stone, stealing the breath from my lungs, and confining me to an inescapable fate.
“Daxton,” I whimpered as my life force began to fade.
Daxton’s eyes glistened as a stream of tears cascaded down his face. He dipped his head as his body convulsed with a combination of rage and sorrow that would obliterate the world if it were set free.
Lifting his gaze, Daxton said, “We will always find each other, every day, until none are left.”
My love for him transcended worlds and ignored the rules of time or distance that would tragically force us to part but never forget.
I would watch over him from afar until we reunited in the next life, where we would regain the time stolen from us.
My gaze drifted upward as a vortex of spiraling winds of flames and magic engulfed my world. Opening the floodgates of my power, I unleashed every droplet of strength and fragment of energy I held. My bones vibrated beneath my skin as a trickle of blood seeped from my nose and ears.
My animal rose from within, her soul’s song igniting a melody that carried the pains of my death. Spiriting them away and shouldering the burden of my final act in this living world.
“I love you,” I called out to Daxton.
I felt my mate’s scream, a raw and endless wail of sorrow. His grief wrapped around him like a suffocating ache, one that would never release its hold.
“I love you, Skylar,” he answered in a wounded roar.
Tears flowed down my cheeks as his final words echoed in my heart. Eternity would never be long enough with him.
I squeezed my eyes shut, a raw scream tearing from my throat like a burning inferno as the Heart consumed every fragment of me. This was the ultimate sacrifice, what was required to unlock the magic to save our world.
My body grew cold despite the blistering heat from the volcano, until there was nothing.
I could endure the physical agonies of my death.
I’d faced it before, and once again, a strange sense of calm washed over me.
It started at my feet a subtle tingling that crawled up my legs and arms, until it settled deep within my heart.
“Are you willing?” an unknown voice called out.
I dared to open my eyes against the sting of the blistering winds.
“Are you willing?” It asked again, the voice sounding ancient and strong.
I bent my head forward as my fingernails cracked against the force of my fingers digging into the stone. I clenched my jaw, grinding my teeth as the taste of blood coated my tongue. My animal’s presence surged inside me, flooding me with an unwavering courage that I desperately clung to.
Tilting my head back, I screamed into the chasm, “Yes!”
An explosion of light erupted from the stone. My hands were immovable as the power from the Heart of Valdor exploded from the confines of its cage, finally unlocked after my ancestor sealed it away.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, loud enough for only my animal to hear. “I’m sorry we were never able to shift.”
With those final words, my eyes closed, the strength in my limbs gave way, and my final breath dissipated into ash. My life willingly given to the Heart of Valdor to heal our dying world.