I blink, and she’s gone like a wisp of smoke. A heartbeat later, my bedroom door explodes inward with a thunderous crash. Alice strides in, an aura of dark power radiating from her very being. I stare, transfixed by the haunting metamorphosis she has undergone, barely recognizing the woman before me as my sister.
“What happened to you?” I whisper, my voice laced with disbelief and dread as if addressing a vengeful spirit.
Alice ignores my question, her eyes burning with a sinister light. “Do you know I have dreamt of this moment a million times?” She takes slow, deliberate steps towards me, each footfall reverberating through the floorboards. An ominous energy crackles around her, suffocating the very air.
I instinctively step back, putting distance between us as dread coils in my stomach. “Is that so?” I keep my tone even, masking the frantic pounding of my heart. My mind races, scanning for exits, assessing potential weapons – anything to buy me time against this twisted version of Alice.
“Yes,” she hisses, baring her teeth in a feral grin. “I have thought of whether I should make Alex watch or simply deliver your severed head to him once I’m done.”
A chill slithers down my spine, but I force myself to breathe evenly. I need to stay calm, study her movements, and identify weaknesses. Above all, I must lure her outside where I can do what I promised Lorenzo. “Why, Alice?” I inject my voice with a tremor of bewilderment. “Why this madness?”
Alice’s lip curls in contempt. “Did you really ask me why when you are the reason?” she yells, her claws flexing, gleaming like razors in the dim light.
“I’ve said this before: I didn’t ask to be married to Alex. If you want to blame someone for everything that has happened, blame your parents.”
With each barbed exchange, I inch sideways, guiding us toward the door with calculated steps.
“Shut up,” Alice snarls, stalking forward, her predatory gaze locked on me, oblivious to my tactics. The tension mounts, the air crackling with imminent violence.
Then, with a feral snarl, she strikes – her claws scything through the air towards my throat. But I’m ready. I twist aside with preternatural grace, her attack missing by a hair’s breadth. Seizing the moment, I bolt for the door, my heart thundering in my ears.
I’m not running away,” I call over my shoulder, defiance ringing in my voice. “I’m taking this fight outside.”
Alice’s enraged roar echoes behind me as I burst into the cool night air. I scan our surroundings for the perfect battleground – an open clearing where I can maneuver freely and wait for Lorenzo.
We emerge into a moonlit glade, the silvery light casting stark shadows. I skid to a halt, muscles coiled as Alice closes in, her breath coming in ragged snarls of fury. This is it.
“Let’s end this, shall we?” My words slice through the tension as I shift into my wolf form with practiced ease. Sinew and bone flow in a seamless transition, power, and grace intertwined.
Alice’s lips peel back in a vicious sneer. “I don’t need magic to kill you. My paws are enough.” She blurs and contorts, reforming as a massive wolf, muscles rippling beneath her ashen coat. Did she just say magic?
With a bone-chilling howl, she charges. Her jaws gape, fangs glinting as they aim for my throat. But at the last moment, an invisible barrier flares around me, repelling her with brutal force. Alice yelps in surprise as she’s flung back, tumbling across the clearing.
I stand impassive within the shimmering sphere, my ethereal shield a testament to the hours of preparation, the relentless honing of my powers.
“You mastered how to use your powers,” Alice growls, shaking her head in disbelief.
“You didn’t think I was just playing this past month, did you?” I reply, allowing a hint of dark amusement to bleed into my words.
Her muzzle twists in a savage grin. “No problem, that’s fine. Let me see how you hold that shield when there are so many of us.”
At her signal, wolves begin materializing from the shadows – a pack of Alice’s twisted followers emerging to join the fray. They hurl themselves at my barrier, clawing and snarling, but I stand resolute at the eye of the storm. I can’t falter, can’t allow even a single chink in my defenses until he arrives.
I grit my teeth, sweat beading on my brow as the invisible sphere wobbles and shudders with each punishing blow. I’m not just shielding myself but every wolf fighting on the battlefield right now. I had learned all their names, and that’s how I could shield them even without seeing them in front of me.
“Hurry up, Lorenzo,” I say through the mindlink, my voice strained but unyielding. “I can’t hold it much longer.”
“I’m almost there,” comes his reply, tinged with urgency.
“Everyone step back!” Alice’s voice rings out, and I whip my head around to see her resuming human form, utterly unconcerned with her nudity.
What fresh madness is this? But my eyes widen in dawning horror as she begins an incantation, her lips blurring as the eldritch words pour forth. She can practice magic? I’m not giving time to dwell on that as a roiling cloud of inky blackness coalesces around her, growing in malevolent density with every uttered syllable.
With a final, guttural exhalation, she unleashes the seething miasma. It slams into my barrier like a tsunami, shattering it in a torrent of unrelenting darkness. The force of the impact hurls me across the clearing to smash against an unyielding oak. White-hot agony lances through my body as I feel ribs cracking, puncturing my lungs.
Anguished screams shatter the night, and terror fills me as I realize Hen is now able to kill everyone I had shielded. “No!” I bellow, my cry torn from a throat flooded with guilt and despair. I surge back to my feet, channeling every ounce of my being as I attempt to re-establish the protective sphere.
But something is wrong – a malign force claws at my essence, an icy talon of dread constricting around my heart. I falter, my concentration shattering as I grapple with the insidious power ravaging my soul…
I whip my head up, heart pounding, and there she is – Alice, her face twisted in a snarl as inky tendrils of dark magic coil around her fingers, reaching out to ensnare my beating heart. In that moment, the bitter truth sinks in – the plan Lorenzo and I devised cannot be achieved. If I wait for him, I’ll be dead before he arrives.
I gather every ounce of my power, forging an ethereal shield to sever Alice’s insidious grip on my life force. Without hesitation, I lash out, but she’s always been quicker. She blurs into her wolf form, a sleek, ashen blur of fangs and fury. We clash in a whirlwind of snapping jaws and raking claws, her merciless onslaught leaving trails of fire across my flanks as she batters at my ribs and slashes for my eyes. Despite her relentless aggression, I can’t bring myself to be as ruthless.
Alice is my sister. Even though she annoyed me and treated me like shit, I still can’t bring myself to kill her, to hurt her. I focus on defending myself, parrying her attacks with precision and restraint, my heart heavy with the weight of our fractured bond.
“Alice, stop this madness!” Lorenzo’s voice rings out, and she freezes, jaws gaping inches from my throat. In a heartbeat, he’s between us, shielding me from her wrath with his own body.
She snarls, a feral sound ripping from her lupine muzzle as she demands he move aside. But Lorenzo stands firm, unwavering. “I know you, Alice. You aren’t this… you aren’t a killer.”
His words seem to fall on deaf ears as her growls intensify, promising violence if he doesn’t retreat. But still, he persists. “Please, stop. Alex and Hannah promise to forget everything as long as you come with me. Far away from here.”
For a moment, her wolf eyes blaze with doubt, her snarl faltering. But the flicker of hesitation is short-lived. With a ferocious bark of outrage, she lunges, knocking Lorenzo aside with brutal force before whirling on me once more.
I brace myself for her attack, but a sleek brown form hurtles into her path – my mate, his powerful body vibrating with a fury to match Alice’s own as he engages her in a whirlwind of tooth and claw. They grapple, snarling and snapping until an anguished yelp rends the air. Alex crumples, body going limp as if every bone has turned to liquid.
“I was starting to wonder where you were,” a chillingly familiar voice sneers.
My blood turns to ice in my veins as I lift my gaze to the newcomer. Hen stands before us, her eyes glittering like twin obsidian shards, her pale skin seeming to leech the color from the world around her. I forget how to breathe, how to move, as memories of that dreadful night resurface, replaying the moment she took my father’s life.
“People say you look like your mother,” Hen muses, her tone laced with dark amusement. “But no… you’re more him than you could ever imagine.”
An invisible force seizes me, suspending me in midair as if I weigh no more than a fallen leaf. I thrash wildly, a howl of terror tearing from my throat as I plead with her to release me. But there is no mercy in those soulless eyes. With a negligent flick of her wrist, she casts me away, and I plummet earthward in a dizzying freefall.
The ground rushes up to meet me with terrifying speed. I have only a moment to shift back to human form before I strike the unforgiving earth with a sickening crunch of shattered bone. White-hot agony lances through me as I crumple into a broken heap, my screams mingling with Alex’s anguished roars as he fights against Hen’s restraining magic.
“They said you were strong,” Hen taunts, her voice dripping with disdain. “But I guess they were wrong.”
Another cruel gesture, and I’m flung aside like a rag doll, my battered body caroming from tree to unforgiving tree. Each impact drives the air from my lungs in a breathless scream until darkness begins to encroach on the edges of my vision. Through the haze of pain, I hear Alice’s mocking laughter and Alex’s frantic struggles to reach me.
“This is fun,” Hen croons, and I feel that terrible force seize me once more, dragging me back towards her.
My eyes widen in dawning horror as I realize her intent – to repeat that brutal punishment, to batter me from the other direction until I’m nothing but a tattered ruin of flesh and bone. Desperately, I try to focus, to conjure the shielding powers I’ve never dared attempt in human form. If I can protect myself, maybe I can extend that barrier to Alex as well…
But I’m given no chance to try. Again, I’m hurled away, the world blurring into a kaleidoscope of splintered agony as I ricochet from tree to unforgiving tree. This time, I can’t even scream, each jarring impact driving the air from my abused lungs in breathless gasps. Alex roars his fury, his struggles intensifying until I fear he’ll turn that violence upon himself.
“Leave my daughter alone!” My mother’s voice slices through the chaos like a blade.
I crumple to the ground, every bone screaming in protest as the invisible force holding me aloft dissipates. Hen’s mocking laughter rings out once more as she turns her attention to this new threat. “Ah, the other bitch I hoped to see tonight.”
“Which way would you like it, easy or hard?” Hen rasps out, her voice dripping with malice as an unseen force constricts around Mom’s throat, hoisting her into the air. The sinister gleam in Hen’s eye reflects a perverse delight in our suffering. Panic surges through me, my heart hammering wildly against my ribs as I watch, helpless. Mom’s face turns a dangerous shade of red, her eyes bulging as she struggles for breath. Despite the vice-like grip on her throat, her gaze finds mine, and amidst the terror, I catch a flicker of something unexpected-hope.
“You can do this, Aura,” Mom’s voice rings out, filled with a conviction that cuts through the pain hazing my mind. “You are stronger than you know. No one has done it, but you can.”
It takes me a moment to grasp her meaning, but then understanding blossoms like a flame in my battered soul. I squeeze my eyes shut, channeling every ounce of my being as I reach for that untapped well of power lying dormant within me. I can feel the stirrings of it, a faint flicker of energy that ebbs and flows with each ragged breath. But it’s not enough – not yet.
“You can do this, Hannah,” Alex’s voice echoes through mind link, lending me his strength, his unwavering belief. “Believe in yourself.”
I cling to that lifeline, letting it buoy me as I delve deeper, pushing past barriers I didn’t know existed. A nimbus of scintillating light begins to gather around me, strengthening and solidifying with every rattling inhalation until it forms an impenetrable shield.
“What’s happening?” Hen’s panicked voice slices through the chaos as her grip on my mother falters, her magic rebuffed by the inexorable force of my own.
A faint smile tugs at my bloodied lips as I rise to my feet, favoring my one good leg as I pour more energy into fortifying my shield. Hen’s restraining magic dissipates like smoke.
“Alice, deal with Aura!” Hen screams, lunging at Mom once more. But Mom is quicker, sidestepping Hen’s attack with a fluid grace. In one swift, brutal motion, she releases her claws and plunges them into Hen’s chest, tearing out her heart. My eyes widen in shock as I watch Mom hurl Hen’s black, still-beating heart to the side. Hen’s body collapses lifelessly to the ground, following the trajectory of her discarded heart.
A piercing scream splits the air as Alice crumples, doubling over as if struck a physical blow. I turn towards her, my brow furrowing as I take in the change in her aura – something vital, something dark and twisted, has been severed.
“Alice, it’s still not too late,” Lorenzo calls out, limping towards her with his hands outstretched in supplication. “Please, give up.”
But she’s beyond reason now. “Leave me the fuck alone.” With an inarticulate shriek of rage, she lashes out, a wave of force hurtling Lorenzo’s broken body across the clearing to crash into an unyielding trunk with sickening finality.
My eyes widen, and I immediately rush to his side to ensure he’s okay. What I see freezes me in place, tears welling up in my eyes.
“Alex!” I call out, noticing his chest is horrifyingly still.
My mate is there in an instant, his own battered form trembling as he takes in the terrible truth.
“No, no, no… fuck no!” he cries out, looking at Lorenzo’s body lying motionless, blood pooling beneath him and his lifeless eyes.
“I will kill her. I will fucking kill her,” Alex rages, whirling with murderous intent toward Alice. But I catch his arm, stilling his wrath as I turn his gaze back towards her.
Alice kneels alone, rocking back and forth as she clutches her head, keening like a wounded animal. “He’s not breathing,” she mutters repeatedly. In that moment, I realize she has received the punishment for killing one’s mate.
Alex throws his head back, howling in pain, and I just hold him because right now, I don’t know what more I can do.