With Wolves

The Gardens (4) Convergence

Roxy stood at the edge of the garden's entrance, her mind racing through a thousand possibilities. What might be happening between Kass and Nero right now? Where had they gone? What were they doing? Each scenario her imagination conjured was worse than the last, and her usual iron control was beginning to crack under the pressure of not knowing. One of the mansion's helpers approached, slightly out of breath from running "Miss Roxanne, I checked Miss Kassandra's room as you requested and she's not there. I only found her friends, Mark and Gabriella who said they haven't seen her since she left for the party" Roxy nodded curtly, dismissing the helper with a wave of her hand, she pulled out her phone and sent a quick message to the mage's court: Confirm if wards in the garden were activated in the last hour. Urgent. She waited, her fingers drumming against her phone case with barely contained impatience, the garden stretched out before her in the darkness, paths winding between carefully cultivated plants and wild sections where magic grew thick, somewhere out there, Kassandra had taken Ner, but where? Her phone rang, it was Norman "we found traces of them," Norman said without preamble "Near the end of the garden, close to a great tree, but then their trail just... disappears, we combed every part of that area and couldn't find anything else, it's like they vanished into thin air" Roxy felt her stomach tighten, vanished, at the end of the garden, near the entrance to— no, Kass wouldn't, she couldn't have "thank you, Norman," Roxy said, forcing her voice to remain steady "the help is appreciated, I need you to call off the search, tell everyone to return to the party" "call it off?" Norman sounded confused "but we were just getting—" "I'll handle it from here," Roxy interrupted "And Norman? There will be a reward for your help tonight, I promise" she hung up before he could ask more questions. Amy and Abigail, who had been standing quietly nearby, immediately moved closer "why are we calling off the search?" Amy asked "if Norman found traces—" "be patient," Roxy said tightly "I'll show you why" she couldn't believe it, Kassandra had actually broken the rules, had actually taken an outsider—someone they'd just met, someone who wasn't affiliated with the family—into the secret garden. It was forbidden, absolutely, completely forbidden, then another thought struck Roxy, cold and sharp as a knife, what if this had all been planned? What if Nero had orchestrated everything from the beginning? She'd felt something different about his magical energy that morning in the parking lot—something she couldn't identify. What if that uniqueness wasn't innocent curiosity but calculated deception? What if Nero was part of the Shades? The Shades were an organization the Ravensongs had been fighting for decades—a group dedicated to stealing magical artifacts, compromising supernatural families, and destabilizing the careful balance of power in their world. If Nero was one of them, if he'd somehow targeted Kassandra specifically… Roxy's mind spiraled further. What if he'd brainwashed Kass? Used some kind of compulsion magic to make her compliant, to trick her into revealing family secrets? That would explain why Kassandra had been acting so different tonight—calmer, more confident, willing to break rules she'd never questioned before. Her phone buzzed with a message from the mage's court: Wards at secret garden entrance activated 47 minutes ago. Magical signature confirmed as Kassandra Ravensong. There it was, confirmation. Roxy's jaw tightened as she typed a response: Send backup, five mages, only those cleared for family secrets. Meet me at the secret garden entrance immediately. She looked at her friends "follow me, and you're not to tell a soul about where I'm taking you, understood?" Amy and Abigail nodded, their expressions shifting from curious to serious. What Roxy didn't notice was the two figures lurking in the shadows nearby. Mark and Gabriella had been searching for Kassandra, growing increasingly worried when they couldn't find her anywhere at the party, they'd overheard Roxy's phone conversations, heard the mention of the secret garden, and made a silent decision, wherever Roxy was going, whatever she was planning, they needed to be there to protect their friend.

Norman returned to where he'd left Kiran, finding him exactly where he'd been before—leaning against a wall near the mansion's side entrance, looking casual despite the chaos of the search happening around them "it's done," Norman reported "I found their trail like I said, reported it to Roxy, and she's calling off the search, your friend should be clear" Kiran nodded slowly "and the werewolf guys? The ones helping with the search?" "I'm sending them all back to the party right now," Norman said, already typing out a group message on his phone "nobody I can control will go anywhere near the garden" "good" Kiran pushed off from the wall "then you should get back to the party too, enjoy yourself" Norman grinned, looking more cheerful and happier than he'd been since the party began, the promise of a reward from Roxy, the successful completion of his mission, and the potential future recruitment of Nero—everything had worked out better than he'd hoped. He headed back toward the music and lights, already thinking about what he'd ask Roxy for as payment, or what ROxy would give to him. Kiran waited until Norman was completely out of sight before his casual expression dropped entirely as he moved quickly away from the mansion, heading toward a section of the grounds where trees grew thick and shadows pooled deep. Once he was certain no one was nearby, once he'd checked and double-checked that no supernatural senses could detect him, Kiran looked up at the night sky and let out a shout of pure frustration and anger "damn it!" His voice echoed through the empty space "why does he have to make everything so complicated?" Kiran paced in a tight circle, running his hands through his hair, he knew he shouldn't interfere, knew that Nero needed to find his own path, make his own choices, discover his own identity without constant intervention, but none of that would matter if something happened to him, none of it would matter if Nero got hurt because Kiran had stood by and done nothing. His priority—his only priority—was keeping Nero safe, everything else was secondary. Kiran took a deep breath, centering himself, then he closed his eyes and let his true nature surface, just enough to enhance his senses beyond human limitations, he needed to find Nero, needed to make sure his friend was okay and if that changed how Nero viewed him, if it revealed secrets Kiran wasn't ready to share, well... that was a price he'd pay. He took off into the darkness, moving with speed and purpose that no normal human could match.

Inside the vision, inside Nero's memory made manifest, time continued its inexorable flow. The silver-grey woman—Illuvia, Nero now knew—stood in the clearing, her golden eyes scanning the forest, then she saw something, someone, and her entire face transformed with joy, a man emerged from between the trees Nero felt Kassandra's hand tighten on his as they both stared, the man looked exactly like Nero, same height, same build, same facial features down to the smallest detail, but his hair was different—half white and half black, divided perfectly down the middle just like Halflight's, and his eyes held a wisdom and weariness that Nero's didn't yet possess "Arthem," Illuvia said, her voice warm with love and relief "Illuvia," the man replied, and they embraced tightly. Nero watched his parents hold each other, and something in his chest cracked open, these weren't just figures from a dream anymore, they were real people who had loved each other, who had faced impossible odds together "the war?" Illuvia asked quietly when they finally pulled apart. Arthem's expression darkened, "there's a demon commander leading the enemy forces, Akizen. He's corrupting werewolves faster than we anticipated, turning them against their own packs, all we can do at this point is run" "run where?" Illuvia's hand moved unconsciously to rest on her stomach, though there was no visible sign of pregnancy yet "I'll stay and hold them back," Arthem said "you and the others—run as far and as fast as you can, I can give you time" "no" The word came out sharp and final "this entire war is being fought to protect you from falling into the demon's hands, I won't let you sacrifice yourself now" "Akizen is powerful," Arthem argued "but I could hold him off for maybe two weeks if we fought directly, that would give everyone enough time to escape, to get to safety" "the council has denied your request to fight him several times," Illuvia said, her golden eyes fierce "and I will not have my child grow up without knowing their father" Arthem went very still "your child?" Illuvia smiled through the tears that had started forming in her eyes "our child, I'm pregnant, Arthem" the man who looked like Nero stepped forward and cupped Illuvia's face in his hands, his expression was a mixture of joy and heartbreak, love and fear, he kissed her deeply, passionately, pouring everything he felt into that single moment of connection. When they finally broke apart, Illuvia whispered, "if it's a boy, I want to name him Nero" tears rolled down Arthem's cheeks "Nero," he repeated softly "it's perfect" watching this, feeling the emotions radiating from the memory like heat from a fire, Nero felt his own tears falling, his parents, these were his parents, and they had loved each other so much then the scene shifted abruptly. They were now inside a small house, still deep in the forest but clearly in a different location, the walls were simple wood, the furnishings basic and Illuvia was screaming, she lay on a bed, her silver-grey hair plastered to her forehead with sweat, her face contorted in pain, two midwives moved around her with practiced efficiency, but Nero could see the nervousness in their movements as they kept glancing toward the door, toward the sounds of battle that raged outside. A werewolf suddenly burst through the door, its eyes wild and corrupted, foam dripping from its jaws, before it could take two steps into the room, another massive wolf—this one with clear, uncorrupted eyes—crashed into it from the side, dragging the corrupted wolf back outside. The two creatures smashed through the wall, disappearing into the chaos beyond. Two mages rushed into the room through the hole in the wall "we're from the Alliance!" one of them shouted over the noise of battle "don't worry, we'll protect you!" they immediately began weaving complex magical patterns in the air, their hands moving in synchronized gestures, a shimmering barrier sprang up around the room, sealing them off from the destruction outside. Illuvia screamed again, and one of the midwives called out, "The baby's coming! Push!" outside the barrier, the battle intensified, Nero could see flashes of magic, werewolves fighting in both human and wolf form, the night lit up by fires and explosions, then there was a massive blast, the shockwave destroyed everything in its path—trees exploded into splinters, the ground cratered, the very air seemed to burn, but the magical barrier held, protecting everyone inside even as destruction raged around them. When the dust began to settle, Nero saw him, a huge black wolf stood at the center of the devastation, not just large—massive, easily twice the size of any other werewolf Nero had seen in the memory, its eyes glowed with an unnatural red light, and power radiated from it in visible waves. It was the same black wolf from his dreams, the one who had commanded over a hundred wolves with just his presence, and standing next to the black wolf, almost invisible in the shadows it cast, was a figure in dark robes, even from this distance, even through the chaos, Nero could feel the wrongness emanating from that figure. Akizen, the demon commander "the baby!" one of the midwives cried out "the baby is out!" Illuvia's scream cut off abruptly, replaced by the thin, wailing cry of a newborn. Nero watched as the midwife lifted a tiny infant, still covered in blood and birth fluid, watched as they quickly cleaned the baby and wrapped it in cloth, watched as they placed the child in Illuvia's waiting arms, she looked down at her son—at Nero—with an expression of pure love mixed with devastating grief, because she knew, somehow, she knew what was coming "Nero," she whispered, holding the baby close "my beautiful Nero" Outside the barrier, the black wolf began to move toward them, and Nero, watching this memory unfold, understood with horrible clarity that he was about to witness his mother's last stand.