Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

“ W e need to find your mom and fast,” I said as I tried to find a trace of Rosemary or Lyra.

“That portal is going to close, and we can’t get stuck here,” Aidon agreed.

We hadn't gone far when the shadows around us seemed to come alive. A growl echoed through the forest, and I spun around just in time to see the pack of wolf shifters emerging once again from the darkness. Shit on a shingle! Taking out the leader hadn’t done much to stop them.

“Something's wrong,” I muttered with my heart pounding in my chest. This went so much deeper than I initially thought.

Layla shifted back and moved closer to me. “They're not just ordinary shifters,” she whispered. “In addition to their primal instincts being honed for battle, their minds are being subverted by someone else.”

Murtagh nodded. “No rational shifter would continue like this without their alpha. They’d scatter and search for a new one if someone didn’t immediately emerge.”

The moonlight highlighted their sharp claws and glistening fangs. The first shifter lunged at Aidon with blinding speed. Aidon met him head-on. It sounded like thunder boomed when their bodies collided. Another shifter darted towards Stella, who was bleeding from several small cuts. No doubt she smelled like dinner. I shot a ball of my witch fire at the creature, stopping it before it reached her.

Stella stepped forward with a calm expression, her hands raised in a gesture of peace. She cast some kind of spell that rippled out of her in waves. The wolf-shifters surrounding us stopped their approach. Tseki, who hovered above us, stopped picking the wolves off, and watched Stella.

“Listen to me,” Stella began, her voice resonating with a serene confidence that seemed out of place in this tense standoff. “You don’t have to do this. We are not your enemies. Lyra is using you for her own dark purposes. She’s got my mother. We’re only here to get her back.”

The wolf-shifters snarled softly. It was a low rumble that echoed through the field. The massive beasts had eyes like molten gold that watched Stella with a mixture of curiosity and disdain. You could see them battling for control of themselves again. For a moment, the snarling softened. I liked to think that Stella’s words were reaching a part of them that remembered life before Lyra’s corruption.

“You have families and lives worth living,” Stella continued, her voice imbued with genuine empathy as her spell continued to pump out of her. “Don’t let Lyra’s darkness consume you. Join us, and together we can end this cycle of pain and destruction.”

The wolf-shifters exchanged glances, and a silent conversation passed between them. I held my breath, feeling a flicker of hope. Stella’s charm was legendary. I could see the effect her words were having. One of the shifters, a smaller female with silver fur, lowered her head slightly. I swear her eyes reflected a flicker of doubt .

“We know that deep down, you are not evil,” Stella pressed on, stepping closer. “You can break free from her control. There’s still time.”

The silver-furred wolf shifter took a hesitant step forward with her ears flattening against her head. A larger male let out a deep, rumbling growl that made her stop in her tracks. He stepped forward and bared his teeth. He partially shifted, and he growled, “Our loyalty is to Lyra.” His voice was rough and guttural and difficult to understand in this partial state. “We do not betray our master.”

Stella’s face fell, but she didn’t back down. “Please, you don’t have to do this,” she pleaded, her voice tinged with desperation. “There is a better way.”

The male’s eyes narrowed. His patience was done. “Enough!” he barked. His voice echoed through the clearing. “Your words are meaningless. Lyra’s will is our command.”

A string of curse words flowed through my head. Stella had tried her best, but it was clear that the wolf shifters were beyond reasoning. Lyra’s hold over them was unshakable. It was bound by Dark magic, not true unwavering loyalty, so if we had time to figure it out, we could find a way around it. But we didn’t.

Aidon moved to my side. “It’s no use, Phoebe,” he said softly. “They won’t turn against her.”

Stella backed away, her shoulders slumping slightly. “I had to try,” she murmured, her voice tinged with sadness. “They aren’t acting of their own free will.”

I gave her a sympathetic smile. “You did your best, Stella. We’ll find another way.”

The wolves began to advance once more. Their eyes were locked on us with predatory intent. There was no more time for words. We had to be ready to fight, to defend ourselves against these relentless foes.

As the first wolf shifter lunged, its eyes fixed on me with murderous intent. Aidon stepped forward, making his body a shield between me and the beast. He raised his hand, and a dark light flared, momentarily blinding the shifter. That sent it skidding and scrabbling for purchase in the dirt. Nana began to chant. I recognized the words. She was summoning the elements to our aid. A gust of wind whipped through the field, throwing leaves and debris into the air. It created a momentary barrier between us and the advancing pack.

“Get ready,” Aidon said, his voice tight with urgency. “This is going to be a tough fight.”

Stella nodded and conjured her witch fire. The shifters surged past the wind and were only a few feet away. Their snarls echoed through the area and into the forest off in the distance. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as they ate up the distance between us. I could feel the Dark magic pushing them forward.

Nana's voice cut through the chaos, her tone commanding yet filled with determination. “Stand back!” she shouted, her words carrying a sense of urgency. I glanced over to see Nana raising her hands, her fingers dancing with sparks of her witch fire. But it didn’t seem to be entirely in her control. With a swift motion, she unleashed a torrent of flames, weaving them together into a barrier of fire that crackled with raw power. Damn. I’ve never been so glad I was wrong about that.

The flames erupted in front of us, forming a wall of heat and light that burned the wolves. Their snarls turned to yelps of pain as they recoiled from the intense heat, their fur singed and smoking. I could feel the heat radiating off it and warming my skin even from a distance. It was a testament to Nana's strength and skill as a witch. There was nothing she couldn’t do when she put her mind to it.

I sent out my feelers, looking for a connection to Stella. We still had to act fast. Nana's brow was furrowed in concentration as she continued feeding her fire. Beads of sweat glistened on her forehead. It was the first sign I’d seen of the effort it took her to fight alongside us. Layla snarled and snapped at those who broke through, taking them down. Tseki flew over the flames and attacked from the opposite direction.

As the shifters got past the fire, they snarled and clawed at us. The scent of earth and pine mingled with the acrid tang of magic and burned fur in the air. I wasn’t finding any trace of Rosemary or Lyra. Where in the hell could they be? We’d gone through Lyra’s portal. She had clearly recalibrated the destination before Aidon reactivated it.

Okay, we needed to get rid of these wolves so we could get home and regroup. We had the scroll. There could be something on it that would help us locate Rosemary. With a deep breath, I focused on the energy that flowed within me. I could feel the power of the universe in the depths of my mind.

Slowly, I began to weave spells together using all of the ancient magic of my Pleiades heritage. The air crackled with energy as the power surged through me and filled me with a sense of purpose. I let it build until it became painful to hold it inside. With a flick of my wrist, I sent shimmering tendrils of cleansing light swirling toward them. Each beam was infused with enough magic to clear the darkness out of the Underworld. Or, so I hoped. The light wrapped around the shifters and sought out the malevolent power suffusing them.

But even as the shifters stumbled and faltered under the weight of my magic, I could sense the presence of Lyra’s darker forces lurking in the shadows. The air thickened with malice. It was a sickening reminder of the power that Lyra wielded. The wolves reacted and renewed their fight.

Nana lost control of her flames and they died out as a wolf knocked her to the ground. I tried to rush to her side but was stopped when a giant paw hurtled toward my stomach with razor-sharp claws extended. A defensive spell sprang to mind but the blow was deflected in a shower of sparks. The shifter was too close to lob a magical bomb at, so I kicked the thing in the side, knocking it into Murtagh, who proceeded to tackle it. Tseki redoubled his efforts now that there was no fire to contend with.

The forest was alive with the chaotic symphony of battle. Nausea churned in my stomach as the varying scents assaulted me. Aidon had conjured his sword at some point and stepped in front of me. His weapon sliced through the enemies with deadly precision. Each strike stopped the oncoming shifters with practiced ease. His movements were a dance of steel and sinew, and his expression was a mask of grim determination. I couldn’t help but admire how fiercely he fought to protect me and the babies.

“We can't keep this up,” Nana's voice cut through the din and brought me out of my stupor. I started firing magical bombs at wolves closing in around us. “We need to retreat!” Nana’s plea was desperate. She was already moving toward the forest in the distance. The rest of us followed suit while still fighting.

Stella's hands moved in a blur of motion as she conjured magical bombs and fireballs. “She's right. We're outnumbered and outmatched. We need to fall back and regroup.”

I nodded in agreement. We’d tried, but it wasn’t working, and we were getting tired. My heart was heavy with the weight of defeat. “Let's find a safer place to gather our thoughts,” I said, my voice strained with exhaustion.

As we began to retreat, the shifters pressed forward with renewed ferocity. Their feral eyes gleamed with hunger. Lyra’s control was firmly back in place. We reached the forest and it immediately seemed to close in around us. The trees loomed like Dark sentinels as we fought to escape the clutches of our enemies.

When we were out of the field, Tseki was forced to shift and join us. Layla had picked up the bag and was carrying it in her jaw. I continued casting spells and decided to shift gears to confuse and befuddle the wolves hoping that would keep them off our trail. Pretty soon, the sounds of their howling faded into the distance behind us. Aidon leaned heavily against a nearby tree. His chest was heaving as he caught his breath. “That was too close,” he muttered.

I nodded in agreement, my body trembling with exhaustion. “We underestimated them and Lyra’s control over them,” I admitted. There was a bitter taste of defeat lingering on my tongue. “But we won't make that mistake again.”

Nana's eyes blazed with determination as she straightened her shoulders. “She may have won this battle, but she won't win the war. We'll find a way to stop her, no matter what it takes.”

Stella nodded in agreement. “We have to stay strong. For my mom's sake, if nothing else.”

As we stood there, catching our breath, I thought about how the road ahead would be long and treacherous. Lyra had been at this for centuries, we were learning. She’d had plenty of time to hone her Dark magic. And she didn’t care who she hurt to win. We had to be ready for anything. And find a new way home. I doubted that portal was going to be there if we ever made it back to that field.