บท 8: Chapter 8: The Shift Revealed
“Goddess!” Selene huffs out loud. “What do I do? What do I do?”
“You’re not going anywhere!” the coven member yells. “You’re not black or silver, so it’s safe to say I can kill you without recourse.”
The member pulls out a long knife and starts toward Sparrow. Selene rushes out of the room and leaps toward him. She lands on all fours between Sparrow and the assailant, welcoming back her wolf form. The villain stops and glares at her.
“Now you, I can’t kill,” he says. “But, I can get a promotion for capturing you!”
The coven member flips his hand toward Selene, trying to bind her to the ground like the other she-wolf. His smile is replaced by shock when his binding spell doesn’t work on her. Selene shows her fangs. She wants to use a spell, but she isn’t sure how to without the use of her hands.
After swiftly squaring up to the member, she closes her eyes and lowers her head. “Please, Goddess, let this work,” she begs.
A forceful pulse shoots out of her head and sends the coven member through the open doorway behind him. He lands a good fifteen paces from her door. Selene turns quickly toward Sparrow and frees her from the binding spell with a tap of her paw. The she-wolf shifts and takes off out the door after the assailant. Sparrow isn’t fast enough and the coven member is nowhere to be seen.
Selene hurries over and grabs the satchel up in her mouth before heading out the door.
“Did you get the stones?” Sparrow asks as they run toward the river.
“Yes,” Selene replies. “Shouldn’t we go after him?”
“And do what?” Sparrow barks as they both leap over the river.
“I don’t know?” Selene yells back. “Shouldn’t we silence him before he can report us? Shifters kill witches, don’t they?”
Sparrow slows her pace to a trot as Selene hurries up next to her. “We aren’t allowed to kill witches,” the she-wolf explains as they walk. “A truce was made following the great war. It was decreed that wolves were no longer allowed to kill witches. The elder wolves fear another battle with the magic users, so killing them is forbidden.”
“What?” Selene exclaims. The fight in the cave makes sense now. The wolves were scaring the coven members, but they weren’t killing them. No wonder Onyx wanted to leave. “But the witches were going to kill Onyx in the ceremony. Does that mean they still have the ability to kill shifters?”
Sparrow stays silent for a while. When she finally answers, Selene can hear the sadness in her words even though they tremble with anger.
“Now you see the injustice in the world, witch. As wolves, we cannot ignore an order from our elders. The consequences would be worse than death. All we can do is avoid the witches and hope to intimidate them if we happen to cross paths.”
They pick up their pace as the sun peaks in the sky. Traveling in silence allows Selene time to think about her situation. She’s a witch, an enemy to the shifters, yet she can shift. It doesn’t make sense to her. In all her years, she has never heard of a witch shifter.
They come up to the great wall that protects the village and Selene veers to the right, heading for the passage door. To her shock, Sparrow keeps trotting right through the stone surface.
“Goddess! What in the world,” she stammers.
She can hear Sparrow in her head. “You’re in your wolf form, you can just pass through the wall.”
Selene paces the perimeter for a minute. The surface appears completely solid, but she really doesn’t have time to question it. “If anything, I end up with a bump on the head, so here goes nothing,” she gasps as she slowly passes through the stone surface. She comes out the other side and leaps into the air. That had been exciting, and the first time she passed through a solid object without using her own magic.
'Who would guess the shifters know such magic?', she thinks to herself as she catches up to Sparrow.
They reach the Alpha’s abode in no time and are met by a relieved Tobin.
“Welcome back!” he yells with a nervous laugh. “You didn’t have much trouble getting the stones, I hope.”
“Nothing we couldn’t handle,” Selene replies as they climb the stairs to Onyx’s room.
Selene notes that upon entering the home, all she can think about is the Alpha. It’s as if nothing on the planet means more to her than him. Out in the forest, her thoughts had been her own. Sure, she had wanted to help Onyx; but the drive to do so hadn’t felt as urgent as it does right now. They enter his chambers and he remains in the same spot he had been placed the night before.
“He hasn’t shifted out of his wolf form,” Tobin says. “An injury like this would probably instantly kill him if he did shift. We’re stronger in wolf form, and his wolf is what’s keeping him alive.”
Selene sets the satchel down next to him. She fights down a moment of panic as she’s hit with the realization she has no idea how to shift back to her human form. Sparrow had left her with Tobin. She’s probably shifting back in private, Selene thinks.
“Well,” Tobin interrupts her thought. “I guess I’ll leave you to your shift. I’ll be back in a few minutes with what we need to perform the healing.”
“Wait!” Selene says before he can make it out the door. “I don’t know how to shift back,” she drops her head, embarrassed by her situation.
“All you need to do to shift back is relax your mind and find comfort in your surroundings,” he replies before closing the door behind him.
Selene gives herself a little pep-talk. “Okay, you can do this. You’re a talented witch with new powers. Just do like you always have and focus.” She closes her eyes and thinks of her hut. How she always enjoyed sitting in the window seat with the sun beaming down on her while she took in a good book.
Her body jolts, and when she opens her eyes, she’s back in her human form. Selene claps on a new outfit and goes to check on Onyx. His condition has worsened. He’s panting uncontrollably and the wound has festered. Selene digs out the healing stones and tries to keep from crying. She can’t lose him, not like this, not ever.
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