Once outside, I saw the giant manor house and the clusters of wooden cottages around it. The cottages were built into the sides of the hills, surrounded by plants and trees. Warm and welcoming, they were a part of the nature around them.
Even if I hadn’t picked up on the noticeable woodsy smell of shifters, I would have known they lived here. Because in my heart, it felt like home.
“Usually everyone’s working or training during this time of day,” Dahlia said, gazing out at the village. “But we know how important it is for shifters to be greeted by their pack, so we sent a fire message out to the packs to notify them about your arrival. They should be waiting for you inside. I believe their cottage is—”
“That one,” I interrupted, bursting into my wolf form and running toward the cottage before she could get out the rest of her sentence.
17
Noah
It felt freeing to run as a wolf again. Ever since going on the demon hunt, I’d been so consumed with killing demons that I hadn’t had any time to just be. Yes, I had my motorcycle rides through the Hollywood Hills, but that held nothing to running as a wolf.
I could have run the entire length of the island, so it felt like I reached the cottage far too quickly. Once there, I stared at the door, my heart pounding. Because I had no idea how my pack was going to greet me.
I’d been so happy to see them again that I’d run toward their cottage without a second thought. But there was a good chance they hadn’t forgiven me for my involvement in the war at the Vale. Plus, I’d deserted them to go off on my demon hunt. They had no obligation to take me back.
I needed to prepare myself for the possibility that they might send me away. Back to being a lone wolf.
I’d handled it for the past few weeks. I could handle it again. Especially now that Raven and I had each other.
I shifted back into human form and raised my hand to knock. Since I was still wearing my cloaking ring, my pack mates were unable to smell me like I could smell them.
It was generally considered rude for supernaturals to wear cloaking rings while not on missions, because it allowed us to hide from others. Plus, cloaking rings were expensive. There was no reason to invest in one unless you had something to hide. So anyone wearing a cloaking ring was immediately viewed with suspicion.
But I had no home right now, so I had nowhere to safely keep the ring except for on my body. Which meant I had to announce my arrival the human way.
I knocked, trying to ignore the way my stomach was jumping into my throat, and bracing myself for the worst. My pack mates were either going to accept me or not. Either way, I’d deal with it and find my place on Avalon.
The door swung open, revealing Sarah’s familiar face. Sarah was one of the eldest members of the Southern Vale pack. Her skin was saggy and wrinkled, but her eyes gleamed with the happiness of a much younger woman. And much to my surprise, when she saw me, she smiled.
“Noah!” she exclaimed, moving aside and motioning for me to come in. “We’ve been expecting you.”
I stepped inside the cottage, looking around to assess the situation. The living room was warm and cozy, with couches surrounding a blazing fireplace. There were six others on the sofas. The moment I walked inside, they all stood up.
Four of them were children. Pre-teens, really. Timothy, Aaron, Rebecca, and Naomi. They were our four strongest young fighters, and everyone said had the most potential once they grew older. They each looked up at me with a mix of fear and respect. Which I supposed was better than the loathing I’d anticipated.
A woman and a man stood alongside them. The woman—Esther—was around the same age my mother would have been if my parents hadn’t been killed when I was young during one of the many fights for land that the packs of the Vale had amongst each other. A kind, empathetic woman, Esther was the storyteller of the pack. What she lacked in physical prowess, she made up for in the magical way she could weave words and captivate with a tale. As a child, I remembered huddling around campfires for hours on cold, snowy nights to listen to her stories.
The man was Gabriel. Other than myself, he was one of the best fighters in the Vale. We used to train together all the time. Avalon was lucky to have him in their army.
Everyone in the cottage had their feet slightly angled toward Gabriel, tipping me off that he was the alpha of what remained of the pack.
Then, the unexpected happened.
Gabriel locked his gaze on mine and kneeled. The others followed suit.
I stared back at them, shocked. Because I’d seen this happen before. Why were they doing it now?
“First Prophet,” Gabriel started, speaking the words as a compliment instead of the curse they’d been. “We know about the quest the Earth Angel sent you on to slay ten demons and make up for your sins. Congratulations on completing your mission. Now, just as Avalon has accepted you onto the island, we accept you back into the pack. And I invite you to take your rightful place as alpha.”
I was shocked into silence. Most of what he’d said was exactly what I’d hoped would happen when I was reunited with the remainder of my pack on Avalon.
Except for that last part.
Because I was no alpha. I wasn’t always the best follower, either, but I’d never seen myself as a leader. I was more of a lone wolf, always on the outside looking in.
But they were all looking at me, waiting for a response. I needed to either accept or decline. That was how this worked.
Well, at least it was how it worked when an alpha offered the spot to another pack member. There was always the option to challenge the alpha to a fight to the death to take his place as well. In those cases, the winner became the new alpha. But this—giving up the position freely—was different.
Now, I had a choice to make. One I wasn’t prepared for in the slightest.
“This is all that’s left?” I asked, looking around at the seven of them. Our pack had twenty-four members before the Battle at the Vale. I’d known most hadn’t survived, since I’d felt their deaths in battle. But seeing the pack whittled down to fewer than half of that made my chest feel hollow. Like losing pieces of myself.
“There are five still at the Vale,” Sarah said, rattling off the names of my fellow pack mates who’d stayed behind. Three of them were children, which made sense, since children didn’t fight on the front line in the battle. “They weren’t accepted onto Avalon, so they’re making a home in the Vale under King Alexander’s peaceful reign,” she continued, sadness flashing over her eyes before she said the next part. “As you know, the others didn’t make it.”
I glanced at the floor, taking a moment of silence to remember my fallen pack mates.
We’d thought we were going to decimate the vampires in the Battle at the Vale. Which we did. Fewer shifters had died in the battle than vampires. But war was a terrible, ugly thing. No side ever came out unscathed.
And with so many demons released from the Hell Gate, it was only going to get worse from here.
“Well?” Gabriel looked at me, his trusting brown eyes round with hope. “What do you say? Will you be our new alpha?”
“You’ve been alpha since the group of you arrived on Avalon.” I said it as a statement, not a question.
“I have.” He nodded.
“So why give the spot to me?”
“I know I always put up a good fight when we sparred, but we both know you’re the better fighter of the two of us,” he said with a chuckle. He was correct, so I said nothing. “Plus, you’ve killed ten demons. We’ve been here on Avalon since the Battle at the Vale. Yes, we’ve been training, but we’ve yet to be on the field. No one on Avalon has.”
“So everyone here is doing what?” I asked. “Sitting around training and letting the demons kill whoever they want to on Earth?”
“That’s the strange thing,” Esther piped in. “The demons on Earth are laying low. The humans there are clueless that anything has changed.”
“Except for the gifted humans the demons are kid
napping,” I said. “They know it’s changed.”
“The demons are planning something,” Sarah said. “We all know it. The leaders here are trying to figure out what that something is before we launch a full-scale attack. In the meantime, our warriors are training every day so we’re ready when that time comes.”
“And what’s your position here on Avalon?” I asked, since Sarah was far too old to be useful in battle. She’d once been talented with her teeth and claws, but now that she was over a century old, age had taken her dexterity away from her. It was why she’d survived the Battle at the Vale. We’d had her stay back with the children, knowing the battlefield was no place for her anymore.
“Being old doesn’t make me useless,” she said with a smile, her tone making it clear that she knew I knew that. “My physical strength might have faded, but I used to be able to take down nearly any challenger in a fight. That knowledge is still up here.” She pointed to her head. “I oversee the shifter training sessions, giving advice not just to the trainees, but to the trainers as well.”
I nodded, since she’d done the same on the Vale when we were preparing for war with the vampires. But there was one part that still didn’t make sense…
“How did you make it through the simulation to get onto the island?” I asked. “No offense. It’s just that the simulation required strength and endurance.”
Yes, there were ways to get through the simulation without having to enter a physical fight, like Raven and I had done. But there was still the long trek in the beginning from the cave to the stream where we’d met the unicorn and wyvern—the trek where we’d been deprived of food and water. And a shifter’s final years of life were the hardest. Our species entered a rapid decline during that time, making them weaker than a human and fully dependent on the pack. It was no secret that Sarah had entered her final years. She no longer had the energy to survive even the long walk in the simulation.
“Ah, the simulation,” she said, a strange peace setting in her expression. “When I opened my eyes in the cave, I was young again. King Arthur returned me to my prime so I could show him what I was truly made of. Unfortunately, when I woke back up on my boat floating toward Avalon, I was back to the way I am now. Not even King Arthur or the mystical island of Avalon has the power to reverse the effects of time. Pause them, yes. But reverse them? No.”
I nodded, knowing she was referring to the immortality granted to us by the mana and Holy Water.
“We’ll fill you in on the details of our arrivals here and our lives here later,” Gabriel said, shifting impatiently on his knee. “But right now, you need to stop putting off your decision. You’re the only one in our pack who’s fought a demon and lived to tell the tale. And you didn’t just kill one demon—you killed ten of them. So do you want to take your rightful place as alpha or not?”
They were looking at me with such hope. Especially the children.
Back in the Vale, I’d never considered becoming alpha. There were others who had been born and bred for the role. I was a talented fighter, yes, but that was all. Then I’d assumed a leadership role as the First Prophet, and we all knew how that turned out.
But now that we were on Avalon, circumstances had changed. And Gabriel was right. I wasn’t the same person I’d been before leaving on my quest. I now had the experience my pack needed to respect me as their leader.
Most surprisingly of all, now that I was faced with the opportunity, it felt wrong to say no.
“Yes,” I said, and they all simultaneously let out a breath of relief. “I accept the position of alpha of the Southern Vale pack.”
“Perfect.” Gabriel stood up and shook my hand. His grip was firm, but he lowered his gaze before I did mine. It was a sign of respect. “Let’s get my stuff out of the master bedroom and get you moved in.”
18
Raven
The academy tour was mostly of the first floor, as the other floors were used for living quarters. Violet told us about the daily routine at the academy. Waking up early, mealtimes, training times, etc. Afternoons were spent learning the history of the supernatural world, battle strategy, etiquette while dealing with different supernatural creatures, and basic academic stuff like that. Mornings were for fight training.
From the way Violet looked me over when she mentioned fight training, I could tell she didn’t think I was going to be able to handle it well.
I couldn’t wait to prove her wrong.
Once the tour was over, Violet led us out to the front door. There, we waited for the other students to arrive back at the house.
Right after the bottom of the sun touched the horizon, wyverns and unicorns came flying and running over the crest of the tallest hill in the distance. There must have been over a hundred of them in all. While they were only specks, I saw people riding on their backs. And they were heading straight toward us. With the sun setting behind them, it looked like a scene straight out of a fairy tale.
My heart warmed at the sight of the magical creatures. It was beautiful moments like this one where none of this felt real.
“You didn’t mention there were unicorns on Avalon,” I said, gazing out at them in awe. I focused on the unicorns because they were close to my heart after the simulation, although wyverns were cool, too.
“I figured I’d let you see for yourself.” Violet smiled as she looked out at the incoming creatures. “Everyone on Avalon has either a unicorn or wyvern companion to help them get around the island. You met yours during the simulation to see if you were worthy of coming here or not.”
“Annar.” I gave a little jump of excitement as I said her name. Jessica looked equally as excited at the thought of seeing her unicorn, Clover, again. “You mean she’s here?”
“She is,” Violet confirmed. “At least, she’ll be here when you need her.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The unicorns and wyverns don’t live on Avalon,” she said. “They’re from my realm—Mystica. But each unicorn or wyvern has a magical connection with the human companion they bonded with in the simulation. They know when and where to pop in to give you transportation whenever you need it. You’ll both be reunited with either your unicorn or wyvern tomorrow, when you head out to your first training session.”
“Wow.” Jessica gazed out toward the creatures making their way toward us, looking awestruck. Then she refocused on Violet. “Are you able to pop back into Mystica that easily, too?”
Sadness crossed over Violet’s eyes. “Unfortunately, no,” she said, clearly missing her old home. “My sisters and I are constantly using our magic to keep Avalon thriving. If we left, the island wouldn’t be able to sustain everyone living here.”
“Thank you,” I said, reminded again how much Violet and her sisters had sacrificed to help us fight the demons on Earth.
“You’re welcome,” she said. “Although, what my sisters and I are doing here isn’t entirely unselfish. If the demons win the war on Earth, Mystica will be at risk of being invaded. We can’t have that. So we’re not just here for Earth, but for Mystica and all the other realms, too.”
I assumed she was saying it for Jessica’s benefit and not for mine, since she’d already told me as much during my orientation.
“You gave up your life in your home realm to help us fight against the demons,” I said. “If that isn’t unselfish, I don’t know what is.”
“You know a thing or two about that, don’t you, Raven?” she said with a small smile.
“I guess so.” I shrugged, since my journey here hadn’t started out that way. It had started to help my mom. But sometime along the way, this fight against the demons had become my fight, too.
Especially since now, I was their only hope against Azazel.
The unicorns and wyverns got closer, until I could clearly see the humans on their backs. Leading the pack—one on a unicorn and the other on a wyvern—were two strong, beautiful, dark-skinned women, their long hair in tiny braids that flew out behind
them.
They were the leaders of the academy, identical twin vampire princesses Darra and Tari from the Ward Kingdom in West Africa. Violet had told us about them during the tour of the manor house. Since they were in charge around here, they had the entire top floor of the house to themselves. Their quarters were private, so it was the one area we hadn’t been allowed to see.
I recognized them immediately. Not because I’d met them before. But because I’d seen them before—in the video Thomas had shown me of Jacen’s selection process he’d held in the Vale to find a bride. During the talent portion of the selection, they’d demonstrated their skills with fighting sticks. They were strong, fast, and lethal—no wonder they were the head trainers at the academy.
In the videos I’d seen from Jacen’s selection, the twins had always looked uncomfortable in the gowns they’d worn in the palace. But now, riding on the backs of a wyvern and a unicorn as they charged back toward the academy, they looked completely in their element.
Once the group arrived in front of the manor house, the wyverns descended to deliver their humans to the ground.
Darra and Tari were the first to jump off the backs of their creatures. They each patted their creature’s neck, as if thanking them for the ride, and stepped away. A second later, their creatures vanished into thin air.
Well, not technically into thin air. Thanks to what Violet had just told me, I knew they had teleported back to Mystica.
The other students hopped off their creatures as well, doing the same thing Darra and Tari had done with placing a palm on their necks to thank them for the ride. A few seconds later, all the creatures were gone.
The princesses stepped forward to stand in front of us. “Welcome to Avalon Academy,” said the one who had been riding the wyvern. She had strands of silver woven through her braids, while her sister had strands of gold. The students behind her were silent as she spoke. “I’m Tari.”
The Angel Trials- The Complete Series Page 84
