Chapter 21: The Wolf Who Dared The Moon

Elizabeth

He was so close... so… so… close.

Rage burned through my veins like fire.

It wasn’t supposed— was never supposed to happen that way. He was about to mark me, nothing was stopping him this time around. He was doing exactly as I commanded, then he stopped.

I had felt his teeth, I felt the tension pull, the heat. I was so close. I felt it within my grasp, and then, like usual, he pulled away. 

The damned elixir failed.

I slammed my hand against the car door as I parked my car and got out. The city was busy as always, and I had to blend in and out with them quickly. I didn’t want any of those witches starting to notice me.

“She said it would work,” I hissed under my breath, grinding my teeth together. “She said he won’t have a will of his own.”

I hate when I get lied to.

The memory of Nathan’s eyes flashed in my mind the way he held me so possessively. He was completely mine in that moment, his hands on my body. I’ve never felt that way in my entire life, and I wanted to keep feeling it.

I felt the fury boil over me.

Suddenly, someone brushed over me. I couldn’t see who, but when I looked around, I was confused—I was no longer on the street, I was behind an alley.

“How the hell did I get here?” I whispered.

“Proud wolf,” a voice came from nowhere, and two women appeared in front of me. They wore black hair, and I saw marks on their bodies that glowed like tattoos but they were glowing.

My heart skipped a beat as I slowly moved back, and they kept moving forward toward me.

“You are trespassing, wolf,” one of the women said. Her voice was normal, but it had an edge that sent a shiver running down my spine. “This part of town belongs to the witches,” the other continued. “Your kind is not welcome, and this is the second time we are seeing you here.”

I tried to mask my fear, because witches were creatures I could easily kill without breaking a sweat, but these two looked extremely powerful—and if I killed them, that’s a war I was sure as hell not ready for.

“What I came for is important,” I finally said, my voice calm and calculating but never showing fear. “I’m not here to fight. I’ll leave and never return.”

They looked at each other, then back at me, and without a word, I was back on the street, the both of them gone with the wind. Witches were always dumb creatures, easy to convince.

The second I got to Celeste’s shop, I shoved the door open so hard the bell above it snapped off and clattered.

She looked up from her counter where she had been knitting. She looked at me, her dark eyes cold, her expression unreadable. “This bitch,” I muttered.

“I told you never to come back here,” she said simply, her voice calm. “I’ve paid my debt. I don’t owe your mother anything— not anymore.”

“You lied to me!” I shouted, the sound filling her entire shop. “You said it was going to work, you said he would do my bidding!”

There were a few seconds of silence before her lips twisted into an almost amused smile. “Little wolf, the spell worked perfectly, but still you are unmarked.”

The calmness in her voice provoked the hell out of me, making the fury I felt inside explode. With a snarl, I lunged forward, my claws bursting through my skin. In seconds, I had her pinned against the wall, my hand at her throat, the tips of my claws pressing against her pale skin, drawing a thin line of blood.

“Do you have any idea who you’re dealing with?” I hissed through gritted teeth. “You tricked me.”

The witch didn’t flinch once, her eyes glowing faintly. But I didn’t let her intimidate me. I was ready to remove her eyes from their sockets.

“If you think you scare me, little wolf,” she said softly, “then you truly do not know how powerful a witch is. Your kind may be strong, but we know what power truly is.”

Her lack of fear only made me angrier, her blood dripping down my claws, but she only smiled a slow, haunting smile that made something inside me freeze.

“You know I could put an end to you right now,” I growled.

“Then do it,” she whispered as she leaned into my claws. “Go ahead, little wolf. See what happens when you spill the blood of a witch.”

The air around us pulsed, growing heavier with power. I wanted to snap her neck so badly, but if I did, then our plans would be ruined. I couldn’t afford such a mistake right now.

I stumbled back instinctively, my claws still out, trembling. Celeste tilted her head, still smiling. “That elixir didn’t fail, Elizabeth. Your blind eyes did. You are trying to forcefully bind what doesn’t belong to you without taking caution.”

Her words hit harder than I expected. I felt my chest tighten, my heart pounding in my ears.

“I don’t care what belongs to me or not,” I snapped. “He’s mine.”

She laughed low and mocking, a soft, chilling sound that sent shivers down my spine. “No, dear wolf, he never was. The Moon decides, not you.”

I smirked. I didn’t want Nathan, he was only a means to an end, and he would fulfill his purpose. He had to. I’d already reassured Mother.

“You are useless,” I said as I turned, storming out of her shop, slamming the door so hard behind me the glass cracked.

There had to be another way. How did he resist the elixir? I felt so confused this wasn’t supposed to be that hard.

I wasted my time. The witches were a bunch of worthless creatures, and I wanted to put an end to them, starting with Celeste.

I thought she could help me, but now I had to look for another way to get his mark because if Nathan couldn’t mark me under a spell, what’s the assurance that he would before the Luna ceremony?