Chapter 62

Today was the day, and I woke up feeling anxious and nervous. There were only a few hours before we had to leave to the location we had decided on for the fight. When I turned to see if Mark was awake, my heart froze when I saw he wasn’t in bed. I immediately shot up and looked around.

A sense of relief washed over me when I found a note from Mark, letting me know he had gone down to breakfast with the rest of the pack, and he didn’t want to wake me because he knew I needed the sleep. Urgency washed over me, and I rushed to get ready for the day. I thought about skipping my shower, but I knew I would feel much better after a hot shower, especially because of the activities of the previous night.

The shower relaxed my muscles, and I ended up staying in there longer than I had anticipated. Once I was out, I got dressed quickly and left the room to find Mark. I wandered out of the hotel room and went to the breakfast area. I peaked in and saw Mark at a table with Scythe, Rie, and the other three members from Mark’s pack. I couldn’t remember all of their names from the day before.

Two of them were men, and one I had briefly run into at Mark’s pack house the very first time I was there. The other one was a tall woman with dark hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. The table was completely full, so I hesitated with approaching. I didn’t want to interrupt their conversations and intrude.

I hovered by the door, wondering if I should just go back to the room and wait for Mark. Before I could decide, Mark turned his head, making direct eye contact with me. He must have smelled me and realized I was standing there. He quickly got up and moved towards me. He immediately pulled me into a k**s, but I felt embarrassed kissing him in front of all of his pack members.

“You’re blushing,” Mark teased as he pulled away.

I glanced over at the table. “They are all looking at us.”

Mark shrugged. “So what?”

I chewed on the inside of my cheek. “I don’t know. It’s kind of embarrassing. I don’t want them to think poorly of me.”

“They’ll love you because I love you,” Mark said. He squeezed my hand and started pulling me towards the table. “Come on. You should eat. We have a long day ahead of us.”

When we got to the table, I stood awkwardly, since there weren’t any chairs. One of the guys I didn’t know stood up and offered a chair to me, and the rest of them followed. Mark and Rie stayed at the table, but I got up to grab some food. Scythe followed me over to the breakfast line.

“How are you doing?” Scythe asked. “Are you ready?”

I laughed nervously. “I sure hope so. If I’m not, a lot of things could go wrong today.”

Scythe put a hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Don’t worry. You’ve got this.”

“Thanks.” I grabbed a plate and started picking out a few items, but my stomach was in knots, and I wasn’t sure how much I would actually be able to eat.

Scythe was following me closely, but he wasn’t grabbing any food for himself. It gave me the feeling that there was something he wanted to talk about.

I paused and looked at him. “Okay, what is it?”

Scythe’s eyes widened. “What do you mean?”

“What’s on your mind?” I asked. He was nervous to bring up the subject, which was unlike him, so I figured I would push it out of him.

Scythe took a deep breath. “Well, Percy and I did a lot of talking while you were gone.”

He paused, so I raised my eyebrows to push him to keep talking.

“We agreed we don’t want to be apart again,” he said.

I let that sink in. I know Percy didn’t want to leave, so I feared what that meant. “So what does that mean for you?” I hoped Scythe wasn’t going to leave Mark’s pack. I had grown very fond of him, and I didn’t want to lose him as a friend.

“We haven’t figured out all of the details, and we will have to talk to the alphas, but we thought maybe we could split our time between the packs. I don’t want to abandon Alpha, but Percy has his loyalties as well.” Scythe looked at the ground, and I could tell he was ashamed of this.

I set down the plate and pulled Scythe into a hug. “I think that’s a great idea.”

Scythe pulled away, and his eyebrows were crinkled. “You do? What about what happened with Jori?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “What about it? You deserve to be happy. I’m going to miss you when you’re not around, but if this is what will be best for you and your mate, I will support you one hundred percent.”

Scythe started beaming. “You’re the best, Adira.” He looked back at Mark and frowned. “Do you think he’ll be upset with me?”

“I’m sure he’ll understand. He knows what it’s like to be away from his mate.” I gave Scythe a reassuring smile, and I could practically feel his worries disappear.

–

The rest of the day flew by, and before we knew it, we were packing up the cars to get going. I was supposed to reach out to Theron when we got to the location we wanted to fight at. It would cause the least amount of risk for the humans in town. We worried that if I reached out to Theron too soon, he would end up shifting to us immediately, instead of meeting at the location I want him too.

We were about to leave the hotel, when I heard someone calling out. When I turned around, I was surprised at who I saw running towards the car.

Percy was waving his hands at us, trying to get our attention. Scythe dropped his stuff and ran over to Percy, kissing him the moment he reached him.

“What are you doing here?” Scythe asked out of breath.

“I’m coming with you guys,” Percy said.

“What about Jori?” Scythe asked.

“You are risking your life, and if anything happens to you while I’m not there, I would never be able to forgive myself,” Percy explained. “So I don’t care about what Jori thinks. I’m coming with you.”

Scythe wrapped his arms around Percy, squeezing him tightly. The two of them walked over to the car, hand in hand.

“It’s good to see you, Percy,” I said. I was relieved to have another person on our side.

“Glad you’re here,” Mark said. “We should get going.”

“I hope I can help this go smoother for you guys so we all come home safely,” Percy said.

“Any help is appreciated.” Mark patted Percy on the arm.

–

It took almost an hour to get to the location we agreed upon for the fight. It felt similar to where Theron had me meet him to save Mark, only it was deeper in the woods with no real path leading to it. Mark insisted it be a place humans would unlikely stumble upon, since it was his duty as an alpha to make sure the existence of werewolves stayed as concealed as possible.

The others quickly went off into the woods to scout the area and solidify positions for when Theron would arrive. There was a small clearing where we intended the actual fight to happen, and I stood in the middle of it, thinking about my part in the plan. Shortly before the moon was set to rise, I would attempt to contact Theron. That way if he showed up right away, it wouldn’t be long before the moon would rise, or if he took his time, there would be a large period of time where the moon was out.

From there, the next moves would depend on Theron himself. The goal was to end the fight quickly. We wanted to detain Haley and Theron as quickly as possible, so we wouldn’t even have to fight. That was the ideal situation.

As I stood in the middle of the field, there was a sinking feeling in my stomach. I couldn’t tell if it was nerves or something more, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that things would not go as planned.

I slipped my hand in my pocket, feeling the wooden box Clara had given me. I know Ginger didn’t want me to use it, and I knew it would break some moral code, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave it behind. If it came down to a friend’s life or using this serum on Theron, I wouldn’t hesitate to use it. I couldn’t promise Ginger I wouldn’t use it, but I did tell her it would be my last resort. I needed to know I had the advantage on my side, especially with so many people I cared about being at risk.

I didn’t tell any of them about the serum. I was afraid if they knew I had it, they would insist on using it right away. I didn’t want that kind of pressure or influence. If I chose to use the belladonna, it needed to be my choice and my burden alone.

Arms slipped around my waist, pulling me from my thoughts. Mark’s scent flowed around me, and my worries lessened.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“Yes. Is it time?” I looked up to the sky. It was dark, but stars were splattered against the dark canvas. The entire forest was dark without the light of the sun or the moon, but that wasn’t an issue with our wolf senses. It was another advantage to initiating this fight at night.

“Yes,” Mark said. “Everyone is in their positions. If you are ready, then it’s go time.”

I nodded my head. “Okay, let’s do this.”

Mark let go of me and stepped back. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, focusing on reaching out to Moon.

“Are you ready, Moon?” I asked. I had gone over this with her, but we hadn’t been able to actually practice before this. It was too risky to catch Theron’s attention before we were ready.

The world around me started spinning, and when I opened my eyes, I was in the familiar place in my mind. Moon was standing in front of me, flicking her tail back and forth.

“I’m ready,” she said. “Are we sure this is the right thing to do?”

“I don’t see another way to escape Theron’s attacks. I don’t think he is someone who can be reasoned with,” I said. I wished there was a way to compromise and avoid this fight. I had tried to come up with many alternatives, but nothing seemed good enough.

“Let’s do this then,” Moon said.

I sat on the ground and focused on my own magic. Moon hopped into my lap, and I felt the bond with my magic grow stronger. Once I had a firm grip on my magic, I focused on reaching out to magic that felt like mine. At first I couldn’t feel anything, but as I kept reaching out, I started noticing various magics tickling the back of my mind. None of them felt quite right.

Finally, I felt a light that was almost like mine, but it tasted bitter and dark. I instantly knew this was it. I pulled at it, willing it to come close. It was closer than I had anticipated, but not as close as I had thought.

“You finally decided to stop hiding,” a deep voice said from behind me.

I jumped up and turned, seeing Theron standing behind me. His aura was black with streams of purple leaking through it.

My heart was pounding as I looked at him, but I focused on staying calm. “I want this over with. I’m tired of playing this game with you.”

Theron scoffed. “I haven’t been playing a game. I told you I have a goal, and you’re in my way.”

“And you’re in mine,” I retorted.

Theron raised an eyebrow. “And what kind of goal could you possibly have? Have you decided to take our family’s powers afterall?”

“I don’t care about those powers,” I said. “I want to live a life free from worry of someone coming after me.”

Theron smirked at that. “You really are a child if you think that will ever be possible, half-breed.”

“Must I remind you that I’m technically your older sister,” I said.

Theron frowned at this. “You’re no sister of mine.”

“I suppose not. Not really at least. Family isn’t defined by the b***d tying you together. A real family is the ones who support and love you no matter what,” I said. “And that’s what I care about. So let’s get this over with. One final battle, all cards on the table. The one who wins gets what they truly desire.” My words sounded more confident than they felt, but I knew this was how I would get Theron to do as I wanted.

“And how am I supposed to trust you? What if this is a trap for me?” Theron asked.

I shrugged. “You’re not supposed to trust me. I sure as hell don’t trust you. Are you saying you are too weak to handle whatever I throw at you?”

Theron’s entire face tightened, and I knew I had him where I wanted him. “You’re going to regret this.”

Theron disappeared, and the connection completely broke. I found myself standing in the middle of the forest again. Mark’s eyes were on me, waiting for me to say something.

I looked at him. “He’s coming.”