by CJ Cooke
Laying a hand on Hunter’s shoulder and murmuring so the rest of the room couldn’t listen in, I reassured him, “She’s still here. Let’s make sure that doesn’t change. We will not let anything take her from you. Fate would not have put this unbelievable series of events together just for her to be ripped away from you because of something as mundane as not being able to filter her own magic.”
Hunter looked up from where his face had been pressed tightly against Cassia’s neck and looked at me unashamedly as the tears rolled down his face. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to. I saw his eyes harden as his resolve set in. We would not allow her to be taken from us so easily. He gave me one brisk nod and then turned to look at Grey.
“Let’s get this done then,” Grey growled. “Maverick, can you wait until tomorrow to try the shift with us?” From the nod Maverick gave back, I was guessing it wasn’t a hardship for him. I couldn’t wait to remind him about this once he connected with his wolf and realised how natural it was.
Grey nodded firmly and turned back to the rest of us. The tension of his alpha power filled the room and seemed to swirl around us. He was growing into the most powerful alpha I’d ever felt. There was no way he was going to let one of his pack go so easily. Fate was putting us through so much; surely she would spare us from this one thing.
It didn’t take long for us to suddenly find ourselves in the woods behind the packhouse. The night sky was clear and bright, and a crescent moon seemed to ominously hang above us. It was almost like a wry smile, and I prayed that was a good thing.
Cassia had passed all of her research into the shadow demons and wraiths to Nash, explaining what she didn’t think was straight forward. It was almost like she didn’t believe this would be successful. She was making plans in case the worst happened, and it was making all of us uneasy.
Holly had agreed to stay at the house to listen out for the kids, but the rest of the pack, including Jean, were here to support our pack brother and his mate. We weren’t about to leave him here to try and get through this alone. There was also the practical aspect that if this was going to hurt Cassia as much as she thought it would, someone would need to hold him back so he didn’t interfere.
Cassia and Hunter were standing off to the side, speaking quietly with each other. Calli was doing what felt like the hundredth walkthrough of the ritual site which Cassia had set up earlier in the day. I could tell she was nervous—who wouldn’t be!
“Calli, just stop for a moment and take a breath,” I told her, running my hands up and down her arms. She was like stone at the moment, and I didn’t think anything would calm her until all of this was done. “This is what’s been bothering you all day, isn’t it?”
She nodded slowly. “When I saw the lines tracking from her wound, I knew they couldn’t be a good sign. She tried to tell me it was nothing. I should… I should be better at this!”
When she looked up at me, she held so much anguish in her face that it was impossible not to pull her into my arms.
“I should know how to do this stuff. I should've studied, and I should've made her teach me,” she cried.
“Calli, I didn’t meet your mother, but if she were anything like you, there would’ve been no way you could have persuaded her to do that if she’d already set her mind against it.”
Calli straightened up with a huff and gave me a gentle shove in the chest.
“You’re supposed to be making me feel better, not giving me a sideways insult,” she chuckled.
Cocking my head to the side and pulling out the boyish grin that usually got me out of any trouble I found myself in, I told her, “It’s a compliment. You’re a strong woman Calli, and I imagine your mother would have been as well. I wish I’d been able to meet your parents. If they were even half the people you are, then they would’ve been truly amazing. This isn’t a flaw, though, sweetheart. None of us here know anything about this stuff. Magic has been used against shifters for generations, but we’ve never taken the time to understand it. For one reason or another, that information was kept from all of us. It was none of our faults, and at least in your case, it was done with the best of intentions. We’ll set it right. After this is done Cassia will help you learn. If you need to, we’ll travel to find people who can teach you. This is just the beginning, sweetheart.”
Her brow wrinkled in a frown before she waved her hand in front of my face accusingly. “Don’t think this will get you out of everything you do wrong,” she warned me with a grin. “But, you’re right. She did what she thought was right, even if it turned out to be wrong.”
I pulled her against my side, and we turned to see Hunter and Cassia separate. It felt too much like they were saying goodbye to each other, and I couldn’t deal with that.
“It’s time,” Cassia said, looking to the moon as if it had something to tell her. She pulled off her shirt leaving her in just a sports bra and jeans before lying down on the ground. The thick black lines spidering across her stomach were fully on display and I couldn’t help but cringe at the sight. I didn’t know what I’d expected, but this, this was far worse.
I could see Calli’s hands shaking from where I was standing and as much as I wanted to go and comfort her, I knew I couldn’t interfere. We couldn’t afford for anything to go wrong, Cassia’s life was riding on this going to plan.
Calli turned to face the moon, closed her eyes and tipped her head back. The moonlight shone down on her face, highlighting her features, and making her golden blonde hair shine in the soft light. She looked like an angel. Lifting her arms in the air, she turned her palms up and inhaled a deep breath. A soft caress of power seemed to slip across my skin, similar to Grey’s alpha power and I realised that this was Calli’s magic.
Cassia had explained to her that she would need to open up her magic to the world around her. None of us had known what that meant, even Calli had looked confused, but all Cassia had said was that she’d know how to do it when the time came. Maybe that was what this feeling was? Calli opening up to the world around her.
Calli turned slowly away from the moon to face Cassia. When she opened her eyes they shone with the silver glow of moonlight.
Everyone, including me, seemed to be holding their breath to see if this was going to work. Grey and Tanner both took a step closer to Hunter, almost anticipating what was going to happen next. I’d help, but I was so nervous I was trying to concentrate on breathing slowly so I wouldn’t throw up.
Suddenly, Calli lifted her arms and silvery, white light burst from her hands, slamming into Cassia with so much force her body reverberated from the impact. Calli’s eyes widened in alarm, and the light flow seemed to flicker with her uncertainty before it settled into what looked to be a more gentle flow.
“Don’t hold back,” Cassia growled out between gritted teeth.
“We don’t know how much you can take,” Calli warned her. The strain of funnelling the moonlight through herself was already starting to show as she gritted her teeth. Just how long was this supposed to take? I tried to focus on Cassia’s stomach in the hopes of being able to see the lines receding, but the moonlight burnt away at my eyes as I tried. It was impossible to be able to see.
With a look of determination, Calli strengthened the flow back to what it had been, and Cassia’s back arched off the ground in response. Her eyes were scrunched shut, and her teeth were clenched. She was in pain, but she was refusing to scream, no doubt in some attempt to try and lessen the anguish Hunter must be feeling.
A vicious growl ripped from Hunter at the sight. Tanner knocked his knees out from under him as he went to take a step forward. He dropped heavily to the ground and Grey locked him in place with an arm wrapped around his neck.
Between the moonlight funnel and the alpha power rolling off Grey, the air was so thick with magic, it almost felt hard to breathe.
Tanner was speaking in hushed tones to Hunter, trying to keep him calm, but it was an impossible task as our pack brother thrashed in G
rey’s grip to try and reach his mate.
It only got worse when the first scream was ripped from Cassia’s throat and seemed to echo around us, taunting us with her pain, proving just how useless we were in this situation.
Jean buried her face against Blake’s chest, unable to watch any longer.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away, though. It almost seemed like an insult to look away. If Cassia was going to go through this, the least we could do was bear witness to her suffering.
“It’s working,” Calli suddenly gasped. “The lines are receding. Cassia, just hold on a little bit longer.”
The screaming didn’t stop. Each one seemed to be wrenched out of Cassia with agonising clarity. At first, I didn’t think there could be any worse sound in the world. It was the sound of true suffering, fortified with the rabid snarls of her mate who was unable to reach her. But then she fell silent, and I realised there was something that was much, much worse. Even Hunter’s growls went quiet in response.
But Calli gritted her teeth and kept going. She’d promised Cassia she would see it through to the end, that she wouldn’t stop for anything until it was done. Silent tears tracked down her face, but she didn’t waver from her task. She did what needed to be done, proving she was stronger than any of us.
The only sound in the clearing now was Jean’s weeping and the gentle, calm voice of Tanner trying to reach Hunter. He seemed to have completely shut down now, but Grey didn’t release his grip, keeping him immobilised until it was all over.
The blinding moonlight funnelling through Calli slowly started to fade, and it was the first sign to those of us observing that this whole ordeal was finally coming to an end.
When the moonlight finally flickered out of existence, leaving us with the firelight to see by, it was almost like we’d been plunged into darkness with the sudden brightness gone. At first, no one moved, frozen to the spot by the anguish of what we’d watched and the dread of what we were going to find. It wasn’t until Calli collapsed to her knees that we seemed to be shaken back into reality.
Grey released Hunter, and he charged across the clearing to Cassia’s side, pulling her into his lap as he pushed her hair from her face. One section of her hair had turned silver, almost seeming to glow with the moonlight which had been flooded into her body.
“Is she… is she alive?” Calli asked, voicing the question none of the rest of us seemed able to say out loud.
Hunter pulled Cassia to his chest, the clearing filling with his broken sobs, and my heart felt like it stopped. This… this couldn’t be happening. Gently rocking her back and forth, Hunter wept, clinging to his mate.
“She still breathes,” he suddenly sobbed out. “She’s still breathing.”
The collective sigh of relief that went out had everyone suddenly moving. Calli collapsed forward, and I caught her in my arms before her face hit the ground.
“Oh, thank god, I didn’t kill her, I didn’t kill her,” she mumbled over and over again.
Scooping her up, I started to walk towards the house. We hadn’t even thought how she was going to feel at the end of this. If Cassia hadn’t made it through, I didn’t think Calli would have survived the guilt.
Tanner jogged ahead of me and opened up the back door for us to go through.
“Take her into the library. The fire is still lit in there. I’m going to make her a cup of tea,” he told me as he hurried over to the kitchen counter.
I didn’t glance back to see what the rest of the pack was doing, I should’ve been more concerned about Cassia and what was happening, but all I could think about right now was my mate shivering in my arms.
Grabbing a blanket off the sofa, I sat us down on one of the chairs in front of the fire, keeping Calli on my lap as I wrapped the blanket around her. She stared blankly in front of her, every so often muttering, “I didn’t kill her.” She was going into shock, her breathing coming fast and shallow, and she was shivering uncontrollably.
Tanner rushed in with her drink in his hands and a look of desperation on his face. He put the mug on the side table before dropping to his knees in front of her.
“Calli, sweetheart, can you hear me?” he asked, picking up her hands and rubbing them between his own.
Calli blinked slowly and looked down at where Tanner was kneeling in front of her. Her brow furrowed in confusion before she looked around at her new surroundings.
“When did we come inside?” she asked quietly.
“Only just now,” Tanner reassured, picking up the mug and putting it in her hands. “Drink, it'll help you warm up.”
Calli nodded absently and sipped at the tea. It must’ve been scalding hot, but she didn’t seem to care.
“Grey ate the last of my biscuits,” she said with a pout. Well, at least she was feeling more like her usual self.
Tanner chuckled in amused relief and moved over to the other chair.
“That was absolutely terrifying,” she breathed. “I thought she was dead; I was sure I’d killed her.” She shuddered as she spoke, and I kept running my hands reassuringly across her arms.
“Yeah, let’s not do that again,” Tanner agreed. “I don’t think my heart can take it.”
We sat in quiet companionship while Calli drank her tea and soaked up the warmth of the fire. I could hear the pack moving about the house, so they must have come inside at some point. After a while, Grey came to join us. His eyes immediately locked on Calli, and a look of relief crossed his face when he saw she was okay.
“We’ve moved Cassia back into the cabin. She’s awake, but she’s tired. She wanted me to tell you thank you,” Grey told Calli before he dropped to the floor and sat with his back to the chair, resting one hand on Calli’s leg.
“Is Hunter okay?” Calli asked.
“He’s very relieved.”
“I know it’s probably too early to be saying this, but you know what this means, right?” Tanner said, looking over at us. “We have a weapon against them. We’re one step closer.”
Calli nodded thoughtfully, and Grey’s shoulders stiffened at the comment. I wondered if he finally realised what he should’ve known all along. He was marked. Even if we did take out this threat, that mark would remain for the rest of his life. Nothing was stopping another wraith from crossing his path and ripping him from us.
42
Calli
I woke up the next morning with a pounding headache. It was like the worst red wine hangover but without the benefit of actually having any the night before. When I rolled over, I found myself in River’s bed alone. I was quickly hating waking up alone like this. It was strange how quickly you could get used to sharing your life with someone—or three someones as the case was for me.
The bedroom door opened slowly, and Jacob and Abby snuck inside before running and jumping onto the bed.
Abby snuggled into the cover and cuddled up next to me while Jacob sat cross-legged on the end of the bed.
“We heard something scary last night,” Jacob told me.
We’d checked on them before we came to bed and all of the kids were fast asleep in a pile on Jacob’s bed. I’d just assumed they’d slept through it but obviously not.
“Cassia was super sick, and we had to do something pretty scary to help her, but she’s okay now,” I told them honestly.
This was the reality of our lives, and whilst we could try and shelter them from some stuff, we couldn’t hide it all from them.
Thankfully, before they could ask any more questions, the door swung open, and Tanner and River strolled in, both carrying trays piled high with food.
“We brought the breakfast picnic,” Tanner cheered, and Coby jogged in after him with a jug of juice.
The guys joined us on the bed and laid the trays in the middle so we could all reach them. We didn’t even bother with plates, just picking up the pancakes and bacon straight from the tray. We were definitely going to need to wash River’s sheets after this.
“So, we need to talk to you gu
ys about school,” River started, only to be met with groans from the two boys. “How’s it been going? We’ve heard you might have been having some problems settling in?”
Coby shrugged, looking back down at the food to avoid the question. I could tell Jacob was concerned about him from the way he looked at his friend.
“They aren’t wolves,” Jacob finally said, before he paused like he was trying to think of a way to put his feelings into words. “Humans are weird,” he finally settled with.
Tanner nodded in agreement, only to be met with a shove from River.
“It’s important that you learn how to interact with humans, though. We share our world with them, and they don’t know about us, so it’s important we can blend in.”
Jacob and Coby both nodded like they were being told off.
“Do you guys understand what’s happening with the pack at the minute?” I asked, feeling like we were maybe getting a bit off-topic.
Jacob thought about it, but it was Coby who spoke up this time. “Shadow demons are hunting us,” he said quietly.
It was shocking to hear those words come out of his mouth because we’d been so careful not to talk about it around them. I knew I wanted them to know about the pack being in trouble, but I didn’t think they should have quite that much detail. It terrified me when I thought about it, God only knew how they were feeling right now.
“Where did you hear that name?” I asked in confusion.
The boys fell quiet, and I was immediately suspicious only for it to be confirmed when Abby’s little voice added.
“We listened.”
“Little cherry bomb, have you been spying on us?” Tanner gasped in fake outrage. I suppose we couldn’t blame them, a lot was going on, and it was only natural they’d be curious.
Abby gave Tanner an evil grin, which was possibly the cutest thing I’d ever seen, and Tanner practically swooned for the little girl.
“Well, that’s not entirely true. You see, this is why you shouldn’t spy because sometimes you misunderstand,” I told them seriously. I could see I was going to have to be the grown-up. “Some of the vampires have had problems with the shadow demons, and we are going to try and help them. But now they’re here, some of the pack might be in danger because they have something in them that attracts the shadow demons,” I tried to explain as carefully as I could without making it sound too scary.
