***
The first wave of witches were growing ever closer to the wolf village. They continued to push their way through the darkness with the single minded determination to kill any and all wolves they encountered. Above them. the moon shone brightly, its power free flowing, having not been blocked by any spells.
The forest continued to be still as they weaved their way over tree trunks, through thick branches and across moss-covered ground. The young witches and warlocks were unblinking as they moved, a glazed expression permanently fixed on their youthful features. Like walking in a dream, they wandered to their final destination, oblivious of what awaited them there.
Trailing behind were Agatha and the older members of the coven, already frantically whispering incantations to themselves as sparks began to ignite from their fingers, ready for battle.
***
Theo ceased sniffing the air and his eyes widened in horrified realization. He knew the scent of old, it was unmistakable. What worried him now was how close it was. His eyes suddenly flashed yellow and bright as the wolf within him prepared for what was about to transpire.
***
“They’ve been practicing nonstop.” Caspian referred to the witches who were with Uma and Iris.
“Mmm,” Allegra mumbled, growing sleepy before the warmth of the fire.
“Do you think it will come to it? Will it come to all-out war?” he worried aloud. A part of him couldn’t escape the fact that any blood shed would potentially be on his hands. So many had already lost their lives. It pained him that more would need to die before the issue between the wolves and the witches was resolved.
Allegra curled herself in to a ball, preparing to go to sleep.
“Where were you?” Caspian suddenly wondered. “If you weren’t with the other witches, where did you go? You should be careful not to wander too far from the village when you feel unwell.”
“I went to get some fresh air,” Allegra answered on a yawn. She saw the concern reflected in Caspian’s deep, intense eyes, and she knew she owed him the truth. She pulled herself up and shook off the fatigue that kept threatening to lull her to sleep.
“I was in the woods, and I cast a quick spell. Alone.”
“What sort of spell?” Caspian wondered. “Why did you need to be alone?”
Allegra looked guiltily away from him. She knew he wouldn’t be happy about what she’d done. Why should he? She’d tried to save the very woman who pinned her to the stake on which she’d been supposed to burn. But despite it all, Lorna was still her mother, Allegra couldn’t just turn her back on her, no matter what had happened between them.
“I sent a message on the wind,” she sighed. “To my mother.”
Caspian’s eyes widened with anger, and his brow became furrowed. “You did what?” His voice was low and seething with rage.
“I had to!” Allegra explained, her eyes pleading. “She’s my mother, Caspian! I couldn’t live with myself if I just let her be slaughtered by the wolves.”
“So what did you say in this message?” He remembered how her words had curled around him in a breeze and felt slightly betrayed that she’d sent a message out to someone else, someone so unworthy of hearing her sweet, angelic voice.
“I warned her,” Allegra admitted meekly. “I told her that war was coming and that she should run.”
Caspian was pacing around the small space of his living room, running a hand through his thick, dark hair.
“She’s probably already fled,” Allegra announced hopefully.
“Either that or she’s told the other witches, and they are headed here right now to get the jump on us,” Caspian countered pessimistically.
“No.” Allegra shook her head, certain that she knew her mother well enough to denounce such a theory. “She would never do that. She’d either run or say nothing at all. She wouldn’t run to the elders with the news. She’s still my mother.”
“I hope you’re right,” Caspian said stoically, his jaw tense.
The calm night air outside was suddenly skewered by a loud, ferocious roar. A roar that made the blood freeze in Allegra’s veins.
Caspian glanced wildly between the door and the object of his affection. He knew what such a roar meant. “They’re here,” he said as his eyes flashed a bright, brilliant yellow. “The battle is upon us.”
***
Theo transformed into his wolf form and looked up at his beloved moon and roared with all his might. It was a call to arms for all the wolves of his pack and the witches gathered there to aid them. They’d run out of time. He could smell the witches growing ever closer to their village. They’d reach them in a matter of minutes. The wolves needed to take the fight away from the village, out into the woods. There, amongst the trees, the score would finally be settled between the two kinds.
Seconds after the roar went out, his pack gathered around him in wolf form, teeth barred and eager for a fight. Behind them, the witches formed a line, their expressions dark, their arms held at their sides. Everyone was ready and willing to fight. Theo roared his final order, and the wolves dove in to the forest, their black coats instantly absorbed by the density of the night.
***
“Are you ready?” Uma cried to the witches around her.
Each of them began to cast spells, making sparks dance from the tips of their fingers.
“This is what we’ve been waiting for!” Uma yelled, bunching her hands into fists that sparked at her side. She glared angrily in to the forest ahead. For so long she had wanted vengeance upon those who had wronged her. Now that time was finally here, and she was determined to make the most of it.
She thought of the years she’d spent living on the periphery of the Vale, hiding out from those who sought to hurt her. She existed in the shadows, practicing magic, growing stronger and it had all been for this moment.
“We’ve all been wronged by the witches of the coven!” she cried. “We’ve been cast out, alienated and some were even killed. Today we end the cycle of abuse. Today we stop the elders from killing more innocent witches!”
“Yeah!” the witches cried in unison, each of them seething with their own personal cross to bear.
“Take all the anger, all the hurt, all the pain, take it and use it!” Uma instructed them, channeling her own negative energy to make the sparks from her hands glow a bright, brilliant blue. “Take it and make them pay!”
“Yeah!”
Beside Uma, Iris collected her own cocktail of negative emotions and sent it surging down to her hands, to the sparks which were gathering. She realized now that the anger she felt toward Caspian for her mother’s death had been misdirected. It was the elders who were really responsible, the elders who wanted to burn her best friend simply for wanting to follow a different path.
As Iris pushed the pain of loss, anguish and despair down, magic tears dropped down her cheeks and her breath misted before her in the cool evening air. Her heart was already racing frantically in her chest. She was ready to fight. She was even ready to die. She knew that if this cause took her life that it wouldn’t be in vain. The coven had to be stopped, at any cost.
“Tonight we fight!” Uma could scarcely contain the mounting power within her as rogue sparks shot away from her hands and scorched nearby trees. Lost to the adrenalin of battle, she failed to notice that her sister wasn’t present.
“Let’s go!” She gave the order and the witches ran up toward the trees, following the trail the wolves had already blazed. Ahead, they heard the snarling and snapping of teeth, and pockets of light erupted as the witches of the coven began to fight back.
Uma didn’t pause to consider what to do. She guided her witches to the center of the battle. They were fired up and passionate and in this state they could inflict the most damage. They were each baying for blood, and she’d ensure that they each had their fill.
***
Caspian’s body began to transform right before Allegra’s astonished eyes. The battle roar had awake
ned the primal part of himself, and he was powerless to control it. Dropping to all fours, he cried out as his bones began to break and re-set themselves.
Horrified, Allegra cowered in a corner. She didn’t care about the beast he was becoming, she cared about the pain he was enduring. Caspian cried in agony but those cries quickly turned to howls as dark fur sprouted across his body and his teeth extended into long, deadly fangs.
Finally he was in his wolf form. He looked at Allegra, recognition flashing across his now yellow eyes, and then he turned and sprung out in to the night, heading toward the battle.
Allegra tentatively stood up, trembling with the shock. She hadn’t expected Caspian to change directly before her like that. In his human form, it was easy to forget the power which he possessed. She went to the window and looked out but saw only darkness within the village square. Both the witches and the wolves had moved out in to the forest. Lowering her head with guilt, she sighed deeply.
It was obvious that her mother had led them there. Her mother, who she had foolishly trusted. The pain of the betrayal burned in Allegra’s chest, making it difficult to breathe. She wanted to be out there with Iris and Uma, fighting alongside them, but she was still so very tired. Her limbs throbbed and ached as though they were made of iron and cumbersome to lift. Each time she felt the warmth of the fire, her body tried to coax her into the sweet respite of sleep. But she refused. She couldn’t sleep, not now. Not when there was a war going on outside.
A tear dropped down her cheek, which Allegra quickly wiped away. She refused to cry over her mother. But there was still a small part of her that wished she’d run from the battle, run from the sharp claws of the wolves and find safety because despite everything, Allegra knew she still had the capacity in her heart to forgive her.
***
Caspian sprinted into the forest, his four legs propelling him forward with impressive speed. His mind was consumed with the single purpose of destroying the invaders. His canine instincts longed to tear them limb from limb, to see their blood spray wildly as he severed their heads. He wanted the ground to turn red. Growling, he could already smell the fresh blood on the air and it served to make him more eager to participate in the battle.
Teeth barred, he arrived at the edge of the fray. His wolf eyes could penetrate the darkness where wolves ripped into young witches and older witches and warlocks tried to hold them at bay with the magic that sparked from their hands. Some cowered behind glittering shields, watching events unfold with wide eyes. It was a chaotic scene. The wounded cried out for help but no one listened.
A few injured wolves limped past Caspian, returning to the village, already returning to their human form, which made their wounds seem more graphic. Mostly they had been badly burned, their skin melted by the heat of the witches’ magic.
Snarling, Caspian prepared himself to fight but something stopped him. He remembered a feeling he’d had in the house, a feeling around Allegra. Just as he was about to leave, he’d sensed something. In his wolf state, all of his core senses were heightened. But then he dismissed the feeling as it was overwhelmed by his desire to fight. Yet now in the calm before the storm, the feeling returned and it panicked him. Stricken, Caspian’s entire body tensed. He knew what was wrong with Allegra, why she felt so tired and removed from events. He had to get to her. He couldn’t let her risk fighting.
Turning on his heel, he sprinted away from the battle, back toward his home.
***
Uma relished how it felt to set the world on fire. As she approached the battle, she made the witches with her stop and fan out. They crept around in the darkness, forming a circle around the witches from the coven. With their powers, they then set fire to the forest in a contained circle, holding the battle within it.
The tall proud trees crackled and snapped as they were consumed by the flames. Uma felt guilty watching them be devoured by the fire but she knew that the following day they could return and cast a rejuvenation spell and restore them to their former glory. For now, they had to ensure that none of the elders could escape. For when the tide turned in the battle, it would be them who ran home with their tails between their legs and Uma refused to let that happen. They had to pay.
“Hold the line,” she told the witches as the fire continued to burn, powered by their magic. “No one gets out!” she cried.
Iris sent power surging from her hands and into the line of fire that illuminated the night and heated the air around them. She yearned to join the battle, to slay an elder with her own hand but Uma made her resist.
“We are better served here,” she instructed. “Let the wolves slaughter the elders, we would still be no match for their magic.”
But as Uma watched the battle unfold, she noticed that only the elders defended themselves. The younger witches and warlocks moved as though dreaming, careless and with oblivious movements. They walked right up to a wolf only to then be torn apart by their talons. They weren’t fighting, weren’t even trying to protect themselves. Uma knew what she had to do. She pulled Iris aside and pointed at the younger members of the coven scattered around the battle ground.
“We have to help them.” She had to shout to be heard over the cries, screams and snarls.
“Why?”
“Don’t you see?” Uma gestured at the younger members of the coven, only a handful still standing. “They aren’t here to fight. They are held under a spell. We have to help them, they don’t deserve to die.”
“How do we help them?” Iris asked helplessly.
“Like this,” Uma demonstrated as she sent her power in to the battle, a long line of brilliant blue magic that attached itself to the ground around several of the young witches and surrounded them with a glittering shield.
“I can only do so many,” Uma said as she trembled beneath the exertion.
Iris followed her example and shielded a couple more witches but she struggled to maintain the excessive flow of magic necessary to protect them.
“Hold the line!” Uma called out to the other witches as her nose began to bleed. She would soon be depleted of all magic and a sitting target for the wicked elders of the coven.
***
The door to Caspian’s home was thrown open as he walked in. He had almost returned to his human form but his eyes were still yellow and his arms covered in fur. He’d never before been able to control the transformation but his fear for Allegra had made the wolf within him submit so that he could become human once more.
“Allegra,” he gasped, weary from the transformation, which was always exhausting.
“Caspian, what happened?” She immediately came to his side, her eyes wide and anxious.
“I had to come back,” he breathed heavily.
“Why, is everything okay?”
“Allegra.” He looked intently into her eyes as the yellow of his own faded away and was replaced by his normal deep, dark stare. She looked back at him, holding his gaze, desperate to hear what he was about to say, desperate to hear why he had run from the heat of battle so unexpectedly.
“I know what’s wrong.”
“What’s wrong?” Allegra looked bemused. Was he talking about the battle? Were they going to lose? Dread turned her entire body to ice as she contemplated the elders eliminating the wolves, turning the entire forest to ash and then coming for her, desperate to conclude their original punishment. Filled with fear, she looked at the fire burning in the hearth. That would not be her fate. She wouldn’t allow it.
Caspian summoned what remained of his strength to hold Allegra’s arms tightly.
“I know what’s wrong with you,” he told her. “Not that it’s wrong…” he hurriedly added.
Allegra waited for him to speak again, not daring to breath.
“You’re pregnant.” Caspian smiled as he relayed the joyful news.
Allegra started to smile also when a sharp wind entered the house, putting out the fire. The wind danced around her and whispered in her ears.
; “We need you.” Uma’s voice bounced around the house, sounding desperate. “We can’t hold them off for much longer. Help us.”
***
Lorna fought fiercely alongside the elders of the coven. Magic sparks shot from her hands and struck down any wolf who tried to attack her. But she could already smell the blood, pungent and heavy on the air. And it wasn’t wolf blood that had been shed. As she’d feared, the younger witches and warlocks had been mercilessly slain, unable to protect themselves.
Yet as she glanced around, she noticed that the few younger members who still stood were now behind a glittering shield. Someone was protecting them with magic, but who? After shooting sparks at an advancing wolf, Lorna quickly glanced around, seeing the wall of fire that held them all in place. Her eyes darted about madly and then she spotted Uma. Her eldest daughter stood casting spells to protect the youth of the coven. The power she was using was overwhelming her, and she was already dropping to her knees, blood running from her nose.
Lorna made fists with her hands and began to advance over to her daughter, determined to finish the coven’s business with her once and for all.
***
Uma felt her power depleting as she struggled to maintain the shields protecting the innocent members of the coven. Her legs began to buckle beneath her as her body weakened.
“Allegra, where are you?” she mumbled helplessly to herself. She needed more power.
Wolf Tainted Union: The Complete Collection - 6-Book Bundle (Books 1-6) - A Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance Page 14
