Bellanore
I don’t wait for Nia to finish climbing up the tree. Without a care in the world, I jump off the branch, transform into a raven, and fly down to peck at her eyes. It’s not until I almost strike her that I realize I outed myself as a shifter of all kinds. Too late now.
Nia swats me. Her paw knocks into my wing, and I start to fall, but I shift into a snake and bite her tail. She wiggles her tail back and forth and slams me into the tree, but as soon as I recover, I’m already slithering through her fur and up to her neck. My fangs sink deep into her, but I don’t think I changed into a venomous snake. I should probably do some research on that.
Nia drops down from the tree and lands on her paws. Almost immediately, she transforms back into her human, and she reaches behind and yanks me right off her even though doing so tears and rips her skin.
Blood fills my mouth, and I spit it out right into her face. She holds me out like a string, and she even goes to try to tie me in a knot, but I just turn into an elephant.
Yes, an elephant.
I clearly didn’t think that through, and my massive body causes a tree to start to uproot. My trunk picks Nia up, and she turns her fingers into claws and scraps my skin. My hide is tough, but her claws are sharpened more than normal, and the scent of my blood fills my nose.
With a flick of my head, I toss Nia onto the other side of the stream. She starts toward me, but I put my trunk in the stream. The water is cold, and it takes me longer than it should to figure out how to suck up water. I go to hose her down, but she’s already reached me, her full work again. She jumps on top of my trunk and tries to climb up it to reach my head, but I shift into a butterfly and fly up way too high, fluttering my wings to laugh as she plummets to the ground.
Again, she lands on her feet. It’s as if she’s part-cat.
All of the constant transformations have me feeling a bit tired. My body is sore, and my wings don’t want to flutter, but I don’t want to stop. I need to be… What? My wolf or myself. I’m most comfortable in those forms, and since she’s a wolf, maybe I should—
“Nia!” a strong voice calls out.
I glance to the right. Two forms emerge from the trees. No. Three. Two males and a cat.
Roald, Robb, and the cat.
Roald puts his hands on his hips. “Nia, you need to stop.”
The wolf lets out a howl.
Roald’s body shakes. I’m not sure why, but then he turns into his wolf. He’s lowering down.
Submitting? Is he submitting to her?
No. He lunges at her, and the two of them go at it, attacking each other as if their lives depend on it.
Exhausted, I fly over to Robb and the cat. My wings flutter wildly, but I’m flying lower and lower. The cat swats at me, and I collapse to the ground, shifting back to myself.
Robb bends down and tries to help me up, but we both fall down. I shift to sit and watch the two wolves. It’s hard to tell since clouds have covered the moon, but it takes a moment to realize that Roald is the one swatting at Nia.
She counters and then blocks his next attempt and streaks her claws down his chest.
“I should go help,” I say, starting to stand.
The cat promptly jumps into my lap. “No,” she meows.
“I have to.” I stand, but this time, Robb grabs my arm.
“Maybe you should let them sort this out.”
“But… Fine. While he handles her, we can go search for Gayle.”
Robb just shakes his head.
Fury laces through me, and my fingers turn to claws. I’m ready to throw Robb aside if I have to in order to put an end to this, but Nia turns her paw into a hand and throws a rock at Roald. It hits his temple. He goes down hard, his paws unable to keep him upright.
Worse, Nia yanks him over onto his back. She stands on top of him, her hands both paws now, and she presses down on his neck, choking him.
Robb can’t hold me back any longer. I dart forward. “Nia, stop! You’re killing him!”
The embankment is slick, and they’re near the water’s edge. I slide toward them.
But I’m too late.
Nia made Roald unconscious, but then she used her claws and… I turn aside, sick at the sight of her savagery. The water of the stream is tinged red and silver from blood and the now uncovered moon’s light.
But Nia isn’t finished. She gives me a wide, bloody smile, and then she starts toward me, her intent plain.
She probably wanted Roald dead all along too. Robb and I are next on her to-kill list.
My stomach churns as I struggle to think about what to turn to, how to defend myself… My mind races about how I can keep Robb safe…
Teleportation. It’s the only way.
But I can’t even teleport from this spot to him, and we’re not that far apart as it is.
The cat rushes over, and I’ve waited too long. Nia knocks me down. Her wolf is heavy, and I shove up my arms to keep her chin up and her mouth away from me. I’m able to lift her just high enough that her claws can’t reach my chest, but they can reach my arms, and she slices into them. The stinging, burning sensation of her tearing my flesh causes me to hiss, but I don’t dare bend my elbows.
“What is the meaning of this?” a familiar voice asks, his tone stern.
Headmaster Virgil Thorn. How good of him to have come. Not.
“Nia Forge, you will come here right now.”
That voice is unfamiliar, although the wolf in me recognizes the owner as an alpha.
Nia backs away slowly, reluctantly. I wonder if she has a choice in the matter or if I’m onto something, if Roald had been struggling not to submit to her. But that would mean she’s nearly an alpha herself. She can’t have an alpha above her.
I stagger to my feet the moment she finally climbs down from my body.
“Nia, you have been charged with killing a student,” the headmaster says. “How do you plead?”
“She killed more than one,” Robb says. “She killed Gayle Spark and Roald Jagger.”
“Is this true?” The headmaster gapes at her.
Nia lifts her head, looking as defiant as ever. “Who says I did? Robb? A cursed werewolf?”
Robb stiffens. “We just watched you…”
“Where’s the body?” she asks with a wry smile.
I go to point, but the stream’s already carried the body and the head away. “Down the stream,” I mumble as I force my legs that feel as heavy as tree trunks to move until I stand beside Robb and face her. The cat rubs against my legs as if to welcome me back to the land of the living, but I hardly feel as if that’s the case. My entire body is numb, and I’m even numb emotionally.
What just happened?
“And I said you killed Gayle.” Decker emerges from the shadows of the tree I almost uprooted.
“Is this true?” the headmaster repeats.
Nia says nothing, just gives a coy, little smirk.
“I will deal with Nia,” the alpha says. Her alpha?
“Very well,” the headmaster says, “but she is not to set paw on Moonstone Academy ground ever again. Is that clear?”
“Answer him,” the alpha explodes.
Nia winces. “Yes,” she mumbles.
“I don’t think he heard you.”
She flinches. “Yes.”
The alpha waves her ahead, and Nia bristles. Her pace slows as she approaches him, and she bristles, flinching away from him as she walks in front of him. She’s clearly afraid of him, and it makes me wonder if the alpha is abusive. If that’s the case, then we just might’ve made things worse.
“Get back to bed,” the headmaster dictates.
“What about Roald’s body?” Robb asks.
The headmaster eyes him. “He will be recovered. I will not repeat myself.”
I fall into step beside Robb, and Decker waits for us to join him, and all of us walk away, leaving the headmaster to handle Roald.
“I’m sorry,” Decker mumbles as soon as we’re away from the stream.
“For what?” Robb asks.
“If you hadn’t shown up with the headmaster and her alpha when you did…” I swallow hard. I might not have been strong enough to handle Nia and all because I went for fancy demon tricks. All along, I should’ve continued to study and master those techniques even if my dad hasn’t been teaching me. I still should’ve been training. All of those wasted weekends… time spent so unwisely…
“I couldn’t stop her,” Decker says. “Roald and I… Even Elliot.”
“Elliot.” Robb snorts. “He submitted to her.”
“She only thinks I did.” Elliot approaches from the east. From the west, Wyatt, Jett, and Mindy loom.
“You mean to say you didn’t?” Robb asks as he, Decker, and I all stop.
The cat hangs her head.
“That’s exactly what I mean,” Elliot says.
“You two are the last of the rough crowd,” I say even though my gaze falls to the bullies.
Wyatt halts a few feet away. “What happened to Roald?”
“Nia killed him,” I say wearily.
“Her alpha took her away,” Robb adds.
“If he is her alpha,” I mumble.
Elliot grimaces. “My wolf could sense that I… If I wanted to, I could’ve submitted to her.”
“Roald fought her,” Robb says. “He wanted to be alpha. He tried… He wasn’t able to.”
“Roald had his flaws,” Wyatt says, “and he and I butted heads a lot. I didn’t agree with everything he did, and he didn’t with me, but despite everything, I kind of respected him.”
“Can’t you just say that you respected him?” Mindy complains. “He’s dead.”
“So is Gayle,” Decker utters. “I’m sorry. I wanted to free her, but Nia… She knew I wasn’t with her, and she… I would’ve been next. I would’ve freed Gayle, but we both would’ve died. I… I’m a coward.”
“No, you aren’t,” Jett argues. “Gayle would’ve been dead either way.”
“But my life—”
“Isn’t over.” Wyatt claps a hand on Decker’s shoulder.
“What’s all this?” I sulk. “You all are going to have a campfire and eat smores and sing Kumbaya while we hold hands?”
Wyatt eyes me. “What were you up to?”
“I sought out Nia. I wanted to save Gayle if I could. She sent fur and a canine to Robb! Did you know that Nia had Gayle? Why didn’t you do anything to save her!”
“We were respecting Gayle,” Wyatt snaps. “She wanted to try to do that, to infiltrate them or whatever. You tried to talk her out of it.”
“Because I didn’t want her to die!”
“We didn’t want her to die either,” Mindy cries.
“We didn’t know what happened until after it already happened,” Jett adds.
“We had a disagreement over who to talk to,” Decker says, glaring at Elliot.
“Telling the headmaster was the right call. Then I told them.”
“I called her alpha. If anyone can straighten her out, maybe he can,” Decker says. “Talking to him took longer than I wanted because I wanted to tell you guys right away too.”
“What’s done is done,” Wyatt says. “I mourn both Gayle and Roald, but I think… I think we can let bygones be bygones.”
“Of course you do,” I snap.
He hangs his head. “I still think a demon is stirring up hatred, but it’s not you.” Wyatt lifts his gaze to stare at me straight in the face. “I trust you with my life.”
“I don’t know if you should,” I tell him.
“Because you want to kill me?”
“No. Because that’s… I’m no alpha.”
“You can trust someone from another pack with your life,” he says.
“Oh, I know.”
“Especially from a sister pack.” Wyatt lowers his head.
“We’re all sorry,” Jett says. He holds out his hand. “I was… Having a half-demon in the pack… it wasn’t something that’s easy for me to accept, but I was wrong.”
“More than wrong. Gayle told us what you did before she went to join Nia.” Mindy bites her lower lip. “She should’ve told us right after you did that. You saved her life.”
“And she went and threw it away and for what?” I fling out my arms.
“She did it because she respected you, and she wanted her life to have meaning. She wanted to make up for her wrongs,” Wyatt explains.
“And now she’s dead.” Tears blur my vision.
“Nia’s gone,” Mindy says softly. “She’s the one we should’ve feared all along.”
I nod a few times and realize Jett still has his hand out. After a moment, I shake it.
Jett squeezes my hand. “I’m going to talk to some of the others in Ember pack. Maybe if they realize that Spark has your back entirely, they’ll start coming around and being a better pack.”
My eyes widen.
“Yes, we knew your pack basically abandoned you because of your mom,” Wyatt says bitterly, and I recall that his dad died when he was very young. All Wyatt has is his mom. “You made for easy picking, or so we thought.”
“She’s not,” Robb says proudly. “She’s as fierce as they come.”
“I couldn’t kill Nia. I fought her, but I…”
“Maybe it’s for the best that she’s alive. Maybe she can come around. We have,” Mindy says.
“Do you honestly think that?” I ask, doubt coloring my words.
Mindy wrinkles her nose. “No, but there’s hope for a better tomorrow, right?”
The cat huffs. “You all are stupid wolves. Why wait until tomorrow?”
“Listen, cat,” Wyatt growls.
“I think she means because it’s already tomorrow.” I point up to the lightening sky and force a smile. “Maybe today can be a bit better.”
We all go our separate ways then, and I lay my head on Robb’s shoulder as he steers me to his castle instead of the cave. Hope and peace are what I want, but most of all, I want him to survive, and I just don’t see how I’ll be able to have all three.