Chapter Four
Ifelt my aura, which for the last year I have kept securely under wraps, because it was still growing, unfurl.
I was still so young when everything started.
Even then, I was too strong for any of them to really challenge me.
But now? Now I was something never seen before.
Still, I kept most of it hidden. My power fell in waves, everyone felt it.
There were gasps from the crowd and Vince and the woman stepped back.
I smiled, and I knew it was predatory. I pulled my power back in, clenching my fists as it fought.
It wanted free rein. It craved relief. But I was stronger, so I tucked it away and turned back to the crowd.
“I started this day with such hope. Hope for our future. Hope for our packs. This was the very beginning of our lives. I got ready with my friends.” I turned and stared at Rowan as he rushed to the side of the stage.
My rage burning in my eyes. “I celebrated my twenty-first birthday.” I watched him wince.
“And I came here for my graduation with my speech prepared and a lightness in my heart. I had followed my father’s last bit of guidance, and now today, here I am graduating top of the school, following everything he had ever taught me.
Only to be stopped and asked how it feels to hear my father has been branded a traitor.
” He shook his head. But I pushed. “The answer is honestly, the only people who betrayed anyone are the people in charge of our fucking kingdom.” His eyes widened but I would not back down.
I don’t care if this was all a part of my father’s plan.
I don’t care if he was okay with this bullshit.
I wasn’t. And I let Rowan fucking know it.
He walked out on to the stage slowly, staring at me with something in his eyes that I no longer recognized or returned.
His care, his need for me, it was still plain on his face, but me and my wolves made an agreement and we were sticking to it.
He decided to tarnish my family’s image, our name, for the sake of whatever game he and my father were playing. But fuck that.
I stared back at him with the rage I felt in this moment, and it wasn’t me that looked away, ashamed. He walked to the podium, and I waited for a second before I turned away.
“Ladies and gentlemen, obviously, this has gotten out of hand. This is a graduation ceremony. Not an inquisition.” He started, and I snorted.
I could feel his eyes on my back, but I kept it turned.
The worst insult a wolf could give another is to turn their backs on them, finding them no threat, and that is what I did now.
To my king. I could hear his frustration in his tone as he continued.
“Gavin Maclean was always a loyal and steadfast wolf. He had never been once considered as a traitor and I do not know where this all stems from, but I will sort this out.” I snorted again.
It was clear where this stemmed from: his corrupt council.
There were footsteps from behind, and I knew it was the woman. She cleared her voice, obviously trying to recollect herself. “Yes, Rowan and I will do a deep inquiry where this all started.” But everyone in the room could hear what she wasn’t telling anyone. It was her.
“Who are you?” Someone called out. I turned because I wanted to know as well. Rowan’s eyes were pleading with me to understand as she wrapped her hand in his. A giant ring shone on her finger. And I knew…in that moment I knew the truth, and I looked away.
“I’m Verity La’Shen.” Rowan looked ashamed as she said the next words. “I’m the future Queen, Rowan’s fiancee.” Fiancée. I snapped my eyes to Rowan, and I watched the life drain out of his.
“Fiancée?” A round of murmurs went out, but my ears barely caught them. Verity turned to me with a triumphant smile, but I barely noticed it. I was watching Rowan and the desolation in his eyes.
My phone’s ringing snapped me out of my trance. I pulled it out of my robe and clicked the answer before I even registered the number. “Hello?”
“Amy?” The tiny voice was filled with tears. “Amy, is that you?”
“Yes…who is this?” I frowned as the voice sounded familiar, but I could place it.
“It’s Carly.” The world froze, and Rowan’s attention was zeroed in on me. “There are people here, and my dad.” She sobbed. “My dad can’t hold them off for much longer.”
The world kicked back into motion. “Hide baby. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Hurry.” The call disconnected, and I dropped my phone. I looked at Toya, and all my friends stood, pushing their way to the aisle.
“Amy.” Rowan took a step towards me, but I shifted on the spot. Nix stood in my place, and she glanced at Rowan before lifting her lip. She growled, then turned and sprinted out the door.
Nix ran past everyone on campus and headed for the trees. I pulled back enough that I was hovering over our magic, pulling from it to feed power into my body, into the girls’ bodies.
“How is this possible?” Toya called to me and I laughed.
“Magic.” Nix called back and a few of the girls howled.
We ran past the edge line of the trees and started weaving through the trunks. “Nix?” Thistle called Hanna’s wolf.
“Yeah?”
“Where are we going?” She called as she picked up her pace.
I thought of Carly. She was at most seven, but she sounded younger on the phone, closer to five or six. I knew where she was, my grandmother’s cabin, but from here, I had no idea. But I trusted the Goddess, and I trusted my wolves. “The Goddess will show us the way.” Nix called back and I nodded.
Megan pushed closer to the barrier. “Megan? What are you doing?”
She looked at me, then back to Nix. “You’re wasting magic, feeding Nix. Focus on the girls, I will send my strength to Nix. This way we will have your strength and our magic to save the girl.”
I thought about Carly’s little voice, and I agreed. “Nix?”
“It’s okay with me. We just need to get there.” I nodded and pulled back the magic, giving the burden to Megan and Nix alone. There was a howl off in the distance, one that sounded familiar, but I pushed it out of my mind. It wasn’t important.
Carly was.
We wove farther away from the school, and I was starting to panic. How were we supposed to randomly show up on the edge of an ocean? I knew logically we were by one; the school was near the coast. But was it the right coast?
I closed my eyes, and I called to the Goddess. “Mother, I have need of you. Moon Goddess, we beg your intervention.” I called out and I waited. I pushed and pushed, but there was nothing. No light. No power. Nothing.
Megan looked over at me. “What are we going to do?” Nix focused on the trees, but I could feel the shift. We were taking too long. That little baby girl and her father were fending off who knows what, and I had no idea where we were.
“Nix?” someone called, and it snapped our focus back outward. We had pulled in, focused on the girl that someone caught up to us.
I snapped my head back to look at Wendy’s wolf, but she wasn’t looking at me. She was looking back at the massive grey wolf catching up to us. Every once in a while, I saw a flash of fur. Of pale white blue eyes and my stomach dropped.
Erubus.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Megan’s voice was filled with rage and I couldn’t stop the bitter laugh. She turned on me and I slapped a hand over my mouth. “Why is it that today, of all days, both your fucking men decide to show up and do something stupid?”
She huffed as she settled on the ground, focusing back on Nix and her running. Nix barely looked back before she focused fully on running. And I left myself open to figure out what direction we needed to go.
I closed my eyes and remembered the call. Her little voice was terrified, but also held a deep sadness. This was the end for them, her dad and their time together, and she knew it. I felt a tear fall. She was too young to go through this alone.
“Moon Goddess, please give me a direction. Give me a nudge, an idea, anything that tells me where I need to go to save this little girl.” I begged, but still I was met with silence.
“Where do we go?” Nix called to me, her voice filled with barely concealed worry, but I had no answer.
“I don’t know…” I called back to her.
“Well, I think you need to figure it the fuck out. We are running blind here.” She called back.
What the heck was I supposed to do?
Megan pulled away from Nix for a moment and came to my side. I looked up at her, and she nudged my forehead with her nose. “Close your eyes. Open yourself to us, to your power, to the Goddess, and try again. Put away the worry, and focus on our goal. Carly.”
I closed my eyes and opened myself up completely. I felt everything release little by little. The worry, the anger, everything I had been holding on to float away. I centered myself, clearing my mind, until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes. “I don’t know what to do.”
“I know my girl, that’s why I’m here.” Relief flooded me as I tried to stand, but she put a hand on my shoulder.
I stared up at my grandmother as she pushed me back down to the ground. “How do I find her? How do I find your cabin from here? Are we even close?” My questions flew out of my mouth and she smiled as she settled next to me.
She grabbed my hands. “Calm my girl. Focus on me.” She breathed through her nose and out of her mouth.
“Follow my lead. Match me, and once you’re settled, we can find your girl.
” My girl. The words seemed so foreign, but as I thought about it again, it settled in my soul, and she was right.
She was mine, almost as much as she was Carls.
I focused on her eyes, matching my breathing with hers.
She nodded. “Good. Now close your eyes and picture that little girl.”
Once again I closed my eyes and remembered the bright giggling little girl I first met at Carl’s store.
So little, yet so bright. Her blonde curls danced in the light.
Carl’s protectiveness, her innocence, all came rushing back.
And so did the panic I felt as I found her on the ground, white wide eyes and cold skin.
I remembered how she felt in my arms, her tiny body as I lifted her from the ground. The worry when she started to shake in my arms. I was so new to children, having just lost my own pup and being reborn. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I was going to protect her from Vince and Brandon.
“Good.” Her voice was soft, soothing. “Now remember her face.” Her bright blonde pigtails and soft chocolate brown eyes, face smeared with peanut butter as she came bouncing out of the back room, came to mind.
“There she is.” Somehow, my grandmother was seeing what was in my mind.
“Look at her. She is gorgeous, our girl, isn’t she?
” I smiled because again, she was right.
Our girl is beautiful. And I was going to protect her with my life.
“There, my girl. Focus on her face, and the need to protect her. She is in danger, and she won’t make it if we don’t get there in time. ”
Panic bubbled in my chest, but I pushed it down. Carly wasn’t safe. Focus. I took a few more calming breaths, and I pulled her face back to me. “What do I do next?”
“What do you think?” She questioned me. “What do you feel?”
I focused on Carly, on her voice, the pain, the fear.
And I slipped my hand from my grandmother’s and I buried it in the soil of my magic.
Over the years, I have learned to use my magic without having to touch the pot, but right now?
This felt right. I dug my fingers into my power well; I stretched deep into my magic and then, like an arrow, I shot it out towards Carly.
I watched in my mind as it flew straight and disappeared behind the trees that Nix was still dodging, but then I felt it. The turn, the shift, the arrow changed direction. I snapped my eyes open to find my grandmother gone, and Megan panting.
“Megan?”
“We are exhausted.” She panted back to me. I stood, pushing forward, taking control, and letting Nix and Megan rest.
“Direct the magic. I will get us to Carly.” I dug my claws in deeper, pushing myself to the limits, and I flew after the arrow.
“Nix?” Toya called, taking over for her wolf.
“Amy.” I called back. “I know you’re tired. But we have to push. We are almost there.” My friends dug deeper and followed me. Erubus, ever my shadow, was still on my tail. Silent as ever.
The arrow shifted again and I veered off to the right, everyone following me. I could hear their labored breathing and I felt guilty. But then the air shifted. It was subtle at first, then after a few more minutes of running, it was stronger.
“Salt? Are we close to the ocean?” Wendy called to me and I nearly cried in relief.
“Yes.” Erubus called back, and then looked at me, but I ignored his pained look. I didn’t have the time for this right now. He pushed harder and came up next to me, running with me, and veered closer. I growled lightly, and he backed off. “Once we save the child, can we speak?”
I cut him a look. “Seriously, we are running to save a little girl and you want to chat?” I shook my head. I was going to say something else, but a bellow ripped through the air.
A second bellow followed the first, and dread filled my belly. “Amy.” Someone called, but I pushed harder. I lept through the final outcropping of trees and rushed towards a stunning cabin on a familiar hill. Blood scented the air.
“No!” I screamed as I saw ten rogues circling a giant. A giant that was barely holding on. Carl was on his knees with blood pouring from his shoulder.
“Amy.” His voice was soft, but there was nothing but relief when his eyes met mine.