Her Wolf

Chapter Fourteen

Ashlee flung her hands towards the sky. It was time to lower the separation between Tristan and the others. Pack magic was all that could help them now. She needed to call upon the magic they jointly shared—the special gifts that allowed them to shift and to speak with each other telepathically. Essentially, Ashlee was going to borrow the magic of her kin and pour it into Tristan until he was clean of the spell. Then they would finish it off by pouring the blood of the witch—she hoped Cullen had finished with the witch by now—on the ground of the sacred circle, which would cleanse the island and prevent other witches from performing spells to curse them.

Piece of cake.

If only she shared her four-legged counterpart’s confidence. If the Aunts’ knowledge was to be trusted, calling down the elements for protection and being gifted with the sight was the easy part. This next part might be tricky.

“Barriers down.” On her command, the fog that had surrounded them lifted skywards. The pack once again surrounded her.

Her voice sounded secure and that was the best she could do. Tristan’s eyes turned wolf and she hoped he wasn’t going to call a shift onto himself. This Tristan she could work with; as a wolf, she might as well lie down and let him kill her.

She took a deep breath and reminded herself that when this was over, she would have her Tristan back. The man who had promised her a future she’d actually believed in, who didn’t care that she couldn’t conceive babies, and who had been willing to leave everything he’d ever known or loved to be with her. He was an extraordinary person whose soul she held with her own. In the end, this would all be a memory, and their future would be what counted.

For the last time, Ashlee raised her hands as she stared at Michael. This would all come from him, the Alpha. His power was their own. “I call upon the powers that made us to fill me with our pack magic so I may cure Tristan of this malicious spell and free the pack of this burden.” The words, formal and remote, weren’t her own, but they flowed off of her tongue like she had said them for years.

Ashlee looked out of the circle to the pack. The spell would call on them now.

Michael fell to his knees. He screamed in agony and a red light pushed out of his body into hers. Ashlee braced herself for the power to enter her, but the surge that found its way into her body was light and easy for her to handle. She frowned. She certainly didn’t feel more powerful, but maybe that was how it was supposed to work.

Tristan grabbed his head and fell to the ground and did not utter a sound. Ashlee could see the spell that was woven around Tristan start to pulsate, as if it understood she was going to rid Tristan of its impurity. Even in her panic for her beloved, Ashlee couldn’t help but think that the witch who designed it had been particularly devious. At the first sign of its removal, it had been set to kill the victim. Well, she would be faster.

She pooled what little pack magic she had received through her body and raised her hand, willing the power to travel through her body, into her hand, and out toward Tristan.

Then, if she was lucky, she would be able to direct the power over Tristan’s body where the spell ate at him.

Ashlee pushed the power from her body. It exited without too much fuss and Ashlee wondered where the excruciating pain the Aunts had thought would accompany the power transfer was. Tristan’s body absorbed the power and Ashlee thought she heard some gasps from the pack that stood in silence around her circle of stones.

The spell, a brownish, green color on Tristan’s body, waned a little. Ashlee saw Tristan take a deep breath, relief evident on his beautiful features. He looked up at her from the ground where he lay and opened his mouth to say something. With a wrenched groan, he rolled over, pain once again obvious on his face.

Ashlee shook her hand hard. Where was the power? The power was all gone; she’d passed all of it onto Tristan and it still hadn’t been enough. In front of Ashlee’s eyes, stars appeared. She shook her head to try to clear the sensation but it didn’t help. The sensation increased until she had no choice but to sink to her knees to try to clear the dizziness.

Don’t feel well.

What did it mean that her wolf felt ill? The Aunts’ knowledge rushed into her head.

She closed her eyes first against the surge and then to block out what the Aunts had known about the ritual failing. Ashlee hadn’t accessed this particular data earlier, or maybe she hadn’t wanted to know, which she silently admitted was more likely the case.

The truth was that once a shifter invoked the powers that created them, the only outcomes were success in the spell, or death by it.

Ashlee failed to save Tristan. She hadn’t been powerful enough, and now she would die. She looked down at her hands. They shook violently. Tears welled up in her eyes at the unfairness of this outcome. Fate had brought them together to separate them so soon?

Would death this way be painful? She wished she could reach out and grab Tristan, feel his arms around her as she faded away. Ashlee closed her eyes to touch Tristan’s soul. It was still there, still intact. He wouldn’t blame her for what happened; she could feel that in that part of him that she carried.

Somewhere in the distance she heard voices raised in alarm. One of them was distinctly Tristan’s, the other her mother’s. Ashlee couldn’t be sure but she thought she might have heard her sister yelling too. She raised her head to try to look at all of them, but everything was a blur.

She closed her eyes. What happened to the person who failed at the spell? Did they get to meet their mate in the next life or was it eternal suffering? Ashlee hit the ground hard, unable even to muster the strength needed to break her fall. The dirt felt cool. It soothed her until blackness surrounded her every thought.

Tristan watched in horror as Ashlee hit the ground. Whatever she’d done, it had cleared his head, and for however long that lasted, he wasn’t going to waste time. Inside, his wolf howled in alarm, desperate for the shift, dying to save his mate. Agony marred the muscles straining to change the form of his muscular body, as his mind fought to keep the inner beast caged. Tristan held him back; there was nothing his wolf could do right now.

He turned to the pack that stood in horror around the sacred circle. Looks of terror showed on their faces. Ashlee’s mother wept, held up by a young woman who looked so much like Victoria, Tristan had to assume it was Ashlee’s younger sister.

He ran to the edge of the circle, directly in front of Victoria, cognizant of the fact that he couldn’t cross the stones without risking danger to everyone. “What was she trying to do?”

Victoria sniffed. “She called on the pack magic to clear you of your spell but it must not have worked.”

Tristan felt slightly better, but yes, Victoria was right, he wasn’t clean. He could feel the madness, like worms crawling all over his body, start to take hold of his consciousness again.

Tristan shook his head. “Why didn’t it work?” His heart pounded in his chest. He wanted to run to Ashlee, to scoop her up in his arms, but if the spell resurfaced he couldn’t trust himself to be close to her.

Michael cleared his throat. “The pack is weak. Their magic, our magic, isn’t strong enough for what she needed.” His brother’s face was raw, his voice strained. This was going to eat Michael up alive.

Tristan stared at Michael. His brother was a good man; he had trained as a warrior, and his wolf was strong, but he was a terrible leader. He hadn’t been the first of their brothers to stand up against their father. Instead he had hoped for a peaceful outcome. As it was, he still couldn’t decide on a course of action to attack IPAG. He didn’t have the stomach for the Alpha job; he would do better as an advisor.

They’d all been trying to tell him. But he hadn’t listened. It seemed so clear now.

Tristan knew what he had to do, and he knew he didn’t have much time to get to it done.

He stepped to the center of the circle. “I am Alpha of this pack.” His voice sounded strong, and inside of him his wolf howled in delight. Yes, this felt right. The pack needed a strong leader, and it was him. He’d survived months in a wolf cage and managed to hold off the spell of a witch that had ended the lives of countless others. Ashlee made him strong. He could endure anything. For her, he would lead the pack in the direction it needed to go.

“Who would challenge me?” Tristan, like every trained member of the Westervelt pack, knew there needed to be a challenge to solidify the claim of leadership. The Alpha ritual required a challenge. Tristan looked around the group and awaited the announcement of his opponent, fully expecting Michael to step forth. His eldest brother cleared his throat and opened his mouth. Tristan cringed. He didn’t want to fight Michael.

In the past, the challenger frequently died as the Alpha fury overtook the two opponents.

Michael never got the chance to continue.

From behind the group, Cullen stepped forward. “I challenge you.” The most feared shifter alive, the oldest of them all, his father’s enforcer stepped forward. Tristan watched as Cullen handed a cup full of liquid to Theo and then crossed the stones to enter the circle. Down the side of Cullen’s face were five bloody scratches that looked to have been made by someone’s nails as they’d dug into Cullen’s skin.

Tristan had a moment to register that the rocks had let him pass unharmed. He was the rightful challenger. Cullen could never be Alpha, not even if he beat Tristan in this fight. His blood was not royal. It did not hold enough magic. There was only one reason Cullen would undertake a battle he couldn’t win—he wanted to lose. Oh, Tristan knew Cullen would fight until he had no breath left in him, he wouldn’t let Tristan beat him on purpose. But if Tristan won, and he intended to, this would be Cullen’s out, his ritual suicide without the ritual. Tristan could respect that he wanted to die this way. It was a warriors’ out.

The blood inside of Tristan started to heat. It only took a moment. Tristan could feel the shift and play of his muscles and bones shifting beneath his heated skin, the beast growling in its delight to fight. He was ready to fight Cullen to the death, bloody though it would be. Cullen craved death; Cullen would have the death he desired and deserved as the warrior he was.

“Mother, what’s happening?” Ashlee’s sister called out in fear, and Tristan heard Victoria soothe her.

“It’s the Alpha challenge, Summer. It will be okay. Tristan’s going to save Ashlee.

He’s going to save us all.”

Cullen’s head whipped to the side, his eyes wide, shocked. Tristan followed his gaze as he stared at Summer. Recognition hit Tristan hard—Cullen Murphy had just found his mate and it was Ashlee’s sister. Tristan remembered the crazed feeling well, the insanity that held him for a moment when he’d realized he’d finally met his other half, the peacefulness that had immediately followed that knowledge.

In any other circumstance, he might have let Cullen out of the challenge, but not today, not while Ashlee lay dying. She was his first priority. Only by performing the challenge could he claim the Alpha position, and thereby save Ashlee with the pack’s true magical force. His only chance was get Cullen to back down.

Tristan called the shift onto himself and leapt onto Cullen, who was still in his human form. His wolf howled. He didn’t like Cullen still so weak, so distracted. Cullen shifted faster than Tristan had ever seen done before and snarled at Tristan as he flung Tristan’s wolf from his body. Cullen‘s wolf was gigantic. He stood heads over the others and dwarfed Tristan whose wolf was certainly not small. Tristan stared at Cullen’s brown wolf and felt the Alpha fury fill him. He was Alpha and this underling had dared challenge him.

Tristan bared his teeth. He would tear Cullen limb from limb. Tristan leapt in the air and landed on Cullen’s back. His teeth bit into Cullen’s fur. Furious, he tore and bit into the dark brown wolf. He was Alpha; he would be obeyed.

“Mom, please don’t let Tristan kill that wolf.”

Summer’s voice hit Tristan hard. It passed through his Alpha fury into his consciousness. Her voice was so much like Ashlee’s.

“There’s nothing I can do, baby.”

Victoria let out a sob. Tristan realized she knew exactly what was happening. If he wasn’t careful, Ashlee’s mate would kill Summer’s.

Cullen, freeing himself momentarily from Tristan’s assault, bit hard on Tristan’s side. He backed up, showing his teeth in fury. Tristan didn’t know if Cullen could still be reasoned with or if he was gone to the anger that accompanied the Alpha fight.

Yield to me, Cullen.

Cullen snarled. Never.

I will be Alpha and you will be dead. Who will care for your mate? She has never known you, will never have a mating ritual. Neither of you will ever know the joy of that.

Tristan leaned back on his back legs, ready to pounce if Cullen did not yield.

She is mine?

Only you know the answer to that.

You think to trick me, to distract me from this fight.

Tristan snorted through his snout. I am stronger than you; I could kill you any time I pleased. Instead, I tell you to yield so that you may know your mate.

I have waited a long time. I hardly believe it.

Do you yield?

Cullen paused for a moment and Tristan could see a war of emotions rage in his wolf eyes.

Cullen dropped to the ground, his eyes lowered, his body in a submissive stance. I yield, my Alpha.

Moving with instinct alone, Tristan called the shift back onto himself. He stood before the pack. Sweat dripped from his muscles, his breath coming in short gasps as his human form gained control.

Kill her. She’s almost dead anyway. He heard his father’s sick voice in his head, but it was weak, he could barely make out the words. It was time to complete the cycle and end the spell. He looked at Ashlee, unconscious on the ground and he raged inside.

He spoke the words the Alpha shifters had spoken since the beginning, they poured out of him as if he’d always been meant to say them. “I am your Alpha, I am your liege.

You owe me your fidelity. I will have your power now.”

Around the circle, compelled by magic and Tristan’s force of will, each member of his pack fell to their knees. A red light pushed out of each shifter, causing each of them to shift to their wolf form before the lights slammed into Tristan. He fell to his knees and closed his eyes.

He heard Summer scream as it was her turn, her first shift upon her, but he couldn’t watch. Each beam of red was part of his pack member’s soul. It belonged to him now; it was his to safeguard. The responsibility overwhelmed him.

Inside of him, his wolf paced back and forth and roared with delight. It had been waiting for this day, had always known it was Alpha.

Tristan tried not to smile. Why didn’t you tell me?

Not for me to tell.

The Alpha power drove the spell from his body. Tristan opened his eyes. On top of his skin, his burned flesh disappeared, replaced by new skin. His eyes smoldered and tears fell down the sides of his face. He closed them and when they reopened, seemingly of their volition, the world looked different to him.

I see out of them now too.

His eyes had gone wolf; they would stay that way now forever, as his father’s had been before he betrayed them. Tristan would not follow the same path.

A wolf rubbed against him, and he looked down. It was white and red—Ashlee. He stroked her with his hand, rubbed her head and finally pulled her small wolf body into his arms.

The spell’s not totally gone yet, my Alpha.

He flinched at the word used by Ashlee. That is not what she would call him, but this was not the place to argue or the time for it.

It’s not? I feel cleaned.

Ashlee called the shift onto herself and she glowed in the white light as it surrounded her. Tristan sucked in his breath; she had done that so easily. The spell had caused him to miss Ashlee’s transformation into a secure, magically talented wolf. He would see his father dead for that alone.

She approached the side of the circle and picked up the cup filled with red blood that Cullen had brought. Walking to the center of the circle, her legs shook as if she wasn’t steady. He stood up to help her and she smiled weakly at him.

“You called me back from death. I heard your Alpha yell and I needed to give you my allegiance.” She touched the side of his face with her free hand. “You already had my love.” Ashlee poured the red liquid onto the ground in front of them. “Now you’re clean.”

With that last sentence, she collapsed in his arms.