Nix? I called out in my mind.I’m trying to rein it in, but she pissed me off. Her voice was low. I watched her shake herself, but she was still riled. Megan trotted over to her and rubbed her side down Nix’s. I watched as my one wolf calmed my other one, and when Nix finally nodded, I opened my eyes to see I had shifted back.I rubbed my arms, and Ronnie ran his finger through his hair. “Please don’t shift until your father has been fixed. I don’t think I could keep up with Nix, nor keep her in check.” Ronnie shook himself before heading back upstairs. I could still make out Aurora’s screaming, but we headed all the way back upstairs. “What about the tools?”“Beck will grab them.” I nodded and headed up the stairs while Ronnie closed the door behind us and he called back up to me. “Amy?”“Yeah?”“You, ugh, you have a knife in your back pocket.” Confused, I patted my pocket, and sure enough, I had a small knife I had grabbed from the room with the tools. I pulled it out and flipped
“Hold his hand out.” I pulled it out far enough, and Ronnie looked at me. “What?”“Hold his right hand out now.” My father was screaming. “What the fuck are you doing? Ronnie, if you fucking listen to her I will kill you,” He snarled. His aura tried to come out, but it didn’t reach us.“What the hell?”“Your dad spelled this cell so that he couldn’t make us release him. He wanted to make sure he wouldn’t be a danger to the pack.” I nodded and braced myself. I pulled his hand out as far as I could and nodded to Ronnie. He wrapped his hand around his arm. Once he was settled, and he gave me a nod, I let go. I wrestled his hand open, and I pulled the knife from my back pocket.“Amy, what are you doing?” My father fought harder, slamming Ronnie’s back against the bars.“Do you trust me?” I fought to hold his hand straight as I brought the knife closer.“Of course. But what are you doing?”“If I’m right, what I am about to do will not be pretty, but it needs to be done.” “What are you
“Alsh firmate alite.” The fire ball flew from my hands and exploded against the dry wood. It caught, and soon the fire was burning through the wood quickly. I fed more wood, bigger pieces into the fire, and waited for it to catch. I wanted to be sure that this was going to be burning for a while before I moved on to the next step. Once I was sure that the fire was good, I flipped back to the page I needed. I read the entire page twice before I put the book back on the ground. I pulled my mother’s necklace out of my pocket and my father’s skin. I prayed to the Moon Goddess that I was right before I tossed both in. “Ista nox luva sit nu.” I slowly repeated the word three times, and I watched as the fire flared and turned pink. I hoped that meant I was right before I sat back on my heels. Now I just had to wait. I fed the fire and watched as the necklace slowly melted away, and nearly gagged from the smell as the small bit of my father went with it. I let the fire go until I saw ever
The sun was breaking over the trees as I broke out of the forest. I didn’t realize that the burning took so long. It took the entire night. Megan’s voice sounded tired. I nodded as I ran into the pack house and up the stairs. I needed to see him for myself before I believed he was truly back to his normal self. I made it to the landing, and I was hearing the pack house wake up, but I was only focused on one thing.“Dad?” I slammed into the office and skidded to a stop. My father was there, sitting behind his desk. He looked like he was normal, but that didn’t mean he was. Ronnie was slumped in his normal chair and they both looked up to where I was panting in the doorway.“Yeah pup.” His smile made me burst into tears. “You scared the crap out of me, old man. I thought I had lost you.” I ran into his arms as he stood and he wrapped his arms around me.“I’m sorry Amy. I should have listened to you sooner. I wouldn’t have hurt you if I had.” He pulled back to look at the faded bruises
The Agora was breathtaking. The clearing looked like a natural stone quarry, if that made any sense. Rocks were staggered down toward the lower floor, like steps, and it was already filling up with the pack. There was a path that circled down the side wall of the crater until it ended at the bottom, where a chair, or should I say, a throne, waited. There was a smaller one to the side, which I could only assume it was for the Alpha and Luna. As I stepped down with my father, I could feel the truth settle in my bones. This was the birthplace of our kind. You could feel the ancient roots here wrap around you. The trees bowed outward, allowing the sun and moon to shine down on the people collected here. This was where fates were decided. My father and I reached the bottom, and he gestured me to sit in the luna’s chair and I nodded. I settled and my father walked to the floor as everyone filed in. You could see the wolves that knew the truth of this place fill with a sense of pride. And
“Because!” she snarled and rose up to glare at her parents. “You were weak. Both if you were so weak. I deserved to be a ranked wolf. I worked my ass off to become stronger, only to find myself stuck in the middle with you two.” She looked disgusted. Her parents reeled back with the hate. “We loved you.” Sheila whispered, her voice trembling.“What’s so wrong with being unranked wolf?” Someone from the stands shouted.“Yeah?” Another called down. Soon, the entire pack was riled up.“Everything!” Amanda stood and whirled on the crowd. “You are weak. Unimportant. Poor. Pathetic wolves who are happy in your pathetic, insignificant lives. I deserve to be a luna, I deserve to lead. I deserve-” She stomped her foot.“Nothing.” My voice echoed around the clearing. “You deserve nothing.” Amanda turned back to me with a glare. “Being an alpha, or luna, isn’t something we deserve. It isn’t even something we earn. We are born to lead. We are born stronger, faster, bigger than normal wolves. Not
I stood on shaky paws, and I looked down at the girl between my feet. “What are you?”“I already told you,” Nix growled out as she lowered our head to Amanda’s. “I am an alpha of this pack, and I have made my decree.” Nix lifted our muzzle to the sky and howled. The loud lone call was matched with the shifted wolves of this pack. The ones that were left bowed their heads to us. “Does anyone disagree?”“No Alpha.” The call went out, even Jay and Sheila bowing their consent. “Mom! Dad!” Amanda called out, but they turned their backs on her. As did the rest of the pack. She looked around as she stumbled to her feet. She looked back to Nix. “From this day forth, Amanda Williams will be shunned by any of this pack. She will be joined by Aurora Williams once she is caught. We do not suffer betrayers in this pack.”“You have until sundown to collect the belongings you are taking with you. You need to be off pack lands or else the warriors have permission to attack on sight.” My father walk
I was able to tackle the wolf that dove for the pup and I made quick work of it. I whirled on the family, and they cried as I walked closer and sniffed around them to make sure no one was hurt. “You’re okay. Head to the closest building and lock yourself in a room.”The mom and kid continued to cry, but the father nodded. “Thank you…Alpha…” He trailed off, and I realized these people were too scared to scent me. “I’m Nix, Amy’s wolf.” I licked my muzzle to clean off any blood so not to scare the kid. But she threw herself at me. “Amy?”“Yes. You’re safe now, Sophie. Now, do as you’re told and go. Stay safe.” The mom and dad grabbed the pup from my leg and then hustled into whoever’s house they were cornered at. I heard a few doors slam and a lock turn before I ran off towards another howl.I made my way through the pack. One call for help after another. Sometimes, I made it in time, others someone else had already beaten me to it. I was about to run to the next howl, but it was cut
I sat silently. My entire focus on the bubbling liquid. The timing had to be perfect. I watched as the silver slowly disappeared, the magic sucking it away. Once the last flash of silver could be seen, I pushed the bowl from the rocks, dumping the dark black liquid over the grass, smothering the fire, and dumping out silver statues.“What the fuck?” Micca pointed. Hanna’s mouth dropped open. “Those were wood.” She walked over and stood over them. “Can I touch them?” I nodded, hiding my smile. She bent over and grabbed the first one. “Holy shit.”“What?” Toya walked over and grabbed another. Her gaze snapped to mine. “It’s metal.” I nodded. “How?”I gave her a look, lifting my eyebrow. “It’s magic.” I laughed as they all looked at me with the same look of disbelief. I waved them off and stood, bending to grab the other two statues. “They aren’t really metal. The magic, the blood, coated them in the magic I need to create, the barrier, the shield for the cabin. For Carly.” I studied th
Carly’s words had my stomach dropping. I finally looked around and realized everyone was staring at me, but I couldn’t blame them. This place, this place was still so fresh in our mind from last night. “We need to move this to a new spot.” Micca offered, but I shook my head. This was the spot that I needed. “We can’t.” I looked down at the ground, blood still a dark stain that I didn’t see. But now I understood. “This is the only place for this spell, and I think Carl knew that.” I sank on to my feet and waited.“What do you mean, this is the only place for the spell?” Toya crouched in front of me.“The spell has to be cast at the north point of the property. The spell, the barrier, stops people from finding those within. My father cast one to keep Carly safe, but since he went into hiding, he wasn’t able to come here to renew it.”“Renew it?” Micca looked around. “How do you do that?”“This spell is powered by a sacrifice. The hair or the cloaked, and blood.” I swallowed. “Normally
“Amy.” Carly ran after me, her sweet voice calling for me, and I skidded to a stop. “Yeah sweet pea?” I panted. The need to protect her warred with my need to take care of her. She pointed to a box on the fridge. “Daddy told me to show you the box.” She bounced on her toes. “He said it was important, but I forgot about it till now.” She looked worried.“It’s okay, baby girl. You did great.” I ran back to the box and pulled it down. Another note was taped to it. I wanted to laugh, cause the man thought of everything. I brought it to the table and Toya stood from the couch when I slammed the box down. “What’s going on?” She walked over to us and patted Carly on her head. “Are you okay?” I opened the box only to find more herbs and four little statues. “What’s this stuff for?”But I knew. This was the start of a new barrier spell. I grabbed everything from the box and thought back to the spell in the book. The herbs were here. The statues were here. There was a lock of hair from every
Carly whirled to face the end of the grave only to see Carl settling down on to the ground. “Daddy.” She stood to run to him, but he waved her back down. “I’m not here baby.” He looked down. “Well I am, but I’m not.”She settled back on her knees. “You’re under here?” He nodded. “Yeah baby. Amy laid me down here so that you can spend some time with me if you want.” He smiled as he settled in. “I know I won’t be able to come every time you need me, but today seemed important.”Carly nodded her head. “I miss you, daddy.” She swiped her hand at her face, smearing snot across her cheek.I pulled a tissue from my pocket and I wiped it away. Carl smiled, watching us. His eyes met mine. “I miss you too, baby girl, but Amy here has you.”Carly looked up at me. “I like Amy, but it’s not the same.” Hey eyes held an apology.I chuckled. “It’s okay sweet pea. It’s going to be different. And it should be.” I kissed her and then we turned to Carl. The smile on his face was bright. “Go on and say
Carly met my eyes, and she sniffled. “What will you call me?”I froze. “Well, I haven’t thought about it. I’ve called you a few names, but that isn’t fair to you either.” I looked around the table. “What would you like us to call you?”She looked at her hands. “Daddy called me pup. Or baby girl.” I nodded when she looked up. But she worried at her lip. “We can call you other things.” I offered. She shot up. She raised her hands and waved them. “No, no, no, no.” She whipped her head back and forth. I grabbed for her hands, worried that she would slip from the chair. “Sweet pea. It’s okay.” I slid my hand to her cheek. “If you want us to call you pup or baby girl so it helps you remember your daddy, we will. If you want us to come up with different nicknames so that only your dad called your those two, we can do that too. What ever you want, we will do.”Toya stood and came over to her chair, kneeling. “If you want Amy to call you certain names, and then rest of us something else, we
Tiny sobs racked her body. She cried herself out before she looked up into my face. “Did daddy really say that?” I nodded and showed her the letter. “You’ve seen your dad’s hand writing right?” I asked softly, but she shook her head. “Well, this was written by him.” I watched her tiny finger trace the words. “I can’t read it.” I leaned my head against hers. “I’ll teach you.” She took the letter gently. “Is this mine?”I kissed her head. “Your daddy wrote you a ton of letters, and you get to keep them all.” I was going to push up from the ground, but Carly stopped me. She handed it back to me. “I don’t want to lose it.” I took the letter and folded it back up. “Can you keep it for me?” She sniffled and then stood. She made her way over to the mirror and twirled in a circle. “My daddy is right.”“Oh?”“You made me beautiful.” She gave me a tiny smile as I got up off the floor. “No, Carly girl. You are already beautiful. I just did your hair.” I tucked the letter into my sweatpants
My alarm was screaming at me, and I rolled over with a groan. “Please goddess. Let me sleep.” I cracked open my eyes. Then, like clockwork, everyone else groaned. I heard a distant ‘please goddess no’ and that made me laugh.There was a soft knock, and I called out. “Yeah?” Thinking it was Toya, I stood and stretched. I turned to the door to find a small face staring up at me and I hurried over. “Hey Carly.” I pulled the door wide and crouched down. “Good morning.”She stared at me for a few minutes and I could see tears gathering in her eyes. “Can…” she trailed off and rubbed her nose on her sleeve. I reached for her. “What’s wrong?”She worried at her lip for a minute. “Can you help me pick out my clothes?” I smiled softly. “Of course I can.” I didn’t realize she needed help with this still. I was out of my depth. Almost as if she read my mind, she sniffled again. “I normally pick my clothes, but.” She stopped and wiped her eyes. “But what, baby?” I pulled her closer to me. She
“You come from a family or travelers.” She winked as she moved onto my next friend. Then she looked around and smiled. “All of you do. But you three, you lost your roots because of it.” She watched as the three of them all nodded. “Now. Refinding your stories, finding your roots will become something important to you. And it should be.” She leaned over and kissed Hanna’s brow. “While Japan is dear to your family. China is where they stem from. Your goddess calls you home.” She moved to Micca, and she tugged on her strands. “It should come as no surprise that your roots are Welsh. Rich in culture and redheads.” My grandmother laughed. “Arianrhod of the silver wheel and weaver. Tell her stories and bring her home.” Micca smiled as she played with a lock of hair as my grandmother moved past me. She stopped next to Wendy and kissed her brow. “A god brought forth your line. Norse roots date your family back years. Yet in their exploration, your men turned their back on their god. And now y
Silence. I looked around the room, and everyone was staring at Hanna, who was frozen in her chair. We waited another minute before I squeezed her hair. “Are you okay?” Hanna blinked a few times before she sat back in her chair. She turned to me and her mouth opened, but still, nothing came out. I wiggled her hand and then she seemed to almost deflate. “Talk to us.”“My family is from Japan, though.” Hanna finally collected her thoughts. “And they might have been for a few generations, but they could have moved to Japan from another country, right?”Hanna considered it. “I mean it’s possible.” She looked at me. “I don’t know where from, though.”“That’s easy.” I closed my eyes.“Wait!” I opened my eyes and turned to Wendy. “What’s wrong?”She blushed. “Before you figure out where Chang’e comes from, I think you should do Micca and I first.” She started to pick at her nails again.“Why?” Toya reached across to stop her picking. She looked up. “I’m not familiar with gods.” I wanted to