Death is a Fickle Bitch

Alex

“Stay put,” Jax ordered, “I’m going to sneak in and see what’s happening.”

“Jax,” I argued. “If Jodie focuses on you, she’ll tear you apart. Let me go!”

He gently rested a hand on my shoulder.

“We’ve already lost one good wolf today,” he said, his voice heavy with regret, “all because of my selfishness. My infatuation. I can’t bear to lose any more because of me.”

“You’re not the only one who cares about Quinn,” Zara piped up from behind me. “She’s our friend too.”

Sky nodded in silent agreement.

“I know that. But as Alpha, it’s my job to protect my pack. To put myself in harm’s way for you. You three are the only pack I have left, and I won’t let anything happen to you as long as I can help it.”

Just a short while ago, Jodie had almost destroyed Jax.

I was barely able to save him once.

I was scared I wouldn’t be able to do it again.

It was touching how much he cared. How committed he was to his role.

The events at Fort Vulpes had definitely made him grow as a leader.

But against a force like Jodie’s, I was worried that these changes in Jax’s character might be in vain.

Still, he was my Alpha. And I had to follow his orders.

“We’ll stay close to you then,” I said. “At the first sign of trouble, we’ll be there.”

He nodded back at me.

“Alright, let’s move,” he said.

I signaled to Zara and Sky, who followed closely behind me as I trailed Jax from the rocky alcove on Fort Vulpes’ face toward the broken door at the fortress entrance.

Jax gave us one last nod, a determined smile on his face.

The bravery etched across his strong features gave me hope that maybe his strength would win out.

But as Jax approached the hole in the door, his face fell into a look of despair.

He covered his mouth with his hand, as if to hold back a cry of horror.

“Jax!” I whispered urgently, “What’s wrong?”

But he stayed still, completely shocked.

I glanced back at Sky and Zara, who looked back at me, puzzled.

“Stay here,” I ordered. Just as I started to creep over to Jax, he took off, charging into the room with a desperate yell.

“Jax!” I called after him, but he didn’t seem to hear.

“What’s happening?” Zara shouted.

I shook my head; I was just as clueless.

“Should we go in after him?” Sky asked.

I looked toward the door.

Every part of me wanted to rush in to help my friend.

But if he was in trouble, a hasty charge by the three of us wouldn’t be much help.

“We need to find another way in. Fast,” I said.

“I might know a way,” said Sky. “But we’ll need to shift.”

Sky

I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt such pain.

Even the first time I had shifted wasn’t this agonizing.

It took all my strength to keep from screaming, in case it alerted someone inside Fort Vulpes to our presence.

I felt the pain of each bone cracking and skin tearing as I shifted into wolf form.

No doubt, the stress of my current situation had put a huge strain on my body.

But even the physical agony of transformation couldn’t match the pain in my heart.

The pain of losing my best friend…Harper.

All I could think of was the desperate look on her face as she had pushed me out of the way of Jodie’s magic.

The panic in her eyes was burned into my mind.

But so was another feeling.

Something I had never felt before.

It was heartbreak, but also closeness.

A closeness I had never experienced before but had always longed for.

This confusing feeling only made the pain in my heart worse, because I knew that I would never get the chance to understand this feeling.

And that I would never see my dear Harper again.

It sucked the joy, the purpose, and the will out of me.

Yet, I had to keep going.

The lives of two other friends of mine now depended on me.

But even in that moment of urgency, it was hard to put aside my grief for Harper.

It was all-consuming.

I signaled for him and Zara to follow me.

We sprinted back into the alcove. Zara and Alex looked at me, puzzled.

But I ignored their confusion and started to dig. That’s when I heard Alex’s voice in the mind-link.

Alex

Alright, Sky. What’s this plan?

Sky

Dig!

Zara

What’s the point of this?

Alex

There’s no way in hell we’re going to dig our way into this! We’re bound to hit bedrock before—

His words were cut off as the ground below us gave way, and we fell into the dirt.

After dropping a few feet, we came to a sudden stop.

Alex

Where are we?

Sky

Vulpes tunnel network. They use them to go in and out of the fort without attracting attention to the entrance.

Zara

How the hell do you—?

Sky

Percival showed them to me on our date. Bet he never thought I’d use them against him.

We raced down the tunnel into Fort Vulpes. The underground passage led us through a vent that opened into a corridor just off the atrium.

Zara

My heart pounded as we made our way down the hallway.

It throbbed so loudly in my ears that I was scared it could be heard down the hallway.

I had never been so terrified.

My entire pack had been turned into agents of evil.

One of my closest friends had been killed.

The few left now faced deadly danger.

As I sprinted down the hallway, there was a single beacon of hope.

A single ray of light.

Alex and his bravery.

I was amazed at how he could keep his cool.

How he could face death head-on without even a hint of fear.

In the midst of all the chaos, his courage and determination to protect his friends stood out as the one unshakeable quality that could possibly turn this terrible situation around.

A quality that was undeniably attractive.

But even his unwavering resolve seemed to falter when we turned the corner of the hallway behind the atrium staircase.

His eyes were filled with terror.

And then I saw why.

The atrium was filled with the combined forces of Anthony’s alliance and Vulpes’.

They stood still, as if glued to the spot. Their eyes were all focused on the center of the room.

I gasped as I saw Jax lunging at Jodie with a knife.

Jodie launched a beam of her soul-draining energy at him, but he somehow managed to evade it.

Just as he was about to reach Jodie and strike her, a bolt of lightning crashed through the ceiling.

I saw Alex spring into action just as the electric streak pierced the stone structure. But before his paws could touch the ground, the bolt hit Jax.

His screams echoed as he vanished in a puff of smoke.

I couldn’t believe it.

Jax was dead.

I turned to look at Alex.

He was frozen. Paralyzed. Overwhelmed with grief.

The only sign of life was the tears that trickled down his snout.

My heart ached.

I had never seen him cry before.

Jaxon

The light was fading.

Fort Vulpes, Anthony’s army, Jodie, and Quinn all seemed so far away as I spiraled into darkness.

It was like looking through the wrong end of a telescope.

I wanted to call out to them.

But my voice wouldn’t work.

And no matter how much I struggled in the void, I didn’t seem to move.

It was as if I had no limbs to struggle with.

As if my physical body had been stripped away, leaving only the core of me.

~This can’t be death... can it?~

It couldn’t be death.

Something about this felt too familiar. And death is never familiar.

It’s experienced only once.

Yet everything about this felt like it had happened before.

~Impossible.~

As I fell through the darkness, I felt something happening to me.

It was excruciating.

But not in a physical sense. It was a deep, spiritual pain.

As if I was being pulled from the grip of death, where I was supposed to be, back into the burning intensity of life.

The darkness faded.

But not into light.

It was into a strange state that I could only describe as the balance of existence.

Then, I felt myself drifting away from this odd limbo.

I felt... warm.

Delicate...