by Kamryn Hart
“Cor Almighty, do you even hear yourself? Instinct? Evolution? That’s all this is to you? Babaga really is full of shit.”
Todd frowned. “No. I was trying to be reasonable, to explain something… unexplainable.” He shrugged. “I love her.”
I might have said he was making excuses, but he wasn’t. I hated how he could do that, how he could seem so calm all the time like nothing bothered him, like he didn’t care. And yet, I knew that wasn’t true. The night we were all linked together, I felt the depth of Todd’s emotions as well as everyone else’s, even if I couldn’t explain them. We were for Sorissa, and we were for each other. There was no question, no second thoughts even from a traitor who chose us over his people. How did everything change in just a few days? How did we grow more in a few days than we had in two months together? How could love exist between two werewolves who should have been considered almost complete strangers?
My anger flared, and I walked up to Todd. I reached out, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, and yanked him to his feet while moonlight flooded out of my pores, the blue flames aggressively licking his skin. He didn’t look scared, not even as his pactputer hit the lunalite floor with a clatter. “Careful,” he said. “You’ll break it.”
I growled. “Fuck that. Worry about yourself for once.”
“What are you going to do, Aerre?” He wrapped his hands around my wrist. I half expected him to use his moonlight. He was full of it. He hadn’t used it once since the full moon. He never did, even though he was a werewolf and held more moonlight than I ever could. He gripped my wrist to adjust my hold a little so I wasn’t pressing uncomfortably into his throat. That was it.
“I don’t know,” I gritted out. “I can’t think. My head is throbbing.” I felt sick to my stomach. I wanted to punch Todd into oblivion. I also wanted to curl up into the fetal position.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Rodrick demanded, dashing into the room. Moonlight shot off him in sparks as he grabbed me and Todd, separating us effortlessly with the ridiculous amount he was using. He wasn’t messing around. He turned his moonlight off the next instant to conserve it, but he watched me warily as he stood in front of Todd, ready to turn it on again if he had to. “Calm down, Aerre.”
Moonlight was leaking out from every pore in my body. I was trembling with the power I was exuding. I wondered if moonlight could detonate me, if I could really explode. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, trying to guide all the moonlight back into my core to conserve and deactivate it. It was a struggle, like trying to catch steam with my bare hands. It kept slithering away from me, mocking. I clenched my fists and willed it back. I made sure there was no question of what I wanted it. Return to dormancy.
I succeeded, but I was breathing heavily, and I was sweating. I was literally having a panic attack or some shit. I gave in to the urge to curl up, crouching down onto the floor and grabbing my head. I took a few shaky breaths, over and over, until I was able to think clearly again.
“You good?” Rodrick asked. Why was everyone concerned about my wellbeing all of a sudden? Rodrick asking me was ten times worse than Todd.
“I’m fine,” I said as I stood up and shook my head.
“Don’t touch Todd again.”
“I won’t. I don’t know what got into me.”
Anger? Jealousy? I was such a loose cannon. I knew it was stupid. I knew I should be in control, but I was never good at it, was I? Even though I told myself I thought things through. Even though I told myself Caspian was the impulsive one.
I wondered how the others put up with me all the time. Mainly Caspian. He had put up with me for years.
“Has Caspian come back yet?” I asked.
“Haven’t seen him,” Rodrick replied.
“I’m going to find him.”
“Fine. Hopefully, Sorissa will be back by the time you do. Babaga came back and Sorissa wanted to talk.”
I nodded and escaped that suffocating room in a hurry. I jogged down the halls and rooms of the huge castle, avoiding the piles of debris and cracks in the floor. When I was outside, I looked down the stairs, expecting to see our roader right where we had parked it. Rodrick had probably carried in the last load before he showed up. But I didn’t see the roader. Did Rodrick move it?
I descended the flight of stairs and looked around, wondering if I had missed it in the dark. I even activated and focused moonlight in my eyes to look again. The lunalite made it impossible to see any tire tracks. I couldn’t see any sign of the roader. What would have been the point in moving it anyway? I got this sinking feeling in my gut. Caspian hadn’t come back just to take the roader, had he? Why would he do that?
I growled. “Selfish move, Phantom Prince. You’re really going to make us come and find you?”
TODD
Aerre had never done anything like that to me before. It left me a little shaky in the king’s bedchamber. I wanted to sit back down on the lunalite floor, comfortable or not.
“Did he hurt you?” Rodrick asked.
“No,” I replied. I brushed my pactputer off. The screen wasn’t cracked or anything, so that was a relief.
Rodrick growled. “Good. He’s so fucking psychotic sometimes.”
“He is hard to read. Everyone is. But not Sorissa… not when that connection is present.”
“You seem different, Todd. More confident or something.”
“Because I kind of understood you all for the first time. Because of what Sorissa did on the full moon. It sucks it faded though. I have no idea what Aerre was thinking just now. It’s easier on me when I can read your minds. Then I know how to act.”
Rodrick laughed. “Apparently, you know how to act better than the rest of us.”
“It’s because of Sorissa. Nothing to do with me.”
“It definitely has something to do with you. Sorissa picked all of us, but you’re the only one who knew how to reciprocate.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. I was pretty sure that Rodrick was praising me, but I didn’t want to assume anything.
The door burst open. Aerre was panting and hunched over. My breath caught with his haggard appearance, with the glint in his eye. I didn’t know what it meant. Was he still angry? Was he going to come at me again?
“Caspian’s missing,” he informed. “I looked all over, but he is definitely gone. And he took our damn roader.”
“That son of a bitch,” Rodrick growled. “Why the hell would he do that?”
“I have no fucking clue, but shouldn’t we find him? He’s the one who’s supposed to fight the king on the next full moon.”
“Yeah,” Rodrick grunted. “We should find Sorissa and Babaga, too. Maybe the Witch of Witch Woods can tell us where Caspian is by using her witchy powers.”
It didn’t take us long after leaving the castle to find Sorissa and Babaga. They were at the bottom of the stairs, about to come inside from the look of it.
“Where’s the roader?” Sorissa asked.
“Caspian took it,” Aerre said.
“He what?”
“Witch, can you find him?” Rodrick asked.
“A little respect would be nice, tethered,” Babaga said. She circled her fingers around in the air, distorting the space like a heatwave. Then she pointed her finger at Rodrick and a spark flew, hitting him square in the chest. He let out a surprised grunt and furiously rubbed the spot.
“Babaga,” Sorissa chastised. Then she turned to Rodrick. “But she does have a point. She has a name. Call her Babaga.”
“Babaga,” he said, still rubbing his chest, “can you help us find Caspian?”
“No.”
He swore and rubbed the spot harder like her rejection somehow made it hurt more.
“I said training begins immediately. Find him yourselves.”
“Isn’t that a waste of valuable time if you could just tell us? Who knows how far he’s gone. He has a roader,” Aerre said.
“You’re all full of moonligh
t. Use your heads.”
“I don’t have any moonlight,” Sorissa chimed in.
“My point. Come up with a plan, werewolves.”
“We could shift into our moonlight forms and maybe catch up to the roader if we left immediately and concentrated extra moonlight in our legs,” I said. “But Sorissa would have to ride on one of our backs.”
“Indeed, unless you figure out a way to give Sorissa some of your moonlight.”
“Doesn’t work like that,” I said doubtfully. “Moonlight is absorbed directly from the moon. Werewolves can’t pass it around.”
“Didn’t you listen to me earlier?”
“I did but—”
“Todd. You should feel it’s possible through your connection to Sorissa. You don’t have to understand the mechanics of it. Don’t block it. Let your feelings shine through like they did when you and Sorissa solidified your bond.”
Sorissa stood in front of me and took my hands. She had a soft smile on her lips. Her eyes were locked on mine. I loved it when she looked into my eyes like this. I loved making eye contact with her. In the night, with the stars shining, her eyes were a beautiful maroon.
“Shall we try it?” she asked.
“Why not?” It wasn’t like we had anything to lose.
I brought Sorissa a little closer to me and leaned down to press my forehead against hers. It was easy to get lost in her. It was easy before when I didn’t know her thoughts or feelings. Touching her was powerful on its own, but now I did know her thoughts and feelings, and it made touching much more intense. Everything else faded away.
“Are you nervous to have everyone watching?” Sorissa’s voice floated around in my head.
“No. Are you?”
“No.”
She wrapped her arms around the back of my neck and closed her eyes. I closed my eyes too and brushed the back of her neck, feeling the place I bit her. She was an extension of me. No. She was more. Energy buzzed everywhere she touched me, especially where her bare skin touched mine. Our heartbeats synced up along with our breaths. One mind. One body. It felt so natural, and I didn’t ask questions. Love was an abstract concept, but Sorissa made it the most tangible, real thing in the world.
“Will you accept some of my moonlight, Sorissa?”
“I’ll accept it.”
Energy flooded my body in a cool wave as the moonlight in my core activated. It sloshed around, and I envisioned it as a bright blue light as I guided it through my system and out of my pores. I envisioned it as tiny tendrils of smoke moving toward Sorissa, sticking to her skin and sinking back down into her own pores. I didn’t know what I was doing, but it came naturally, easily with Sorissa there to guide me. Everything was easy with her.
Once I transferred about half of my moonlight, I opened my eyes, and the moment was gone. We were still connected, but our heartbeats and breaths were no longer in perfect synchronization. Fatigue spread through my body, but Sorissa steadied me. She stood on her tiptoes and captured my lips with hers.
“That was amazing,” she said.
When she blinked her eyes open again, they were blazing blue with moonlight. I shivered, and we slowly moved apart.
Babaga nodded her head and clapped her old hands. “Very good.”
Rodrick and Aerre stood stiffly, arms folded as they mirrored each other down to their scowls—which was a strange sight.
“Todd,” Aerre said, “if you’re the best at everything, where does that leave the rest of us?”
My face heated up, and I shook my head. “I’m definitely not the best at everything. Just most things.”
“You little shit.” Rodrick grinned.
“Enough banter, Phantom Fangs,” Sorissa said. She started stripping out of her clothes, and my heart rate doubled. It didn’t matter how intimate we were. I’d never react any differently.
Sorissa looked over her shoulder and fluttered her eyelashes at me, teasing, reading my thoughts, my feelings. But the flirting stopped as soon as she spoke again. “It’s time to shift. We need to find Caspian sooner rather than later. I don’t know what he’s thinking, but he’s not going to accomplish anything by himself. If he really thought that, he shouldn’t have come with us in the first place.”
She was angry.
She called on her moonlight and fell down onto her hands and knees as black fur sprouted from her skin. Muscles rippled underneath as her body changed and grew into a powerful black wolf, nearly invisible in the night if not for the blazing blue of her eyes. Her moonlight was mostly contained, only active in keeping her form, but it lingered vividly in her eyes as if she were concentrating it there, but it was mostly a unique feature of her wolf.
The rest of us followed, stripping out of our clothes and calling on our moonlight forms. Aerre’s wolf was white as snow. Rodrick’s wolf had a coat made up of dark grays and browns. I didn’t call on my moonlight form often because of the distinct red in my fur, the same reason I always wore my beanie, but that didn’t seem to matter much anymore—especially not out here with only my pack and the witch.
“Run, werewolves. May the Gods watch over you and bless you with great speed,” Babaga said.
Sorissa howled. The sound waves rippled through my body, causing my moonlight to resonate with the frequency. Then we sprung forward on her command. We concentrated our moonlight in our legs, and the world blurred by us with our incredible speed as we ran down the mountain. Not even a roader could outrun us like this.
CHAPTER 23
CASPIAN
I STARED DOWN THE hardskull bull standing on a grassy incline in the late hours of the night. The moon hovered above, a passive observer, my main source of light, and maybe my only witness outside of the Hardskull herd and the Gods if I died tonight. The bull’s nostrils flared wide. His pupils were dilated to the point they eclipsed the color in his irises and ate up the whites of his eyes. I’d never faced a hardskull bull before, but this probably meant there was no turning back now.
He dug a cloven hoof into the ground, digging up clumps of grass and dirt as he prepared to charge me. I hadn’t planned on facing off like this so soon. The herd had moved closer to Howling Sky, so I hadn’t needed to backtrack as far as I thought I would.
That just means this will be over sooner. If you can’t take down this hardskull, then you definitely can’t take down the King of Wolf Bridge, I told myself.
The bull huffed and scraped his hoof against the earth again. It seemed he was daring me to run. I faced him head-on, neither of us making a move. Right now, it was nothing but a battle of wills. He had ordered his cows back, farther down the mountain, and he knew I was alone. He probably thought I was stupid. Maybe I was. Even those nomadic werewolves in the stories Sorissa talked about never hunted a hardskull bull alone—unless it was Garstraude—but that just meant this was the ultimate test.
At least if I failed, the others would be off the hook. They’d know that I was a lost cause, and they wouldn’t return to Wolf Bridge. Koren would sneak Trace and Aerre’s mother out of Wolf Bridge somehow. Or something. I didn’t know, maybe it was just wishful thinking, but I just… this was all I could do. If I couldn’t take down this bull on my own, I really was worthless to them. All of them.
The bull let out a roaring moo that was a lot more terrifying than I could possibly describe. The sound carried and resounded in an amplified echo off the rocks and nearby cliffs. I had to crane my neck to look up at the beast. The single horn on his head was sharp and glinting white-blue in the moonlight, but not for long. Shadows painted the landscape in an ominous darkness as the light from the moon and stars was eclipsed by a cluster of gray clouds.
I activated my moonlight reserves, concentrating it in my eyes so I wouldn’t be left blind. It was time to make a move. I was tired of waiting. So was he, because he charged.
I stood my ground, never taking my eyes off the target. I concentrated moonlight into my feet, legs, and arms and let it flow through the rest of my body to a lesser extent
. I still didn’t move when the bull was almost on top of me. Then, at the last second, when he brought his gigantic head down to cut through me with his sword-blade horn, I grabbed the horn at the base, cutting my hands. I ignored the pain as I tightened my grip, roared, and threw the beast over my head. He landed with a thud right on his ridged back, digging into the earth a few feet deep thanks to his weight.
Shit. My hands stung, and my back ached. I hurriedly healed them with my moonlight.
The beast wheezed and struggled to roll back onto his hooves. I shed my clothes and shifted. White fur speckled in gray sprouted from my dark skin and coated my entire body as I landed on all fours, digging my black claws into the earth. I concentrated moonlight into my jaws so I’d be able to dig through the bull’s hard muscles and rib cage with ease to snap his heart right out of his chest. It was important I finished him in this form because facing the King of Wolf Bridge would mean fighting in our moonlight forms.
The bull was still struggling when I ran forward, teeth bared and snarling. The bigger they were, the harder they fell. Maybe hardskulls weren’t that big of a deal after all. I leaped into the air, diving for his large barrel chest when his forelegs swung forward and hammered my rib cage. Damn bull was baiting me.
My vision burned white when I hit the ground and skidded backward a few feet. I couldn’t breathe. I struggled to my paws and heaved. Then I coughed up blood. He broke a few of my ribs. I concentrated moonlight to the source of pain, weaving my insides back together. If I had to keep healing wounds like this, I was going to be out of moonlight in no time.
