Chapter 30: Chapter 11

CORALIE

We’ve been on the road to Kalenfall City, the headquarters of the were council, for almost two days. We’re now less than five miles away from the city lights that we’re all anxiously anticipating. The tension seems to grow with every step we take.

After the way our meeting with the leaders went the night before we left, I was surprised that no one decided to leave. Everyone is clinging to the hope that the lycan queen can liberate them, but I’m not so sure.

~What if I’m not the savior they’re hoping for? What if I can’t be the hero they need me to be?~

“Danny estimates we’ll be there in less than two hours, right after sunset,” someone calls out from the front.

“Good. We’ll stop a mile out so everyone can get ready,” another voice responds.

We keep moving until we’re about a mile away from the city, where everyone takes a break and prepares for the upcoming battle.

As the city lights come into view, our plan starts to take shape. The first group, led by Darius, heads through the sewers while the rest of us split up. One group heads west, another south, one north, and Jordan and I lead a group east.

We move quickly and quietly through the city, taking out the patrols. The four groups converge at the city center, right in front of the council hall where the were council not only meets but also sleeps.

We all wait in silence for Darius’s signal, our excitement and anxiety reaching a fever pitch until we see a cloud of black mist billowing out of a sewer grate.

“Go!” someone shouts.

We all rush through the archway that leads to the grounds in front of the council hall. By the time we reach the doors, Darius and his men have already taken out the guards and are holding the doors open for us to storm in.

The were council is far more impressive than the witch’s council could ever hope to be. It’s made up of seventy-eight members, all from ancient bloodlines, all alphas, and all purebreds.

We spread out, covering every door and corridor as we sweep through the building. We finally reach the main hall, where two large wooden doors adorned with intricate carvings of wolves in a forest stand.

At the center of the two doors is a large full moon. I push the doors open and am hit by a wave of energy that nearly brings me to my knees and does bring several of our men down.

“We thought you might have made the right choice and abandoned your foolish plans to dismantle the council, but it seems we gave you too much credit,” Marius, the eldest of the council, calls out from across the room.

“I guess that means I win our bet, brother,” Tyrus, Marius’s younger brother, chuckles as his eyes scan the room before returning to meet his brother’s gaze.

“As you can see, we took precautions just in case you decided to show up. An old friend of mine owed me a favor after they hired me to kill your mother. You remember Layla, don’t you?”

We watch as a woman steps out from behind Marius. Her face has aged, but it’s one I could never forget.

“You look just like your mother. What a shame,” Layla hisses out in a voice that’s inhuman and raspy.

I take a step closer, pushing against the waves of her energy with all my strength. I extend my hand, pushing my energy forward until she stumbles just enough to distract her.

The moment her pulsing barrier drops, everyone charges into the room. Layla’s focus remains on me. My little distraction has made her angry.

I see a dark mass forming in her hands, but as she launches it toward me, Luca jumps in front of me and it slams into his chest. I drop to my knees and cradle his head in my lap, ignoring the battle raging around me.

Luca’s eyes are as black as pitch as he stares at me, devoid of emotion. I place one hand on his chest and one on his head, slowly drawing the darkness from him and letting it flow through me.

Danny rushes over and drops down beside me, fear in his eyes as he looks at Luca.

“Take him and go.”

He carefully picks Luca up and runs out the door with him as I get back on my feet, the darkness coursing through me.

“Awe, the little witch tainted herself to save her brother. How sweet,” Layla taunts as she slowly steps closer. The energy around us crackles intensely.

“Too bad your mother didn’t have time to properly train you. A weak witch is a useless witch.”

Each word she speaks causes the darkness to spread, slowly consuming me.

“You think I’m a weak witch? There’s just one problem…I’m not a witch.”

I give her a sinister smile as my beast tears through, my once-white fur now black. I see a spark of fear in her eyes.

“What the hell are you?”

I snarl at her and take a large step forward.

“That’s impossible.” Marius gasps from behind her.

I lunge forward, snapping my jaws closed around the witch’s head and instantly severing it from her body.

I drop her head and shift back, slowly stalking toward Marius. I watch as he tries to shift, but I hold out my hand and force his wolf back.

As soon as I’m close enough to reach him, I grab his face in my hands, forcing the darkness out of me and sending it into him like a plague.

I watch as his body slowly deteriorates, desiccating beneath my hands until he collapses in a pile of bones and rotting flesh.

Another charges at me. Tyrus. I grab his throat, delivering to him the same fate as his brother, though much more quickly.

I eliminate them one by one, leaving a trail of desiccated corpses in my wake.

“Alpha!”

The voice of one of Jordan’s men grips my attention tightly, and I turn to see Weyland, the fourth head of the council, rushing at Jordan with a silver dagger gripped tightly in his hand.

I don’t even have time to think before my body reacts, throwing my hands forward and expelling the darkness, willing it forward as it wraps around him, slithering into every orifice like serpents as the blade crashes to the ground at Jordan’s feet.

I watch in eager fascination as the dark mist suffocates him and drains the very life from him until he falls to the ground, withered and decayed.

“Cora?”

My eyes meet Jordan’s, and I can see his worry as the mist slowly returns to me, seeping into my skin.

“Darius!”

I turn my head toward Darius as Jordan points at me with a shocked and worried expression.

The last of the council falls as Darius rushes over to me, grabbing my cheeks and forcing me to meet his gaze.

“Kid, you’re definitely going to be the end of me,” he says.

He slips his hand into my hair, jerking my head to the side before his teeth find my skin.

I can hear the sounds of yelling, the fury in their voices, but it all starts to blur into the blackness.