WolfHeart

by Konstantina P.

  “I thought you didn´t have magic anymore,” Ian half-stated, half-asked.

  “And I thought we have already established I have no idea what´s wrong with me,” Cora snapped but immediately apologized when Ian held his hands up in surrender.

  “Erin, Ian, check the perimeter. The rest of you go back in the fort,” Steven ordered and everyone followed hastily.

  “Not you,” he stretched his hand out and stopped Cora from following the two healers back inside.

  “Do you need something?” She asked curiously, not expecting Steven to willingly seek her out.

  “Your magic is still inside you. You just refuse to use it.” The Alpha was determined to push the point if it meant his people got to keep their safety.

  “I don´t know how to reach it,” Cora said through clenched teeth, her lips forming an angry line and trying to push back the disillusionment threatening to engulf her.

  “Mark and Lynn could help you with that,” insisted Steven.

  “If I had magic...” The girl murmured. “That´s what everyone keeps talking about... Would I still be allowed to stay here if I did?” She looked at him, daring him to deny that her present situation served the Anders just fine; they got to appease their guilt by offering her a relatively safe place to stay without having to go against their people by harbouring an active Magic.

  Steven studied her for a moment, deciding on the best tactical approach. “If that´s the issue that blocks your power, you know we owe you. Nothing is going to happen to you.”

  “You are my issue,” the girl countered peevishly. “Do you have a solution for that too?”

  “We need to get you trained,” the Alpha deflected. “Perhaps Peter...”

  “Peter is far away from here,” Cora said as the sun broke through the heavy clouds, the weak light dappling across her face and making her squint up at him. “What do you really want?”

  It took Steven a moment to decide whether to answer honestly or make another sarcastic quip. Eventually, the need to clear the air as much as possible between them prevailed instead of falling back into the familiar territory of denial. “I want to be my own man. I don´t want to be defined by you... By being your mate...”

  Cora´s face became a rictus of disbelief.

  “And I need to know that your... affections don´t come at the bond´s dictation.” Steven´s words shrivelled and dried up at this final admission.

  “You are an Alpha Prince. Your people love you, sometimes more than their Queen. You have fought your wars and came out on top. Your pack admires and respects you. How could anyone possibly mistake you as a witch´s puppet? And as for the latter... I love the man you could be if you stopped hiding. It´s not my fault if you don´t believe you deserve it.” Cora´s words felt like a punch in his face. “But hey,” she continued with false cheer, noticing his reaction. “At least now we know what your issue is.”

  Steven froze, not finding it in him to contradict her or even get angry. Deep down, he knew Cora was right even if she had missed a few key points. He didn´t just think that he wasn´t worthy of someone´s devotion. He was also crippled by his fear of the person he could become when allowing his heart to open.

  “I guess you are right,” he finally allowed. “But you are not gonna persuade me to change by standing on the sidelines and letting my people get hurt.” This was his last-ditch attempt to make her understand how much they needed her to win this war and persuade her to try harder to make her magic fully functional.

  “Emotional blackmail won´t get you anywhere.” Cora sounded incredibly amused for a change. She walked closer and reached up, stealing whatever objection he had with a soft kiss at the corner of his mouth. “You are a good man. Don´t insult us both by suggesting otherwise.” She drew away and turned to leave. “Bury them,” she said as a farewell before disappearing behind the stone wall. Steven looked at the two Magics that were lying dead a few feet away and shrugged. Those people had tried to hurt what was his; he owed them nothing. With a last sneer, he followed Cora, letting the corpses be consumed by the wild animals.

  19. A LIFE FOR A LIFE

  “Open the gates!” Jason´s heavy footsteps approached the town quickly. Danny was unconscious in his arms, leaving behind a pathway of blood. The guard on duty hastened to obey and pulled the lever attached to the rusty lifting wheel with brutal strength. A tarnished chain folded itself around its axis and the wheel screeched in annoyance as the heavy iron bars started moving.

  “What happened?” Jen asked alarmed, she and Steven storming outside. Watching her brother collapse on his knees in unmistakable sorrow, she pushed aside the fact that there weren´t any food carts accompanying the two Betas. She had known better than to dismiss Steven´s and his pack´s uneasiness of the last couple of days as unnecessary worry, but there was nothing she could have done except for risking them too. Sadly, they were proven correct and her brother was forced to the limit of his sanity by a barely breathing Danny.

  “The provisions are destroyed. We found the carts burnt a few miles from the river passage. They were waiting for us. They knew we would seek them out.” Jason was gasping for breath, his lungs crying out for more oxygen than his overtired system could provide. His clothes were torn in various places, stained with sweat and blood, but whatever wound he might have sustained was already healed. Most of the blood belonged to Danny.

  The younger Beta was still dead to the world, his heavy body forcing Jason to the ground. A gaping wound had left his stomach area exposed, guts slipping out along with fresh blood. Jen gagged at the sight.

  “They were too many.” Jason turned his doe eyes at his Alpha. “We tried to fight them off but as soon as he went down I grabbed him and ran. I´m sorry...” The Beta lowered his head in shame, expecting a dressing-down.

  “No.” Steven finally moved his gaze from Danny´s ripped apart torso to look at his second. “You did the right thing. Come on. We need to get him some help.”

  “Steven...” Jen tried, knowing full well her brother was giving Jason false hope. There was no way Danny would recover from this, his healing speed overpowered by the severity of the injury. There wasn´t even enough skin to stitch back closed. Steven silenced her with an anguished look and he took Danny in his arms, unloading the weary Jason and heading towards the lair.

  Mark and Lynn were prepared, a guard having alerted them of the situation. Everything the two healers tried though failed to stop the heavy flow and the white sheets of the infirmary´s bed were quickly stained by Danny´s blood.

  “It won´t stop,” a frantic Mark yelled as Lynn handed him more clean bandages. The redhead moved to the head of the bed and gently lifted Danny´s head up. She slipped a clear liquid down his throat which he swallowed impulsively. The packs had by then gathered in the small room trying to stay out of the way; even Kate, holding Steven´s arm possessively.

  “What was that?” Joe asked before anyone else had the chance to. He could see his nephew and his pack were desperate, barely holding it together against the possibility of losing one of their own. Jason had kneeled on the floor next to the bed, grasping Danny´s hand in his and murmuring soothing words the other man couldn´t hear. Ian and Erin held on to each other as far from the others as they could stomach in order to avoid being bombarded by their pain. Joe didn´t begrudge them that, recognising it as the only way they knew to keep their heads clear. Steven was the only one outwardly serene but he knew his nephew well enough to understand his need to keep up appearances, however misguided.

  “It´s supposed to speed up his healing,” Lynn said.

  Mark pulled the bandage back and fresh blood oozed out. He quickly reapplied the pressure as he screamed, “It´s not working!”

  “Did dear Cora give you the recipe?” Kate crooned, making Steven finally recoil from her touch. Everyone´s gaze turned to the young witch, suddenly remembering she was also in the room. She looked ashen, her big eyes pinned on Danny.

  “You need to help him,”
Steven startled her, an arm placed delicately on her side. Cora tried to distance herself but the Alpha met her step for step. “You have to try.” He tried to hold her gaze and let her know he had put all his faith in her.

  “Please,” Jason begged her and she looked between the two Werewolves unsettled by the potency of their emotions.

  Cora didn´t know where to start but she understood fairly well it was all or nothing. She couldn´t let Danny die and she couldn´t let the others, herself included, lose him. The pain something like this would cause to the pack bonds could be strong enough to break them all. If something were to happen to Danny, Jason would undoubtedly follow and take Steven with him. The Alpha would be clouded in a mist of self-doubt and hate and loss, unable to pick himself up. From then on, it was easy to imagine Ian´s and Erin´s fate. No, if Cora happened to fail to bring Danny back from the veil between life and death, she would never forgive herself. Her oath to protect people extended to the Werewolves. But how could she dig inside her for something she wished it was never there in the first place?

  With a decisive nod, she swung around the bed and grabbed Mark´s hands that were holding the cloth over Danny´s wound. The healer immediately surrendered control and took a step back, pulling Lynn with him and smearing her sweater with blood in the process. Cora closed her eyes and concentrated hard, trying to locate that tiny ball of light inside her chest and make it stronger, draw it to the surface. Her fingers convulsed and Danny let out a guttural groan. Jason smoothed his hand over his forehead, desperately watching for a sign of his boyfriend opening his eyes.

  “It´s not working!” Cora exclaimed after the longest time and Kate was quick to belittle her, the only one who ever thought to.

  “If you can´t save one of your own, you are of no use to the pack.”

  “I don´t even know if I can heal other people!” The girl looked at Jason, hoping for a sign that he understood she was making an effort.

  Kate though didn´t like being ignored. “So what? You keep that particular treat solely to yourself? Rather selfish if you ask me.”

  Steven reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Can someone get her out of here? Please?”

  Kate huffed but allowed Jen, Moira and John to drag her away under the pretence of an urgent council. It wasn´t entirely a lie -the need for one- but no actual council would take place without Steven´s presence and the Alpha wasn´t going anywhere anytime soon.

  “She has a point,” Cora said when only the pack and Joe were left in the infirmary. “I can heal myself. Somehow...” She closed her eyes again and managed to channel the force that had made her fingers twitch, feeling like owning her magic for the first time in years. Danny´s eyes shot open with a gasp as his stomach started stitching itself together, new skin growing over the broken one. Jason threw his arms around the other man elated while Erin let out a delighted squeal. Ian, more composed, placed a comforting hand on his fellow Beta´s shoulder, quietly communicating his relief.

  “What happened,” Danny asked, voice raw.

  “It´s okay now. Don´t try to talk,” Steven directed, only for Danny to repeat his question.

  “She did it. Holly hell,” Joe said but, as everyone had turned their attention to Danny since the moment his eyes opened, they had missed a very important clue.

  Fearing it was already too late, the two healers rushed to Cora´s side where she lay on the floor, blood gathering in a pool beneath her. Mark used his scissors to cut the front of her dress open, right where the blood seemed to come out of.

  “No, she didn´t heal him,” Lynn whispered in horror.

  “She transferred the wound to herself,” Mark said dumbfounded. Indeed, Cora´s previously unblemished belly had now a gaping tear right down in the middle, a twin of Danny´s vanished one.

  Watching how the blood continued to come out in smaller amounts, Lynn foresaw her friends´ next question. “She seems to be healing faster than Danny.”

  “Can´t you help her?” Ian asked.

  “I doubt this stuff will work on her anymore than it did on Danny,” Mark said but gave her the potion nevertheless, massaging her throat to help her swallow without choking. “There is nothing more we can do but wait.”

  Steven tried to draw in several deep, calming breaths, but the stench of his Beta´s blood now mixed with Cora´s made the room spin. A small frisson of fear crept through his every pore as he tried and failed to calm his rapid heart. This couldn´t be happening. Reality came crushing down at the possibility of losing Cora for real this time. Her hesitant smiles, her inexperienced yet passionate kisses, the gentleness of her touch, the softness of her skin, the kindness of her heart and the bottomless well of her patience. He needed to make sure she was his, body and mind and soul, and he was terrified that he might never get the chance. That it was too late...

  “What´s wrong with him?” Erin´s voice reached his ears but sounded like he was underwater, drowning. His vision cleared enough to see Jason kneeling in front of him as he realised his Alpha was having a panic attack. Steven´s claws that had come out unbidden were piercing through the sensitive skin of his thighs through his pants, drawing blood.

  “Get out of here,” Jason said mercifully. “Go!”

  Steven didn´t need to be told twice as he literally ran from the infirmary straight back to his room, praying not to run into any random guards or, worse, Kate.

  “Is he going to be okay?” Erin asked, noticing the looks Lynn and Jason exchanged.

  “He will now,” Jason said the same moment Lynn muttered “About time.”

  “What about her?” Ian´s question had everybody focusing back on Cora.

  “We should get her comfortable,” Mark sighed and Danny pulled himself up in shaky legs.

  “Let me,” the Beta said and took Cora in his arms, walking slowly but steadily towards the witch´s room. If anyone realised Jason was supporting most of Danny´s weight, they were wise enough not to comment on it.

  20. TESTING THE BOUNDARIES

  Cora´s last stunt had left the town in turmoil. The Werewolves had finally witnessed the vast range of her power but couldn´t comprehend how to put their lives in the hands of an enemy. Everybody -apart from the leading packs- waited for the other shoe to drop, sure beyond any doubt that all this kindness was going to be followed by pain and suffering. No one could put behind them that their town was under siege because Larson wanted to get to his daughter. They dared not speak such thoughts though as they all recognized the sacredness of a bond, albeit not a Werewolf one. The girl had already saved Steven, Jason, Jen and Danny, even before she knew of the magnitude of her connection to the Anders. And now, her knowledge on everything magic was the only thing standing between them and a swarm of blood-crazed Magics.

  Although Cora had stopped bleeding out the same day, the wound had remained gaping, like her magic had given up and run out the moment her life was out of danger, leaving her to heal in the normal, human way. That left her extremely weak and in excruciating pain as her inner skin was in complete display, not even Lynn´s and Mark´s medicine providing her with any relief. Danny was the one who was spending all of his waking moments with her, not quite able to fathom what she had done for him. In and out of consciousness for days, Cora could blurrily see him at her bedside, always mumbling to himself, his hair in hopeless tangles from nervously passing his fingers through it.

  “I´m sorry,” Danny uttered once she was able to stay awake for more than a few minutes. Cora looked down at herself in vague lucidity, putting the pieces slowly together. Her upper body -apart from a thin sheet covering her breasts- was uncovered, allowing the Beta a full view of what had been done to her all these years for the first time.

  “You are not that person anymore,” she croaked, giving him an out. It wasn´t his responsibility to recognize the signs; even if they were somewhat kindred spirits.

  “Just because I don´t have the scars anymore, it doesn´t make me a different man.” Danny shook his head, s
ilently pleading for forgiveness. “Those kind of wounds stay with you forever.”

  “That´s not true. You got better.”

  “I pretended I got better. I get arrogant to hide the fact that I´m scared of people. I flinch when someone tries to touch me unless they are pack and even then I only allow it because the wolf recognizes them, not the man.”

  “The wolf and the man... They are not two different things,” corrected Cora. “You are both. If you allow the pack close it´s because you want them to, you trust them. It´s not that complicated.”

  “If that´s true, then are the witch and the girl one and the same too?”

  “I guess...” Cora frowned. “Why?”

  “Because then no bond tells you to love you-know-who. It´s not that complicated either.” Danny smirked in triumph, pleased with his comeback.

  Cora snorted at having her own words thrown back in her face. The movement jostled her and she hissed, her hand flying immediately towards her stomach. Danny caught it in his before it touched the yet to be healed tissue.

  “I guess it isn´t,” she said once she calmed down, throwing the shifter a grateful look. “But then, whether I love him or not was never under question.”

  The thing was, Danny could clearly see the real issue. Cora was worried she had chained Steven to her; that without her ever wanting to, the man would accept the bond out of a weird sense of duty or, worse, because her magic compelled him to, her power drawing him in like a magnet. His Alpha on the other hand, after he pulled his head out of his ass and realized how strongly he had fallen for the witch, was terrified that he was mistaken about her feelings and the younger girl wanted him because her biology told her to. They were both wrong, a blind man could see that. Even if bonds worked that way -an affair Danny had no way of knowing but from hearsay- Cora was kind and pure. She would never accept Steven if she had the smallest doubt about his feelings. And Steven was loyal and noble, anyone would be lucky to have him. But the witch had been hurt by all of them. He didn´t begrudge her the need for a grand gesture to solidify her trust in them.