Chapter 33 Ashes Of Fear #2
They came from all sides. Rogue wolves, hulking and scarred, teeth gleaming silver in the moonlight, some already shifting mid-leap, their bodies rippling between man and beast.
Ulysses was gone from my side, one blink and he was in the fray, faster than thought, faster than light, moving with that inhuman grace that made him look carved from shadow.
A vampire’s hiss cut through the chaos as he tore into the first wolf that lunged for me, snapping bone like it was brittle kindling.
But my eyes were locked on Kyle. His presence was a storm inside my skin, dragging every memory back, every broken piece of the night he’d stolen from me. I should’ve been paralyzed. I should’ve folded into myself. Instead, I stepped forward.
Aiden and Kyle wrestled at the center, a maelstrom of power.
Aiden fought like a man who’d died once and decided he liked it better this way; every strike calculated to maim or kill, every move economical, ruthless.
Kyle was faster than I remembered, and stronger too.
He fought dirty, aiming for eyes and throats, never letting up, laughing every time he landed a blow that made Aiden bleed.
Their snarls and curses twisted together so tight I couldn’t tell them apart.
Amid the chaos, a howl pierced the air, a haunting sound that rose above the growls and snarls of the fray. It was a rallying cry, rich with urgency and power, echoing through the trees.
Aiden’s head snapped up, his eyes igniting with recognition. He responded instinctively, a primal spark igniting within him as he released a fierce snarl of his own. The air crackled with anticipation; his pack had come, a tide of strength surging toward the heart of the conflict.
Aiden’s pack was smaller but just as vicious. They darted in small groups, their movements precise, coordinated, rehearsed. They fell on the rogues in a riot of fur and fangs, and for a moment it was impossible to tell whose side anyone was on.
Blood sprayed the stones around Mateo’s feet.
A wolf I didn’t recognize lunged for Kyle’s exposed flank, but he spun and caught it by the muzzle, twisting until the jaw snapped sideways with a sickening crunch.
He threw the body aside like a used rag.
Another came for him, and he ducked low, sweeping its legs out from under it, then jammed his thumb into the soft part of its throat until it gurgled and went limp.
On the other side, Ulysses fought without frenzy, without wasted motion, and watched between strikes, calculating. I realized he was waiting to see which alpha would survive.
He didn’t care who won, as long as he could pick the bones clean.
But I did.
Every blow that landed, every scream that tore loose, I felt it in my ribs.
The chaos around me felt visceral, each blow echoing the haunting memories etched into my mind.
It was as if the shadows of that night long ago had come alive, clawing at my consciousness, dragging forth every scream I’d swallowed and every tear I’d shed in silence.
My heart thumped like a war drum, urging me to move, to fight back against the tide of darkness that threatened to consume everything I loved. I couldn’t just stand there.
And then it got worse.
The runes at Mateo’s feet pulsed harder, the light drawing wolves like moths.
Two of the biggest rogue shifters broke from the chaos and made for my son, intent clear as the blood on their lips.
I screamed, but my words were lost in the riot.
The first wolf reached the edge of the circle and hesitated. Something in the air stopped him cold.
The runes shimmered up his legs, and he howled, staggering back, fur smoking like it had been set on fire from the inside out. He thrashed, tried to crawl away, but the light just got brighter, until the wolf collapsed and started to convulse, eyes rolling white.
The second wolf watched, then leapt anyway. It was braver or dumber, I couldn’t tell which. It hit the light and, for half a second, passed through. Its claws dug furrows into the earth, inches from Mateo’s outstretched hand. I moved before I thought, running, flinging myself toward the circle.
“Josie!” Aiden’s voice cut through, raw, a warning, but too late.
Kyle had seen me.
He broke from Aiden’s grip with a savage twist, blood running down his cheek and painting his teeth red. His eyes locked on mine, and he grinned, all the old darkness alive in his face. “You really think you can save him? You can’t even save yourself.”
I didn’t answer. Couldn’t.
My body was already moving, every nerve screaming, every instinct burning with a single command: get to Mateo.
Aiden tried to follow, but Kyle caught him around the throat and slammed him into the dirt, pinning him with the weight of his body. “Stay down, pup,” he growled, and I heard the wet gurgle in Aiden’s breath as he fought for air.
Kyle’s gaze flicked back to me, hunger and claim in his eyes, even as he ducked another swipe from Aiden’s claws.
“Come here,” he snarled, low and possessive, as if I were still seventeen and helpless.
I tasted blood in my mouth from how hard I bit my tongue.
“Not in this life,” I hissed.
All around me, the clearing shattered into violence; the wolves tore at each other. The only one who wasn’t was Ulysses, who watched with that same chilling detachment, while he kept ripping through flesh and fur. Aiden and Kyle locked in a brutal dance that shook the earth.
I fixed on the circle, its glow searing into me like a brand, and shoved forward.
A wolf lunged from my right, fur matted, eyes crazed.
My breath froze in my throat, but before it touched me, Ulysses was there, ripping it away from me in a spray of teeth and screams. I stumbled, almost falling, but didn’t stop.
The runes pulsed brighter as I drew closer, each throb echoing in my bones. Mateo writhed inside the circle, his face twisting in pain, his hands curling into fists, knuckles scraped and bleeding, like he’d fought whatever dragged him here.
“Baby, hold on, I’m coming,” I choked out, pushing harder.
Kyle’s roar cut through the noise. “She’s mine!”
I didn’t look. Couldn’t.
Every step closer to Mateo made my skin burn, the magic pushing against me like a wall. My vision blurred with tears, but I pushed into it, clawing forward on raw will.
Then claws grazed my arm; hot pain ripped across my skin. I cried out, stumbling sideways into the dirt. A shifter had broken past Ulysses, eyes glowing wild as he lunged for my throat.
Instinct kicked in before I even understood what I was doing.
My hand reached for the pocket knife I had on my waistband, and I jabbed it forward.
It connected with a sickening thud in the wolf’s neck, more luck than aim, and he dropped, gurgling his own blood.
My arm throbbed, warm blood tracking down my elbow, but I didn’t stop.
I just kept moving.
The circle blazed so bright now it was blinding. My body screamed at me to stop, to turn back, but Mateo moaned again, faint and broken, and that was enough.
I threw myself forward, straight into the light. I hit the edge of the circle, braced for the light to burn me, but it didn’t.
The runes pulsed beneath me, a warm hum that traveled up my legs like a gentle electric current, anchoring me in place. I dropped to my knees beside Mateo, hesitating to reach out. My gaze roamed over him, drinking in every detail.
He was alive, his chest rising and falling with shallow breaths, but the frantic flicker in his eyes told a different story. My heart raced as I gently cradled his head, feeling the heat radiate from his skin, and pressed my fingers against his neck, searching for the steady rhythm of his pulse.
That’s when the world ripped open.
The world didn’t just tilt, or spin, or shatter. It tore open at the seams, splitting every thread that held it together with a shriek that started in my skull and ended somewhere outside the universe.
It was like grabbing hold of a live wire, fire and ice detonating through my veins.
This was pure, electrical agony, white and soundless, stripping away everything except the knowledge that if I let go, even for a second, the world would eat my son alive.
My scream tangled with Mateo’s, a sound that wasn’t just pain; it was power. When Mateo screamed, it wasn’t the voice I’d heard every day of his life. It was deeper, ancient; a chord struck with every molecule in the clearing.
The wolves howled in answer, their bodies hung frozen, suspended mid-strike, muscles locked as if painted onto air.
Then, the circle erupted.
I expected burning, something straight from a disaster flick. Instead, it was cold. A winter so absolute it erased every other sense. I felt every cell in my body flash-freeze and shatter, then rebuild itself molecule by defiant molecule around my son’s heartbeat.
The circle’s glow exploded outward in jagged, pulsing shockwaves.
Time stretched thin, so thin I could see every drop of blood in the air.
Tree branches bent and snapped in slow motion.
The wolves, Aiden’s, Kyle’s, the rogues, hung between animal and human, mouths frozen in snarls, arms and claws outstretched toward some last, useless violence.
Aiden was about ten meters away, locked in a brawl with Kyle.
Kyle’s claws were sunk into Aiden’s shoulder, but neither moved.
Their faces were inches apart; Aiden’s twisted in effort and rage, Kyle’s in something almost like awe.
Ulysses was closer, maybe five steps from the circle, one hand raised as if to reach for Mateo or me.
He looked surprised. He looked, for the first time in my life, afraid.
And then there was silence.
A silence so thick and perfect it crushed the air out of my lungs.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. Even my thoughts slowed to syrup. I wanted to scream again, to reach around Mateo and cover his ears, to curl myself over him and block out the world, but I was stuck, locked in the moment.
For one, single, endless heartbeat, the world hung suspended.
And then everything snapped.
Sound slammed back into existence. The trees groaned, the earth convulsed, and every wolf in the clearing hit the ground like a bag of rocks. Bodies tumbled through the air, colliding with trunks and stones.
Some of them twitched, some of them didn’t.
I landed hard, the circle’s edge catching me in the ribs and flinging me onto my side. Pain bloomed in my arm, but I didn’t let go of Mateo. I pulled him into my lap, covering his body with mine. I felt his ribs rise, sharp and fragile under my hand.
Aiden’s pack lay limp and groaning, some of them already trying to stand. Kyle’s rogues looked worse for wear; most of them didn’t move at all. Aiden himself was on his hands and knees, head low, sucking in air. Blood dripped from his lip and stained the dirt beneath him.
Kyle was nowhere.
For a moment, I thought he’d been vaporized or blown out of the clearing entirely.
Then I saw him, a dark figure slumped against the gnarled trunk of a tree, half-conscious and barely clinging to the remnants of his strength.
His chest heaving with shuddering, wet gasps.
His eyes were open, and they fixed on me with a hatred so raw it made my stomach twist.
Ulysses crouched near the circle, his face a blank canvas of unspoken thoughts.
He gasped for breath as if he had sprinted a marathon, fingers clawing at the earth, desperate to anchor himself to the ground beneath him.
His eyes flicked from Aiden to Kyle to me, assessing, calculating.
He didn’t move to help anyone. He was waiting to see what price the magic had demanded, and who would be left to pay it.
I pressed my forehead to Mateo’s, tears streaming down my cheeks.
“Baby, you with me? C’mon, Mateo, look at me.” I shook him gently, fingers weaving through his hair, desperate for any sign he was still there, still my boy.
He didn’t move. His skin was cold like the chill of a basement in winter. His lips were blue. His hands, when I grabbed them, hung limp and boneless. I felt the world closing in.
But under the hush, I felt something else. A vibration was buzzing under my skin where we touched. I pressed my palm to his chest and felt it, a faint, erratic heartbeat.
A spark of hope flickered. I focused everything I had on that pulse.
“Stay with me, Mateo. Don’t you dare leave me, you little punk. We’re not done. You hear me?” My voice came out choked, ragged, barely human, but I didn’t care.
The air around us shimmered, like a distortion of oil on water.
The runes that had glowed so bright before were burnt black into the dirt.
In the center, directly beneath Mateo’s body, a new symbol had appeared, one I didn’t recognize, a tangled knot of lines that pulsed faintly with its own broken light.
On the other side, Aiden fought to stand, pushing off the ground with shaking arms. He dragged himself upright, blood streaming down his face, and limped toward us, each step an act of pure will.
Ulysses watched him come but made no move to follow.
It was as if every hierarchy, every law, had been obliterated; there was only the circle now.
I held Mateo tighter, whispering his name over and over. The cold in his skin seemed to seep into me. I wanted to yell for help, but I knew nobody could cross the circle’s boundary.
Then, in the darkness, he moved.
Just a twitch at first, a flicker of muscle in his jaw, but it was enough to break the dam in my chest. “That’s it, baby, come back to me. Please, please…”
His eyes snapped open.
They were not his eyes. Or they were but changed; his usual blue-green irises were glowing with a cold, blue-white fire. The whites shot through with hairline cracks of gold. He stared straight ahead, unblinking, for three heartbeats, and then turned those eyes on me.
“Mom,” he said. Except it wasn’t just the voice of my eleven-year-old. It was older, layered, too knowing. “I remember. All of it.”