– Chapter 172

Selene

“Selene they’re almost on us!” Helene whispers urgently.

Staring at my mate, it’s easier to summon the shadows than ever. While he watches, still looking deeply confused as Arabella begs him to reject me, I wrap the darkness around the mouth of the alley. I can hear the sentries on the other side of the dark veil, but they cannot see us through the impenetrable fog.

“Who goes there?” One shouts, hesitantly reaching into the darkness. I extend the shadows toward him in reply, inky tendrils reaching out for his body like a predator. Both men leap back with little yelps. “What the hell is this?”

‘It’s got to be some kind of magic.” The other replies, “call it in.”

“We need to get out of here.” Helene urges me, tugging at my arm as I continue to wait for Bastien to decide whether or not to reject me. Luna won’t let me move until we know our fate, even if the outcome is too painful to contemplate.

Arabella, staring at the shimmering void I’ve conjured in abject horror, seems to feel the opposite. Losing her patience, she grabs Bastien and pulls him towards the opposite end of the alley, disappearing around the corner a moment later.

Their sudden departure jolts me out of my reverie, and I run after them, however by the time I reach the end of the narrow corridor and exit onto the street, Bastien and Arabella are long gone. Helene appears at my elbow a moment later, glancing over her shoulder to make sure the guards are still held captive by the shadows.

“How will we find him again?” I murmur, scanning the deserted block for the dozenth time, just in case I somehow missed them.

“The same way you did tonight.” She replies, guiding me away.

When we get back to our hotel, the staff hurried us inside with hushed voices, “What are you doing? Don’t you know the law? You can’t be out after nine o’clock. If the night guards catch you, you’ll be arrested!”

“I’m so sorry.” I say, wide eyed. “We didn’t know.”

“I don’t understand.” Helene frowns, “why is there a curfew?”

“Because the alpha decrees it.” The concierge answers simply.

Helene gives me a little nudge, and I reflexively jolt, looking down at her in bafflement. She tilts her head towards the man and darts her eyes in his direction, clearly encouraging me to press harder. Realizing she must want me to use my power to try and get more information out of him, I adopt the zen headspace I’ve been practicing my hypnosis with. Staring deep into his eyes, I ask, “I don’t understand, does that mean the people here can never shift beneath the moon?”

The man seems unaffected by my attempt, and I realize Helene’s drops must have stolen this particular ability when they changed the color of my eyes – after all Odette’s book described it as hypnotizing people with my eyes, not some innate power. “That’s right.” He says shortly.

Coming to the same conclusion I did, Helene nods and thanks the man, before leading the way to our room. Once inside, she grumbles, “there’s something seriously wrong with this place. Can you imagine never going on another night run?”

“Yes, but then I never shifter until I was twenty four.” I remind her. Still, I know what she means. We can shift at any time of course, but it’s different when you can feel the Goddess’s light shining over you. The magic we all possess feels stronger, and the darkness frees us to let our animal side truly take over. “I wonder…” I mutter dragging my hand through the long tresses of my hair, “do you think it makes wolves weaker? If they’re away from the moonlight for a very long time?”

“That’s entirely possible.” Helene agrees, “But it could just as easily be about control for the sake of control. Blaise might not have a real reason for doing it other than to restrict people’s lives further.”

“I swear the more I learn about that man, the more I want to kill him.” I growl, surprising myself. I don’t think of myself as a violent person and I can’t ever remember wanting to physically harm anyone – other than in self defense. But tonight my desire to attack Arabella was so strong it nearly won over, and I could happily attack the Calypso Alpha now.

“That’s your wolf talking sweetheart.” Helene smiles, “When she came back she didn’t just wake your powers, but your predatory instincts too.”

“I don’t feel like much of a predator.” I confess with a sigh, sitting on the edge of my bed. “I can’t imagine actually harming someone.”

“We’re all capable of harm, Selene.” My mentor declares, “it just takes more of a push for some people than others.”

“Clearly it doesn’t take anything for Arabella.” I grouse. “I can’t believe what she’s done to him.” I reflect, replaying the nights events in my mind. “I mean, I knew she’d stolen his memory, but part of me thought he’d come out of it when he saw me… but I might as well have been a stranger to him, he didn’t remember me at all”

I can’t bring myself to voice how deeply this cut me. I know it isn’t his fault and that Arabella has done this to him, but it hurts to think he could forget me, no matter her schemes. Logically I understand it’s silly to expect such a thing, after all, Bastien is just a man – albeit a very formidable one. He’s not a superhero and he’s not immune to magic, but my heart doesn’t understand logic. The idea that my mate could ever turn against me makes it want to split in two.

“She’s clearly got a powerful hold on him.” Helene concurs, “some sort of spell or potion.”

“How am I ever going to get through to him?” I inquire hopelessly. “She was right, he has at least twenty years of memories bonding him to her, and the only thing he knows of me is what she’s told him.”

“And what his wolf senses.” Helene adds, “That is what you have to focus on. I’ll try to break whatever enchantment she’s put him under, but you have something neither of us do – and that’s a mating bond. There is no more powerful magic. You have to target his wolf.”

“I don’t want to manipulate him.” I caution, “that’s exactly what she’s doing.”

“Sometimes you’ve got to fight fire with fire, darling.” Helene reasons. “Don’t think of it as manipulation, this of it as using your wiles to remind him of the truth.”

“So what, I should seduce him?” I clarify.

“That’s one way to do it.” She chuckles, “but not the only one. My point is really that you should rely less on words and more on feelings: when you’re together position yourself so he can smell you strongly, wear clothing that exposes his mark and keep your hair up, tailor your movements to his, make sure he can sense your own response to him.”

“That makes sense.” I agree, “but the hard part is going to be getting him away from Arabella. From the looks of it she’s not letting him out of her sight.”

“You’re right. We have to find a way to separate them.” She muses. “Or at the very least, we need to locate them so we can figure out when they aren’t together.”

“There’s something else.” I realize, still going over our quick but tense encounter in my head. “She’s clearly been hiding the news from him – if we can find a way to get the true coverage in front of him, he might start to question her more.”

“And we have to do all of this without letting her know what we’re up to.” Helene contributes, “If she gets spooked there’s no telling what she might do.”

“That could work in our favor – the more desperate she is, the more mistakes she’s bound to make.” I suggest.

“Or the more drastic lengths she might go to in order to succeed.” Helene says, shaking her head, “A cornered animal is a very dangerous thing, Selene – and Arabella’s already more dangerous than most.”

“Okay, that’s fair.” I exhale, pursing my lips. “But I refuse to stand by and watch them get married. So help me, if he still hasn’t come out of this – this trance, by their wedding day, I don’t care how dangerous she is, I will drag her away from that alter kicking and screaming.” Seething, I rise from the bed and stride to the mirror. Staring at my reflection, I try to remember how I must have looked the last time Arabella saw me – the terrified, crying girl she locked in a closet.

“Arabella has no idea who she’s dealing with.” I remark coldly. “I’m not the weak little halfling she used to bully.” Gripping the edge of the dresser, I consider Helene’s words about my wolf bringing out the predator in me. “She’s not the only one who’s dangerous now – and we don’t even know everything I’m capable of yet.”

When I glance at Helene, she’s smiling widely, “There you are.” She purrs, full of praise. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“What?” I wonder aloud.

“This is the she-wolf I saw waiting in your destiny the first time we met – the one you could be if you found your confidence.” Helene explains, coming forward to cup my cheek in her hand. “She’s finally here. You’re ready now to truly begin training.”

Furrowing my brow, I begin to worry the old woman’s mind is slipping. “What do you mean? We’ve been training.”

“No darling, up until this point we’ve been working with kid gloves on.” She grins, “Now the real fun begins.