by Charlie Hart
“Because you protected your friend,” I tell Rem. “That doesn’t mean you wanted him to die.”
She shakes her head. “But don’t you see? What if I do it again? What if next time it’s you? That I kill? I’m a monster, Cal. And I’m selfish for staying here for so long. It’s just… I felt so ….”
“So, what?” I ask.
“So safe.” Remedy’s shoulders shake.
“You’re still safe,” Harlow tells her. “But right now, you have work to do.”
Remedy narrows her eyes. “I do?”
Harlow nods. “You may not believe it, but we are sisters. Somehow, some way. And you need to deal with this wolf pack. And you don’t need back up.”
“That’s insane.”
Harlow shakes her head. “No, Remedy. You are a daughter of Olympus, and it’s time you met your father.”
Chapter 23
Remedy
Maybe it’s crazy to do as Harlow insists, but another part of me knows what she says is true. And hell, if it isn’t, at least everyone will be safe inside the house. Harlow and her men are in the upstairs bedroom, and I’m at the front door with River, East, and Callum, trying to say goodbye so I can get this next part over with. One way or another, things are going to end, tonight.
The guys hate the plan, of course, but they need to trust me.
Which is asking a lot considering I just admitted to killing a man.
“I don’t like this one bit,” East says, cupping my face in his hand. I look at him, his thick beard and gold-flecked eyes––he is true, through and through. And he is much too good for me. Still, he looks at me, worry written across his face. “I can’t lose you.’
“You won’t lose me,” I tell him. I remember the words of the bear. How she told me I had sisters. That I needed to find them. As impossible as it may be, Harlow is my family, in one shape or form. I think everyone in the cottage knows it too.
I kiss him, knowing that whatever happens next, no one can take this moment from us.
“I love you, Rem,” he tells me. “And I love our baby, too.” He presses a hand to my still flat belly. I know it is crazy to walk out of the cottage in this condition, but I have no other choice.
“I love you too,” I whisper.
I pull Callum into a hug, his arms wrapping around me so tightly I know he will never, ever let me go. “Thank you for loving me,” I tell him. “I don’t deserve it.”
“Shut up, Rem. You deserve the fucking world.” He kisses me then, hard, knowing what I need. How he can make me smile in this moment of urgency is beyond me—but here I am, smiling as my mouth presses against his.
“I love you,” I repeat as we pull apart. He smacks my ass in return.
“And don’t take no for an answer,” River says, reaching for my hand, and pressing his forehead to mine.
“I never have before,” I say, lacing my fingers with this man who sees every part of me.
“I know, but tell him the truth,” River says.
I narrow my eyes. “What truth exactly?”
“That you’re stronger than your fists and your fighting words.”
I swallow. “My words and fists are the only things that have kept me alive this long.”
“Not true,” River says, blinking back tears—and then I am too. But I fail miserably, the salty tears roll down my cheeks as River holds me steady. “You are stronger because you have heart and you have soul. You fight for justice, always sticking up for the underdog. You, Remedy, at your core, seek peace.”
I shake my head, my lips quivering and tears rolling down my cheeks. How can I take to heart the words that seem too good to be true?
“He’s right,” East says. “You’re a lover, not a fighter.”
Callum smiles, nodding his head in agreement. “Now, go give ‘em hell, Wolfie.”
With my hand on the doorknob, ready to turn it, I look over my shoulder one last time. “I love you,” I tell them.
“And we, you.”
And then I slip out the door, away from my home, knowing the odds are, I might never come back.
Outside the sky is dark, the moon is bright, and the air is thick.
This may be Alaska, but at this exact moment, it feels otherworldly. The wolves we heard from inside the house are nowhere to be seen. The clearing around the house is empty, except for a few cars in the gravel driveway. I had wondered if I was going to walk into a den of wolves when I stepped from the house. This, though, is almost worse. Knowing they are out there, hiding. Stalking.
Stalking me.
But I’ve never backed down from a fight in my life and I certainly won’t now.
I need answers.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” I taunt.
I see a pair of beady eyes in the tree line, and the animal watches me as I walk closer, unafraid.
Malik.
His body was so fierce when I saw him shift in the meeting hall and it’s no different now. He watches, waiting to strike.
Maybe it’s cocky, to walk with such abandon but I also know the strength in my hands. The power coursing through my veins.
It’s time I learned what I am.
Who I am.
The ring on my finger burns the closer I walk toward the wolf in the trees. And as I near him, I watch him shift. It’s a miracle, the transformation. One moment he’s a beast, the next he’s a man. Still powerful, his body no less intimidating. But now, instead of standing on four legs, he is on two, towering above me.
“Do you know who I am?” he asks walking closer until we are face-to-face.
“Malik.”
“What else?” he asks, his lips in a snarl.
“A… wolf?”
“You know more than you let on.”
“How do you know that?” I ask, crossing my arms, defiant.
“I listened.”
“To what?”
He pushes back his shoulders, growing inches as he does. “Your conversation, in the house. Appears that you have found a sister.”
“You could hear us?” I look over my shoulder, scared of what they might be saying now. What this man might hear.
“While you were with them, yes,” he says, tilting his head, half apologetically. “I’m a beast, as you well know. And my senses are heightened. Especially when it comes to you.”
I take a shaky breath, determined to remain strong and steady when it comes to this conversation. “Why me?”
“Why you?” He clucks his tongue, spreading a hand across the clearing. “Haven’t you figured it out by now, child?”
I clench my jaw, feeling like I am still missing something.
Malik lifts one eyebrow. “At the pack meeting I confirmed what I had guessed. It was difficult to see you for what you are when we first met because you have strong protections around you. Gaia must have gotten to you a few times already.”
My heart clenches, thinking about Gaia. She really was coming after me in the woods to try and keep me from harm. I so completely misunderstood her.
“Just tell me what I should know already,” I say, feeling defeated. “I hate games. I just need to understand.”
“Or what?” He smiles as if knowing he is two steps ahead of me. “Or you’ll huff, and you’ll puff, and you’ll blow that house down?” He points to the cottage with the stone fireplace and the handmade quilts and my men and the promise of a family. My sister.
I shake my head, anger rising in me at the mention of doing harm to the cottage. “Everyone I love is in that house, and you know it.”
“Then maybe it will be me doing the huffing and the puffing.”
I lift a hand instinctively, but he catches my wrist, clamping down hard before I can strike. “Don’t, Daughter. Don’t ruin what you don’t understand.”
He twists my arm, then lets go. He takes my other hand, forming a fist with it, then he does the same with his own. “A perfect pair,” he says. My eyes go to his ring, our rings. They are of the same metal, anci
ent, and perfectly forged for us.
“What does that mean?” I ask, not wanting to beg, but so desperately wanting to know.
“It means you are mine.”
I shake my head, now it’s my turn to sneer. “No. I’ve already been claimed.”
“Right,” he says circling me. “By your little wolf-boys.”
“They aren’t boys,” I say, turning to face him. Not wanting him from my sight.
“The father of your child?” He looks down at my belly.
I press a hand to my stomach. “Yes. How did you…?”
“I know because I am your father. I am Ares, the God of War and the bringer of destruction.”
My bones chill, my blood runs cold. My entire life I’ve pushed aside my questions about who my parents are. Now that I’m here, facing this man who says he’s my father, curiosity claws at me. Could I really be his?
And if I am, why did he leave me so long ago?
Why wasn’t I the daughter he wanted?
He steps closer, his finger on my chin, lifting my eyes to his.
“You know it well, don’t you child? The way anger boils inside you? Tempered by nothing, fueled with fury. You know it because we share the same blood, the same rage.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “You’re wrong about me.”
“But aren’t we one in the same?” he asks, stepping toward the house. “You may be staying here, playing house, but you know as well as I that this place is much too good for you. You are nothing; certainly not made for them. Those adorably valiant wolf-boys and that sister, with her pink hair and pretty smile. You are ruined and rotting inside. You always have been. It may be a nice fairy tale, to find a place in the woods to call home but this is not your true home, girl.”
His words cut to the heart—my heart. The part of me that has always bled for what I’m not.
Not wanted. Not loved. Not chosen. Not seen.
Ares though, he sees me.
I pretended River could with his smooth words and gentle touch. I wanted to believe I was like him.
Of course, I’m not. No one in that cottage is.
Harlow is a Siren, calming the sea and I am a wolf, a predator made to kill.
Hot tears roll down my cheeks, burning my skin as they fall. I see it all so clearly. What I am and what I’m not.
“Where have you been all my life?” I ask.
“Waiting. You needed the ring on your finger before you could inherit your strength. Now it is yours and we can rule together.”
“Together?”
Ares nods. “Yes, I dwell on Earth in wolf form, when I please, and other forms when I don’t. My domain is the land, in all its various states. Together, we can rule the land. I am the God of war, and the land is a fiery place.”
“Fire?”
“Fire and tornadoes, dust storms and blizzards.”
“You create those? To destroy people and places?”
A grin spreads across his dark face. “I help fuel them. The Greek gods no longer have dominion over the humans on Earth, but we can play with their elements.”
“Why do you want my help?”
“Because your mother wanted us separated, but I, my child, am the one here, looking for you. I want us to be together.”
“My mother, she wanted us apart? Why?”
Ares eyes flicker with hate, a look I know all too well. A look I know because I’ve been carrying it, like a noose around my neck, all my life.
“Because she wanted everything her way.”
“And what did you want?” My words anger him.
“Don’t question me, girl,” he seethes, his true colors showing.
“Or what?” I smirk. “You’ll make good on your threat and burn the house down?”
“I will, and I can,” he says, stepping forth, arms raised, striking the sky, sending rivulets of fire to the cottage. Embers fall on the roof and from inside I hear screams and shouts as everyone I love are in harm's way.
From his hand, he sends forth blades of fire, the jolting flames pierce the trees. He stomps his feet and the ground roars to life, shaking beneath us.
“Don’t you dare,” I scream, forcing my hands toward him. But from my hands, it isn’t fire that blazes forth. It isn’t destruction and it isn’t ruin.
It is peace.
The strongest, most overwhelming surge of calm spreads from my hands to the earth around us. Covering Ares with tranquility. He fights back, his eyes beady and the veins popping from his face, along his arms—as if everything inside him is ready to burst.
I have never backed down in my entire life and I don’t intend on doing so now. I stomp my feet, matching his, but I don’t send an earthquake from my boots—no, I send rivers of overwhelming tranquility.
I spin, pushing my hands far from my body, shooting ribbons of peace from my fingertips, clearing the house of the fiery rage and replacing it with an effervescent calm.
Ares may have said I was rotting and ruined—but he was wrong. I am more than my past, more than a sum of mistakes. I am a fighter, and I seek justice and I am more than a broken girl.
I am enough.
Gaia said it earlier, and I am claiming it as truth right now.
I am enough.
A week ago, I wouldn’t have had the power to overcome Ares, because I didn’t understand the kind of peace that comes from true love, true understanding—the kind of love I’ve been shown by River, East, and Callum.
But now I know.
I push my body to the limit, gathering the power inside me. The power I’ve kept at bay for so damn long. The song of my heart has always been a drum line, hard and fast.
But maybe it can be more. If my sister can sing a song that calms the sea, maybe the song of my heart can be one that is soft, not wrecked and ruined. Instead, my heart can heal.
My hands ache as I push out the power, but it works. The more power I send toward Ares, the more impossible it is for him to fight it. He may be a Greek god, but it turns out I am a Greek goddess.
And I have been waiting for this fight my whole damn life.
“Enough,” I say, to both him and myself. “Enough.”
And so, it is. My peace binds him, pushing him further and further back. We move past the tree clearing, into the woods, and my strength continues to break him down, until he’s on all fours, crawling toward a cave in the distance. I don’t know how long we walk, my arms outstretched forcing him away, but eventually, we end up in the same cave I slept in the night I was with the men. He is forced to crawl inside it, the entire time begging me to relent, to hear him, to listen.
But I have no time for his words.
For his tricks.
I am many things—but I am no fool.
Once he is in the cave, I push the stone over the cave wall, trapping him in. “No, listen, child. I am not what you think! Your mother was evil. She did this!”
But I don’t listen. Instead, I envelop the cave with all that is left within me, innately knowing it will keep him bound. Maybe not forever, but long enough.
Long enough for me to find my other sisters.
Epilogue
Remedy: 4 Months Later
After I bind Ares, there isn’t much left for us in Ketchikan. The cottage had nearly been destroyed in his rage, but fortunately, everyone had exited safely. The last thing we do before leaving town, is stop and see Sadie one last time.
Everything from before was gone. Now that I know what I truly am, nothing will ever be the same.
In wolf form, I watch Sadie from the tree line. She is on the back balcony of her apartment. Her hair down and a smile on her face. My heart beats hard as I realize she isn’t alone.
A man joins her on the balcony. He wears a pair of blue jeans and a flannel shirt. He has soft brown hair and a face that is easy on the eyes. My senses are keen as I observe him. Sadie blushes when he looks at her. He leans in close and tucks a strand of hair behind her ears. She looks shy, but happy.
&nbs
p; Peaceful.
“Thanks again, Jim, for coming to fix the sink,” she says.
“Anything, for you, Sadie.”
And then he steps closer and he kisses her. And I know, in that, moment, that Sadie is going to be okay.
I run with my wolves out of Ketchikan, holding the memory of my oldest friend close to my heart.
* * *
The air is hot, the sun beating down our backs as we run. The heat of the California desert is relentless. The fires in Southern California were so intense the land begged for mercy. We ran as a pack: Callum, River, East, and me. I needed to calm the fire scorching the Earth.
Now, we are spent, ready to shift to human form and sleep for days. The men were amazed as I did what I could for the wildfires. I stand at a distance, doing my part. Before we parted ways, Harlow taught me how she works to bind the sea when a hurricane strikes, when a storm billows. She does what she can from the ocean, and now I do what I can from a hillside or a mountaintop.
Knowing a hotel is near; we shift before we enter the city limits. As I come into my human form, I roll my shoulders, exhaustion covering me. I press my hand to my belly, wondering how long I will be able to do this. I’m showing now, the pregnancy undoubtedly real. When I went to the doctors, they wanted me to stay for testing, saying that while my baby’s heart was four-chambered, like all humans, something wasn’t normal.
When I asked what not normal meant, the doctor explained that while it makes no sense, my child’s blood was a blood type they had never seen before. He insisted intensive testing was needed. I thanked him and made a second appointment, knowing as I walked away from the office that I would never return.
My child didn’t have human blood because he is part wolf.
I remember the grin on my face as I realized how fucking amazing that was.
My baby is a wolf-boy and I am a wolf-mama. If there was anything more badass in this world, I’d like someone to tell me.
And just like that, any fear I carried about being a mother was gone. This peace thing is no joke.
