Iris
I've lost count of the days that have gone by. I know it's been more than a week but I can't wrap my head around how much more time has passed since. The sound of the pen hitting the floor as it falls off my ear makes me jump, breaking my thoughts. My coworker giggles at me but continues working on her computer as she raced against her own clock. Lucy is a little uptight but the only other person I talk to on occasion in here.
The day flew by as I finished up the paperwork I had piled up and acquired a new client. The office is a bit of a mess with holidays around the corner but for me, it's what I need. The infighting between Alex and Demetrius is consuming the house on top of everyone being on edge waiting for Liber's next attack.
I look at the time and click my teeth when I see the digital numbers change to the new hour. It's seven in the evening and I haven't had dinner nor have I spoken to Kristofer. My desk is still riddled with paperwork that I need to finish for tomorrows team to take to court. And I haven't finished the edits.
"Okay, a trip to the deli it is." I mutter as I grab my coat and step out into the bitter cold. The wind howls its icy breath and pushes against my efforts to walk straight but it's doing a great job in clearing my mind. Either that or I have an extreme case of brain freeze.
"Hate the winter," I mumble to myself. The deli lights appear in the distance. Luckily its only a five minute walk from the office but when its winter, the treacherous walk on frozen toes feels like an hour journey through the arctic, barefoot like a hobbit.
"Good evening Iris." The deli clerk calls out from behind the counter.
"Evening, Bernie. Can I get a coffee?"
"Just a coffee?" Bernie hovers his hand over the paper cups neatly stacked by the coffee machine waiting for a response.
"No, gimme todays special too. Whatever you got." I smile and rub my hands to warm them up.
"Another late night? You know hun, you shouldn't work too hard. You look thinner every time I see you." Bernie shakes his head and hands me the coffee.
"C'mon Bernie. You know that the office will fall apart without me." I chuckle. He is such a sweet old man.
"Okay, here you go, meatball sub with extra cheese and extra marinara on the side".
"Thanks. How much I owe ya."
"$6.75 should do the trick." Bernie laughs.
"Okay, have a good night and say hi to Geraldine for me." I step back into the freezer that is the night and make my way back to the office. I sip my coffee along the way as it makes the walk a bit more bearable. It warmed my quivering lips and hands.
Skittering catches my ears. My eyes dart around and I stop to looking for whatever made that sound. Cars drive by and people walk to and from, all shivering in their coats but nothing seems out of the ordinary. I speed up and take out my keys to the office building. Another swoosh and skittering catches my ear. I drop my keys in freight and look around again before picking them up.
I go to open the door but the lock is broken. Slowly I push the heavy glass door and step into the building. With slow careful steps, I walk with my back against the wall. My heart is thumping louder than my boots. Clanking and papers shuffling grow louder as I turn towards the open door that leads to my office.
I stop, too scared to look inside.
"I know that's you Iris."
My blood turns cold. Why is he here? Why now when I am alone? Reluctantly I turn into the office and find Liber sitting in my chair making a mess of the paperwork I had so diligently organized. What did he do with Lucy?
"Why are you here?" I ask with a shaky voice.
"To pick up my daughter from work of course." He smiles but my eye's were busy noticing the red stain on his finger tips. "Don't worry about the human. I'm sure she will keep this secret." He snickers.
"What?" Is all I manage to ask before I notice her body on the floor by her desk and I am snuffed out cold.
.........................
My eyes feel heavy as I wake up to the shakes and bumps of whatever I'm in. I groan from the pounding in my head putting pressure behind my eye. It feels like someone is inside it banging away with a hammer. Slowly I open my eyes and find myself in a car. I'm laying down in the backseat and driving the car is none other than...Liber.
Tears sting my cheeks. This can't end this way. I wiggle my hands to try and move but my hands and feet are bound. I'm stuck with no strength to break free. I can't do a thing and the sudden soreness in my neck stiffens my posture.
"I see your awake." Liber never looks back. He continues driving as if having done nothing wrong. He is so confident in himself that he continues to underestimate me. I contemplate using my powers but being tied up puts me at a disadvantage. I still can't tell what I'm bound with or if I'd be able to break free from it.
"What do you want with me?" I try my best to ask but my words come out a slur as if I were drunk. Was I injected with something?
"Well my sweet daughter. At first I was hoping you inherited more of me than your mother. That way I can easily get you to side with me and tear those dreadful wolves from the inside out. Obviously you grew up nothing like me. All sweet and loving with those damn wolves. I loath those disgusting things. Nothing like how I wanted you to be, so now I look to unleash whatever potential you might have for my own benefit." Liber laughs. A selfish bastard to the end it seems.
"So, I am just an experiment for you?" I slur but not as much as I did the first time around. The drugs must be wearing off.
"No, no. Your not that important..." Liber puts the car in park and turns around, "you're just a means to an end for me. A way to get rid of your kind once and for all." He smiles and winks. None of this is amusing yet he finds it appropriate to wink despite announcing the annihilation of my race.
My mind swirls in a fog. Whatever he gave me is extremely strong. Bits and pieces of what happened before ending up in the car float around in hazy fragments.
I try the mind link with Kristofer to see if I'm still close enough to home for it to work. But nothing. Then Atlas. Nothing. Then Cassius and once again, nothing. Either I am too far or the drug is interfering with my ability. The backseat door opens and Liber pulls me out by the ankles. I try to hold on to the drivers seat but Liber yanks me out hard enough to bang my head against the car door and on to the ground.
"You bastard, is this how you treat your so called sweet daughter?" I scream at the none expressive features of his pale face while throbbing in pain.
"It is when she doesn't listen." He replies with a matter of fact attitude. A slight curve on the corner of his lip shows he is enjoying this but it quickly changes back to his cold façade.
I look around to try and catch my bearings but there is nothing recognizable. No landmark to note. Nothing but trees and a strong scent of pine. Which I found rather curious since there's only one area just outside the city that naturally has this much pine.
Liber carries me over his shoulder to the house just up the driveway, but all I see is his rear as I dangle swaying back and forth. He quickly makes his way up to an old establishment. From the little I can see before him tossing me like a sack of potatoes, the home is old and antique like. The land itself looks secluded as well. My head bobs against his bottom as a set of cement steps lead up the home before and finally the porch where I sit in pain from the pounding headache.
The blood rushing to my head has me fighting with the urge to vomit. He really did a number on me between the drugs and head trauma.
"What are you going to do to me?" I manage between the bile building in my throat.
"Well sweety, I am going to have dinner while you wait in the room I prepared for you. You'll be a good girl and wait for dad to finish his dinner. Okay?" Liber opens the door to the house and walks up a spiral staircase. A faint scent of sulfur and wood surrounds the home.
I gag a bit both from the smell and his annoying tone but I hold it in. I try to mind link again but it's radio silence still. My mind is too muddled to form a proper connection, at least I hope that's the reason why and not that I'm too far from home.
Liber lays me on the bed in a grunt. I eye him up and down and stop at the broche on his jacket. It sits on his left shoulder. A spider with the body made of a jewel of some kind. I wonder if...
He leaves the room making sure to lock the door behind him. I sigh with exhaustion. I need to get out, I think to myself and begin chewing the tape that I can now see is binding my hands. Had I realized it is tape, I could have attempted to chew out of it in the car.
With enough chewing, I pull my wrist apart and break free. My eyes skitter across the room looking for something I can use as a weapon or at least a cutting tool for my legs. I am not flexible enough to bend and bite off the tape from my ankles so I open the drawer of the nightstand next to me and find a pen. "That'll do".
Quickly I start poking holes into the tape in a straight line. With all my strength, I pull my ankles apart and manage to weaken the tape enough to break free. A warm feeling covers me slightly at my small victory.
Quietly I tip toe to the window and slide it open as slowly as possible. The cold air bites against my skin. Moments like this, I wish I wasn't half elf. Feeling cold sucks. The moon is high in the sky and the night is clear as if lighting the way for me to go home. I sigh a smoke of warm air into the cold. The jump as a human is too high and I can easily injure myself. However, if I can get low enough out of the window and then transform, I can make the jump as a wolf.
I undress to avoid my clothes catching in the wind or the siding of the home and climb out of the window shivering against the cold attacking my naked skin. One leg goes over the edge of the window and then the other. Holding on tight to the window ledge, I reach over to the lattice going down the side of the house. I climb half way down before jumping off to shift in mid air.
Nora
The cold doesn't feel as bad in wolf form. My fur fluffs out and covers me in warmth. I give my mindlink one more try as I run.
Kris, help me.
Nora, where are you? I have been trying to reach you for hours.
Liber kidnapped Iris but we escaped. I don't know where I am. All I smell is pine, we might be just outside the city. I huff as I run faster than I ever have before.
Keep running. I'll use the bond to find you. Thank goddess I can finally feel you again.
Please hurry.
I continue running without looking back, without hesitating or questioning the direction I am going. I need to focus. In the clearing there is what seems like the edge of the property. The fence seems low enough so I pick up speed and jump it. A bit of the fence scrapes my hind leg, shit it's covered in silver, but it doesn't matter. I can't stop.
I change directions and continue running. The air is cold and I am having a hard time breathing. My stamina is shot and I am sure the drug still lingers a bit in my system. My legs slow down on their own but I refuse to stop. There is no way I can go back to that ma-...
I look around and find myself in a cemetery. Huffing uncontrollably I scan my surroundings. So many of the plots look turned over. What if this is where he dug up the bones? The thought is unsettling but I continue running as best I can and find a mausoleum. Unable to push myself further, I go inside for refuge. My muscles are giving out.
I'm close. Where are you now?
Kris! In a cemetery. Inside a mausoleum. I can't run anymore.
Okay, I'm coming.
...................
The sounds of yelling and thrashing about wakes me. I jump up not realizing I fell asleep. Ironic given I am surrounded by the dead. The ache in my leg throbs from where the fence scratched me. With my slow healing ability, it could be a bit more before I recover. I walk over and peek out to see what is causing all the commotion. Iris trembles inside me but I need to be brave for her.
Liber is fighting with Kristofer and Cassius while Atlas is already making his way to me. Someone else is hiding behind a tombstone but I can't tell who. The plan.
I bark and Atlas smiles with relief. I shift back to Iris.
Iris
"I'm so glad you are safe." Atlas hugs me and gives me a long coat.
Zeus howls pulling my attention away from Atlas. Liber is standing there with a knife hiding and puffing, not his usual demeanor. Cassius is in Shoneah form preparing an arrow and Zeus is on the ground bleeding profusely with uncle Robert tending to him.
If anything is to break my string of insanity, then this is it. Liber has taken too much from me and it needs to end.
I walk over to where Liber is and confirm what I thought. He isn't wearing his broche nor the jacket. His clothes look in disarray and he is even missing a shoe. On the ground near Zeus is the jacket with the broche. It is definitely his medium for controlling his powers. I need to break it. Liber immediately stops laughing as I approach.
"What is this?!" Liber screams writhing in pain. I hold my hand out commanding his blood to my will.
"Oh, you see my sweet father. I have already tapped into the part of me inherited by you. Let me show you my potential." I make his arms swing open wide and slowly twist them backwards. The cracks in his shoulders echoes along with his screams of anguish.
"Stop. Stop this. How? How are you this strong already?" Liber screams at the top of his lungs.
"You will not take from me more than you have already." I feel my strength waning but I have to hold it together. Too many have died and suffered at his hand.
"Atlas, grab the broche on his jacket and break it." I yell out as I hold the dark elf in pain.
"What?" Atlas runs to the jacket but looks confused.
"Thats his medium. Thats what he uses to control his power. Break it." I explain.
"You think that's my medium. Foolish child." Liber tries to joke but I can see the fear in his eyes.
"Oh! So you wouldn't mind me breaking it then?" I smirk.
"Shoneah!" Atlas shouts and tosses the broche in the air. Shoneah turns to it and quickly draws a flame arrow and hit the broche, shattering it into pieces.
"Nooooooo. What have you done? That was passed down for generations." Libers rage consumes him but with no use. He can no longer control his power as well anymore.
I look over to Shoneah and nod telling him to do as planned. In understanding, he draws another arrow. Jessica comes out from behind the tombstone with a book in hand and a bag in another. She circles Liber in a salt mixture of some kind. Jesika and I cut our hands and slam it onto the salt while she reads a passage from the book. The ring of salt goes red and at the same time Shoneahs arrow goes straight into Liber's chest.
Watching the glow of the arrow that's sticking out of his body gives me no sense of pleasure nor sadness. I just want it all over with. I want him gone and out of our lives.
His chest begins to burn very, very slowly with the flames of the arrow spreading over his body. The blood ring around him then engulfs in flames as well and Jesika steps back.
"He is bound to the circle. He shouldn't be able to use his magic at all now." Jesika calls out.
Shoneah smiles at their handy work. But that smile quickly fades when Liber manages to put out the fire. I feel my mind going into a blur. I am too weak to do this right now. I can't hold on to him Liber. He is slipping through my hold.
Liber strikes a blade of ice my way but uncle Robert jumps in taking the hit.
"Noo, Uncle?" I scream in tears. Atlas runs to his aid as my deafening scream blanks my mind.
Shoneah runs behind me and so does Jesika.
"Jesika, place your hand on her shoulder. Focus on sending her your power and strength. Picture it flowing into your body to hers. I don't know if it'll work but I've had it done to me before." Shoneah closes his eyes and concentrates.
I catch my breath for a bit and place my hold on Liber once more as he sends another blade of ice my way but this time it ricochets off of me. I didn't even feel the impact.
"How?" Liber screams in pain once more.
Jesika returns to the salt circle and reinforces it before binding it once more in blood. The flames grow a mixture or blue and green this time.
Proud of my best friend, I release my hold on Liber and move my attention to his ankles, twisting them backwards one by one.
*crack* goes the left.
*crack* then goes the right.
They turn the opposite direction of their natural disposition. Liber belts out a deafening tone looking ready to pass out. There's no one here to save him this time. No dead shifter or goblin to do his bidding. No one under his command. Or so I thought. One lion shifter appears from behind Liber.
"Get them." Liber speaks between his teeth and commands the dead lion-shifter to do his bidding. The way the shifter moves seems of his own free will. Almost as though he could think freely from Liber's command but still willing to do his bidding anyway.
The lion-shifter lunges towards me but Atlas and Kristofer are quick to interfere. They distract the shifter while I focus on Liber.
"What happened to the big bad Elf that was coming for his daughter?" Shoneah taunts.
Libers face contorts in pain. None of Shoneahs words seem to register. Shoneah then pulls back his invisible bow and blows into the air a whisper too low for me to hear. He releases but nothing happens or at least that's how it seems.
Just as Shoneah puts down his arms and replaces his hand on my shoulder, the arrow appears with a bright green flame crackling and penetrates where the first arrow hit. Similar to his first arrow, the flames never die out but unlike the first, it burns hotter and faster, engulfing him completely. The burn is hot enough that I almost step back from the heat.
I walk over to Liber with my witch and shaman by my side. "Before we kill you. Tell me the real reason why?"
...........................
Liber tries to laugh but the green flame that is burning off his flesh is too painful to let him succeed. He groans instead. "You really want to know......it's because you are mine. The last ......l-living Elf to carry the blood of my legacy." Liber screams from pain. "You're brother was magnificent and much more purer than you. A m-mere half b-breed but he was killed by you wretched wolves." He falls to his knees.
"When I showed the capability for black magic, I swore my revenge. Never did I think that the wolf to kill my son was one of your own in one of his drunken fits."
I freeze at the possibility of it having been Rick but it would be too much of a coincidence. Liber continues.
"Unfortunately, the council had different plans for me when I approached them about Paxel, so while I used them to move around freely and killing anyone that recognized me, I began my plan. Ugh, w-when I met your mother, the idea of putting my seed in her and tearing you wolves apart from the inside out, popped in my m-mind. It was an impromptu decision to impregnate her but it worked. The stupid bit-"
I ball my fist, "don't you dare speak ill of my mother! We are not just incubators for you to use as you please. Men like you disgust me. All this from a wolf I don't even know. A wolf that existed before I did over a brother I didn't know I had. Why am I to pay for the sin of another? You vile pig, fuck your revenge, father." I lift my arms up in the air and release my fist, slamming my hands down to the ground.
The mark appears on my arm again. The completed crest from Liber's spell book. A guttural scream erupts out of Liber. His body completely slams to the floor and is morphing. The skin flares up in boils and pops melting off, oozing puss and blood. His legs spread apart until breaking at the hip and snapping off. Liber's screams stop as he passes out from the pain.
"Oh no we can't have you missing out on the fun." I pump his heart with a gesture from my hand. Shoneah tries to stop me but it's too late. I shrug him off tossing him to the side effortlessly. There's too much rage that I am blind. Why do I always pay for the sin of others? I don't even know who the hell Paxel is. Liber jolts awake screaming once more. "Ready for the grand finale?"
"Iris please. You're my dau-...Ah! Don't do this. You bear the crest..." I step closer and place my hand on his chest almost surprised that the flames don't burn and in an instant his body balloons and explodes.
"I am not your daughter."
Bits and pieces of what he was flies everywhere, bathing me in his dark unforgivable embodiment.
I turn around drenched in blood and body parts of the nightmare I can now wake from. "Done", I whisper and collapse.
........................
Kristofer
I heal from most of my wounds along the ride home although with a missing finger and a couple missing toes, along with a bit ear, I wont be fully myself again. The lion shifter was nasty, had Atlas not been there to help, we would have been done. The only thing that saved us was Liber dying. Whatever magic the lion shifter held on to died when Liber did.
Alpha Robert however is another story. I am not so confident he is going to survive. The blade of ice thrown his way almost cut clean through. I have no idea if it hit anything vital. He is losing too much blood to boot. The pack house is an hour ride, providing too much time for things to go south for Alpha Robert.
The only thing keeping him breathing is the constant magic that Shoneah and Jesika are pouring into Robert to assist in healing. But with everyone exhausted, its not enough to get Robert out of mortal danger.
A sigh escapes my lips. Iris did great out there but I for one didn't want Liber dead so soon. Her anger got the best of her and if she is to be my Luna, she needs to think with a clear mind. Not an angered one. We definitely need to work together, to help her strengthen her mind.
The house approaches in the distance. I let go of the stress in my shoulders in relief. Her soft breath whispers against my body as I lift her up and walk towards the pack house. Now covered in dried blood, she sleeps soundly against my bare chest. She exerted so much energy doing what she did.
It's a terrifying sight to see. Even the way she tossed Shoneah is terrifying. Yet she is the most beautiful terrifying woman I've ever seen. I'm not sure what is happening or how it got this far.
All I know is that my mate let all her anger put her father in his place. She used all her strength, fought her demons, and protected her pack. Protected me. The mental power wiped her out. The goddess is one crafty woman. But now I need to teach her to control that anger, should it ever cloud her better judgement in any situation it could cost her her own life instead.
I carry my mate to the tub and run her some warm water. I place her tired body down and scrub away all the blood, along with the lies and treachery it holds, the demons she conquered, and uncertainty she carries. Satisfied, I wash her hair returning it to its dirty blonde shade. The tub drains and I refill it with clean water.
I let her body soak in the warmth. My eyes never leave her face. I am completely ensnared by this woman. A knock pulls me away.
"Everything okay in there?" Cassius calls through the door.
"Yea can you bring me towels?" Cassius hums an okay. I return my eyes to her and staring back at me are sleep filled honey irises.
"Hi, beautiful", I get up from the toilet and sit on the edge of the tub. "How you feeling?"
"Very tired but I'm okay." Her voice croaks. The bathroom door creaks open and a hand pops in with towels.
"Thank you Cass. Can you wait there a min?". I grab the towels and help Iris out the tub. She wobbles a bit but I hold her tight walking her to the door. I give her arm to Cassius and he nods at me that he's got it.
I drain the tub once more and turn on the shower. My feet are encased by a bloody pool of water, dirt, leaves, and twigs. I scrub myself and wash my hair. Images of the battle field filled with bones and the way Liber exploded floods my mind once more but the only thing that keeps replaying is my mate and how she went ballistic. I have never seen so much hate and anger in her before. It scares me to think such a small person holds so much inside.
Quietly I cry into the shower. Everything drains from my eyes in a river of exhaustion.
I step out with my towel around my waist and head over to where I hear talking. Atlas and Martha are sitting with Iris and she is crying in her mother's arms.
"Hey Kris, want some clothes?" Atlas offers and I nod.
"Babe, are you okay?" I sit on the other side of Iris and she switches from her mother's arms to mine. "Hey, it's okay. Talk to me." I run my fingers through her damp hair.
"She hasn't said a word" Martha rubs her daughters back.
"Okay, give me her car keys. I'ma get us out of here." Martha goes to fetch the keys and Atlas walks in with joggers and long sweater.
"I'll keep you posted on uncle Robert's condition. We sent him to the hospital where Dr. Michael works." Atlas pats my shoulder and I nod.
I change quickly and scoop up my mate. Martha hands me the keys and I carry Iris to her car. I drive us to the cabin for some quiet. It isn't as messy as before since we tried cleaning it up a bit after the incident and our little impromptu alone time.
I carry her inside and lay her on the bed. "Babe, do you want hot chocolate?" Iris beams at me. I chuckle.
"Extra marshmallows please." She sniffles. Even sad she is adorable but I won't tell her that.
"You got it." Pulling the covers I tuck her in.
............
The sun is now setting and I put some wood in the fireplace. "Babe, do you want to talk about it now?" I pull Iris into my lap.
"I'm scared," she whispers.
"Of?"
"My powers, how angry I felt, everything. What if I'm a monster now? I wasn't in control back there, my anger was. It's like everything I've been feeling since Rick, came gushing out the second you got hurt." A tear rolls down her cheek and on to my arm.
"Well I can tell you with certainty that you're not a monster. You have been dealing with a lot on your own. Although I am a bit worried as well, don't bottle things up. If you like, we can add it to the therapy sessions. " I stroke her leg trying my best to comfort her.
"....okay. Will you go with me?" She turns up her sweet face sporting the most heart warming puppy eyes.
"I'll take you and wait for you but it's something you should do on your own the way you have been. There may be things you might not want me to hear and I want you to feel free to open up." She smiles and kisses my chin. "What's that for?"
"For being amazing. For being patient. For being you...I love you Kristofer." I kiss her softly and pull away just enough.
"I love you too"
She returns my kiss and lingers against my lips. A smile creeps up against mine and she giggles. "Your beard tickles" I rub my face against her prompting more giggles.
"Babe?"
"Yes, Iris?"
"I'm worried about uncle Robert." Iris snuggles her head under my chin.
"Yea, me too."