Go. Go get her. Save yourself. Save your pack.
The beast’s words no longer made sense. It became a jumbled mix of directives that pulled me in both directions. I couldn’t go both ways.
Ness
“Can you…hear me…you coward?”I said between gasping breaths.
I doubted Alvin could hear me through this bond. He would never cast a spell over me that would let me talk back. I’d already done that enough. Alvin knew exactly how defiant I could be.
“I hate you more than anything in this world. When I bury you in the ground, I’ll tell the pack to take turns pissing on your grave. We’ll make it a yearly celebration. Everyone will take the day off so we can piss on your grave once a year. It will be less than you deserve at this point.”
I needed to calm down on the piss talk. It was getting kind of weird.
My hands were shaking. I balled them into fists as electrical energy rolled across my skin. The sky overhead let out a threatening roar again.
Can’t stop running. Can’t stop.
Another set of footfalls reached my ears. For a moment, my heart lurched nervously. I thought Ryder had caught up. Though, when I slowed to turn and face him, I saw my father instead.
My feet tangled and I stumbled again. This time, I didn’t fall. Still, the world seemed sideways.
“Go home, Dad! There’s nothing you can do.”
The sky tried to drown out my words. Clouds crashed together. The electricity under my skin swelled ominously.
“No, no, no no…” My gaze rolled skywards. “Don’t you dare.”
Could I summon lightning if I shifted? I was still in Lakesedge. No one would care if I shifted on the street. Though, when I turned and opened the way for my hound, my entire body stiffened.
Of course, Alvin had decided at that exact moment to take control of my body. He turned me against my will. I watched, helplessly, as my hand lifted towards the clouds above. My fingers curled as if I was grasping for something.
The sight brought back memories of Harvey dragging me out of the toolshed. Desperation had fueled me that day. It wasn’t enough today. Willpower had broken through the spell once before, but it’d taken a while. I didn’t have that kind of time on my hands.
Dad was catching up. He called out, but the words were muffled. Alvin pulled me away from my body again. I could feel myself falling through the void. I reached out to catch something, anything.
A growl vibrated my bones. My hound snapped her teeth and caught my arm. The pain of her bite lanced through me, making me wince. She stopped my fall, though. The dim glow of the red room illuminated the void below. My hound lifted me, bringing me away from the trap and back into my body.
Alvin’s frustrated howl shook my skull. I paid him no attention as I opened the way for my hound. Leaping forward, I shifted. Paws touched down. I shook out my fur and felt the rush of electricity wash out of my body. The connection to the sky didn’t fizzle and die like I thought it would, though.
That was my fault. The storm had always followed me like this. It appeared whenever I shifted. I didn’t know why I thought it would vanish if I was in my hound form. My hound peered at the darkening clouds and wondered what she had to do with the storm. She was just an animal, after all.
Alvin’s control wavered. It couldn’t reach into the part of me that was an animal. She didn’t understand binding. Nothing could own what was free. Here, I was safe. I let out a soft sigh and dropped to the ground.
Strange, how it was that I could find a bit of safety after all. I just had to trust in myself—or a part of myself.
Dad caught up, put his hands on his hips, and stared down at me. He huffed, clearly out of breath, which made me laugh.
I rose onto shaky feet. The world around me wobbled shakily. I hesitated, breath held. The ritual arcana still slithered within me. It searched for an entrance the same way it circled the ice that had been protecting my new arcana.
Dad asked me something. His words were garbled. I jumped back from him. This shouldn’t be happening. I’d cast Alvin out. He couldn’t control my hound. She was wild and free.
But Alvin already had ahold of my arcana. The sky flashed bright. Dad glanced up, his brows arched in confusion. I whimpered and barked to get his attention.
Run, I wanted to say.Run!
I had no words, though. Not in this form.
Alvin tugged, yanking arcana from me. I recoiled from the sudden pull. The sky darkened for an instant. Then, white-hot light came crashing down. I couldn’t waste any time.
Without thinking, I jumped. My paws hit dad’s chest. I shoved right as the lightning hit me. It sent me crashing back down to the ground where it could pulse through my body and into the ground.
If I thought I’d felt pain before, nothing had ever hurt like this. Electricity burned every inch of my body. It seared down to my soul. I seized, my body clenching.
The world darkened. Dad’s shouts became quieter and quieter, but they didn’t disappear altogether. I didn’t fall into the darkness like I had when Alvin killed me. My consciousness didn’t waver. Instead, the world remained a dim blur as someone lifted me.
I let out a yelp. Every small touch radiated pain through my being. As Dad walked, every footfall sent another aching wave through me. How far had I run? It seemed to take forever, time slowed by the throb dominating my being.
Little by little, the pain faded. It might have taken seconds, or it might have been hours. I had no way of telling. The only thing I knew for sure was that Alvin couldn’t take control of me while I was in that much pain. His connection had broken when the bolt had hit me.
For now, I was safe again.