Unite

RORY

I stare into Nemesis’s eyes, fear flooding my body as her grip gets tighter and I struggle to breathe.

This isn’t like the physical world. If she kills me here, I’ll die forever.

But then I remember something else. The spirit realm is also the only place where I’m not clumsy and weak.

I’m a goddess, too. And here, that means goddess strength.

I take her hand, twisting it, and throw her off of me.

She shrieks in pain, falling back.

~That’s right.~

~Don’t even try.~

“You can fight all you want, Aurora,” she hisses, getting to her feet. “But I’ve been waiting for this moment since the day you were born.”

In a flash, she turns into smoke and charges at me, but I leap away, feeling light and agile, as if I’m a professional gymnast.

With a scowl on her face, she tries to grab me again, but I twist her arm and flip her over, pinning her down on the ground.

My body is filled with strength, and this time, I have the upper hand.

But instead of fighting back, she only starts to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” I say. “It’s over.”

“No, Aurora,” she says. “It’s just begun.”

In a flash, she grabs me as the mist falls away below us and we both fall into the dark realm underneath.

In an instant, I’m surrounded by pure blackness, and I can feel Nemesis slip away into the dark.

Her laughter echoes out, and I spin around, trying to figure out where it’s coming from, but I can’t see a goddess-damned thing.

Terror fills my entire being as voices call out my name. I can’t see them, but it sounds like they’re all crowding around me.

“Aurora! Aurora! Aurora!” they chant.

“Aurora,” a voice whispers, right in my ear. “Aren’t you going to respond?”

Nemesis’s voice.

Before I can react, she grabs me and throws me, and I skid across some invisible floor, my body flooding with pain.

“Welcome to your new home, Aurora,” Nemesis whispers again, and I try to swing my fist in the direction of her voice, but all I get is air. “You’re going to die down here.”

Suddenly, I feel a foot kick me in the back.

A punch.

A smack.

Pain fills my body, and I can’t avoid it or fight back.

~Is there nothing I can do?~

But then, Xander’s lesson flashes through my mind.

I need to channel love. That’s the only thing that will illuminate the darkness.

I close my eyes, ignoring Nemesis’s maniacal laughter echoing out in the darkness.

Ignoring all the voices chanting my name.

Ignoring the fear that floods every cell of my body.

And I focus on Everett.

His handsome face. His kind smile. Those blue eyes that look at me like I’m the only thing in the world.

That electric feeling that floods my body every time I touch him.

No matter how bad things get, it’s as if just being near him lights up my entire world.

That’s what love is.

It’s the only light in the darkness.

I open my eyes, feeling that light spread through me, illuminating everything around me.

The second she sees the light, Nemesis shrieks, scurrying away, further back into the darkness.

Of course. Nemesis hates love. The entire reason she wants me dead is because my father loved my mother instead of her.

She can’t stand to see what real love is.

I stand up, feeling the strength Everett has given me since the day we first met. The more I feel that, the more the light grows stronger, illuminating the spirits all around me.

A crowd of ghostly floating bodies swirl around me, staring in awe at the light.

I could never see them in the darkness, but now here they are, drawn to me like moths to a flame.

“Aurora?” I hear a familiar voice call out to me.

I turn and see that it’s Eddie. His ghostly form stares at me.

I smile, reaching out and grabbing his hand.

“No!” Nemesis shrieks out. “You can’t leave!”

But it’s already too late.

Holding Eddie’s hand tight, we fly up out of the darkness, back into the mist and toward the door.

Nemesis’s defeated scream echoes out from deep below as we leave the land of the dead behind.

And together, we enter the world of the living.

***

EVERETT

I leap to the side, barely dodging another round of massive stones Xander throws my way.

I growl and sprint at him, pouncing, but he quickly floats up and away, picking up another tree trunk with magic and hurling it at me with the speed of a bullet.

Again, I barely manage to dodge it, feeling the bark scrape my side before it goes crashing down behind me.

We’ve been fighting for ten minutes, and so far I’ve only just managed to avoid his attacks.

And every time I try to hit him, he floats away, out of reach.

Chaos is panting, dead tired.

I don’t know how much longer we can go on like this.

Xander starts to laugh, noticing I’m on my last fumes. He picks up a large boulder, raising it up in the air, ready to hurl it at me.

But then, out of the corner of my eye, Eddie and Aurora both sit up, gasping for air.

They’re alive!

And Eddie’s eyes are back to normal, which means Aurora defeated Nemesis! In an instant, Xander’s yellow eyes fade, his power receding.

He falls to the ground, and the crashing boulder falls down right on top of him, crushing his leg.

He screams out in pain, trying to lift it, but his magic is too weak now.

Chaos stalks across the field toward him. He’s not going anywhere now.

He raises his hands, eyes wide in terror.

But before he can say anything, I bite his throat and rip it out.

Class dismissed.

Chaos growls in satisfaction. I may have been fooled by the guy, but this is exactly what Chaos always wanted to do to him.

I let go of the Professor’s body, letting it fall limp to the forest floor.

It’s over.

***

RORY

All the rogues, feeling their power disappear, whimper and retreat into the forest with their tails between their legs.

The pack warriors howl, celebrating their victory.

Beside me, Eddie groans, rubbing his eyes.

“What the hell just happened?” he says.

“I think it would take too long to explain…,” I say. “But all that matters now is that you’re back.”

I hug him, grateful that I didn’t lose him forever.

I look up to see Everett standing to the side. His powerful, muscular body is covered in cuts and scratches, but he looks unhurt.

Thank the Goddess…

I stand up and throw my arms around him, leaping into his arms, kissing him as if I haven’t seen him in years.

In an instant, the love I feel for him floods through my body. In the realm of darkness, this feeling saved me.

And I think I just realized that it will keep saving me, over and over, for the rest of our lives.

No matter what happens, we’ll always be stronger by each other’s side.

We complete each other.

The warrior wolves gather around us, and when Everett finally puts me down, we notice that Amber has shifted back and is waiting for us.

When Everett turns to her, she kneels, baring her neck. The true sign of submission.

“You were right, Alpha,” she says. “And I’m sorry for going behind your back and doubting you.”

Everett takes Amber’s hand, bringing her back up to her feet.

“You were just doing what you thought was best for the Red Moon Pack,” he says. “Both of our packs fought and lost warriors today, though, so now we need to stand together.”

She nods.

“I speak on behalf of my pack when I say… We pledge loyalty to you, Alpha.”

The rest of the Red Moon Pack kneels behind her.

“No longer will we be two packs. We will be one. From now on, we will be called the Shadow Moon Pack!” Everett cries out, and the entire crowd cheers.

I can’t help but feel proud as I watch Everett unite the pack. But there’s still something we need to take care of.

I step toward Amber.

“Amber, I know your pack has strong feelings against humans,” I say, pointing at Eddie. “But this human sacrificed his life for Mia when a rogue attacked her.

“I need you to know that humans aren’t all bad. We need to judge everyone for what they do, not what they were born as.”

Mia makes her way to the front of the crowd.

“It’s true,” she says. “He saved my life.”

Amber nods, looking at Eddie. “Then I’m afraid I may have misjudged you, too. If you promise to keep our packs a secret, then you may go free.”

“I promise,” Eddie says, looking around at all of us. “And thank you.”

He turns to walk away, but Mia grabs his hand.

“Well, if that technically means you aren’t going to get killed by coming back here…,” she says, smirking. “I’ll take that number now.”

He smiles, blushing.

“Yes! I would love that.”

***

EVERETT

I stand, looking at my newly united pack.

“You all have seen the threat firsthand,” I say, my voice booming over the sea of faces.

“Now you know that this fight is not about pack versus pack. It’s not about wolf versus human. We don’t know what we will face next, but I can guarantee it will be worse.”

“But I’m not worried. Because when I look around at all of you, I see a family. I see the people I love. I see a pack. And nothing can take down a pack.”

The crowd cheers, and Aurora slips her hand into mine.

I take a deep breath, allowing myself a smile as I look around at the battleground.

We won.