Disenchanted

Quinn

I was stuck with this feeling.

I missed Jax!

Just a few nights back, I felt my love for him leave my heart.

How could I still miss him?

He was the head of a wicked pack. A pack that had stirred up unnecessary trouble by insisting that werewolves could only mate with werewolves from the same pack.

He was the son of the man who had murdered my father.

How could I want to be with someone like that?

Yet...I missed him.

It felt like there was a switch deep within me that had been flipped back on.

I tried my best to ignore it.

But as I lay in bed, that feeling kept growing stronger.

Soon, it had turned into a full-blown fire, burning fiercely in my heart.

It was painful.

Torturous.

And no matter what I did, I couldn’t put it out.

After hours of wrestling with this feeling, I decided I needed to talk to someone.

~Dad!~ I thought to myself, feeling a rush of excitement.

There was something comforting about knowing I could call on his spirit whenever I needed. He'd surely be more than willing to help me.

It would be almost like old times.

I sat up in bed and closed my eyes.

This time, it was much easier to shut out the world around me and focus my energy on the spirit realm. Maybe this was a nice side effect of the initiation ceremony I had just gone through.

In no time, I found myself once again in the presence of my dad.

He appeared next to me on the bed, looking startled.

“You look surprised to see me,” I laughed. “I told you that I’d probably be calling on you pretty often.”

He sat quietly for a moment.

There was something odd about him.

His face was familiar, but his behavior was something I didn’t recognize.

Not as lively as our last meeting.

It was subdued. Almost timid.

“Qu…Qu…Quinn?” he stammered, tears in his eyes.

“Yes, Dad. I…I decided to call you here. I needed your advice.”

He looked utterly confused.

“You mean…you called on me? By yourself?” he asked in disbelief.

“Yeah…just like the last time.”

“Last time?” he asked, a note of fear in his voice.

He got up from the bed and started pacing the room.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, worried.

“Are you saying that you have summoned me before? And recently?”

“Yes!” I exclaimed, growing a bit impatient. “We talked just a few nights ago. We caught up on everything. About my life, my struggles, what happened to you…”

A look of horror spread across his face.

“What did I tell you happened to me, Quinn?”

“What?”

“How did I tell you that I died?”

He asked as if he didn’t remember our conversation at all. I was puzzled.

“Shadow Moon Pack used mom and me as bait to trap you. Then they sprung the trap, captured you, and took you back for execution. Just like Aunt Jodie told me.”

“Aunt Jodie!” he yelled, and continued pacing.

“Quinn,” he continued, “I don’t know how to tell you this, but whoever or whatever you summoned last time... it wasn’t me. In fact, it wasn’t even you that summoned me…”

“What do you mean?” I asked, dreading his answer.

“Your Aunt Jodie has been manipulating you, Quinn. She’s caused quite a stir in the spirit realm. Summoning spirits and distorting them, using their images to impose her will on people.”

I struggled to understand what he was saying. “You mean that what I saw of you…that was just some kind of illusion?”

“Exactly!“ my father exclaimed. “Quinn! I didn't die at the hands of Shadow Moon Pack. I was never a part of Shadow Moon or any pack for that matter. Your aunt joined Vulpes when she was young. They brainwashed her into a complete fanatic. They wanted our powers.”

He sighed deeply, “I wasn’t about to give myself to that group of lunatics. But as part of Aunt Jodie’s initiation, the demigod Matheius ordered her to kill me.”

My heart stopped.

“Aunt Jodie…killed you?”

My father hung his head low.

“Nobody ever knew,” he sighed. “I never saw it coming. She called me in a panic. Said she wanted out of Vulpes. I went to try and rescue her. But when I arrived at the meeting place she had told me to go to, I was ambushed. They caught me and burned me as a sacrifice to Matheius.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

My aunt… My own father’s killer?!

I couldn’t grasp it.

The woman who’d shown me so much love, so much care and guidance these past few days, killed my dad?

“I… I just don’t understand… Why? Why would she want me around if she killed you?”

“The same reason Vulpes wanted me,” my dad knelt down in front of me, holding my shoulders firmly. “They want your powers. To use them in some twisted quest to ascend to the heavenly plane. They're dangerous, Quinn. They poisoned your aunt's mind at a vulnerable time in her life. She never recovered from it.”

Never recovered from it?

To think…if I hadn’t talked to my father…my real father—

“Wait!” I exclaimed. “So if the…~entity~ I spoke to last time was not my father…then how is it…that means that this time…”

He smiled and chuckled. “You really did summon me.” He shook his head in disbelief. “It’s hard to believe that you, so young, could have such control over your abilities. I’m so proud of you.”

“I wanted to talk to you, Dad,” I said softly.

We shared a quiet, tender moment.

It was peaceful in a way I had never known.

A quiet joy that was beyond words.

But the happiness of meeting my father for real was soon overshadowed by the realization of what I had done.

I had left my pack.

My friends.

My mate.

I was drawn in by the allure of family. The yearning to fit in.

But I did fit in.

With the Shadow Moon Pack.

“Quinn,” my father said, his gaze heavy on me. “You need to leave. Now. It’s clear Jodie won’t stop until she uses your powers for her own ends.”

He was right.

“I will, father… But not without my family.”

His eyes sparkled with pride, “That’s my Luna. Go, my daughter!”

With a tender kiss on the cheek, he vanished.

I brushed a tear from my eyes and sprang to my feet.

There was only one thing on my mind.

Saving the ones I had neglected and put in danger.

I just hoped it wasn’t too late.

Jaxon

Hours in Vulpes’ underground prison felt like days.

The torment of knowing Quinn was in danger made my confinement unbearable.

Even with Sky, Harper, Zara, and Alex, who were all locked up with me—I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

“Hang in there, Jax,” Alex sat next to me, his arm on my shoulder. “We’ll find a way out. I didn’t come all this way to end up in jail again.”

I sighed. “Your bravery is commendable, Alex, but I fear our cause is lost. And it’s all my fault.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Sky chimed in. “Vulpes messed with all of us.”

She glanced at Harper, who was leaning against the wall. She nodded, her face thoughtful.

“Regardless of who’s to blame,” I said, “dwelling on it won’t help us escape.”

“I might be able to help with that,” a familiar voice growled.

Everyone turned toward the door.

It was Carl. Holding a key.

“Yeah, right!” Sky scoffed. “We've seen this guy pull some pretty sick fucking pranks before. You'd let us out just to kill us on the spot!”

“Quiet, pup!” he grunted.

He nodded at me, and I met his gaze.

“I joined the rogues to get ahead,” he started. “After dad handed over Shadow Moon to you, Jodie promised me the power I was denied. But instead... I’m just her fucking errand boy.”

“What are you saying, Carl?” I asked.

“I’ll let you all out. If you’ll let me join the pack. As your advisor.”

“Ridiculous!” Alex shouted. “Our pack is still recovering from the mess you made! Don’t listen to him, Alpha.”

I thought about his offer.

I’d seen how Aunt Jodie could manipulate people.

And if I wanted to pull Quinn away from Jodie, I'd need all the insight he could give.

“It’s a deal, Carl. But I’ll be honest, I can’t promise there’ll be much of a pack to return to.”

He nodded, “We’ll see what we can do about that.”

The cell erupted in protest.

“Can we trust him, Jax?” Alex asked, skeptically.

“No, but he’s our best shot. And... he is my brother.”

I looked him in the eye. There was a genuine look in them that reminded me of my dad. Despite Carl’s past mistakes, something about him in this moment made me believe he could make amends.

Carl quickly unlocked the cell and signaled for us to follow him.

We quietly made our way up the stairs and through the corridors of Fort Vulpes undetected. After navigating the fortress’s many twists and turns, we reached the atrium.

~Almost there!~

Just as we started to cross the clay-tiled floor, Carl yelled: “Look out!”

He pushed me to the ground as a beam of blue energy flew towards my head.

He screamed as the beam hit him.

I watched in horror as his body disintegrated before my eyes, as if his soul had been sucked out.

My eyes moved up to the balcony.

There stood Jodie, grinning wickedly.

“Traitors always get what they deserve, Beta Carl!” she cackled. “Now, who’s next?”

~Fuck.~

She had us cornered.

There was no way we could escape without at least one of us falling victim to her magic.

I looked at my terrified companions.

None of them deserved to die.

My recklessness had caused this mess.

As Alpha, it was my responsibility to face the consequences.

I stepped forward: “You’ve won, Jodie. We surrender. Take me and do what you want. But let the others go. They’re not part of this.”

“Kill you,” she scoffed. “No, that would be too noble. Besides, I have your mate, so I can already control you. No, let's see...”

After scanning her potential victims, she pointed at Sky.

“You there! You’re so delicate and pretty. I bet you would die most satisfyingly,” Jodie chuckled.

Sky’s eyes widened in terror as the sorceress shot a blue beam at her.

“Sky!” Harper screamed and lunged at her friend.

She managed to push her out of the way just as the beam hit.

But she couldn’t avoid it herself.

Harper’s body began to glow bright blue.

She didn’t make a sound. No cry of pain.

But her face was frozen.

Not in fear, though.

There was a look on her face I had never seen before.

It was almost…peaceful.

And even though it all happened in a flash, I could see that her eyes were fixed on Sky.

She knew what she was doing.

We all gasped in unison as Harper’s form seemed to evaporate right before our eyes. What was left was a ghostly image of her.

Her spirit.

She looked at Sky, a soft smile on her face.

A smile was a rare sight on Harper’s face.

Sky let out a heart-wrenching scream as she watched her friend’s spirit fade into nothingness.

I couldn’t believe it.

Harper, my friend and the greatest warrior of Shadow Moon, was gone.

Just like that.

But there was no time to mourn.

“My Goddess!” Jodie groaned. “So many heroes! Well, you’ll all be joining her soon.”

I clenched my jaw and prepared to shift. If she wouldn’t accept surrender, I wasn’t going down without a fight.

“AHHHHH!” Jodie suddenly screamed in pain and fell to the ground, wrestling with a gray blur.

One of her own wolves had turned on her!

This was my friends' chance to escape. And my chance to take down Jodie once and for all!

“Zara!” I yelled. “Take Sky. Get her out of here!”

She nodded and grabbed Sky, who had collapsed from the shock. They made it safely out the front door.

“Beta!” I turned to Alex and nodded.

It was time to end this.

We both kneeled and prepared to shift.

But we were interrupted by a painful “ARRRROOOOO!”

I looked up to see the brave wolf who had attacked Jodie falling from the balcony to the floor.

I winced as the poor creature’s twisted body hit the floor, completely unconscious.

That’s when I got a good look at the wolf.

My heart dropped.

It wasn’t just some rogue.

It was Quinn.

“QUINN!” I yelled and ran toward her lifeless body.

“Jax! Get out of there!” Alex yelled at me.

But his words didn’t register.

I had to get to Quinn.

Nothing else mattered.

Above me, I could hear Aunt Jodie laughing as she prepared to finish me off.

But I had to get to my mate.

If this was the end... I had to at least tell her I loved her...

“OWWW!” I groaned as a sharp pain shot through my ankle, sending me tumbling to the floor.

I looked toward Quinn.

But she seemed to be getting farther away!

I called out to her as I slid backward on the tiles.

The pain continued as the distance between Quinn and me grew larger.

~FLASH!~

Jodie unleashed a deadly blue bolt, aimed directly at me.

My end was near. But Quinn was so far.

I felt like my heart would explode.

All I wanted was to hold her…

To kiss her…

One…

Last…

Time…

~SLAM!~

The atrium doors shut just as Jodie's death beam was about to hit me, blocking its deadly path.

I looked back.

Alex had shifted into his wolf form and dragged me out by his teeth. Just in time, too. But the fact that I was alive filled me with anger.

“Damn it, Beta! What the hell were you thinking? That was Quinn in there!”

~It wouldn’t do her any good if you were dead, Jax!~

~But it might have saved a little blood on~ my ~fur.~

A cold, mocking voice echoed over the mindlink.

Alex and I slowly turned towards it.

There stood Anthony, silhouetted by a blood-red evening sun.

To his right, two wolves held Zara and the fainting Sky captive.

Behind him, a legion of wolves stood ready to attack.

We had walked out of a battle...

And straight into a war.