Chapter 57

Fifty-Seven

FINN

M y wolf leapt into the fray taking a half second to pummel my numb and cold body into the air. A few seconds of weightlessness slowed time to the unfolding chaos of the distant battle of Wesley becoming some sort of giant Stag, with glowing red eyes, and dripping red foam. Reality slammed me into the base of the next statue—the Summer king.

His figure loomed over me, unmoving. His presence, a crushing weight of judgment to pierce through me. I had failed him. My first vision had been Felix’s attack, but Wesley interrupted it.

I knew the Summer king lived, but how many times had I let him down? How much more would this memory show?

Fear gripped me, tightening like an icy vise around my throat, but I reached to touch the statue anyway, fingers trembling. I prayed for strength, salvation, or perhaps for the Summer king's mercy. If I could awaken him and he could see the battle ravaging our world, maybe he could help. Or at least save Wesley from the nightmare I was becoming.

The darkness came first, creeping over me like a lover’s caress, wrapping me in a suffocating embrace. The numbing cold coated my body while my mind turned molten and unstable. Rage—an unfathomable, primal fury—surged through me. A thousand times worse than when my mother died, or I’d lost a dozen loved ones to the wolf curse. This anger felt alien, as if a demon had slipped into my skin, digging for control and demanding to consume everything in its path.

I clung to the only thing that could keep me tethered—Wesley, the pulse of his life force echoed through the storm of emotions, a small sliver of light, flickering like a candle’s flame against the black. His glow drew me like a moth to fire, fearing the burn, but needing the guidance.

The rage that had threatened to devour me retreated, smothered by an unexpected warmth. I opened my eyes, hoping for a path back to the present, but finding myself in another unfurling past. Curled beside me, was a baby fox, its bright red fur vivid and soft, delicate and yet filled with an incredible well of magic. Warmth radiated in gentle waves, soothing and sweet. I sucked in air, struggling to stay awake, the wolf at ease from the touch. The dragon, a demon who grew from every ounce of added pain, vanished. The heartache seeped away and I could breathe.

Magic lapped at my soul like a gentle tide, washing away the grief, rage, pain, and the madness that had twisted inside me for so long. Peace swept through me to extinguish the warring will of the dragon—the demon of flame and fury that had plagued me as if a thorn were still buried in its paw a thousand years after its awakening. The magic soothed it into slumber and the monster vanished into the shadows, leaving the gentle warmth of the fox. A peace I hadn’t felt in a lifetime.

My soul ached, throbbing with a new kind of pain—a sense of loss. Something severed. A wound gaped within my heart and soul. Torn. I remembered, the wolf had broken us apart, my pain overwhelming his instinct. He tried to make us stronger, but failed miserably. The baby’s presence eased the worst of the pain and the wolf understood he’d made a mistake. Weakened us with his need to protect, and now the dark had begun to take over. This baby quieted the nightmare to a dull shadow of what it had been. Had the wolf known this would be the Summer king?

No. He thought only of protecting what was his. His control, his family, and his pack. Was this small, fragile magical being, the key to everything? To Felix’s insanity and perhaps to healing the darkness inside me? The wolf’s thoughts bled into mine, and together we wondered—had we severed ourselves too soon?

Another omega. The realization crashed into me, brutal and unforgiving. We had already failed once. Fuck.

Mine. The wolf snarled, his possessiveness snapping through our connection. Rage giving him back control as he stared at Oberon. He stood in the doorway watching, ever the silent sentinel, strong as the wolf had always wished to be.

“He’s not yours,” Oberon said, his voice calm but firm.

Mine. The wolf’s snarl tore through my mind, a vicious growl that reverberated through my chest. I snarled too, feeling the raw need to protect. The fox stirred beside me, the fragile peace fracturing, and before I could soothe him, he shifted. In the blink of an eye, the fox was gone, replaced by a mortal child. His soulful brown eyes blinked up at me, wide with fear and confusion, his red hair a shock of color like the drying blood I’d soaked in for centuries. Was he meant to be a reminder for all the times I’d lost control?

The child’s wail pierced the air, a sound so full of fear and heartbreak. My wolf shuddered, uncertain what to do, wolf cubs didn’t wail like this and my human half had always taken over before. Only now I couldn’t.

The wolf shifted into a human form, and lifted the child, cradling him to his chest, looking stiff and uncomfortable, and making small sounds he recalled from the human form. “Change back now, cub,” the wolf pleaded. It would be easier to raise a fox than a human. But the boy clung to the wolf, tiny fingers tangling in the hair of the wolf’s human form, unkempt as it was from locking the mortal half of his soul away.

“I feel a pull to the north,” Oberon said, “when I hold him. He has a mate. We need to find them.”

“No,” the wolf snapped.

Oberon sighed, the frustration heavy in his tone. “Xander, I can’t help you if you don’t let me. Don’t curse this child with your destruction.”

“I raised Felix,” I growled. “He’s fine.”

“He’s not.” Oberon’s words cut deep. “Cassa’s spell holds his dark side for now, but it’s weakening. Let me find a pack matriarch to care for Sebastian while we search for his mate.”

Sebastian. The name felt foreign on my tongue, but it belonged to the small child in my arms. The Summer king? My mind reeled, and I wondered if the wolf had known. If he had sensed the magic, the power coiled inside this tiny being. Power beyond comprehension, and yet the wolf cared only for the peace it brought—the calm that kept the darkness at bay. I dropped back down into the chair, clinging to the baby as if it were a life raft rather than a child. Before the fox child had been presented to us, the wolf rampaged through the camp twice, destroying any who got in his way.

Only Oberon still faced him. The wolf recognized his brother and fought his way free of the dark before he could destroy what was left of his family. And now there was this baby. Filled with magic and power beyond what we’d ever experienced.

“Can you tell me where your human half is?” Oberon asked carefully, voice barely above a whisper.

We glared at him, daring him to utter the words where others could hear and we’d be forced to end him. “You know not what you speak.”

But Oberon knew. “You are part of one soul. A sundered soul is unstable. You have buried the human part of your soul so deep he is suffocating. If he dies, you die. Don’t you understand?”

“Silence. He is weak.” The wolf snarled at him, causing the baby to cry again. “Shhh, cub, all is well,” Xander whispered to the baby.

Oberon remained frozen in the doorway, his knees buckling under the weight of the Alpha’s command as he sank to the ground. Sweat dripped down his brow, his fists clenched so tight his knuckles turned white. He fought it—fought with everything he had—but the magic rooted him in place, rendering him silent.

The wolf rose from the chair, eyes cold and unreadable, and began packing a bag with methodical precision. Oberon’s glare could have killed him a thousand times over, but the wolf didn’t even flinch.

“I will leave the pack and train the cub.”

Oberon growled, unable to speak, the Alpha’s command locking his voice deep within his chest. The room thrummed with energy; the magic so thick it almost hummed in the air. The baby reached for it, as if he could still the storm with a mere touch, giggling and cooing at the waves of color he wrapped around his fingers.

The wolf stepped closer, eyes flashing. “You will not tell anyone what you know.” His voice was ice, the threat clear as he brushed past Oberon, the baby held protectively against him. “I will teach him to use his magic. I will master the darkness. And if you follow me, I swear by the blood we share, I will end our brotherhood with my claws.”

Oberon struggled, every muscle screaming against the magic that bound him. But the wolf didn’t wait. He slipped into the shadows of the forest, disappearing into the night with the cub in his arms.

And with him, the last of his humanity vanished.