Chapter 69 The moon and stars
The moon and stars
Cadel goes flying over my head, landing heavily, but in two seconds, he’s up, his teeth sunk into the throat of the Ravage Wolf.
The two go around and round, tearing up concrete, stones, and destroying anything that gets in their way.
The goddess hisses and jerks her arm as she grabs one of the guards, ripping through his clothes until she pulls out a tiny gold bell.
With a malicious grin, she shakes it. The Ravage Wolf rips free of the Anarchy Wolf and trots up to her, snarling over his shoulder.
I’m working my way towards her, but I can see her mouth moving as she whispers to him. I don’t know what she’s saying, but I get a horrible feeling. He presses his face to hers and then whirls back, attacking Cadel before my alpha can even finish his jump.
No! What did she do? I watch the wolf, terrified for Cadel.
Pain stabs through me like a burning lance. I exhale with a moan as my knees crash to the wood. The bonds, the sudden loss of them, is going to kill me. It will take a long time, but this pain isn’t something I can survive.
Cadel has stumbled, too, his burning red eyes on me. I hold up a hand, waving him off, but he just snaps at the Ravage Wolf, forcing it to keep its distance until I shove myself back up on my feet.
The goddess weaves, but when I look at her, she’s pale, almost white, and suddenly, her eyes roll into the back of her head, and her body just drops to the ground. The dull thud and way she’s sprawled make me think she’s dead, but that’s impossible.
“What the?” I murmur, peering at her but trying to keep my eyes on the two giant wolves who keep rolling around. One blow from them could break my bones and kill me. A kick could open up my stomach and allow my insides to fall out.
I hold my breath, wait for an opportunity, and then dive, rolling until I’m crouched beside her. Her skin has burst in several places, but she looks like a dried-up husk, emaciated, her hair limp and lusterless. She has become skin over bones.
She looks dead. I hold out a hand over her mouth while I watch her chest. For the count of sixty, she doesn’t breathe. I jostle her, and nothing. She’s lifeless.
I sit back on my heels, wondering what to do now.
I expected this win to feel so much more. Nothing feels like it’s changed.
Cadel and the Ravage Wolf are locked in an endless battle, teeth and claws flashing, their growls are sonorous booms that deafen me. They fly off the stage, rolling through the blood and bodies.
I walk to the edge, glancing down at Mordecai and Jarek. The pain rips through me again, ceaselessly ripping me apart. I bend over, gasping and clutching at my chest. Cadel lets out a howl, and I jerk my eyes up, seeing that the Ravage wolf has his leg in a vicious hold.
“Cadel!” I shout and focus on calm, white noise. I don’t know if it helps, but he gets his leg free, and they go again.
“Don’t move!”
I jerk my head to the right. Out of the shadows, braving the world now that the wolves are gone, are the pledges and guards, and they’ve worked themselves into a posse. Their hard gazes fixed on me like I’m some dangerous monster.
They hold swords up and creep towards me with scowls and bravado that grows with each step.
“Stay away from me!” I shout, snarling at them.
They come closer. I sit down and drop off the stage, slipping in some blood and banging my knee hard. I look up, and Jarek’s eyes are staring right at me, but they aren’t seeing anything.
“Sorry, Alpha,” I whisper and snatch up a sword. It fits almost perfectly in my hands. It’s light and comfortable and feels a bit like it was meant for me. I look up, seeing the side profile of Mordecai.
My heart beats hard in my chest. All I want to do is go and sit with them. Touch them, say goodbye. I reach my hand out.
“Omega!” the beta snarls.
I retract my hand with a pained whimper, jerking several steps back before I even realise what I’m doing. I glance at my alphas.
They’re dead. There’s nothing I can do for them, but Cadel is still fighting. I can help him.
I spin, racing after the two wolves, who are leaving a trail of destruction behind them. The guards and pledges shout, but I ignore them. Jumping over bodies and weapons.
“Hey!” a guard shouts from far too close.
I bare my teeth, putting on a burst of speed, but he stays with me. I whirl and whip the sword out, snaking it across his stomach, leaving him holding his insides.
“Stay back,” I snarl at the others who eye me like I’m the monster.
They dog my steps, spreading out to trap me. I hold the sword up and focus only on them.
A brave pledge darts in. He leaves with his face sliced open.
I bare my teeth. “I’m not going to warn you again.”
They tighten the circle around me. I look over my shoulder. Cadel and the monster that is Walker are getting further away.
“Go away!” I shriek.
One of them lets out a deep and sinister laugh. He raises his sword, which is quickly mirrored by the group he’s gathered around him. I lift my sword, but there are too many.
He topples forward and drops dead at my feet. The silence is thick as we all stare at the arrow shaft that is sticking out of his back. I look up first, seeing the movement in the dark as they surge towards us.
The Resistance cuts them to pieces, and, in seconds, the group of betas are dead or dying. A tall, confident silhouette steps towards me, and the shadows peel away, revealing a face I didn’t think I would see again.
Kendric grabs my wrist with a tight smile. “Come on. We need to catch up to them.”
“What?” I ask dumbly.
He smiles at me. “We all came to help you, but now we have to save your wolf.”
“What do you mean you came to help me?” I gasp out, trying to keep up with him.
“Insane, isn’t it? This plan has so many moving pieces. So many gods came down to make sure you made it to this very moment. You’re going to save us, Keres.”
“Gods?” I yelp. “What do you mean, gods? And how can I possibly save them?” I protest.
Kendric just smiles serenely. “It’s all part of the plan, I just said that.”
“I don’t know how!” I almost wail, but it drops off when I catch sight of Cadel viciously slamming the Ravage Wolf into a wall.
“It doesn’t matter; you’ll know when you need to know,” Kendric says grimly, his eyes on the two wolves.
He laughs suddenly.
“What’s so funny?” I pant, still jogging beside him.
I see the body of a beta staring up at the sky, a smile stretching across his lips. What paradise is he waiting for? I don’t know that I would be that happy to greet the goddess who cannibalizes people.
“We’re here. Hundreds of years of living our lives on repeat, of coming back and digging tunnels, of maneuvering everything one little piece at a time. Marshall assembled the Resistance, over and over. He was Bear’s father until he died.”
I trip over, but he just pulls me up. I stare at the side of his head, feeling it all.
“My mother?” I clarify.
The Ravage Wolf snarls loud enough to make my eardrums ache.
“The All-Seer who brought you here. Who brought us all here. She came down and made sure she was your mother, giving you the best education, the best protection.” Kendric says this all like I’m supposed to know, to understand, but my head is racing, and I can barely think past the constant ache of the broken bonds.
“My neighbours?” I ask in a whisper.
“Not all of them, but a lot of them. Mia was human, Bear’s human. We fight for them, and they fight with us. They inspire us. The love they are capable of, the hope they continue to feel even in the darkest of days is…something else. This world is special, and we all fight to keep it.”
Kendric frowns when he sees Cadel surge towards us, only to dart back and snap his teeth at the Ravage Wolf’s face.
“Jarek and Mordecai are dead,” I whisper.
He slows but doesn’t stop. “We know.”
“I guess that was part of the plan,” I ask bitterly.
“Everything is part of the plan. Though I don’t understand how it works.”
The Anarchy Wolf slams into the wall beside us then bounces back again, slamming into the Ravage Wolf.
“How do we stop them fighting long enough to actually deal with this?” I ask with a little bit of sarcasm.
“Not sure, the answer will come to us.”
I shake my head, a little in awe of his attitude but a little terrified, too. Fur is flying, but so are red droplets of blood.
Kendric shouts and yanks me down as the Ravage Wolf goes flying over our heads.
The Anarchy Wolf sails after him, landing heavily, panting, with foam around his muzzle. The wild scent of him that normally comforts me has me slightly panicked.
“They are so much bigger than I thought they’d be,” he murmurs.
We’re on a narrow street, and it’s fairly dark now. The two black wolves are just shadows or demons tearing the world apart.
“What happened to the goddess?” Kendric asks. “Where is she? We need to kill her somehow.”
“Her body collapsed. She’s dead,” I say flatly, watching Cadel with an uneasy feeling. This is all part of some big plan?
Kendric pauses and turns, putting his hands on my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. “I need you to remember everything very clearly. What happened just before? A seizure? Did she hit her head? Get run through with a sword?”
I shake my head, frustrated because I don’t care. “No, she rang a bell, and the Ravage Wolf trotted over to her. Touched her face, and then went back to fighting, she dropped right after.”
“After like a couple of seconds, or at the same time the wolf was turning away?” Kendric hisses.
“Same time.”
“Oh, this evil bitch. She circumvented his will. Come on!” He growls. “This goddess is rotten to the core of her hideous soul,” he snarls.
“What’s wrong?” I say with a bite of anger, I’m getting frustrated with him dragging me around.
“It’s ingenious, really.” Kendric swipes a hand across his forehead. “Okay, we can do this.”
“You need to use your words, Kendric.”
He turns a pale face towards me, his chin trembles.