9

“Stay here,” I said to my alphas, who obeyed—reluctantly. Kai cursed in my head, promising vengeance on the beast if he breathed wrong in our direction. I smiled at him, kissing his muzzle before heading over to the beast. It huffed at me.

“I’m not going to hurt you. I told you that, remember?” I said, and it huffed again, considering me. I stepped forward again.

“I want Adrenna, just like you. Can you sense her?” I asked it, my shadows still searching.

The beast looked over its shoulder before shifting in the snow, shaking off the falling flakes, and circling the trees again. It went around three of them before coming back to me with a grunt.

“I can’t sense her there. Look, can you see what I’m holding?” I asked, leaning in a bit so it could glance at Enzi. Kai inched forward, but the beast didn’t attack; it whined. I met its eyes, swallowing at the pain I heard in his voice.

“This is Enzi; she has a brother. A twin. Adrenna stole him, and I just need him back. You can have Adrenna, but I need to get my son back, do you understand?” I asked. I had no idea if it was listening. It was hard to tell when its features were so distorted and had no expression.

It was only the eyes that told me he was still in there, that he wasn’t just a beast. I hated that using the beast and handing over Adrenna willingly was what I had resorted to. Especially when Adrenna had been punished for the very thing the wolves had done with me: fall in love.

It shouldn’t have been punished, but I wasn’t the all-powerful witches who controlled the balance of the realm, so there was nothing I could do, and I didn’t want to. I only wanted Zale back before Silas got his fangs in him.

The beast stared for a second longer at Enzi before it turned away from us. I stayed where I was, not sure what it was doing. Then, it let out a roar so loud I pulled Enzi tighter against me, covering her ears, and shrank back as Kai and Derik moved in close to me.

My shadows poured out around me as it roared, louder and longer, and my shadows resonated with it. I frowned as Enzi looked up at me a second before her shadows poured out of her.

“He’s calling on our shadows,” I whispered.

“Mine too,”  Brax said, coming forward as his moved through the snow, joining mine and Enzi’s.  

“My shadows aren’t fighting it. Are yours?” I asked, and Brax shook his head, still in wolf form.

The beast turned on us then, its eyes black, its snout releasing a misting huff before he grunted, the shadows swirling around him, his claws in the snow.

“What the fuck is he doing? I don’t like this, Little Luna. Get your pet in line before I draw that line across his throat with my claws,”  Kai muttered down the link, his tension making me nervous. I soothed him as much as I could, my shadows not angry or hostile toward the beast. If anything, they liked him.  

“I think they recognize him from their realm,” I guessed.

“And he can control them?”  Derik asked.  

“It doesn’t feel like he’s controlling them, just asking them to obey, like we do with them. They’re listening to him though,” I said. Derik narrowed his eyes on the beast.

Kai hadn’t stopped glaring, but I felt like the beast was showing me something, so I focused on him. His eyes were clashing with mine, and I felt the pressure in the look, the intent for me to understand, but I didn’t.

Not until he shifted slightly, and I saw what he wanted me to.

I gasped and narrowed in on the fourth stream of shadows coming from the center of the three trees. There was nothing there but those shadows, but I knew there had to be because there was only one other being in the realm with shadows like ours.

“Zale,” I whispered, and the beast grunted in agreement.

“It can sense Zale’s shadows, which is how he’s getting around Adrenna using her magic to hide them,” I said, grinning. I slipped Enzi from me, bundling her in the wrap. Brax shifted into human and took her from me.

Kai and Derik flanked me as wolves as I walked forward through the snow, ignoring the biting cold that had soaked my leather boots and pants.

“Adrenna! I know you can hear me, and I know you’re there with Zale. The beast does too!” I called into the empty space that the beast was instructing my shadows to surround, wrapping around the three trees.

She had created a hole to hide in, but our shadows were slowly suffocating it.

“The beast will find you. As long as you have Zale with you, he will always find you.

Give me my son back and give yourself a chance to survive. If you don’t, he will rip you to pieces the second he gets to you,” I threatened.

Adrenna’s illusion dropped, and she stood there, her eyes wild as she took in the beast. Her smirk dropped, her face crumpling in fear and…sadness.

“Parker?” she whispered, holding Zale in her arms, wrapped in a bundle of cloth and fur. He was so fucking close, my heart faltered. I stepped forward as the beast roared, ready to attack.

“No!” I called to it, making it pause.

“I get Zale first,” I ordered. My shadows paused their obedience to the beast, waiting for the tension to snap.

They would back me if it came down to it, but the beast was not directing any hostility toward me. His giant body hesitated as he eyed me and then Adrenna with a snarl.

“He listened to you?” Adrenna asked, her voice shaky as she eyed him again.

“I’m guessing that’s part of the balance. I let him out, I got him back here—he owes me. He helps me get Zale back, and we’re even,” I said. The beast grunted in agreement.

“If I give you the child, he will kill me.”

“Yes,” I said, and she scowled.

“If I keep the child, Silas will kill me, and the beast will hunt me.”

“Yes.”

“Then there is only one way I get to win this stalemate,” she breathed, looking at the beast with a longing that had me frowning. I recognized it. I didn’t want to but I did. Until her face turned nasty and I knew we were out of time to negotiate.

“Now!” I screamed and launched my shadows at her as she raised clawed fingers, ready to slash at my baby. My shadows and magic entwined, grabbing Zale from her, throwing her away with a heave so fierce, it yanked inside of me.

She went flying, smashing into a tree close to Derik’s team. They snarled and cornered her as the beast roared, shaking the snow from the trees.

My shadows brought Zale back to me, and I curled him in, holding him tight, tears slipping from my eyes as the lump in my throat made a sob fall from my lips.

“I found you, baby. I got you. I’m so sorry,” I whispered to him, kissing his forehead as he slept soundly.

“Please, no! I didn’t hurt him! I wasn’t going to give him to Silas!” Adrenna begged as the wolves fought her. She did a good job at fighting them, keeping them away with her magic, but she was weak with the beast there.

He kept her fear so strong, that it made her reckless, defeatable. Brax stood beside me, Enzi in his arms as she squirmed.

“She knows he’s back.” Brax smiled and put her close to him. She wound her hand around his and Zale’s eyes slowly fluttered open. He looked up at me, and my heart filled. I finally felt whole.

More tears fell as a warmth spread through my body. I wasn’t letting them go again.

Not for anyone.