Chapter 18 #2
“Nothing to worry, Meine Prinzessin. I could never hurt a woman.”
That did it.
“I’m a Vampiress!” Her war cry reverberated through the forest as she lunged for me.
“I thought you were supposed to be the temperamental one?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle with Starlight’s jest as I easily leaned out of the way, watching Natalia’s flaming orb pass by me. Her attack crashed into the cluster of giant pine trees behind us, and our mate’s entire form froze when she realized the destruction that would follow.
Blue fire exploded out of the orb, spreading mercilessly up the trunks and down to the grass patches underneath the trees at an unreasonable speed.
“Stop!” Starlight yelped. “You’re destroying our forest. Our home!”
“Don’t worry, mate. Everything will be fine.” The roughness of my wolf voice was meant to calm Starlight. This forest was unlike any other.
“No. No. No. No!” Horror and regret contorted Natalia’s face. “I’m sorry. I take it back!”
With her desperate cry, the growing blaze suddenly began to withdraw, and I witnessed something that shouldn’t be possible.
Rushing flames abandoned the tree trunks, retracing the path they had just climbed in their need for destruction. They jumped off the grass, reuniting with the original fire that crashed against the trees and reforming into a sphere.
Words failed me as I watched.
Natalia had called her power back to her without even knowing it.
“Did she just—?”
“Yes, she did…” André answered Dante’s question, incredulous.
As fast as it had left her, the orb shot back to its source, seeping into her chest as though sucked back by an invisible vacuum.
Natalia’s body soared backward from the force.
Fear tightened in my chest when I saw the barely perceptible flickering of her wings. I lept toward her before the others could react, transforming into a man in mid-air just as her wings failed her.
“You are okay. I got you…” My arms wrapped around Natalia’s back and waist a split second after her flaming feathers disappeared, saving her from the fall.
Landing softly on the pads of my feet, I sat her on the ground but didn’t let go.
Ragged breaths left her when she glanced up at me, though not really seeing me. There was too much happening inside her right now for her to focus.
“Are you hurt?” André flashed to our side while shadows danced to our right.
For a moment, she looked into my eyes, trying to comprehend.
Blinking out of the shock, Natalia’s hand lifted to her chest, and she rubbed it, telling us the reentry of her power had affected her.
I reached for the sweater she wore, my nail turning into the obsidian claw, but it clashed against the fabric, magic sputtering at my attempt.
“Dissolvere,” Dante immediately ordered, and his spell vanished, letting me slice the turtleneck open from neck to chest.
A purplish bruise was forming on her chest from the impact, but a glow instantly appeared, and tiny flames like the ones that created her bond tattoo erased the mark, healing her.
Natalia’s fire was not only the Eternal Blaze or her venom. It would always find a way to protect her too, as it had done when her wings lifted her off the clearing and out of the perceived danger—my Beast.
With a soft touch, Dante’s magic rushed over her sweater, fixing it.
“You are okay,” I reassured, and she quickly nodded, sitting up.
“I’m fine… Did I just—?”
“Recall your fire back to you? I believe you did.”
With my answer, her gaze went to the cluster of trees that should otherwise be scorched half to death.
“They are healing!” she gasped, sending a smile to my lips.
Bark grew anew along their once charred trunks, the black soot disappearing and leaving fresh, tan wooden hues beneath while the layers reformed.
Long leaves sprouted from the lower branches, unfurling and extending into beautiful green foliage that matched the blades of grass extending from the earth.
“This is no ordinary forest,” I explained. “It is our origin, where the Moon Goddess made herself a woman and created her first Wolf Shifter. Her daughter, the Moon Princess.”
Love filled my being while my gaze roamed the place that had seen every generation in my family—the Moon Princess’s direct line—grow strong to become the rulers they were meant to be, to protect our race and the human world.
“This is where our self-healing powers as shifters come from… the Origin Forest. Our true home.”
When my attention returned to Natalia, a new sense of appreciation gleamed in her eyes, dimming the red hue. Her gaze held me captive for what seemed like an eternity, with awe, need, understanding, and hope all swirling within her depths…
With her still in my arms and glancing at me this way, I realized something.
Perhaps to my detriment, it no longer mattered if her fire was capable of killing me or not, it was too late for me… I was already hers.
“You are incredible…” I whispered, leaning into her and placing a soft kiss on her cheek.
A ragged sigh escaped her when my lips lingered on her skin, and I breathed deeply, scenting her and feeling her reach every inch of my being. My breath fanned her jaw when I exhaled.
Our eyes met once more as I pulled back, her swallowing confessing the moment we’d just shared affected her as much as it did me.
“Indeed, she is,” Dante proudly agreed, extending his hand to her.
Accepting it, Natalia cleared her throat and stood, prompting André and Dante to exchange brief, complicit smirks that swiftly dissolved.
“She’s falling for you, my guy…”
“Shut up, André.”
“Hannes and Natalia are sitting on a tree. F-U-C-K-I-N-G.”
“I will kick your ass, Dante,” I growled through our shadow link, making André snort.
Glancing over her shoulder, our mate realized her wings had left. “I hate to admit it, but scaring me helped after all, didn’t it?” she asked, giving me a look that promised endless hurt if I ever did that again.
“It sure did.” I grinned. “We discovered you can call back the fire once you’ve set it onto something, and that’s kind of big.”
“It’s huge,” André conceded. “It means your fire no longer has to destroy everything in its path until there is nothing left. You just have to practice enough to control it. You could even throw it and retrieve it like a regular weapon.”
“Right.” She bit the inside of her cheek. “I’m not convinced it will be that easy.”
“Of course it will, you are a bitch. Bitches can do anything they set their minds to,” Starlight taunted, seeming to get true pleasure out of calling her that.
“Star, I swear to the Goddess will cut you—”
“It might not be easy,” I interrupted. “But you can get there… we will help.”
Remaining skeptical, our mate nodded.
“We also discovered your fire protects you too. The wings came out the second you felt threatened and took you out of my reach.”
“That’s right, I was hovering,” she murmured, recalling the scene.
“And it also healed you when the force of your recall was too strong.”
“I would say this was a great first session,” Dante concluded. “Now let’s go into the castle so you can rest.”
“Rest, my ass!” Natalia argued. “I need to master my powers so I can rescue Anastasia.”
“It’s not going to happen in a day,” André reminded.
“Why not? I’ve already proven I’m better than all of you losers.” She smirked at them. “And, I still have to beat this one in a fight.”
She jerked her thumb toward me, making me chuckle.
“But first,” she paused, retreating a few steps from us and glancing at her hands.
Her fire returned, rushing over her skin freely until it reached her shoulders, wings bursting out from her back. Amazed yet victorious laughter escaped her, and she ascended into the sky, flaming wings taking her higher.
“André…” I began, but I didn’t need to finish.
Chuckling, he shot up, leathery wings lifting him toward our mate to help her with her first official flight.
Entranced, I glanced up at her, my heart constricting, growing, filling with emotions I had never felt before. It shattered at the same time with the sight of her joy while she rose in the sky.
I knew then that bargaining my way into being one of her mates was the best risk I had ever taken, regardless of what it ultimately cost me…
Even if it were my life.