Chapter 18
HANNES
Eerie silence danced around us with every step we took into the Origin Forest behind our castle.
As they sensed me coming, animals scurried away, and birds flew off from the highest peaks because although everything in these lands had seen me grow, their instincts recognized the danger I brought as the Beast.
Tension also spread between Natalia, Dante, André, and I, though for many different reasons.
The Beast’s muscles tensed and released with the sounds of her heartbeats, crystal-sharp claws protruding with the acceleration of her breaths.
My body was coiled for action in case it was needed, which only pissed me, the man, the fuck off.
Who the hell did my beast think he was? We were not fighting against our mate; I didn’t care how many times she roasted me alive.
Did you hear that?
A growl ignited in my throat, calling the others’ attention, but I ignored them.
I felt like an idiot for trying to communicate with that side of me as Natasha did with Natalia and Starlight, but at this point, I would try anything. I couldn’t let the Beast’s concern for my safety get between my mate and me.
I will sooner get rid of your fucking ass than hers, do you understand? No idea how that is even possible, but I assure you I will find out.
A deeper growl escaped me, but something told me it was his and not mine, he didn’t like being challenged.
“You okay there, fur boy?” Dante questioned, giving me a side glance.
Do not fuck this up, Beast. I meant it. Natalia doesn’t mean us any harm. We are here to help her and protect her, not treat her as a threat…
Remarkably, the tension throughout my back relaxed and the claws receded again, letting me breathe easy.
Natalia was right about one thing. I needed to get my shit together.
For the first time in my life, I felt like the Beast and I were different entities. Even my wolf had gone rogue last night, and I had no idea why it was happening.
Unlike Natasha’s situation, the other sides of me were one. It had been that way since we discovered that I had inherited the Beast ability from my father. As well as his Iron Knight invincibility.
I’d been able to shift into the Beast since I was a child, so it was natural for me even when it wasn’t normal for our race. Everyone was like my mom, shifting from human to wolf and back with ease, enjoying the enhanced abilities that might provide.
Not my father.
Not me.
His situation was different, of course. His beast was the result of a curse set on him by the most powerful of evil Witches, in order to attack our kingdom.
The black magic had caused his human form and his wolf to separate. The Beast took form to protect him from the attack, which would have otherwise killed him. Because he was an Eisen Ritter, his powers had somehow transferred to it, and in a way, his split personality began.
After he was healed, he thought it was in all the past, but the Beast remained a part of him. So much so, that I inherited it.
My wolf, my Beast, and I had always been one, perfectly in sync, until Natasha came into our lives.
Her ability to switch between the facets of her being seemed to have triggered something in me, and now, like it once did for my father, the Beast took over me.
Granted, he did it to protect me from her Eternal Blaze, with him being the only part of me that could withstand it.
It still unnerved me how I could be just me at one moment and transform into him the next, without wanting it.
I didn’t want to admit it, but meeting Natasha had brought chaos into my existence, and that chaos was causing the strangest reactions in me.
Worse, I feared the Beast had sensed her power, her danger, ever since I arrived at Heart Island because the urge to shift into him became palpable when Natasha was near, forcing me to leave her side every single time.
The one thing I wanted was to be with her, yet my own, motherfucking defense mechanism was pulling me away from her.
Make that make sense.
Dante and André walked between Natalia and me, providing a buffer in order to calm this side of me before finally stopping at the clearing I’d chosen for her training. André, Dante, and I stood side by side while she took her place farther across from us.
“What now?” Natalia’s gaze roamed each of us expectantly.
“Call in your power and show us exactly what you can do,” I instructed.
“You mean, you want me to ignite? As in, full-on fire?” She blinked, disconcerted.
“Hone every ounce of power you can feel inside of you and let it linger, Cuore mio.” Dante’s shadows exuded from his chest slowly, curling around him in demonstration. “We need you to set it free.”
“We’d like to see exactly what the extent of your Eternal Blaze is, but don’t worry. We are all protected this time.” André’s attempt to reassure her fell flat.
Our mate didn’t seem too convinced.
“Don’t worry about controlling it.” My voice sounded deeper, and a bit animalistic as it mixed with the Beast’s—not fully giving in to him. It called her attention back to me all the same. “Right now, all we need to see is how far it can go, so we can help you rein it in and wield it with purpose.”
“I’m not sure about this, mate,” Starlight sent through our pack link, and my heart warmed.
“It’ll be fine. I promise.”
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Natalia confessed, a glint of dread sneaking through her gaze.
“We can handle this. We are not made of glass,” I reminded her.
“No. You are made of fucking flesh, which I have already demonstrated I can melt quite effortlessly. Thank you.”
“We’ve all taken precautions, Meu corac?o. We are not vulnerable to your fire anymore.”
André’s guarantee only helped to make her scowl at him. Natalia wasn’t stupid; she knew their endearments were just a means to appease her right now.
“You cannot fear your power, or it will control you and destroy everything you hold dear.” Dante’s statement reminded us all that he knew that from experience.
“You are not attacking us, only showing us what you can do. And we are protected just in case things get out of hand. It will be alright. Trust yourself.”
His suit shimmered with the now familiar magic spell he called onto it, confirming his words.
“You can do this, Natalia. Don’t hold back.” André’s translucent, silverish venom exuded from his pores in preparation, coating every inch of him like armor.
Her gaze traveled straight to me, seeming relieved I was in full beast form, but I could still sense the guilt and hesitation that flourished when she thought about using her power against us.
“Trust us. We got you…”
Holding my gaze for a long moment, Natalia cursed under her breath and cracked her neck. “Let’s do this shit.”
The blue fire ignited on her fingertips, spreading extremely slowly up her wrist, and letting me know she was fighting to control it.
“Don’t,” I warned but she ignored me, a bead of sweat appearing on her forehead as she concentrated on the flame now reaching her forearm.
“Stop overthinking, Natalia.”.
“I’m not overthinking,” she fumed at Dante, her attention never moving from the slowly moving flame.
“You have to set it free, otherwise we won’t know how to help you.”
Our mate’s deadly, red gaze snapped toward me, but it didn’t deter me. This was the most important step, even if she was afraid of what her fire might do.
It wasn’t lost on me how freaked out she’d been after her flames swept right over Aunt Zelin.
“Natalia do not hold back,” I warned again, but she continued to struggle, attempting to tame her power before it had a chance to rise.
“I’m trying—”
“To control it, not to let it flow,” André challenged.
“Leave me alone.”
Before she could anticipate it, I lept toward her, startling her.
As I hoped, she reacted.
Whirling towards the incoming threat, her arms extended, sending a stream of flames my way. It blasted against my chest, sputtering into nothing along my fur just as I landed before her.
Finally set free, her blue flames licked up her arms in seconds, engulfing her shoulders and extending onto her spine. A set of large, blazing wings burst from her back the next moment, forming feathers of pure fire and lifting her into the air… away from me, aka the danger.
Pretty pleased with myself, I grinned at her.
“You fucking asshole!” she panted.
The guys chuckled.
“I mean, the shoe fits.” I shrugged. “Wait. I don’t wear shoes as the Beast.”
“Don’t make fun of me, Hannes. I could have killed you!” Natalia snapped, so pissed off that her red eyes suddenly flashed blue.
“I’m mocking myself.” I waved to her, my obsidian claws glimmering in the sun. “Not to mention, that’s not possible.”
“Did you see that?” André asked through the shadows.
“Yeah,” I replied, still smiling at our mate while we engaged in some sort of silent duel with our gazes.
“Her eyes turned blue. Was that Star or her fire?” Dante’s question went unanswered because to be perfectly frank, I had no clue.
“Or Natasha…” Hope accompanied André’s guess but there was no way to tell.
Natalia’s glower fell to my chest, and she swallowed, trying to mask her relief at seeing my fur unharmed.
“It’s okay. You can’t hurt me,” I assured, which served to piss her off even more. Never mind that she was still flying, and she hadn’t even noticed.
“If I wanted, I could kick your ass from here all the way back to New York.”
“Well,” I scratched my head, “you could try.”
Her hands fisted, and my smile grew dangerous.
“Perhaps I should mention that out of the four of us, Hannes is the only one fully aware and in control of his power since he was a child,” Dante gently warned our mate, knowing what was coming.
“He grew up training with his father, the king—an Iron Knight—and a literal army of Wolf Shifter knights. Hannes could easily—”
Natalia’s furious gaze snapped to Dante, and her wings lifted her higher in the sky, seeming to poise her to attack him.
“Never mind.” He lifted both hands in surrender.