Chapter 36: My Final Showdown

CLARA

Just as I was about to give in to the darkness, the crescent, a scar on my flesh, and a white patch on my fur began to glow again.

From there spread glowing runes and symbols, bright white and nearly blinding against my black fur.

I felt my wounds begin to close and my spine snap back into place.

Blood rushed painfully into my back legs, drawing a cry of pain from my throat.

Slowly, I returned to my feet. When I spoke, it crashed like thunder from the heavens.

“~Xavier Renskyn. The blood of your own pack cries to me from the earth. The blood of an innocent human screams for vengeance. As Moon-Chosen, it is my duty to provide justice.~”

That was the moment I saw fear flashing in Xavier’s eyes.

With unearthly speed, I slammed into Xavier before he could even react. My teeth settled in on either side of his jugular, and I sank them deeply into his flesh.

“~This is for Alpha Zayne and every other wolf who died at your hand. I avenge them all.~”

With those final words, I snapped my jaw entirely shut and jerked my head hard.

Blood spurted all over me as his heart gave its final pumps through the disconnected vein, spraying his lifeblood uselessly all over the meadow’s green carpet.

His severed windpipe whistled and gurgled uselessly. There was no way for his body to heal before he ran out of blood and oxygen.

And then…the light faded from his eyes.

Xavier fell to the ground.

I spat out his blood and the chunk of meat I’d torn away, then stood over his body.

“~Graveridge! Your alpha has been defeated by me, Clara Renskyn, daughter of Xavier Renskyn. I lay claim to leadership of his pack as luna, with Elias as my alpha. Stop fighting ~now,~ or Northfang will send you to the afterlife in the same boat as my father.~”

My words brought the commotion in the meadow to an abrupt halt.

Elias took his place at my side, and together we watched the black wolves of Graveridge slowly lower themselves to the ground. I could sense their reluctance as they crawled toward us and touched our feet with their noses.

The silver Northfang wolves did the same thing, though their eyes glittered with joy as they acknowledged me as their official luna.

The final wolf to give his loyalty was Marius.

Elias and I dipped our heads in acceptance, then stared out over the bodies that littered the meadow. At least a dozen people had lost their lives tonight, including Xavier.

My heart ached over the needless loss. I felt the gentle touch of Elias’s consciousness and immediately let him in.

“~Things can get better now,~” he whispered to me. ~“I’ll ensure everyone is returned to their families, then the healing can begin.~”

He licked my jaw and I leaned heavily into him, the weight of what I’d been forced to do pulling me toward the earth.

I couldn’t believe I’d ~killed~ someone. Much less that I’d killed my father. His lifeless body lay at my feet, forever trapped in its wolf form. I was grateful for that, though. At least I didn’t have to look into the human face of the man who created me.

But behind the sadness, I also felt something unexpected: a sense of kinship. As I stared into the eyes of each member of my new pack, I knew that I’d found the place I belonged: at Elias’s side. And together, we would lead the new Forest Echo Pack with love and loyalty.

“~Let’s go home,~” I said. “~All of us. Tomorrow, we’ll honor the ones we lost and start the process of learning to be one family again.~”

Elias dipped his head and wiggled his way beneath Xavier’s body. He lifted Xavier onto his back and after a few moments of shifting his weight, turned toward home.

Other members of the pack did the same for the rest of our dead, and our quiet procession began the long journey.

With the adrenaline wearing off, my paws felt like lead at the end of my legs. But I gritted my teeth and kept trudging through the snow.

We traveled together as a pack for the first two hours. As we approached the pack house, wolves began breaking away from the group toward their own homes.

Elias led those carrying fallen pack members to the clearing with the brook.

~“We’ll bury them here with our ancestors,”~ he said, carefully lowering Xavier to the ground.

Our packmates followed suit, laying down their burdens and touching Elias and me with their noses before padding away into the darkness.

Soon, only Elias and I remained.

He nuzzled my bloodied body, and I finally saw his weariness. He’d put on a brave face for the pack, but alone with me he lowered his guard.

~“Can you make it back?”~ I asked, licking his muzzle comfortingly.

“~Yes. I’m tired, but so are you. And we’ll recover better in a warm bed than sleeping in our wolf forms in the snow.~”

He sighed, his warm breath turning to fog in the cold air. I pressed my shoulder against his, and he leaned into me.

We finished our travel that way, our feet moving in slow synchronization as we supported each other’s weight. The dam containing my emotions broke when we stepped out of the forest and onto Elias’s property.

If I had enough strength to run, I would have sprinted to the door. But as it was, I fought to calm my throbbing heart as we crossed the undisturbed snow.

The first rays of sunrise cast the cabin and its surroundings in soft shades of peach and orange. It was a beautiful sight, and not just because we were so close to rest. We paused on the porch, and Elias began shrinking down to his human form.

It was then that I realized—I didn’t actually know how to shift on purpose.

“Take a deep breath and focus on sending your wolf back to sleep,” Elias instructed, placing his hand on my cheek. “It might take some concentration the first time, but you’ll get better at it with practice. Look into my eyes if that helps you concentrate.”

Staring at my hot husband’s eyes wasn’t a hard request. I focused on the pattern in his golden irises and the way my chest expanded and collapsed as I breathed.

“Good girl. Now tell yourself to shift.”

Which I did.

My skin began to itch, and my bones began to move—and after a few moments, I stood back up. My limbs changed length and my hands returned, and soon I was a human again.

A very ~naked~ human. But strangely, I wasn’t cold.

Elias’s lack of clothes in the winter suddenly made more sense.

I ~was~ however, exhausted.

Elias, as Elias did, scooped me up into his arms and carried me into the cabin.

“Do you want to take a quick shower before we go to bed?” he asked, pausing at the top of the stairs.

“As long as it’s just a shower, I would love one,” I teased.

Elias gave me a dramatic expression, but then chuckled and kissed the tip of my nose. He carried me to the bathroom and started heating the shower.

Let me tell you—I’d never had a better shower in my entire life.

The dried blood stuck to almost every surface of my body had gotten itchy. Watching it disappear down the drain was not only a physical relief, but also a mental one.

Elias tenderly washed my hair, and I soaped his back where he couldn’t reach.

We didn’t speak, but we didn’t need to. I could feel all of his emotions through the bond we’d forged, and I can only imagine he felt mine as well.

We stayed in the shower until the water started to run cold, dried off, and climbed into bed.

“Elias?” I whispered, my eyes closing wearily.

“Mmm?”

“I love you.”

Elias’s lips met mine, and I could feel them turned up into a smile.

“I love you too, Clara. Always.”