Chapter 22 - Mason
Beneath the full moon, my pack gathered at the ceremonial site deep in the woods. It had been shown to me by my father, and his father before him, and down the line of my lineage, every alpha had sworn in new pack members right there.
As I brought Cassie into that clearing, facing down my pack, who all bowed their heads as we passed, I felt powerful.
The full moon shone down on us, highlighting the ceremonial dias, a wide, thin, circular tree stump where Cassie would stand to be initiated.
Surrounding it were two conjoined trees, their knot forming in the center.
My daughter’s hair was loose, and she wore a loose, black dress that I’d bought for her. In the cool, night air, she shivered.
“I’m a little scared,” she whispered when I gestured for her to be on the stage.
“You’re going to do amazing,” I told her. “And if it gets too much, I’m right here beside you, and your mom is just over there, okay?”
I nodded to where Bryce stood at the front of the pack, but slightly apart from them. Her own hair was loose, a vacant look in her eyes. Not one of a vision, but thought, and I couldn’t help wondering if she was envisioning her own ceremony that she never got to have because of me.
There’s still time, I thought.
But for now, it was my daughter’s turn. I stepped back, facing the pack.
“As a pack, we are to welcome Cassandra Calloway into the fold.
Honeycreek has seen many great alphas, many firstborn sons take up the mantle, but my own firstborn is a girl, and I will have her accepted as much as any son.
Cassandra was born seven years ago, on a spring day.
To us, this can signify the new life she will bring with her from now and onwards.
“I was not there for the first seven years of her life, but I stand before you all, before Cassandra, as her father, and swear to be there for every single day of it from here on out, if she accepts me. Being an alpha means nothing if I cannot support my own.”
My eyes cast over Bryce, knowing she was included in that.
“For years, the pack has protected this town. I want my daughter to grow up in a pack that shows a good example. That presents kindness instead of judgment, patience instead of anger, and embraces instead of turned backs. These are all qualities I’ve had to learn as both an alpha, a father, and—” I almost said a mate, before I reminded myself that Bryce had not yet accepted that.
I continued. “And I will have her grow up with all those qualities. I will have her respected and accepted, and should I ever find out that she has been hurt by one of you, that she has ever crossed danger from anyone in this pack, that man will find himself no longer part of us. My daughter will always have the pack’s protection.
As the alpha, and as her father, I swear she will always have my protection. ”
I looked at each and every man who stood before me, daring any of them to challenge me, but their faces were open, welcoming, and I knew some of them feared Cassie’s and Bryce’s presence regarding the djinn, but I would never, ever turn my back on my family. Not now that I knew they existed.
“Cassie, you want to say a few things?” I asked.
Her hands shook at her side as her wide eyes took in the pack. She nodded. Clearing her throat, her small voice broke the silence of the night.
“I know I’m small, and I am not a boy,” she began, “but I’m fast, and I like the woods.
And I like knowing that the wolf man is the alpha and that he’ll take care of me and my mommy.
I don’t know anything about being a wolf, but I have been promised that I have many uncles to show me the way.
To show me how to be a good wolf but also to be a good person.
” She stood awkwardly and giggled. “Um, that is all. Oh! And I also hope that I will have pretty color fur when I become a wolf.”
Ripples of surprised laughter actually went through the pack, and I was caught off guard.
I gestured for Cassie to step down. Usually, a new pack member would be bitten and sworn in, but I couldn’t do that for my daughter.
Instead, Bryce had suggested the pack swear their protection to her, one by one.
But before Cassie could come to my side, something beyond the pack moved.
I barely caught the shadow a moment before a bright, green blaze split the dark night, and a ball of fire hurtled towards us.
I dived onto Cassie, sending us both to the floor as the fire whizzed over my head, hitting the ground where it sizzled out.
It was a direct attack on Cassie, not a fireball intended for an inferno, as they had been.
“Ifrit!” Theo roared, and a dozen wolves filled the clearing in a second. I pushed Cassie behind me.
“Cassie, I need you to be brave, all right?” Bryce was already running towards us. “I need you to go behind that tree with the knot right there, and I need you to stay hidden. Things might sound and look scary, but we’re all here, protecting you. Alright?”
“Alright,” she whimpered, her eyes on the wolves snarling around us.
“Go,” I urged her gently, pushing her towards the tree. Right as she ducked out of sight, Bryce came up to my side.
“Let me fight with you,” she said, her eyes blazing with anger. “I’ve spent too long fearing my wolf, rendering myself helpless. Let me… let me be part of this tonight. For her.”
I gazed at Bryce before sense was knocked into me, and I nodded sharply.
As one, we both shifted, and I was almost knocked to the floor by how strong my wolf roared for the she-wolf who transformed at my side.
God, how could I have forgotten how strong she looked, all sleek, gray fur streaked with black, and her eyes so humanly Bryce that it hurt.
Bryce as a look back at our daughter before she met my eyes.
Then she launched herself right at an ifrit, teeth snapping, unleashing seven years of fear.
But it wasn’t enough. I could see that. More ifrit poured from the shadows of the night, some sparking flames, others wounding with their fire.
The howls of my pack filled the air, the snapping of jaws, and the roar of the fight.
All of it terrified me: the thought of it not being enough to save Cassie and Bryce.
Side by side, Bryce and I descended on a group of ifrit, dismembering limbs and hands, forcing them further back.
When she launched ahead to another ifrit, I noticed how she sidled up alongside Theo, who had an ifrit pinned.
Theo’s canines bared at her for a moment, but Bryce only snarled back before she bit into the ifrit, the shriek of it dissolving into shadow and embers.
More flames went up. I tried to keep my eye on where the ifrit kept coming from, but the darkness cloaked them too well. One wolf dropped to the floor, his fur catching fire. Everything glowed a sickly green.
One-horned ifrit dragged a wolf along the floor before it launched him over its head, tossing his body to the ground. The wolf got back up with a snarl, but my heart still pounded. I was connected to them all, could taste Cassie’s fear through our bond.
But when that fear sharpened, as more wolves and ifrits clashed, paws swiping, jaws clenching down on horns and muscle, I searched that knotted tree for my daughter.
I couldn’t see her.
Not until a scream tore through the din of the fight, and I whirled, finding the source.
An ifrit threw up a blaze of green fire, the flames joining the others that had been started.
But through the blaze, I saw my daughter’s pale face.
I could barely think, barely stop myself, as I sprinted across the clearing for them.
“Help!” Cassie screamed, kicking at the ifrit. It had been smart to grab her, distract the pack, distract me, and snatch her away. My paws pounded the ground right as I skidded to a stop before that flickering wall of green fire.
I would have to jump into it to save her.
I could snatch her from the ifrit, out of harm’s way.
But it would mean sacrificing myself. My stomach lurched.
The ifrit had the thing most important to me.
For seven years, I had thought that person was Bryce—that nothing would ever come above how much I wanted her in my life.
Not until I’d found out Cassie was mine.
I had sworn to keep her safe.
How could I not sacrifice myself to ensure that happened? To make sure that she and Bryce got away from here, got to safety, even if it meant I would not be a part of that.
I howled, my pain and fury echoing in the noise.
And then I crouched low, preparing myself for the searing pain of the demon fire.
Right as that first streak of pain lanced through me, a powerful blast shook the clearing, and I was knocked out of the air in a moment, landing heavily on my side.
I rolled, on my feet in a moment, right as rain began to pour down.
It stormed—a sudden sheet of rainfall and lightning, all of it casting the flames to embers in seconds.
Including the wall separating me from my daughter.
The ifrit screeched, all of them retreating, rendered powerless by the unrelenting storm. I was distantly aware of Bryce thundering over to us, but all I could see was my crumpled daughter, lying on the ground, her arm outstretched to both Bryce and me.
A mark glowed on her palms, and I noticed how, despite everything else being soaked, she was bone dry. Her eyes were closed, her face deathly white—and then it hit me: my daughter had defeated the ifrit.