Chapter 15
THE BANDAGES ON HER fingers caught on the rough bark of the large black cottonwood at her back. There was a thicket of trees outside of Harrison and that was where Ava was now with her three volunteer wolves. Max, Willow, and Derek were all shifted into their wolf forms, waiting patiently for Ava to give the signal. Ava could feel Beatrice’s presence in the city because she was finely tuned to her magic after spending most of her life with her. She was sure Beatrice could feel her, too.
It was about time to get started. Ava needed to make this look good and call Beatrice out with the commotion. She looked at the white wolf, blond wolf, and black wolf standing in front of her. She silently vowed to protect each one of them. No more pain. After today, she would cause no more pain.
I’m sorry, Beatrice.
Max walked forward and placed his nose in the palm of her hand. She couldn’t fathom being deathly afraid of this wolf, not anymore. He was her comfort. She moved her hand to rub his skull in between his pointed ears. Then she knelt down and wrapped her arms around the fluffy fur of his huge neck. Her fingers brushed the silver chain holding the cross he always wore. She didn’t have a good opinion of religious people, but until recently, she didn’t have a good opinion of anyone. Max changed that about her, too. Religion didn’t define a person. There were too many hypocrites. People defined themselves by their actions.
That was why she was here. Her actions today would speak louder than any words she could give.
“We’ve gotta make this look good,” Ava told the wolves. “Just stay back and act vicious. I’m going to shoot magic down from this black cottonwood like I’m trying to fend you off, so don’t get too close. You’ll probably feel the power, but you won’t get hurt. Beatrice should come right away when she senses the spike of Black Magic.”
Ava gave Max a little push to let him know they needed to do this now. He kept his orange sunset eyes trained on her as he back away with the other wolves. The three wolves with Ava were the only ones visible, the only ones that should draw Beatrice’s attention because of the show they’d put on, but there was a group of other wolves hidden deeper inside of the thicket. Nick insisted on coming and bringing the group just in case. Ava hoped the “just in case” part didn’t happen. She wanted to do this quick and clean.
Ava turned around and climbed the tree. She stopped when she reached a branch that would hold her weight. She pressed her back against the trunk and held out her hands. She gave a slight nod of her head and the wolves started growling, showing big white fangs that could easily tear her flesh into pieces. She held out her hands and inky black smoke danced around her clawed fingers, safely wrapped in clean bandages that would soon turn bloody. She heard a difference in the wolves’ growls. They were real now, instinct taking over at the very real threat this power possessed. Good. This needed to look real.
The smoke culminated into a little sphere in her palms. She was focusing on potency, not power. When she launched the sphere of destructive magic, something flew into her and cold talons narrowly missed her eyes. She almost fell off the tree but managed to catch herself. She launched her magic before she got hit, so the wolves were safe. It didn’t go off course. She took a relieved breath when the inky ball hit the snowy ground, eating a small hole into it as it exploded, sending a blast of foreboding darkness into the area around them. Startled, the wolves backed off farther, but already the darkness was starting to dissipate. It would fade and their minds would clear before Beatrice got here.
Ava heard the soft flap of wings and spotted the creature who attacked her. A large snowy owl. Cedric. Blood dripped hot from her cheek against the freezing snow and ice surrounding her. He paused in his onslaught because of the force of Ava’s magic. His eyes were glossy with the confusion caused by the burst of darkness, but he recovered quickly. He set his sights on her and screeched as he dove for her, talons outstretched and poised like daggers.
This wasn’t part of the plan.
Ava held out her hands reflexively to protect her face, but she didn’t call upon the darkness inside of her again. She wasn’t going to hurt him any more than she already had. She screamed when he cut through her hands and proceeded to slice her arms, creating thin sheets of oozing red. She dropped down to the branch supporting her and almost fell from the tree again, but she managed to catch her balance and covered her head with her mangled hands and arms.
A howl caught Ava’s attention. Max’s howl. She yelped when the branch she was on shook and threatened to break as the large white wolf landed on it with deft paws. He snapped at the owl, catching a bird leg in his teeth. The owl screeched and flapped so fiercely, he created a current of air that picked up the ice and snow.
“Let him go, Max!” Ava pleaded. She grabbed handfuls of his thick fur as she clung on to him. She could see the look in Max’s orange eyes. He wasn’t going to let the snowy owl go unless she did something. He was going to maul him to death.
“Max!” She hugged him tightly this time as she grabbed his powerful jaws, trying to pry them open while bracing herself against the icy wind buffeting her. “You don’t want to do this. You’re good, Max. I’m okay. Let him go.”
Max whimpered, but he let her fingers guide his jaws open. Cedric screeched again as he flew free of Max’s hold. Max turned to Ava, the wildness in his eyes replaced with concern. He licked the scratches on her cheek, and then he started licking the blood from her arms. Willow and Derek were barking and growling in the snow below. Their eyes were trained on the snowy owl, warning him off as he circled above the trees, one leg extended and bloody.
“I’m fine, Max,” Ava told him quickly. Her blood was matted and blatant in his white fur. The cuts stung, but she didn’t have time for him to baby her. This wasn’t part of the plan, but now the fight looked real—if only Max would listen to her and get back on the ground. If Beatrice saw him licking her and worrying over her like this, she would know Ava had betrayed her. She would know this wolf cared for her.
“Go,” Ava said as she pushed him away.
He growled at her and refused to budge. He kept licking her.
“Max.” She kissed the top of his head. “I need you to—”
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?”
Ava froze. She barely had time to look over her shoulder and catch a glimpse of the gothic apparel covering Beatrice head to toe because she eclipsed herself in a smokescreen of Black Magic. It morphed into a double, a second skin floating around her. She shot the shadow skin forward, and it rocketed toward Max and Ava like a human-sized bullet.
“No!” Ava screamed. She shoved Max with all of her might and shielded him from the brunt of the magical blow. The black smoke burned them both as it disappeared upon impact. The force of it knocked them both out of the tree and into the snow below.
“You betrayed me!” Beatrice screamed.
Ava could barely hear Beatrice’s footsteps as the snow crunched underneath her weight. She was too busy gasping on the ground, trying to cope with the pain threatening to put her out of commission. “Max,” she rasped.
Max was whimpering and rolling on the ground as he pawed at the bits of growing black fire caught in his once pristine fur. The misty black magic was clinging to him. It didn’t go away because he wasn’t the slightest bit immune to its power. It was burning him, and it would continue to burn him until it seared all the way through to his flesh and bones like a curse.
Ava’s arms were shaking. She tried to push herself out of the snow, but her limbs crumpled around her. Not now. She couldn’t be weak now.
“What did these wolves do to turn you against me, hm?” Beatrice demanded as she rounded on Willow and Derek. “I’ll fix it by killing every single one of them, and then I’ll make you pay too, my little weapon. No more freedom. Now you are nothing but a tool.”
Beatrice was trying to hurt her, but Ava knew she was never anything but a tool to Beatrice. She allowed her as much freedom as she did because it was easier for Beatrice if Ava cooperated willingly. If Ava didn’t want to be controlled by her, she wouldn’t be. That was why Beatrice was so afraid, trying to grasp the little bit of power she once had over Ava.
Beatrice was nothing but darkness. That was her core, and it always would be.
“Or maybe I’ll kill you, too,” Beatrice said. “I have no use for a broken weapon.”
Tears stung Ava’s eyes. Beatrice never cared for her. She knew it before this. She knew it from the beginning, but that knowledge didn’t make Beatrice’s words hurt any less.
The wolf inside of Ava howled. She had been quiet for so long, allowing Ava to do things her way, but she wanted her revenge. It was good timing. Ava needed her help because things didn’t go according to plan. Strength. The wolf was giving her strength. She wasn’t demanding to shift or bite the shit out of Beatrice like she wanted to, she was giving Ava the benefits of being a wolf shifter without shifting, fusing with her in a way Ava couldn’t force her to.
Power surged through Ava’s body. Her wounds didn’t feel so bad, whether they were healing or she had better pain tolerance now, she didn’t know. It didn’t matter. Wolves were creeping out of the trees, growling and snapping at Beatrice and shying away because of the purple lightning now crackling from her fingertips. The goal was to overwhelm her, but that wasn’t an easy thing to do—especially when she was taking out entire trees with her rampage. She had lost it. Beatrice had always been more careful than this. The thicket was outside of Harrison, but if anyone was outside or looked out a window that pointed in this direction, they would probably think there was somehow a forest fire raging in the snow with all the smoke.
Ava made it to her feet when Beatrice shot another round of smoky Black Magic that clung to anything it hit. Wolves scattered and whimpered away as they pawed at the stuff burning their skin. Max was suffering beside Ava, getting worse and worse. The stuff was spreading too quickly. Ava needed to put Beatrice down. She needed to save her mate. She needed to save the pack.
“Enough!” Ava screamed as she gathered Black Magic in between her palms to create a more powerful attack. The wolf inside of her was howling, giving her the energy to move through her wounds, strengthening her physical body in a way it had never been strengthened.
Beatrice whipped around and Ava shot the magical sphere. She expected Beatrice to fight back, but she coated her fingers in Black Magic and waved Ava’s attack away, sending it harmlessly into the air where it exploded in a shattering spark of black ash. The move seemed to take no effort, but Ava’s wolf senses caught the slightest hint of weakness in her. The move took a lot of energy. She was tiring herself out quickly.
“How could you do this to me after everything I did for you?” Beatrice demanded as she shot another random shower of purple lightning out into the midst of wolves. The wolves were getting braver, getting ready to sink their teeth into Beatrice now that they had a moment to adapt to the power of a Black Witch, but Ava caught sight of Nick’s blue-gray wolf, made sure he saw her, and gave a subtle shake of her head for him to hold back. Her wolf senses were so in tune, she didn’t have to guess that the blue-gray wolf was Blue Pack’s Alpha despite never seeing him in wolf form before. She had all of Beatrice’s attention now. It would come down to the two of them. And the wolf inside of Ava.
“After I took care of you all these years,” Beatrice continued as she circled Ava in the thicket pocked with smoky holes. “I taught you everything you know!”
She threw her purple lightning at Ava, but Ava caught it with smoky fingers and made it disintegrate into black ash that the wind blew away.
A bark ripped through the air and a blur of white, red, and black launched at Beatrice. Max latched his jaws onto one of Beatrice’s arms. His eyes were wild again, the softness Ava knew so well gone without a trace. Beatrice screamed and readied purple lightning in her other hand about to blast him, but Max jumped away like he knew exactly when the attack was coming. When he was clear, he went for her again. This time he mangled her other arm.
“Max!” Ava called him, anxious to get him out of the way. She didn’t know how to use Black Magic this precisely. Her target was too close to Max. She didn’t want to hurt him.
“Fucking wolf!” Beatrice bellowed. An explosion of darkness burst from her entire body, hitting Max point blank like an explosion. He went skidding across the snowy ground and slammed into the trunk of a black cottonwood.
Ava screamed. It almost sounded like a growl, her captive wolf joining her in her cry of anger. She had to end this right now. Right. Now.
Forget capturing her. Forget forgiveness and kindness. Beatrice didn’t deserve it.
A cold detachment snaked its way inside of Ava’s rage. She and the wolf inside of her were blanketed in darkness. The Black Magic oozing from her as a visible aura had never been stronger. The aura was always there, but it was never visible unless formed into an attack. This aura was no attack. It was simply a culmination of the rage inside of Ava and the wolf. This was Black Magic’s essence. Darkness.
Beatrice’s eyes grew wide, the whites clearly visible. Her lips trembled and she took a few steps back. Ava had never seen Beatrice afraid, but here she was, trembling like Ava had trembled so many times in her life.
“You are never going to hurt anyone ever again,” Ava told her. “These wolves showed me kindness, something I’ve never had. I never knew what it felt like. I never really knew what it was. Now I do. I’m going to protect it, and that starts with you. Goodbye, Beatrice.”
The blast of Black Magic that roared through Ava’s hands was like a flamethrower of darkness. The flames stuck to Beatrice, and she screamed. Ava didn’t stop the magic coming from her palms until Beatrice was completely covered in black flames that stuck to her like oil. The flames wiggled and drilled in deep. Her skin smoked and steam escaped her body as if she were a single bucket of water tossed into a wildfire. The screams that escaped Beatrice’s throat were neither beast nor human. They were the screams of a tortured soul being returned to Hell as she became nothing but a pile of ash.
It was done.
Not yet.
One more thing needed to be done. Ava touched the space of her chest hiding her heart. The wispy chill of a soul clung to her fingers and she pulled it free. She held her hands up to the night sky, the Moon, and she let the wolf inside of her go. The wolf’s soul surrounded her in a swirl of colors, like a warm hug, and her wounds healed to the point they were no longer bleeding. They became remnants of wounds. The wisp moved away, morphed and changed until it resembled a transparent version of the physical form of the wolf she once was. She looked back at Ava, blinked slowly, and gave a slight bow of her head before she threw her head back and howled. She ran up into the sky, up to the almost Full Moon. Ava gave a silent thank you and watched her until her light merged with the Moon’s and she disappeared from this world.
A wolf whimpering brought Ava back to the present. She blinked slowly and the cloud of visible dark aura around her faded away. Wolves were watching her tentatively. Some had their tails tucked in between their legs. Others were on the ground whimpering because of Beatrice’s curse. The smoky black flames sticking to them were gone, but whatever damage they had caused remained. Even Cedric was there, watching her in the trees with an unreadable look and a mangled leg.
Max.
Ava ran for Max’s limp body where a couple wolves were gathered around him. They cleared a path for her and she slid to her knees instead of slowing down. He wasn’t moving.
“Max,” she cried as she tried to lift his heavy head. She wasn’t strong anymore, so she gave up and buried her face into the singed fur of his neck instead. She needed to heal him like she healed that cat, but she couldn’t remember how. That was the one time she had used White Magic. Kindness, care, concern? She felt something for that cat that allowed her to access light. She couldn’t think now. She couldn’t concentrate and command a completely different kind of magic.
Ava was barely aware of the wolves gathering around her. The closer they got to her, the stronger their presence. Peace, calm. They were feeding her those feelings. She could breathe again. She could remember the warmth she felt from Max. Cedric came too, landing on a low hanging branch. He was sending her peace as well.
Light. All of them were light. She was light, too.
The darkness was gone because Ava had broken through it. She had used the rest of it up, spent it, and revealed the little girl inside of her, the little girl who saved a cat that got hit by a car. Love. She could and knew how to love, and she loved Max most of all.
She held out her palms; they were glowing gold. She gently placed them on Max’s fur. His burned fur was replaced by new pristine white hairs. His body hummed with the magic she poured into him and ended in a soft pop. A light wave of air pressure shot from his body and bathed him in a soft glow. He looked perfect. There wasn’t a scratch or speck of dirt left on him. He was the White Wolf. Pure.
Everyone was holding their breath. He still hadn’t moved.
“Please, Max,” Ava pleaded. “It wasn’t enough. I need more time with you.” She was about to hug him again, bury her face in his furry neck, and Max turned his head at the same time. He gave her cheek a lick. Startled, she moved back to see his orange sunset eyes gazing softly at her.
“You’re okay,” she breathed. “You’re okay!” She hugged him tight and buried her face in his soft fur anyway. Her mate was okay.
The crackling of bones signaled one of the wolves was shifting. Ava only wanted to hug Max, but she looked behind her anyway. It was Nick.
“We have to go,” he told her, the only human here who wouldn’t understand his wolf commands. “I hear people coming this way. We need to get back to Moonwatch unseen. Like fuck do we need humans on our tail.”
Ava nodded and Nick shifted back in a flurry. The wolves left their vehicles a safe distance away and that was where they left their clothes too. Max bumped into Ava, making her stumble, but he caught her on his back and she held on for dear life as he sped through the thicket and out into a field with the other wolves. She spotted Cedric still flying when they made it to their vehicles. He hadn’t come here with them, and apparently he didn’t intend on going back with them. For some reason, the sight made Ava sad.
The group got dressed and piled into trucks quickly, successfully avoiding the humans that were coming to check out the thicket. Max and Ava sat together in one of the truck beds. It was a bumpy ride, but Ava didn’t mind. She was with Max, and she was with the other wolves who had been injured in the fight. Healing through White Magic was coming to her easily now. Anytime she looked at Max, he looked right back with a love in his eyes that warmed her to her core. It was easy to love with him nearby.
When the last wolf had been treated, Ava was exhausted. She could hardly sit up anymore. She held on to her strength long enough to let Max fuss over her and clean out her wounds since they had brought plenty of first aid stuff—just in case. Luckily for her, she was sporting mostly what looked like old scars. Her fingertips were the only things that needed treating. The wolf she set free had blessed her with accelerated healing for a short time. It was probably part of the reason why she was so tired. At least they would arrive in Moonwatch soon. She would probably be allowed to rest for a little while. Max saw her fatigue and caught her before she could fall over when the truck hit another bump.
“Thanks,” she mumbled.
“I think I should be thanking you.”
She smiled and snuggled up closer to him, resting her head on his chest. “Anytime.”
“I’ll always be there to catch you.”
“I’ll always be there to catch you, too,” she replied.
Max’s fingers were on her head, petting and soothing her like only he could. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“I will be. I’m with you, and that’s all I need.” She closed her eyes. She wanted to rest for a minute or two. She didn’t count on falling asleep, but that was what happened.
She had conquered the darkness that made her feel so incomplete. She was in the arms of the man she loved, and together they were light.