by Leela Ash
She wanted him to know she hadn’t gotten the letters. That she wasn’t just ignoring him all those years.
And yet, in the heat of the moment, her stubbornness and pride and genuine anger nearly drove her over the edge. She had to stop saying things she didn’t mean, but part of her truly believed that everything would be better for the both of them if they gave up on this tarnished dream of being together and just focused on the more important things in life; like learning how to be happy.
She half-expected Max to follow her out, but he didn’t. He watched her leave, making no move whatsoever to change her mind. She had to admit that it hurt to be brushed aside like this, but it was nothing compared to the pain she felt when facing herself. She had messed everything up. Again. She had gone in blind and ended up with nothing to show for it. How could she have been so stupid? Why did she always seem to repeat the same mistakes over and over and over again?
She stalked out to the sidewalk, her hands stuffed deep in her pockets. She hadn’t even driven there; she had walked…more like ran…from her date with her mother. And now, she was stuck getting home on her own. But that was nothing compared to the pain of being stuck in Max’s store a moment longer. All of her hopes had been crushed, once again, by his harshness, and by the difficult reality that the two of them were never going to be able to connect romantically again.
It was a long way home, but she was grateful for the chance to be away from him. As hard as it was to understand the danger she could begin, she felt pretty confident nothing was going to happen. At least, not tonight. There was plenty of things going on, and she trusted the integrity of the wolf shifters. However, the hybrids were a new issue entirely, and she almost started to regret denying Max’s help in getting home safely.
She ended up hailing a cab, and rode in silence, watching the rows of houses speed by through her window. She almost dreading getting back to her own house, remembering the night she had shared with Max there when he had first come back to town. She wished she could get back to that. That easy, comfortable feeling with him. But no matter how hard she tried, the evidence continued to mount until she was positive their entire relationship had been completely pointless.
But that was just something she was going to have to live with. She had done her best to make your peace with it for the past fifteen years. Now she was going to have to do the same, and just hope that having him there wasn’t going to complicate things any further than it already had.
20.
“I already told you I’m sorry, Max,” Benjamin, one of the head elders of the Council said, smiling apologetically. “You know the only way we could have intervened was if the human herself filed a complaint against Leon. We always take the word of a shifter over the word of his human. And when it comes to matters such as this, the common knowledge of the community seems to be that you and Leon have been at odds for quite some time. There is bound to be some bias in your accusations. Without the human’s confirmation, there was nothing we can do about it. We already let you know that.”
“That doesn’t excuse any of this,” Max said, unable to contain his fury. No matter how agitated he was with Sadie, he would always do whatever he could to protect her. “I can’t be around to watch over her twenty-four hours a day. You’re going to need to deal with this somehow. Leon is a menace. If they get their hands on her, there’s no telling what’s going to happen.”
“I understand. But what we are more interested in right now is your safety. They mentioned blood magic, did they?”
Max growled. “None of that matters. My family is fucked up enough without having to worry about some stupid superstitions. I don’t have any kind of blood magic. It doesn’t make any difference, even if I did. They still have no right to hurt Sadie.”
“Well, from what I understand, they actually didn’t hurt Sadie. They were simply coming to attack you. Maybe the issue you have with Leon is with Leon, not anything to do with the human.”
“How can you even say something like that? Even Terry saw Leon trying to grab the girl and take her away somewhere. He let her go when she told him to, for some reason, probably because he saw I was winning the fight and he knew I would do anything to save her and he didn’t want to end up dead on the lawn of my yard. Regardless, something has to be done.”
“The Council would like to see you safe, Max. Please, come into the refuge. You will be safe there with us. Your safekeeping is important.”
Max gaped at Benjamin, fear and disbelief roiling in his chest.
“I just told you that Sadie is the one in danger here. I can take care of myself. I can shapeshift. I can fight. And I can win. That Sadie? She’s just a human. She’s defenseless. And as far as I’m concerned, you let her get in harm’s way by not heeding my request for her protection.”
Benjamin sighed and shook his head. “I can’t continue to explain our reasoning to you. It is clear you do not understand, and that is your right not to. However, what is important to us is making sure that whatever the reason that these shifters have been trying to get rid of you is not something that is going to be dangerous to all shifters. We need to test your blood, Max. We need to understand the blood magic they are talking about, in order to better understand their plans and spoil them. If you are not going to come into protective custody with us, could you at least come with me to visit the alchemist?”
Max sighed heavily. “Fine, but that’s all I’m going to do. I’m never gonna do anything for you guys again. Not when you let Sadie almost get killed.”
“You could have told her to complain about Leon if she believed it was a threat. But I understand why you would feel this way. Come now, Max. We need to get this done as quickly as possible. There are some dangerous creatures out there, and they could really ruin things for us all. I don’t want to see anything happen to you. Or because of you.”
The last line was spoken with an uncharacteristic harshness. Most of the time, the elders on the Council were soft-spoken and very balanced. It seemed strange that they would let go of their tempers. Even though Max was clearly provoking them, it was strange to realize that even an elder had its limits.
Max was familiar with limits. Somehow, whenever he was alone with Sadie, no matter how close they seemed to be getting, something happened that pushed one or both of them to their limit. He never let it stop him from letting her go, though. Even after she had left, he had shifted into his wolf form again just to make sure she got home safely. After everything that had happened with Leon, he wasn’t going to take any chances.
“Max, it’s a pleasure. I haven’t seen you since you were a child.”
Max swallowed hard. He had remembered encountering Vince. He was the alchemist, and Vince wasn’t even really his name. It was just short for whatever his true name was, which was so ancient and entrenched and mystery that most people had probably forgotten what it originally meant. Vince was old. Older than dirt. One of the oldest shifters in existence, as far as he knew. And it had been quite memorable when he had been brought here as a child by his mother. They had been whispering about something, something Max didn’t know or understand. But now, he was here again, and thought that maybe he was starting to get a deeper grasp of what it was his mother must have been so concerned about.
“Is it true that Max is somehow linked to blood magic?” Benjamin asked.
“All will be revealed when the time is right. I know you understand what it means to ask such a question. But please, sometimes, understand that there is discretion that must be used. I could not tell anybody what this boy’s mother had told me. Not until I knew for sure. And not until it was of importance.”
“We understand,” Benjamin said briskly. “All I am asking is whether or not this blood magic is going to be detrimental to us in the near future.”
“On the contrary,” Vince said. “This blood magic is highly protective. Max’s is part of the bloodline that is exceptionally important. Some of the ancient shifters came from royal bloo
d on our home planet. In that world, royalty was blessed with the ability to protect the ancient magic that bound us together and provided us with the ability to shapeshift.
“If anybody is attempting to get rid of this magic, then you must understand that their goal is most definitely going to be malicious. Do you know what would happen if all shapeshifters in this community would cease to be able to utilize their ability to shapeshift? We would be completely vulnerable, and the Serah Stone, the source of all shifter magic as we know it, would undoubtedly fall into the wrong hands.
“We can’t let that happen. Max, your blood magic is crucial. We have to make sure you are safe at all costs. This is why, in a way, I allowed for you to leave this place. I wasn’t sure whether or not you would return. But it was foreseen that your blood is one of the most crucial links in protecting us all.”
Max studied Vince, shaking his head slowly. Somehow, all of this was beginning to make perfect sense. Had his parents abandoned him out of necessity, and not out of malice? It was impossible to say. After his father had left for the mountains, his mother had become depressed and started to drink. She brought in all manners of men to their home, leading to a tumultuous upbringing that had left Max feeling scarred and troubled. Once she was finally out of the picture too, he hadn’t had anybody to turn to. Not until he met Sadie.
“Sure,” Max said, finally. “I will let you protect me. But only if you let me do one thing first. Let me make sure Sadie is all right. Let me get rid of Leon and protect her. I know something bad is going to happen. I can feel it in my bones. Please, just trust my intuition. I may not be suited to be the leader of the pack, but I know I walk my own path and I do so for a reason. So, please, let me do it.”
Vince and Benjamin studied him for a moment, and then Benjamin glanced at Vince. He seemed to be waiting for a sign of some sort. And so, Max turned his gaze to Vince as well, and all of them were silent. Finally, Vince took a deep breath, and smiled at Max.
“Yes, my boy. You are here for a reason. Now, go out there and show them what you’re made of. We’re all counting on you.”
21.
Sadie woke up, a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but something about the day felt off somehow. She couldn’t quite place it, but it made her nervous.
She got out of bed and showered quickly, considering everything she had to do that day. She had to pick her car up from the shop, and then, according to her calendar, at least, she was supposed to meet her mother for dinner that night. After everything that had transpired, though, she wasn’t sure she was still going to be up for something of that nature.
In fact, she was furious at her mother. It seems that the woman knew nothing except how to mettle in her life and cause trouble. Sadie was probably just going to ignore the dinner, even if her mother showed up. Of course, her mother was going to show up. She always expected Sadie to forgive her right away, as if she believed herself to be guiltless. Absolved from any wrongdoing. It was infuriating, really, and she wanted nothing more than to just shut the door on her mother. Especially after finding out she had been hiding all of Max’s correspondences after all this time.
The thought of Max made her chest tighten. Why couldn’t the two of them just get along? If he seemed to care enough about her to write her all the time, even without her answering, and she had had him on her mind for so long that she couldn’t even remember the last time she had broken up thinking about him, what was so difficult for them? Why couldn’t they just make things work? It was ridiculous.
“I got the engine to purr now, don’t you worry,” Carl said, winking at Sadie. Sadie ignored him. That was exactly what he had told her the last time, and, somehow, everything had gone to hell. But if it hadn’t, she probably never would’ve had the chance to meet up with Max again. She wouldn’t have ever invited him to dinner at her house. Nothing would’ve happened between them. And although some spiteful little part of her wished this reality had been so, the truth was, she had been clinging to the memory of his body against hers, and the way they had been able to talk so naturally, as if no time had passed between them at all. At least, for a little while. Until the fighting had begun. Why did everything always have to end up being a fight? She wish she knew.
Sadie got into the driver’s seat of the car after paying the mechanic, begrudgingly, though, considering Carl didn’t seem to know what the hell he was doing, and she started to drive away. Suddenly, the engine sputtered and died right there in front of the shop. She cursed loudly and got out, attempted to kick the old clunker.
Carl came running out, his brow furrowed.
“I swear, that was working just fine a few minutes ago. I took it all the way around the block twice and nothing happened.”
“I don’t even want to hear about it, Carl,” Sadie said, shaking her head. “Please, just get this thing fixed for me, will you? I don’t have a lot of love for the public transit system here. There’s always somebody on there who looks at you funny.”
“I understand, I’m really sorry about this. This one is on the house.”
Sadie bit her tongue before she snapped that it better be, and turned away, clenching her fists as she began to walk down the sidewalk in search of the nearest bus stop.
Unfortunately, the mechanic’s shop was a little bit out of the way, and she had to go down several winding streets before she found her way back to the main drag, where all the buses were located. She hated going down these roads. They were deserted and creepy, and she knew that if any danger was going to pop out at her, she would be entirely defenseless.
She was relieved when she saw that she was only a few blocks away from the downtown area, where she would definitely be able to catch a bus that would drop her off near her home. But just when she thought she was home free, a chill crept through her body and a large figure stepped out in front of her. It was Leon.
“You are coming with us,” he said, a deep sneer on his face.
Sadie looked around frantically for anybody that could help her, but nobody was in sight. Max wasn’t anywhere to be found. He would never even know what had happened. She felt a sudden deep regret for the way things had been left with him. Why couldn’t she have just been a normal person and told him exactly how she felt without letting every conversation with him evolve into an argument? Why couldn’t they have just overcome their differences and shared the one thing they had in common. The mutual love and respect for one another?
But it was far too late for any of that. And Leon sneered down at her, his dark blue eyes glittering in the sun. She felt too strong hands on each arm, and she was forcefully led to the back of a van. They shoved her inside, and soon, she was driven away. Far away from her home, far away from Max and her mother. Far away from anybody who actually gave any consideration for her whatsoever. She was in trouble, and she had no way out of it this time.
22.
When Max finally got out of the Council’s building, he frowned, disturbed by a strange energy in the air. His first thought, of course, was Sadie, and took off as quickly as he could toward her home, shifting into his wolf form and trying to hone all of his senses in on her. Something wasn’t right, and it was up to him to make sure she was safe.
When he found that she wasn’t home, he tracked her scent all the way to the mechanic’s across town, and then it disappeared suddenly. But what was left over was the residual energy of fear and anguish. Something was wrong. And he knew exactly who to look for.
It took a little while, but he soon found the scent of the truck Sadie had presumably been put inside. Of course, it belonged to Leon. Of course, it had the scent of the other shifters that had been waiting outside his store for him. He should have taken Leon’s warnings more seriously. He should have been surveilling Sadie’s every move just to make sure she was safe. Why had he allowed himself to get distracted by his anger at the Council? Why had he agreed to take the stupid blood test so the elders would be able to det
ect the magic in the air and take care of that for themselves without having to have Max there as a vessel to protect it?
All of these thoughts rushed through his head as he sped in the direction of the van. It led him outside of Stonybrooke, into the far reaches of an area he had never visited before. It was heavily wooded here, and soon, he began to hear the ominous sounds of chanting coming through the trees. A deep growl rose in his throat, but he silenced it. It was better to have the element of surprise on his side, if he possibly could. If they were performing a ritual, the chances were high that everybody there was probably focused on whatever they were doing, and he could probably sneak in without being noticed.
When he finally made his way to the area where the chanting was coming from, he stopped, his heart constricting tightly in his chest. Sadie was tied up, the ropes around her body cutting off the circulation. She looked terrified, and surrounding her were the two hybrid shifters and Leon.
The hybrid shifters were each holding thick, leather-bound books, and reading from them, their deep, eerie voices wafting through the trees and filling the air with the deep hum of magic. Leon stood by, watching with a sick grin on his face. He wanted to see Sadie suffer. She had been rejecting him for many years now, and it became clear to him that they were going to use her as a sacrifice in order to try to counteract the protection of his blood magic.
