Chapter 20
Evening falls and we are all around the fire.
It's tense and quiet. Izzy, Penny and Jason have barely looked at me all day.
Not since my bond with Alistair was made common knowledge.
I can see their distrust warring with their loyalty.
This is why I didn't tell them sooner. I can see they're hurting.
The daughter of their Alpha being destined to be with their enemy is hard for them to accept.
Lukas hasn't said a word to me. He transformed earlier and ignored everyone.
He's only just come back looking just as brooding as before.
I saw him and Caleb talking in hushed tones by the lake but since then Lukas has been avoiding him to.
Caleb comes over to me with two open bottles of cider and offers me one which I take with a grateful smile.
“After the day you've had I wish I had something stronger for you.” He chuckles.
“This is fine” I chuff. “I'm sorry. I'm sorry to everyone.”
“Don't be sorry for having a great story ahead of you. This is how you get immortalised in the stars.” He says looking up at the night sky. “See, Hercules is looking down on you right now. After his 12 labours this should be a piece of cake.”
“You think so? Then how about we swap. You go to the underworld and face Hades and I'll stay right here.” I joke.
“If only that were possible.” He murmurs. “Alas, here I am stuck as a wolf with no great history to write for myself.”
I give him a questioning look.
“I would hardly say you’re stuck. The pack rely so much on you to keep them safe.” I reassure.
“I know.” He says with a small smile. “Maybe I have a part to play in your great story yet.”
He clinks his bottle with mine just as Lukas returns from the woods and stands in the centre of the clearing garnering everyone's attention.
“I wish to challenge the Moira bond between Krista and Alistair.” He exclaims.
A hush washes over the pack and I have to stop my jaw from dropping as I stare at him in shock. Dad steps forward.
“A Moira bond cannot be challenged Lukas.” He states in his deep, gruff alpha voice.
“By the will of Zeus I can! Gaia has broken the deal by giving Krista, A Nymph, to someone who is not a Lycan. I want to claim back what is rightfully mine.” He declares as he finally looks at me. His eyes hold no hint of green but bright glowing amber.
Storm clouds roil overhead and lightning strikes in the distance.
I sit rooted to the spot trying to get my brain to catch up to what this could mean.
Instead of an uncertain, difficult future with Alistair I could have a quiet, safe future with Lukas.
But either way I can't help but think I would be somehow trapped in a cage.
Whether it is of cold, dark metal and stone or a gilded one of trees and sunshine.
Lukas and my father would never let me leave here and who's to say if I go to Alistair in the underworld I could ever leave?
I belong to the earth so I should be able to travel around it as I please.
Besides Gaia took my powers because of resisting the bond.
I doubt she would ever give them back if it was broken for good.
I stand and face Lukas by the camp fire. That's when I see it. The Glint in his eye of possession and control. I've seen that look before. In Nick.
I stand and face Lukas by the camp fire.
“I refuse the challenge.” I say sternly.
Anger and hurt flashes across Lukas's face.
“You would choose him over me?”
“I would choose neither of you.” I reply.
“If I had it my way I would be free from any sort of bonds that threaten my own dreams. I would travel the world.
Healing it as I go. I would see all of it!
I wouldn't just stay here day in and day out to make your progeny and I won't be a prisoner in the underworld. I would be what Gaia wants me to be and that is a servant of nature and balance. That is what all nymphs should be! Not secluded and married off and expected to stay home!”
“And how do you plan on doing that with no powers?” Lukas asks.
“You really think Gaia would return my powers if I break the bond to be with you?” I say with a little more sarcasm than intended.
He says nothing as he stares at me with his brow furrowed and his back rod straight.
The fire crackles beside me as I see a shadow fly over my head. I look up to see Alistair's Strix swoop towards me screeching. The sound is urgent and panicked. Full of warning. I lift my arm for it to perch. It lands but seems agitated as it continues to screech and scream.
“What is it show me.” I say softly as I look into it eyes.
Instantly I'm pulled in and I see Hades on a black chariot pulled by four huge pitch black horses. Their hooves thundering across a blackened waste land towards a bright light. His smile is wicked as he shakes the reins to urge the horses faster.
Then suddenly I'm back by the camp fire and the Strix is just as agitated. Tapping its talons on my arms refusing to stay still. I turn to my Mum and Dad.
“Hades is coming.” I say. “I saw him leaving the underworld.”
Panicked eyes look to my Dad. He stiffens and his lip curls.
“Everyone stand together. Protect each other.” He orders as he and my mum come to stand by my side.
I look to the Strix on my arm before it flies up to a nearby tree and almost disappears in the darkness of its branches.
“Dad shouldn't we leave? I can't protect them.” I mutter.
“Once he leaves the underworld he can appear anywhere in an instant. I doubt we would even make it a mile.”
My mum takes my hand and squeezes. I can see the worry all over her face. We knew this day would come but we didn't think I would be powerless when it did. I silently pray to Gaia. Begging for her to restore my power to help protect the pack and my parents. Silence is my answer.
I look over to Lukas who is stood with Caleb and Izzy. The three of them are tense and ready to shift forms in an instant. Only Caleb glances over to me and offers a simple nod. To the other side of my parents and I are Penny and Jason. Holding hands and both looking ready as they scan around camp.
The next few minutes are charged with anticipation.
Even the forest is silent as if it has already shrunk away from the predator that is coming our way.
Despite it being night the darkness gets heavier, thicker.
The camp fire doesn't shine as bright. The stars are shrouded.
I can't hear anything but my breathing and my thumping heart.
I try to calm myself. To find composure.
Even though I'm powerless, Hades doesn't know that.
I need to give the impression that I am confidant and in control. Capable of wielding immense power.
The thick darkness collects and swirls a few meters in front of us.
Black, smoking tar rises from the ground to meet it creating a 10 foot funnel that gets wider.
Galloping hooves echo from it seconds before the horses erupt out from the top of the vortex.
The chariot right behind. The horses are beautiful.
Huge and black as pitch with eyes like black diamonds.
Their glossy manes billowing like silk. They leap down landing gracefully standing almost twice the size of a shire horse.
The chariot, also black is gilded in silver with a figurehead depicting the three headed dog Cerberus. And the charioteer. Hades himself.
I didn't know what I expected him to look like. Maybe old and bearded. Dressed in a robe befitting ancient Greece. No.
He looks to be in his 40s. Tall and muscular in a finely trailered black suit holding a Scythe in one hand with a large key hanging by his hip.
His short hair is dark as night and slicked back stylishly.
His beard is neatly trimmed into a goatee.
He's handsome and utterly terrifying. His eyes are a cold, piercing silver that seem to stare deep into my soul and freeze the breath in my lungs.
He stands in all his incredible, daunting glory. Assessing. His eyes pass over each of us in turn. Lingering on Caleb, who doesn't move an inch, before finally settling on me.
I force myself to stand proud. Not to shrink away from his gaze. I stare right back unblinking. Even as my heart beats wildly in my chest.
I am Powerful. I am Powerful.
Maybe if I say it to myself over and over again I'll actually believe it long enough to fool him.
My dad takes a step forward and drops to one knee with his head bowed. The pack do the same. My mother stays standing so I follow her lead.
Hades smiles slightly seemingly content with this display.
Carter is the first to speak.
“What brings you here, Lord Hades?”
Hades strides down from his chariot, leaving the Scythe to lean against the side. The darkness swirls around him like a cloak. The sheer power emanating from him chokes the air with despair and fear.
“I would think that obvious Carter.” Hades answers in a voice that is smooth, soft and chilling. “Were you really so gullible to think I would let you live happily ever after?” He scoffs. “Get up.”
Dad and the pack stand in unison at his command.
Seeing them so obedient to their most despised enemy is devastating.
Hades stalks in front of us with comfortable arrogance.