Chapter 26

Aiden’s POV

Was no one in this whole goddess damn pack capable of doing anything? Or was everything left up to my brothers and me? I knew precisely why Alune would suggest I fix this problem for the Alpha, and it wasn’t something I particularly wanted to do. I could feel the rage building, the darkness clouding my judgement. I wasn’t blind to it; I just didn’t have much control over it any longer. The more I used my gift, the more it consumed me. If I had known this was the repercussion I would get for pissing around with the shadows; then I would never have done it so many times before.

Alune was right; I was the only one capable of getting in there and getting the job done quickly. Anyone else would probably be seen and end up caught up in the same twisted shit they were casting on the Alpha. I swear to the goddess, it has been nothing but drama and hassle since we arrived. If it weren’t for Ayla, it would be safe to say all three of us would have up and tail-ended it as soon as we could. This is just a mega messed up situation. One that I can’t walk away from anymore, not now that my mate is so thoroughly mixed up in it. I’d never see her struggle, not for a minute.

Leaving the cool air behind me with my brothers and stepping back into the packhouse was challenging. I was so full of anger, hate and rage, but I had no idea why and at whom it was aimed. I now had to try and focus my scattered mind and prepare to throw myself head first back into the darkness and pull the shadows around me once more, all to stop some crazy woman messing with magic that I’m sure she has no idea how to control.

I took a couple of deep breaths with my eyes closed. I reach for the cold embrace of the darkness and allow it to surround me, succumb to its powers and promises enough to get the job done.

Walking swiftly down the halls of the pack house, keeping out of sight and making sure I wasn’t heard. I rounded the corner. On the left was the corridor that led to the Alpha’s office, and to the right led to all other personal use rooms. I was sure this would be where the bitch with the power was. Knowing this was Laura and her guests doing, I headed to the room I had seen the Luna use many times before. The door was closed, as expected.

The shadows had many uses; one was the ability to detect other dark magic. You can’t really class shadow magic as dark until you cross the line with it. and right now, I knew I was dancing right on that line. I could feel myself tipping over the edge.

“Keep it together, asshole”, I scold myself, hoping my little pep talk helps to control the overwhelming urge to sink further into the darkness, to become its puppet and do its bidding.

“Laura, you’re doing great; he is resisting a lot harder this time; he knows something is not right, and he will fight for as long as he can. You have to fight harder and hold your ground; do you hear me” the other woman told her.

I listened for a reply, but something inside me knew there wouldn’t be one.

“Dig deep, focus on the true reason, focus on your real family and how keeping him under your control helps them, helps your real pack”, the woman’s voice sounded desperate.

My mind reached through the door with the shadows to get a better look at what was going on there. But I never expected to see what I saw.

In the centre of the room stood the Luna, fully encircled and engulfed in flames. Not a sound left her lips, not a shudder or a tremor. She stared blankly ahead; eyes fixed in a determined stare. The other, older woman was stood by the far wall, blackness seeping out of her hands and toward the Luna. Her feet were lost in a thick black fog, and her eyes were endless portals to another realm. How I knew this, I don’t know. But I was sure she was channelling magic, not from here.

“Hold steady, my dear, it’s coming through again”, she called; I stood motionless as I watched a massive wave of black fire that hissed-on contact wrap around the Luna. Her face was lost in pain this time; there was no way she could hold herself in complete stillness with the onslaught she was withstanding.

“Almost there, and the Alpha will be yours again”, she called.

I had seen enough; I had to stop this before it went any further. Kneeling to the ground, I sank my fingers into the carpet and pulled the shadows from around me; dragging my breath in, I allowed myself to be taken over, holding desperately to the threads of carpet I grasped within my fingers. Rising up, a shadow of myself stepped forward, crashing through the door like it had never existed.

At first, neither of them noticed me. The sheer chaos taking place in the office was catastrophic. There was no way that one woman would hold that much power in check; I could see her faulting already. She had pulled too much, and now she couldn’t contain it. If that got loose in the living world, the carnage it would cause would be soul-destroying. She had summoned forth a dark entity she couldn’t control; she had no right to own it; she wasn’t strong enough.

I padded slowly around the room, keeping myself unseen; I didn’t think it would work this way, but luckily for me, there was so much going on in this room that my entry was nothing noteworthy to them. Reaching the side where the woman stood, I could see the dark entity taking form; it worked the same as my shadows.

Moving without thinking, I whipped my shadowy arm out Infront of me; I grasped the thread that linked the woman and the dark entity together and pulled. That got their attention. But now I had to do something about it. My shadow form was brand new, and I had no idea what spell to use to banish this creature and fix the mess this crazy bitch had caused. But if I interrupt her casting and cause enough havoc, that would be enough for now.

“Who are you” she bellowed at me, anger rolling offer in waves as she tried to catch hold of her dropped magic. The Luna’s head whipped around and found me, and her eyes darted from me to the woman and then back again. Fear settled deep inside them. She knew she had been caught, and she was fucked.

“Who am I?” I laughed, and the sound was something unheard of. It was deep and menacing but whispered at the same time. “I’m your worst nightmare.”

The shadow entity that had been summoned circled back toward the woman who called it—drawing on the power she took from it to try to control it—wanting what it was owed back. For a moment, part of me wanted to allow it to take its revenge on the woman, and for a few seconds, I considered letting it have its pound of flesh. Then Ayla’s face flashed through my mind, drawing me back to the reason I was here in the first place. My job was to save the Alpha, not mess with dark magic and stupid, naive people who think they have a clue about controlling it.

My best bet was to break the link fully, which meant untethering the Luna from the witch, then the spell would break and the dark magic would disperse, sending the entity back where it came from.

Mind made up; I turned to the Luna; her eyes widened as I charged fall force towards her. She had no choice but to throw herself out of my path or feel the total weight of my anger-filled body slam right into her at top speed. Around her feet had been a spell circle; I knew enough that if someone was to break that circle, it was game over. So I was going to make her break it.

I’ll give her credit, though; she held her ground right to the very last second. She was no match for me, and she knew it. She threw herself to the left violently and crashed into her desk with a disgruntled cry. I turned to look long enough to make sure the magic was broken, and the creature was gone before returning to my living body.

Sucking the shadow back into my body wasn’t as easy as I had hoped. It was so surreal. Crouching on the ground and feeling my body, the carpet that my fingers clung to and the air around me, but also feeling my shadow form at the same time. It was me, but it wasn’t me, and it wanted to stay being itself and not merge back as one.

“Ahgggh”, I grunt with the effort of forcing myself while over my goddess-given powers. For a moment, I didn’t think I would overcome the power struggle, but finally, with a pop, I stumbled forward, flat on my face, but I didn’t care as I panted, catching my breath.

“Find who that is”, I hear the older woman scream from within the office I had just exited.

I had to move; I couldn’t wait here any longer. Mustering some hidden strength I didn’t know I possessed, I managed to push myself up off of the floor and stumble down the corridor. Moving blindly, with no one place in mind, hoping to get away, unable to see clearly, my vision clouded like I was looking through fogged-up glass. Reaching out, my hand falls upon a handle, and I squeeze, tumbling forward and through the opening. My legs shook, and my hands trembled, but I closed the door silently. Leaning my back against the door, I allowed myself to crumble. My legs gave away, and I slid the entire length of my body down the door till my arse hit the ground.

That was where I intended to stay, and frankly, I didn’t have a choice; my body had exhausted all its reserves I was fully taped out. Leaning my head back, I gave in and let sleep steal me away.

Archer’s POV

I couldn’t tell them I had lost my wolf; what would I say?

“Oh, by the way, guys, I lost Titan; I have no idea what happened but fuck it, I’m sure he will turn up”, I mocked myself.

Since Aiden sprinted off at the request of the Exalted, I was left here with Axel to wait, but all I had done was worry. My other half was missing, and I needed to figure out where to start when I came looking for him. How do you look for a part of your soul?

“Does that mean I’m not a werewolf anymore” the question slammed into my mind, making my heart splinter in two.

“What did you just say” Axel looked at me; he could still hear me; I thought for sure I would have lost my link to him, as I couldn’t hear him anymore.

“Can you hear me?” I asked tentatively; it sounded stupid coming from my lips. We had always heard each other for as long as I could remember.

“Of course, I can; why wouldn’t I?” the confusion in his voice and on his face was warranted. I know how I must have sounded. “Archer, what is going on” his tone changed to demanding. I knew I couldn’t hide this, not for long anyway. They would soon find out when I couldn’t shift for our runs; we had run together every evening since we could shift.

“Titan is missing” I let the words fall from like lips; saying it out loud made it worse somehow. And I missed him more than I ever knew possible.

“What the fuck do you mean” Ace answered in my brother’s place; I guess it made sense; Titan was his brother, after all. He felt how I would if one of my brothers went missing.

“He didn’t come back with me. I can’t reach him, and he won’t respond,” I sighed, letting the words tumble out.

“Then we better work out where my brother is, boy, as I will be damned if we lose him”, Ace growled, and I knew it was more than just words. It was a warning.