Chapter 22| A brilliant Explosion
"Oh my god! Salmon, you look so handsome!" Russet squealed as she put a little jacket on Salmon who looked like he was enjoying himself a bit too much. I groaned, rubbing my face tiredly.
We had been out shopping in the freezing cold for at least two hours now, and all we had managed to find was a pile of dog clothes for Salmon and some for Milo who was back home. Russet argued that they could be Christmas presents.
"Russet, please, can we just go shopping for ourselves. I think Salmon has enough clothes." I groan and Russet scoffs, patting Salmon's head, grinning at me.
"Fine, but when Salmon runs out of clothes, don't come crying to me." She says and I smile in amusement, pulling Salmon away from the counter.
"I won't." I tell Russet as I walk towards the door that led outside. I ignored the stare Russet pinned me with as I walked, holding onto Salmon's leash tightly. I looked down both sides of the street and then I suddenly grinned as I looked up, since it was snowing now.
I stepped out into the empty street, spinning around as Salmon tried to catch the snowflakes. I laughed, looking up at the dark sky as the snow fell silently around me. My mind went silent as I just enjoyed the moment.
"Lina, you goof, get out of the road before you get run over!" Russet yelled, laughing at me as I smiled at her, prancing off the road and back onto the sidewalk. "Where do you want to go?" She asked, and I shrugged looking down either side of the road.
"Left." I tell her as Salmon begins to pull me in that direction. As we walk down the sidewalk, we both look around at the cute city. The snow just added to the stunning effect that it left on us.
"What time is it?" Russet asks, cutting through the silence, and I look down at my watch, my eyes almost bulging out of my head. It had been a lot longer than two hours that we had been out. I looked up at Russet, at a loss for words. She looked at my watch and then she squawked at me, grabbing my arm. Salmon stopped, looking back at us curiously.
"It's 2 am!" We both screech at the same time. No wonder I was so fucking tired...
"Well, let's get going then! Mom's going to beat me!" Russet screeched, cutting through the calming silence. As she started to pull my arm, I stopped, digging my heels into the snowy sidewalk. Russet looked back at me like I was insane.
I looked from left to right, in front and behind me as I felt the hair at the base of my neck stand on end. Something was wrong...
I pushed Russet behind me as I got close to the wall, feeling something coming closer to us. Salmon went on high alert a second later, a low growl slipping from his muzzle a second before I growled as well, not seeing anything but a snowy landscape.
But then I saw a flash of brown slinking from the park across the street from us, and I almost shifted then and there. I looked back at Russet.
"Russet, call your dad." I tell her sternly, and she scrambles to pull her phone from her pocket as I quietly growled, watching as the wolves slinked through the forest, heading towards the mansion. I counted twelve, but there could be more hiding further in the park.
I could hear the phone ringing as Russet called her dad. She handed it to me as it stopped ringing, but it wasn't Mr. Alvaro's voice that I heard. It was Rese's.
"What?" He asks, his voice groggily as if he had just woken up. I almost forgot it was two in the morning, and he had probably been asleep.
"Rese," I say and the line goes silent, "there are twelves wolves heading towards the mansion right now. There could be more, but I couldn't count that far out without letting myself be known to them." I say and I hear sheets ruffling, and a light being flicked on.
"Where the hell are you?" He asks and I look around at the street signs.
"I'm in the city right now, Rese. Stay there, okay, I'm fine, nothing is here to hurt me." I tell him, trying to get him back to a reasonable state of mind. I know he was only thinking about my safety. But I was thinking about everyone else's safety.
"Like hell," He snapped and I winced, "where are you. I'm coming to get you." He adds, and I look around, falling silent as I hear a twig snap from the park. Both Russet and I go on alert, while Salmon growls, his hackles raising. There were more of them.
"Rese, There are more than thirty, you need to stay there. I'm safe." I tell Rese and he growls through the phone.
"Calina! Just let me help you for once!" Rese yells, and I hear him banging on all the doors, waking everyone up.
"Rese, please," I whisper, "I'm one person, and there are more important people in that mansion than me. You're an Alpha's son, you need to stay there and protect them." I could hear Rese make a sound of annoyance through the phone and I waited for him to decide.
"Be safe. I love you." He finally says, cutting the call before I could repeat the words. I ignored the hurt that flashed through my heart and I handed Russet back her phone.
"Russet, come on, we have to get off the street." I say quietly, pulling her down the sidewalk as the wolves continue to silently move through the park. Russet doesn't say a word as I drag her after me, trying to find a place to seek shelter. Mostly everything was closed, all except this tiny coffee shop. All three of the workers looked shocked as I slammed through the door with a little more force than necessary, locking it behind me.
"Excuse me–" One of the young girls, who was about my age started to say but Salmon growled at the door and I pushed both him and Russet back, watching as a wolf ran past the glass door.
"Can you all please look over my friend and my dog, please. I have to go back outside." I say and the only boy working there spoke up.
"Miss, I don't think it's a good idea to go outside. That was a wolf." He warns me, and I look back at him, giving Russet a nod. She nodded back shakily, her eyes wide as she watched me approach the door. Salmon whined, tugging to follow after me, but Russet held onto him firmly.
"It's never safe to go outside anymore." I tell the boy before I unlock the door, slipping outside. The cold hit me once again, but I tried not to let it slow me down as I jogged down the sidewalk, keeping myself aware of where all the wolves were.
As I got to the end of the street, I looked down all three roads I could take, and I sucked in a breath, cursing at myself as I saw a wolf on the left road, and he was staring dead at me. I froze in my spot, watching as the wolf slowly stalked closer and closer to me. I held my breath, looking into its eyes that were in slits as it stared at me.
I saw that crimson blood coated its right side flank and it had a slight limp on its back right leg. I didn't dare breathe as it stopped a foot away from me, staring at me silently. I wondered what it was thinking for the split second it stood there, staring up at me.
And then it lunged at me, snarling wildly. I rolled off the wall, taking off at a dead sprint for the mansion, alerting every wolf I passed that I was there. I heard a howling chorus, and the chase started.
I heard paws galloping behind me, gaining ground quickly, and I had a feeling that I wasn't going to make it back to the mansion without a few bites and bruises. I should have just Rese come to rescue me.
Oh god, I was going to–
My thoughts were halted as a new howl joined the chorus and a dark figure joined my side. I felt something like an ancient groan echo inside my mind as if something great was waking up after a century-long nap.
'You need to shift, Moon Kissed.' Siras said as he ran beside me, his steps silent. He already had the dark shadows roaring at full force now, frightening me enough to lose my balance and I stumbled to the hard ground, slamming my shoulder into the ice. I heard Siras come to a screeching halt as I groaned, trying to get back up quickly while pain rocketed through my right shoulder.
I let out a scream as the wolf that had approached me first suddenly came from nowhere, lunging at me. But a huge black body knocked him off course, landing beside me. I rolled away, scrambling to my feet as Siras fought off the Azeon Halfling.
'Shift!' Siras barked at me and the shift rippled through me, a blinding light scaring the halfling away as it ran away with a whine. I looked at Siras who was panting as he looked at me. 'Good girl.' He huffs at me, and I growl at him, trying to stay off my right shoulder as we took off.
I trailed after Siras closely, not wanting to get blindsided by any wolves tonight.
But my wish wasn't granted as something knocked me off course. I snarled at the halfling, trying to get out from under it as it tried to land a deadly blow on my throat. I let out a howl as he bit down on my already hurting shoulder, and I could hear my bones crunch under his grip.
Seconds later, the halfling was ripped away from me and I scrambled to my feet, watching as Siras attacked the Azeon Halfling with eerily accurate precision, sinking his teeth into its throat. I watched as his body coiled, holding the howling Halfling still as he cut off its air supply.
I looked away as Siras ripped through the wolf's body, having no remorse as he did so. He was a trained killer, and I had let him get inches–inches–away from my throat earlier in the day.
'Focus, Moon Kissed.' Siras warned me, his nose nudging me forward. I started to run, leading the way as Siras followed me.
I jumped at every howl that I felt was too close to us, but I kept running because Siras was right behind me, nudging me to speed up.
'Nudge me one more time, and I will bite your tail off!' I snarled at Siras and I heard his wolfish chuckle from behind me, but he didn't touch me again, just following me. I came to a grinding halt as I saw a pack of six wolves waiting for us at the top of a hill, and everything around us went silent.
Siras stood beside me, ready to fight. But I wasn't anywhere near ready to fight.
'Take a deep breath and lunge.' Siras tells me right before he does exactly that. I watch him for half a second, before I curl my lip up and lunge at the wolf pack, hitting one of them head-on. I couldn't focus on anything but ripping them apart as soon as I tasted their blood, letting it fuel me.
I could feel the Moon Flames licking my fur angrily, scorching anything that got to close to me. As I fought off three of the Azeon halflings, two of them were always biting down on my flank, trying to hold me down as I fought off one of them. I couldn't even look over to see how Siras was doing as I fought them. They had my full attention.
I snarled, biting down on any part of the wolves that I could. I just wanted them dead. I had no specific way to attack them, I was just trying damn hard to get them to fall.
And I knew that the way I was taking them on was going to get me killed soon.
I let out a high pitched cry as one of the wolves jumped on my back, pushing me into the ground harshly, and the other two latched down onto my body, biting down hard. I tried to shake the wolf off of me, but he was so heavy, and I could feel the tiredness slowing me down now.
I couldn't even fight off three wolves my own size. What did that say about me when I would fight in the war? Was I going to die because I had no plan?
Blood flowed down my face, covering over my left eye, and I whined, my struggles slowly becoming more and more useless. They were going to kill me.
'The moon flames will aid you when you call for them...'
I let out a low growl, feeling power surge through me like lightning, igniting my veins.
Siras let out a snarl as I shifted back, the wolves scrambling back at the sudden change. I looked down at my hands, the world around me going silent, and I saw my veins light up with the Moon Flames, liquid fire burning through me. I looked up at the three wolves stalking around me as my eyes went ablaze with light blue flames, my palms igniting.
'You're heart still lights up like a wildfire when the Moon Flames touch you...'
As the words echoed in my head, the fire roared within me, and in the blink of an eye, I exploded, sending Moon Flames rushing towards the wolves. They didn't even stand a chance as they tried to get away, the flames scorching them. The trees, the grass–everything burned as the Moon Flames rolled from my body, roaring angrily like a lion who had been awoken from his slumber.
But just as fast and as strong as it had come, it started to flicker out, my body growing tired and my eyelids started to fall as I looked over at Siras, expecting to see a wolf. Instead, I saw a man striking down the last of the wolves as my body started to go numb. The Flames flickered out and everything around us went silent.
The male spun around, looking at me as I stood there, taking deep breaths as my eyes began to roll back into my head.
"Shit." I heard that same deep voice say out loud as the world around me snapped into darkness and everything went quiet.
∞∞∞
I couldn't feel anything when I first opened my eyes, and I was afraid that I had been paralyzed, causing me to completely freak out for about five-seconds.
"You would know if you were paralyzed, Starshine." I heard Siras drawl out quietly, but this time, his voice echoed in my ears rather than my mind. Not a second later, I regained feeling in my whole body, wishing I hadn't. Pain radiated across my whole body and I groaned quietly, looking around the room that I was in.
There was a single light on in the corner, and as I turned my head in the light's direction, seeing that male sitting comfortably in a chair by the lamp, a book in his lap, and his eyes on it. He glanced up, as if he felt me staring at him, and he winked at me warmly, his calmness radiating over me.
This was definitely Siras.
He had a mop of black hair on his head that matched his wolf's coat, and he was just as massive as his wolf. He looked young, but he was older than Rese. But damn, he was fineeeee.
'You know I can hear your thoughts, right, Starshine?' He asked and I growled at him, my face going red as he chuckled out loud.
'Shut up.' I grumble inwardly and he chuckles again before the room falls silent, and I stare up at the ceiling. Before I could ask any questions though, the door on the left side opened and Rese walked in. A relieved look washed across his face, and he jogged over, leaning down to press a kiss to my forehead, taking a deep breath as he tried to hug me.
I let out a low groan, laughing hoarsely as he pulled away instantly, panicking.
"I'm sorry." He spits out, and I smile up at him, knowing I was heavily laced with drugs right now, despite how much pain I was in. These drugs didn't do shit.
"Don't be sorry, Alvaro, You're just protective," I tell him quietly, running my finger across his hand, "But I'm staying with Russet for the week. So don't think you're completely forgiven." I tell him and I watch his face fall for a moment.
But then he swallows his pride and nods, leaning down to kiss me gently and I hum, not very adamant to return to kiss to him. He pulls away, looking hopeful.
"You've only been out for about three hours. Do you want to talk about it?" Rese asks, and I feel panic begin to course through me as the memory of the wolves completely overwhelming me flashed through my mind.
I hummed, flashing him a tight lipped smile.
"Did we win?" I ask, not answering his question and he didn't push on it. But he did look up, staring at Siras for a moment and Siras puts a finger to his lips that curled up a fraction. Rese looked back down at me as if I hadn't seen their exchange, and he brushed my hair back.
"I think we won because of you." He said quietly and I furrowed my brows together in confusion as I looked up at him. And as he pulled a strand of hair out towards me, I went pale, looking at the silvery lock of hair that was surrounded by my brown hair.
What the hell?
I think I've sorted out the future plot and I can't wait to begin writing it! I hope you enjoyed!