Chapter Thirty-Eight

Aloud explosion shook the floor beneath our feet and the music finally stopped.

Morus let out a growl as smoke danced along the cracks of the ballroom door. The entire room seemed to hush, even the sounds from outside had ceased and everyone turned to stare at the doors.

I could feel the mate bond thrumming in my chest as I stared towards the door. The only sign to me that whatever had been happening outside those doors, it hadn't ended. Not yet.

‘Yes,'the voice trickled into my mind, the fissure of the veil opening wider than before. Enough for me to see my wolf more clearly. ‘He's here.'

The doors shook then. The sounds of a snarling beast just on the other side sending shivers of excitement down my spine. I could feel myself stepping towards it. Drawn to that beastly howl like a moth to a flame.

"Sasha Darling," Morus called to me as I stepped just out of his reach. "Come back here. They'll take you away. It's the voice that haunts you. The voice that frightened you so."

‘No,'my wolf snarled in my head. ‘He speaks of himself.'

‘Yes,'I agreed as my memories trickled through the fissure. ‘I know.'

I looked at him as the memory of the dream of him came forward. The fear I had felt in the arms of another as they did their best to comfort me. I tried my best to summon the face of that person, but the fissure still seemed to be keeping those memories from me. But Morus's spell of lies was already unraveling.

He was no mate of mine.

Another loud explosion came from the door and the heavy wood split open. Debris flew in every direction and screams from the dancing shadows erupted as they all backed away from the door just as I moved closer.

A large, dark brown wolf stepped through the smoke and debris. His teeth bared at the shadowy figures around me, and his moonlit eyes locked on mine.

The veil over my mind came crashing down as I met those familiar eyes. The images of the man behind the wolf filled my mind with memories and emotions. I gasped as they all hit me at once. The anger that he could pull from me. The desires and love that he stroked in my soul. And his words of encouragement.

"You are a gods damned warrior, Sasha Rigel-Chios. Don't you ever forget it. You are strong."

"Ayden," I gasped out his name and stepped towards him. "Ayden!"

The scent of dark magic rose over the smell of smoke and fire. I gasped again as it wrapped its cold tendrils around my waist and pulled me away from the doors. A dark chuckle reached my ears as my feet dragged across the floor to Morus's outstretched arms.

"I do not think so, Sasha Darling. You belong to me, just as you were always fated to from the moment you were born." His arms wrapped around me, and I felt his thumb trace over the marks on the back of my neck. His touch set the spot on fire as the scent of dark magic wrapped itself around us both. "This beautiful mark is the mark of darkness that belongs to me."

A searing pain erupted from the mark as dark magic began to fill my veins with force. My body seized with the pain as a scream ripped through my lips and echoed through the ballroom.

"Sasha!" a familiar voice shouted.

I turned my head limply to the side to see who it was, the memories flickering in and out as the darkness filled me with fire and ice.

Rory's face came into focus, a ball of pure sun-fire in her hands as she fended off the shadowy dancers who now attacked my small pack.

"Sasha! Don't give in! You are stronger than you think! He's the one who needs you! You don't need him!" My cousin yelled at me.

Her words didn't make any sense. Why would Morus need me? He was strong. He was power. He was the darkness incarnate. The very creature we had set out to destroy, but there was no destroying him. He was too strong. We were fools to have thought we could face him.

‘But we can, Sasha,'my wolf howled. ‘Listen to the bond!'

I could feel the thrumming of the mate bond then. The darkness dimming its call, but it was still there. I only had to hold on, and I would be able to hear Ayden. Feel what he was feeling and draw strength from him.

My mind weakly reached out and brushed against that imaginary cord, and moonlight trickled into my mind.

‘Don't give up! You are a gods damned warrior queen! You pushed back that darkness before, Sasha! Do it again! I believe in you!'Ayden's voice echoed with the howls of his wolf in my mind. His faith in me glowing as brightly as the full moon that blazed in his eyes.

I thought back to the last time that this darkness had filled me. The last time that I had nearly given into its siren call. He was right. I had fought it. I had turned away from the power it had offered me. The power granted immortality to many individuals. I had run from it and pushed its control away from me.

"Just relax," Morus said, that phrase now feeding into my anger towards him.

I growled and pulled my wolf closer in my mind. My eyes locked onto his and for a split moment, I saw genuine fear in those demonic black eyes.

He pushed harder against my mark, pushing more of his darkness inside me, but I could feel his control over it dwindling. I could feel my own control over the darkness growing stronger. I could control it, not the other way around.

"No," I said firmly. I reached over my shoulder and grabbed hold of his wrist. Together with my wolf, we pulled his hand from our skin and shoved him back from us. "You relax."

Morus stumbled back two feet before gaining his balance. His eyes narrowed at me as I stood tall, the darkness wrapping its smokey tendrils around my body. Now, the darkness concealed my white gown completely. I was as much shadow as the creatures surrounding my friends, but I didn't feel the evil of it.

I was in complete control.

Fur brushed against my hand as I stared down at Morus. I knew it was Ayden without even looking down, the bond between us pulsing more than it ever had before.

‘That's my girl,'he whispered in my mind. ‘Show him what you're made of Rigel. Don't hold back.'

He leaped at the same moment I aimed a ball of darkness for Morus's head. Our combined attack seemed to catch him off guard. His eyes narrowed at my mate as he aimed his own dark magic at the wolf as he flew through the air.

I barely had the chance to stop his magic in mid air. Morus turned his attention to me with a snarl of his own and threw dark daggers at my chest.

My darkness rose and blocked his attack, yet another snarl spilling from his lips.

"You think you can handle the darkness better than me?" he accused. "I created this magic. It's a part of me!"

The darkness flew up again around me, the smokey waves of dark magic wrapping around me in a protective shield. I cocked my head at Morus as he stared with unhidden awe at my control over the magic that he created. A smile formed over my lips.

"You may have created this magic," I said to him as I sent three dark daggers of my own to his chest. He blocked the first two, but the third found its mark in his shoulder before disappearing to leave the open and bleeding wound. "But I was born with it."

Ayden dove at Morus again, his teeth sinking into the injured shoulder of the dark god as I sent another dark ball of shadow fire to his chest. He pushed us both back; the fire searing his white suit as he barely caught and extinguished the fire.

Ayden flew back from the force of Morus's magic, his paws sliding across the ballroom floor until he stood once more at my side.

"Guards!" Morus yelled as he backed away from us. "Kill them! Kill them all!"

He pointed an accusing finger at me and smirked a deadly smile. "You think that you're special? You were made for me by my order. And I can make another of you just as easily. You are nothing."

A wave of shadow dancers rushed in front of Morus, blocking our path to the dark god as he turned to walk away. I tried to rush past them as Morus disappeared through a small door near the dais where we had sat not more than an hour before, but the shadows swarmed in with their teeth and claws bared for attack.

"Sasha! Behind you!" Rory called, as she ran to my side. She shot a ball of her fire at a shadow who had snuck behind me, the creature's body disintegrating in the purity of her magic.

"Thank you, Rory!" She pressed her back to mine, the warmth of her body against mine helping me to calm the shadows inside. Her scent of summer's night and sweet honey flowed around me and more of my control took hold of the dark magic inside me.

"Any time, day or night," Rory said, her hand pulsing with magic. "I'll always have your back." She reached her hand around and gently touched my stomach. "Both of your backs."

I felt my heart crack as a fresh memory made it past the block of my mind. My hand moved to my stomach and my eyes widened.

My magic reached inside myself, a soft glow of protective magic reaching back to me.

‘I took care of them,'my wolf said calmly. ‘I protected the pups from him. That was how he was able to separate us so easily. I couldn't leave them.'

‘Them?'I gasped, my wolf giving a quick nod in my mind.

‘They're strong. You can keep fighting. They won't be harmed.'

I let out a sigh of relief, my eyes finding Ayden's as he crashed his body into a shadow soldier in battle. My hand flew out to protect him as two more creatures charged for his back.

Their bodies were pulled apart. The dark magic that controlled them split between my call and Morus's. Baer joined Ayden then, both alpha kings fighting in wolf form as a perfect team.

I turned my head to the small door where Morus had disappeared. The battle in the ballroom was nearly over. His shadow dancers, now soldiers, were down to their last three. It was time to go after the true enemy and not the shadows he plays with.

Baer and Ayden took out the last of the shadows as Rory and I walked towards the dais. As they came to our sides, I ran my hand through Ayden's fur, the touch of any part of him grounding me more than the shadows that receded to the back of my mind but didn't leave completely.

"This is it," Rory said as we reached the door. "I can feel it. This is the end."

She looked at us all, waiting for anyone to say or do something. I took that moment to take charge and reached for the door handle.

"It's about damn time."

I was done with this quest. Now, my only goal was to get my family back to where we belonged. Safe and without fear of Morus ever coming after us again.