Chapter 31 Corin
CORIN
Chloe was dying.
He could see it happening. The way her body convulsed on the frozen ground, the way her skin had gone gray, the way dark veins were spreading up her arms like poison climbing toward her heart.
Freya was running toward her, but Corin couldn't move.
Couldn't breathe. Could only watch as the woman he loved was torn apart from the inside.
His bear roared, and he forced himself back to his feet.
Blood matted the fur on his shoulder where he'd hit the tree. His ribs screamed in protest. None of it mattered. The only thing that mattered was Chloe, and the man who was killing her.
Jasper stood at the well, his hands still pressed to the stones, dark energy flowing through him like a river. He looked stronger than before. Younger, almost. His weathered face had smoothed, his posture had straightened, and his eyes blazed with stolen power.
"You can't stop this," Jasper said, not even bothering to look at him. "The seal is empty. Everything that was bound inside, all that ancient magic, it's already flowing through me. Through her." He smiled. "The well is just a doorway now. I'm the vessel."
Corin charged to hit Jasper, claws slashing, teeth snapping. For one glorious moment, he felt flesh give beneath his paws, heard Jasper's grunt of pain as they both went sprawling across the frozen ground. Then the dark energy slammed into him again.
It was stronger this time. Jasper had more power now, more magic, and he used it like a weapon. Corin felt himself lifted, thrown, his massive body crashing through the underbrush. He shifted back to human mid-tumble, unable to hold his bear form against the onslaught.
"Persistent." Jasper rose to his feet, brushing dirt from his jacket like nothing had happened. A shallow gash bled across his cheek where Corin's claws had connected. "I'll give you that."
"Why?" Corin pushed himself up, his arms shaking. "Fifteen years you've lived here. This is your home. Why destroy it?"
"Because it was never really mine." Jasper's voice went cold.
"I came here with nothing. A hedge witch's bastard with barely enough power to light a candle.
I watched this town thrive while I scraped by on deliveries and odd jobs.
Watched the old families, the powerful families, pass down magic like it was their birthright while leaving me for scraps. "
"So this is jealousy?"
"This is justice." Jasper's eyes flashed.
"Those druids who sealed this well didn't do it to protect anyone. They did it to hoard power they didn't deserve. They locked away enough magic to reshape the valley, and for what? So it could sit in the ground for centuries while people like me went hungry? Druids have always been thought of as the lesser of magical beings. I’m here to prove everyone, including you, they’re wrong. "
Corin circled slowly, trying to put himself between Jasper and Chloe. She was still on the ground, Freya crouched over her, and he could hear Freya's voice, low and urgent, trying to reach her.
"You're killing her," he said. "She never did anything to you."
"She's a means to an end. A perfect conduit." Jasper shrugged, utterly indifferent. "Her druid blood makes her useful. Once I've drained everything through her, I won't need the connection anymore. She'll probably survive. Probably."
Corin lunged but stayed human, using speed instead of mass. He tackled Jasper around the waist, driving him back toward the well, away from Chloe. They grappled in the frozen mud, Corin's hands finding Jasper's throat, squeezing.
Dark energy crackled around them. Corin felt it burning against his skin, trying to force him back, but he held on. His bear lent him strength, primal and furious, and for a moment he thought he might actually be winning.
Jasper laughed. "You think you can fight magic with muscle?" His voice came out strangled but amused. "You're strong, bear. But I've got centuries of power flowing through me now. The well is empty. I am the source."
The energy exploded outward.
Corin flew backward, hitting the crumbling stones of the well hard enough to crack them further. His vision went white, then red, then slowly cleared to show Jasper standing over him, dark power coiling around his arms like serpents.
"I was going to let you live," Jasper said conversationally.
"Kill the girl, drain the land, and on to the next town where I can show my strength, really build something.
All while everyone here assumed the disease stopped because the girl is dead.
But you keep getting in the way." He raised one hand, darkness gathering at his fingertips. "Time to end this."
"Why now?" Corin gasped, buying time, trying to think. "Fifteen years and you never made a move. What changed?"
Jasper paused. The darkness didn't fade, but his attention shifted, considering the question.
"The Veil crisis," he said finally. "Three years ago, when everything nearly came undone. I felt it. Felt the old magics stirring, the seals weakening. I realized that if I didn't act, someone else would. Someone who didn't deserve it."
"So you started breaking the seal."
"Slowly. Carefully. A crack here, a leak there.
Let the contamination spread, let the town get scared, let them look for someone to blame.
" His smile was cruel. "And then your little druid showed up.
A gift I never expected. Pure blood, untrained, vulnerable.
The perfect scapegoat and the perfect battery, all in one convenient package. "
"She's not yours to use."
"She's whatever I say she is." Jasper's hand came down.
Corin rolled.
The dark energy hit the stones where he'd been lying, shattering them into fragments. He scrambled to his feet, putting the ruined well between them, and shifted again. His bear burst forth with a roar of pain and fury, muscles burning, bones screaming.
He threw himself at Jasper one more time.
They collided in a tangle of claws and shadow, Corin tearing at anything he could reach while Jasper's magic burned against his fur. The smell of singed hair filled the air. Blood, his and Jasper's, splattered across the frozen ground.
But Jasper was right. Muscle couldn't beat magic. Not magic this strong, this old, this concentrated.
Every blow Corin landed, Jasper healed. Every wound he inflicted closed before his eyes. The power flowing through the dark druid was regenerating him faster than Corin could hurt him.
And Corin was slowing down.
His bear was exhausted. The repeated shifts, the magical attacks, the physical battering, it was all taking its toll. He could feel his movements growing sluggish, his reactions dulling. His body was giving out.
Jasper caught him with a blast of dark energy that sent him tumbling across the clearing. This time, Corin couldn't get up. He lay on his side, chest heaving, and watched as Jasper straightened his jacket and walked toward where Chloe lay.
"No." The word came out as a growl, barely human.
"It's over, bear." Jasper didn't even look at him. "You fought well. But some things can't be stopped with teeth and claws."
Corin tried to rise. His legs wouldn't cooperate. The shifter magic that had always been his greatest strength was spent, drained by Jasper's attacks, and all he had left was brute force that couldn't reach its target.
He watched Jasper approach Chloe. Watched Freya stand between them, her small body shaking with fear but refusing to move. Watched the dark energy gather in Jasper's hands, ready to finish what he'd started.
"Chloe." Her name tore from his throat. "Chloe, please."
She wasn't moving. Wasn't responding. The dark veins had spread to her neck now, her face twisted in silent agony.
He was going to lose her. After everything, after finding his mate, after finally letting himself hope for a future, he was going to watch her die because he wasn't strong enough to stop it.
His bear howled in despair.
And on the frozen ground, Chloe's eyes snapped open.