14. Paul #6
He didn’t answer, and if we weren’t all so subdued by his alpha voice, I would have thought he was mute. Instead, he lurched back to his feet and ran at the Whisper with full speed.
Surely, if he really was our alpha, he would shift into his wolf form.
Although we were capable of fighting in our human bodies, it was unnatural and not nearly as strong as our animal side.
We didn’t heal as fast, we didn’t react as fast, and we weren’t nearly as strong.
It made no sense for him to be in such a life-and-death situation and not choose his ultimate form.
That had to mean he was some kind of fraud, right?
That whatever sorcerer had hijacked his head and other parts of his body had found a way to replicate his alpha voice but ultimately couldn’t fake something like a full shift.
Yeah, that had to be it.
The assassin’s metal fist went straight for the Whisper’s head, but she blocked it with one of her massive tree arms while delivering her own uppercut that had the assassin stumbling back.
Meanwhile, I kept fighting to rise to my feet and finally managed to get one of my paws flat on the ground. Just three more to go.
The two continued to box each other, with the occasional sword slash from him and the thorny vine or rush of blinding pollen from the Whisper.
It was like watching two melee fighters who had multi-classed into mage.
It would have been impressive if I weren’t putting all my focus into getting onto my feet.
Two paws. Three paws. The niece joined the fight again, this time intercepting a blow that might have taken the Whisper for a surprise, only to find out just like I had how insanely hard the metal of his arm was.
That small moment of being rattled, in this case quite literally, cost her the hold she had, and the assassin brought his silver blade down on her head. Luckily, she was able to dodge, but not entirely. The edge of the blade took off most of her right ear.
The sound she let out was truly awful, and it seemed to trigger something within the Whisper, because when she rushed the assassin once again, her form continued to change.
She didn’t just have giant, tree limb arms anymore.
No, her legs had grown to make her tower over the killer, and a large, Venus flytrap-like growth had sprung from her back like a pair of demonic wings, the two halves of its jaws snapping violently toward the assassin.
For the first time in the entire encounter, the monster wearing my brother’s stolen face looked shocked. If it hadn’t been for that one expression, I would have thought he was incapable of emoting at all, which went right along with everything Cherry had said.
My mind flickered with concern and started to slide down the path of wondering where Cherry was, if she was safe, or if she had done the smart thing and abandoned us, but I clamped down on those thoughts.
They couldn’t take priority. While this wasn’t the time for peace, serenity, or control, it did demand all the mental fortitude I had spent so many years honing.
Breathe deep. Rise up. Breathe out. Rise up. That is not your alpha. His command is not valid. Breathe deep, rise up.
Although it hurt every muscle in my body and made my wolf instincts scream in panic, I made it all the way to my feet. And strangely enough, the more I straightened my legs, the easier it became to defy all the instincts screaming inside me.
And just in time too, because as the Whisper had the assassin pinned against the wall, he pulled out two glass orbs from his pouch, slamming one on the ground in front of him, and the other right into the dryad’s face.
The first one exploded into a thick, noxious cloud. The second burst into another giant orb of flame like the one he’d thrown at her when she’d been on the pillar. The scream the Whisper let out was truly horrifying, and that broke the last of my restraints, allowing me to stumble forward.
The assassin continued to press his advantage, going between swinging his blade and dealing crushing blows with his fists.
As she shrieked and tried to put out the flames, she managed to catch all the blade strikes on a wooden armored part of her body, but she didn’t block the blows.
I saw her take more than one to the ribs, one to the gut, and one to her chest that must have knocked her breath right out of her.
By the time I reached her, most of her plant-like limbs had returned to normal, but she was still on fire.
I jumped between the two, kicking her back as gently as I could.
It wasn’t the nicest move, but it gave her the space to drop to the floor and roll around wildly, finally putting the flames out.
Now it was just my faux-brother and I again. We stared at each other, both still for several belabored breaths, as if we were sizing each other up.
But really, I was just looking for something in his gaze that would either prove or disprove that he was the same person who had been there for me through so much, who had grown up into a gentle giant, who had been quiet but never unkind, who had always had rather kind eyes.
I couldn’t find anything there. It was just... empty. Not a hint of anything I could identify of Luther in his gaze.
That meant it couldn’t be him, right?
I didn’t get an answer, at least not literally. What I got was a flash somewhere within the depths of his gaze, and then that damned alpha voice echoed through my head again.
“ Submit .”
There it was, tearing at my mind, compelling me to obey as rapidly as possible to prove I was a loyal and worthy pack mate. My body shook, rattling me to my teeth.
But I did not submit.
“ SUBMIT .”
The shaking turned into near-vibrating, and I felt something warm and wet drip from my nose.
Blood? Perhaps. It felt like my brain was cooking in my head.
My entire body was at war with itself, me fighting to keep myself upright while hundreds of thousands of years of ancestors tried to make me obey my alpha.
But still, I did not submit.
Maybe if I had an ounce of spare brain power left, I would have been proud of my resistance. However, as it were, I couldn’t fight. Hell, I couldn’t even move. I wasn’t submitting but I certainly wasn’t going to win any battle either.
“ SUBMIT ,” his voice echoed in my head again—no, my very soul— but I stayed there, staring him in the eyes, daring him to try to break my spirit.
Another step forward. His blade was once again at the ready while my heart thundered in my ears, which were dripping warm liquid, the same as my nose.
Was this the end? Perhaps. But I was buying time for my siblings to try and resist his initial order. Alpha commands were impossibly strong, but they didn’t last forever.
If this assassin truly was my brother, he would know that, and he would make his repeated orders apply to everyone instead of just me. But no, I could sense that all his command, all his aura, was focused solely on me and my inner wolf.
“ SUBMIT! ”
He had reached me. I bared my teeth and let out something that was akin to a snarl but filled with just as much pain as it was defiance. It would be so easy to just lie down and spend my final moments in the blessed relief of adhering to my alpha’s orders.
Except I didn’t. With what little extra wherewithal I had, I braced myself for death.
“ SUBMIT! ”
“No.”
I saw the blade start to swing down, cathedral-light glinting along its polished length.
I braced myself, hoping against hope I’d bought enough time for the Chevaliers’ niece and Tadgh to heal, maybe even the Whisper too.
But before the weapon could swing through, there was a yell from above and something came flying down from the balcony screaming bloody murder.
Wait, not flying. Falling with style and on a skateboard. I had to be hallucinating, because that was Cherry colliding with the assassin, her board connecting with his ribs as she slammed a literal brick into his skull.
“Get the hell away from him!”
And with that, the two tumbled to the floor, and the world fell out from under me.