014
1570 Words
Chapter 14
~ARDEN~
I kept pressing hard against Elana's chest.
Blood spread on my hands but I ignored the violent ache spreading through my body.
The same terrifying truth echoed in my ears.
She wasn't breathing.
No, she couldn't be gone.
Not when I’d only just begun to understand what she’d become to me.
I closed my eyes and reached deeper toward the power buried within my own soul.
"If there's anything left... take it." Heat exploded through my veins as the violet glow returned, brighter than before, swallowing my hands until I could no longer see.
For the first time in a long while, the power didn't hesitate.
It answered me.
The energy surged through me in a torrent, no longer slipping away the way it had moments ago.
It flooded every part of my body before pouring into hers, steady and relentless.
This time, the poison fought back. I felt it.
Deadclaw writhed beneath her skin, lashing against my power with determination to consume every trace of it.
Darkness spread through her veins.
I gritted my teeth, forcing more of my strength into her.
"You don't get to win," I muttered, my voice rough. "Not her."
The light intensified.
Instead of feeding on my power as it had before, the poison began to falter.
The darkness in her bloodstream slowly unraveled, dissolving strand by strand beneath the force pressing against it.
A sharp gasp escaped my lips as another wave tore through me. Something had changed.
I could feel it as clearly as I felt my own heartbeat.
The barrier that had restrained my abilities for so long was gone.
There was no resistance or emptiness.
It answered my will without hesitation, flowing into Elana with a strength I hadn't possessed since my punishment.
The room trembled as the curtains snapped violently in the wind due to the spiritual energy gathered around us.
I ignored everything except the woman lying beneath my hands. "Come back," I whispered.
The violet glow spread across her chest. One by one, the black veins faded until only her natural complexion remained.
Then her body jerked awake. A sharp breath rushed into her lungs.
Her back arched off the mattress as a violent cough shook her body, forcing dark blood from her lips.
I slipped an arm behind her before she could fall sideways, holding her upright while the coughing continued.
"It's alright," I murmured, my hand steady against her back. "Get it out."
Another cough. Then another.
Each one sounded weaker than the last.
The blood gradually lost its dark, almost black color until it returned to the deep crimson it should have been.
I didn't dare move. My fingers remained against the side of her neck.
I felt her pulse. It was there— weak... but unmistakably there.
A breath escaped me before I realized I'd been holding it.
She was alive.
Her eyelids fluttered, struggling to open.
"...Arden?" My name barely left her lips.
"I'm here."
She tried to lift a hand, but the effort seemed to drain the little strength in her. I caught it before it fell, wrapping my fingers around hers.
"You scared me," I admitted quietly.
A faint, exhausted smile touched the corner of her mouth. "I... thought I was dreaming."
"You weren't."
Her gaze searched my face for a long moment before her eyes slowly drifted shut again.
This time, she wasn't slipping away.
Her breathing settled into a slow, steady rhythm.
I remained exactly where I was, afraid that if I let go, the moment would prove to be nothing more than hope playing tricks on me.
Then a familiar presence brushed against my senses.
Footsteps hurried up the staircase and then the bedroom door burst open.
Father Greyman stopped just inside the doorway.
The moment his eyes found Elana sitting against me, every trace of urgency disappeared from his face.
His gaze swept over her once and then twice.
Finally, it settled on the dried blood staining the sheets. "...She's alive."
I looked down at her sleeping face before answering. "She is."
He took another cautious step forward as if the slightest movement would shatter whatever miracle had taken place.
"I felt her life fade." His voice was barely above a whisper. "When I reached the estate..." He paused, looking between Elana and me. "She was gone."
"So did I."
His eyes slowly lifted to mine and only then did I notice what he was truly staring at.
The violet glow hadn't disappeared.
It was still beneath my skin, faint but wrapping itself around my arms like threads of living light.
His expression held shock, then diisbelief and then understanding.
"You..." His voice caught in his throat. "Your powers."1
The spiritual aura I'd spent years waiting for pulsed calmly beneath my skin, stronger than it had ever been.
There was no emptiness anymore or missing pieces.
I could feel every gift. Every instinct and every fragment of the Soul Reaper that had once been stripped away.
They had all returned. Completely.
A strange heaviness settled in my chest.
The Elders' words echoed through my mind with terrifying clarity.
“When the love becomes real... your powers will return.”
I stared at Elana's sleeping face.
My powers hadn't returned because I had tried to save her.
They had returned because somewhere along the way...I had fallen in love with her.
I couldn't stay in that room another second.
If I did, I'd keep looking at her, searching for signs that she'd stop breathing again.
I wouldn't survive that twice. I rose from the chair, my fingers slipping reluctantly from hers.
Almost immediately, her hand twitched across the mattress as though searching for mine.
My chest tightened as I forced myself to look away.
"Watch over her," I said, my voice quieter than I intended.
He nodded "I will."
I took a step toward the door and when he called my name, I paused.
"I don't know what happened here," he admitted. "And I won't ask if you're not ready to answer. But whatever you did... you brought her back."
I swallowed against the lump rising in my throat. "I almost didn't."
The words came out rough.
For the first time in centuries, they carried fear.
Not fear of battle. Not fear of judgment.
But fear of loss.
I reached for the doorknob.
Before I stepped out, I looked over my shoulder one last time.
She slept peacefully, unaware of how close she'd come to never opening her eyes again.
The sight should have eased something inside me.
Instead, it made the truth impossible to ignore.
When she stopped breathing...
The world hadn't merely frightened me.
It had become unthinkable without her in it.
I left before either of them could see the conflict on my face.
When I reached outside, I broke into a run.
The woods welcomed me with silence.
Branches whipped against my arms as I pushed deeper into the darkness, my feet carrying me farther than thought ever could.
I didn't know where I was going. I only knew I couldn't stop.
Not yet.
My pulse refused to settle.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her lying motionless beneath my hands in silence.
The memory drove me harder.
When I reached a clearing, I finally stopped.
My chest rose and fell with ragged breaths as I stared at the moon hanging above the trees.
A bitter laugh escaped me. "So this is your idea of justice."
The night offered no answer.
Slowly, I pulled my shirt over my head and let it fall onto the grass.
My boots followed.
Then the rest of my clothes.
The familiar pull of the shift coiled beneath my skin, stronger than it had been in months. I didn't resist it.
There was no pain or struggle.
Power surged through every muscle, every bone, every nerve, until the transformation swept over me like a tide I could no longer hold back.
My paws struck the earth as I stood there, larger than before, my silver-black coat gleaming beneath the moonlight.
Spiritual markings shimmered faintly across my fur before fading, proof that every fragment of my lost strength had returned.
I drew in a breath.
I could hear water flowing miles away, smell wolves sleeping safely within the packband feel the pulse of life moving through the forest itself.
Everything was sharper. Everything was clearer.
I had become whole again.
Yet for the first time in centuries...I had never felt so conflicted.
A growl rumbled deep within my chest.
Before I realized it, I was running.
The earth blurred beneath my paws as I tore through the forest, leaping over fallen logs and crashing through dense undergrowth.
Trees bent in my wake, branches splintering as my body cut through them without slowing.
I wasn't hunting or fleeing either.
I was trying to outrun a truth that refused to loosen its grip.
For centuries, I had looked down on love.
I had watched wolves abandon reason fight wars and die because of it.
I had called them fools, weak and pathetic.but now, I understood everyone of them.
Nothing had prepared me for the terror of believing I'd lost her.
The image refused to leave my mind—her almost lifeless body, the silence that followed and the cold that had settled into her skin.
Another furious roar ripped from my throat, echoing across the mountains.
- Writer
