CHAPTER 44
“SOMEONE PLEASE CHECK on Astra Fia.” Arisa was quick to make commands, but her eyes never left them. “I’ve never heard anything like that in my life.”
The screams had faded as soon as the wolves had all assembled. Lenore’s grip on Edmund’s coat tightened. It was too perfect.
“What’s going on?” A wolf cried out.
“Why were you leaving her?” It was Winter who spoke next. Lenore’s narrowing eyes did nothing to deter her. Nothing friendly remained in Winter’s demeanor—as if it had never been real to begin with. She looked at them in horror. “The clinic is the other way.”
Another wolf chimed in. “Why is the Lucyn-turned wolf with you?”
“Vesren, answer us!”
“I want to know too,” Arisa said. “Lenore, ever since you arrived... I’m sorry, but things have gotten worse. Far worse. I can’t think of it as coincidence anymore.” She sniffed and looked down at the ground. “I’m sorry, I’m not thinking straight.”
“Enough.” A snarl tore from Edmund. “She’s my fated mate!” He stepped forward, taking a protective stance in front of Lenore. His arm held firm in front of her. “Rip any senseless theories from your heads right now.”
Frenzied chatter exploded all around them as Lenore smiled softly at him, a spark of relief flickering in the middle of the chaos.
Arisa slowly looked back up. Her tail twitched.
“That’s... amazing,” she said amid the crowd’s restless murmurs.
“And if the circumstances weren’t like this, I would congratulate you both.
” Long locks of hair cascaded down her back as she turned into her human form.
“But love doesn’t magically fix things, even if it’s a fated bond.
” Her head tilted slightly to the side, looking out to somewhere only she could see.
Her lips tightened. “My Auden is still in a coma. And now something is wrong with Astra Fia too? We all need answers.”
“I did nothing wrong!” The words burst from Lenore, unable to stay quiet any longer. She gripped her hands tightly at her chest. “Auden is in a coma because of Arisa—she’s the reason Fia is suffering! It’s the moon jellies—”
“You added something to his dish that night at the Upper Moon Feast!” Arisa yelled. She choked out a sob, her hands rising to her mouth. “His condition deteriorated so quickly after that!”
“But on the same night, you gave him and the others your own dish!” Lenore argued back. “And that’s what Fia ate too!”
“Then what’s all this?” Hesper appeared by Arisa’s side, paws transforming into hands as he slipped one into his cloak.
A sketchbook was flung out, opened to the pages of Lenore’s sketches of the umbral heart.
Splotches of ink blotted out her notes—any names mentioned were blinded with black.
A glass vial of an umbral heart was thrown next.
Gasps and snarls rippled across the gathered wolves.
Gwyneth snapped her jaws back, forcing others to retreat as she lunged forward in warning in her wolf form.
Edmund pulled Lenore closer to him, a low growl thrumming in his throat.
But with everyone’s growing hostility targeting her, Lenore found it hard to breathe. One of her hands took hold of Edmund’s coat. “It’s not what it looks like! That vial isn’t even mine—”
“We found this in your home, Lenore.” Arisa’s brows drew close.
“I came back to hear that you even tried to pay Auden a personal visit while we were away.” She pulled out a scrap of dusty-blue fabric.
Lenore’s eyes widened. It was from the dress she wore on the night of the ravens’ chaos.
“Charie caught you, didn’t she? You even tried to get through the thickets to reach our home? ”
Charie. No. Lenore whipped her head toward a small black wolf. Charie’s ears lay flat, her eyes unable to meet hers. Lenore’s lower lip trembled, but still she reached out to her with pleading words. “Charie, this isn’t the way to do this! We can still help Auden!”
“... I did catch her,” Charie murmured. She turned away completely. “I didn’t know what to do, so I let her be.” Her tail tucked itself between her legs. “I shouldn’t have trusted you.”
Lenore couldn’t speak—taking a half-step back. Her hand kept a tight grip on Edmund’s cloak. The raw sting of betrayal was swept away by the uproar all around them. “Search the Elluvel home!” Arisa cried. “If there’s anything there, then we’ll know what Lenore really is!”
“You have no authority here! Stand down!” Edmund’s snarl stopped a few wolves in their tracks. “Are you really letting fear control you all? Is what scarred Lenore enough to condemn her so blindly?”
“You sent me away to let your mate sow poison among our pack!” Tears flowed freely from Arisa’s eyes, her voice shrill with anguish.
“You pretended to start up a search party for Auden’s sake, but my mate was in danger the whole time!
And we haven’t gotten even closer to curing him!
” She slumped onto her knees. “You were even about to abandon Astra Fia.”
“Don’t listen to her lies!” Cade shouted. “Lenore isn’t a Lucyn! None of us are! Arisa is!”
“We would never abandon our grandma!” Gwyneth’s fur bristled with fury. “You all know us!”
Faint groans caught everyone’s attention. Nox, in his werewolf form, had hauled Fia over to the group. The old warrior looked so feeble in his claws, as if nothing of her was ever a werewolf at all. A mess of white hair veiled her face. Her arm hung limp in the air.
Shock surged through the crowd. The color drained from Lenore’s face, lips parted slightly as she stared at the sight before her.
Veins of black pulsated through Fia’s scarred hand—moving as unnaturally as the umbral heart did in its glass vessel.
Arisa lowered her hands to her mouth, shaking her head in disbelief.
“She’s just like Auden,” she whispered. “Oh, Auden…”
Voices boomed all around them, merging into one accusing roar.
“Astra Fia is infected! She’s cursed!”
“What have you done?!”
“All the bad omens were true—including that newblood.”
“I can’t believe this…”
“Then don’t believe it!” Edmund yelled against the crowd as Gwyneth and Cade snarled back at the approaching wolves. “As your Vesren, I bled for this pack! Our family has served this pack for generations! You’re mistaken about Lenore, about all of this!”
“And if you are what you say you are, then please stand down.” In one elegant motion, Arisa rose to her feet, wiping the last of her tears away. Her arms opened wide, offering one last gesture of goodwill. “All of you. If you really care for this pack, for Auden, then surrender, and we’ll listen.”
“No.” It was Lenore that spoke—a word uttered softly, but with all the resolve she had. Her voice grew louder. “I will not.”
“I will never submit to a parasite like you,” Edmund said. Gwyneth barked her agreement. Cade nodded. They stayed in a defensive circle, ready to face all those who opposed them together.
Anger blazed through Arisa’s eyes, fading into embers as she took a step back. “You heard them then,” she murmured. “Our Vesren and his family have abandoned us—for the cursed one. For the one marked with Lucyn blood.”
A haunting silence fell.
The Duskryns all took a step forward—each sharing a hollowed expression.
Their forms shifted until Lenore felt like a mere insect in size compared to their towering beastly figures.
The dark purple of Azelf’s fur caught the corner of Lenore’s eye.
She pursed her lips tightly, keeping her eyes forward as her heart failed to stay calm.
Edmund’s cloak disappeared from her hand. A hulking werewolf as dark as the blues of night replaced the man beside her. Edmund crouched protectively over her—every claw tensed and ready to spring into a battle of blood and death. The air crackled with murderous intent.
Lenore needed to turn into a wolf. She needed to shift. But terror froze her in place, making her unable to focus.
Something buzzed in Lenore’s dress pocket. Her eyes widened with realization. Pip?
But there was no time to think. The Duskryns lunged forward, an explosive flash of claws and fangs closing in from all sides. A storm of beastly roars crashed over them.
Just as the storm crescendoed into a violent clash, a single word broke through it all. “LUMIOS!”
Everything went white.
Lenore ducked her head into her arm, instinctively hiding from the radiance that shone through her eyelids.
Gold magic rippled across her skin—the same as when Pip hid her presence.
Her hand went to her dress’s pocket—Pip was gone.
She could hear the chaos transform into a clamor of confusion—werewolves crashing into one another.
“This way, this way!” Azelf’s voice appeared beside her.
“What way?!” Lenore still couldn’t see. She felt large claws nudge her back toward a certain direction.
“That way. And at least turn into a wolf if you don’t want to lose your head!”
“Please don’t say that!” Lenore made a panicked noise, hands ruffling through her hair as she tried to focus. She screamed when she felt herself scooped up into a massive arm—squirming desperately for freedom until she caught a whiff of the werewolf’s scent.
Relief flowed through her instantly. “Edmund—”
“Still want to struggle?” His words had Lenore clinging on tighter, diving her head into the thick crest of fur. He grunted softly, but his stance was ready to break into a sprint.
“Edmund! We need to get Grandma!” Gwyneth shouted behind him. “She’s right there!”
A werewolf blindly dove toward them, forcing the group to scatter.
As Gwyneth tried to rush toward Fia’s scent, another werewolf intercepted, claws aimed right at Gwyneth’s muzzle.
An agonized scream followed—Cade’s jaws sank deep into the werewolf’s arm, twisting and turning to fling the invader off.
“Keep moving!” Edmund’s harsh command faltered under the weight of his inner emotions. “Or you’ll lose your own life too!”
Arisa’s enraged sobs cut through the blinding light. “Get them—someone, GET THEM!”