Overhead, thick grey clouds blanketed the night sky and blocked the illuminating splendor of the moon and stars. From the concealing clouds, snow flurries floated down lazily, covering the meadow in a thin layer of icy powder. The Prince stood over the fallen Guardian with his clawed hand raised, preparing to end Calla’s life with a vicious slash. Noah whistled a joyous tune and twirled his cane in a dazzling swirl as he took confident steps toward the Prince.
“How about you allow the Guardian to find the peace she has earned?” Noah said, his voice vibrating the air with uncontrolled power.
“The infamous human? For a second, I thought a master vampire had beaten me to my quarry,” the Prince said, slowly lowering his poised claw and cocking his head in confusion. “With blood staining your face and your odd choice of weapon and clothing, can you even call yourself human anymore?”
Noah paused his steps, fury raging through him at the comparison to his mortal enemies. “I’m afraid you made your last mistake by invading my pack, Prince.”
“An addict punching above his weight with stolen power,” the Prince said with a snort.
Noah tensed as the Prince raised his claws above Calla once more. A blackened, forked tongue slithered out of the Prince’s mouth, hissing and flickering at the air. Tasting something in the breeze, the Prince roared in anger. With Calla all but forgotten, the Prince snapped to Noah and glared at him with pure wrath in his glowing purple eyes.
“I know the taste of this arrogant magic. It stinks of the foolish pup who dared challenge me in my territory. I thought my curse had wiped his existence from this plane forever, but it seems I still have work to do,” the Prince whispered with barely controlled fury. All signs of enjoyment from the prior battle disappeared from his face, and cold, calculating revenge hardened his features.
At the Prince’s declaration, Noah’s eyes widened, and he slowly lowered his cane. This was the Prince who had cursed Ajax and Sylvie? That Prince’s territory should have been months away from here. How could he travel so far from his portal and retain such power? He gazed at Calla with saddened eyes, helplessly watching her struggle to breathe, and remembered her theory about a conduit.
The only explanation for the Unseelies’ power was an artifact hidden near the wolves’ territory, but how could their scouts have overlooked such an evil token for so many years? Shaking his head, he cleared his head of useless thoughts. Regardless of the how or why, nothing changed the current situation; he had to kill a full-powered Unseelie Prince or the pack would fall.
“Rest, Guardian of the Pack, and seek your eternal peace in the arms of your ancestors. The next generation will carry on your spirit and see your will fulfilled,” he whispered, removing his cowboy hat and bowing deeply to the wizened woman who had pushed him past the final hurdle of his trauma.
Calla stared at him with one eye as her chest struggled to rise and fall. With the last of her strength, the Guardian of the Baleful Fiend Pack bellowed a domineering howl that carried through the air for dozens of miles. She gave the slightest of nods to Noah before her chest stilled and her eye closed for eternity. As death captured the legendary guardian, she bared her lethal fangs in a gentle smile.
Wiping the tears from his eyes, Noah placed his hat back on his head, and with a mournful yell, he blurred toward the Prince. The power of an alpha roared through his veins, and his tyrannical steps dug craters into the soil, tearing a path through the purple flowers. Engulfed in a tornado of snow flurries and shredded petals, he struck out with his cane, the iron blade whizzing through the air toward the Prince’s heart. The Unseelie sidestepped the jab, but Noah pivoted with a follow-up kick that crushed into the Prince’s chest and sent him flying across the clearing.
In a purple blur, the Prince flew across the meadow until he slammed into one of the giant trees with a thunderous explosion. A booming crack sounded out, and the towering tree swayed side to side until it toppled to the ground, shaking the land in a cloud of dust. Conscious of his time limit, Noah didn’t allow the dust to settle before he blurred toward the Prince, who hadn’t even regained his footing yet. He arrived in front of the Prince and thrust his cane, aiming for the soft flesh of the Unseelie’s neck. The iron blade glinted menacingly, whizzing through the air as it approached the Prince’s unguarded throat.
His enhanced senses watched the Prince dematerialize and disappear into the shadows, hiding like the coward he was. Noah immediately turned toward the shadow of a tree behind him and thrust his cane at nothing. The iron blade skewered the freshly materialized Prince through the shoulder, sizzling as the iron touched his skin. The Prince released an agonizing shriek of pain and snarled at Noah with a wrathful glare.
“Predicable Prince,” Noah said, withdrawing the cane and showering the freshly fallen snow with purple blood. The Prince snarled at him and teleported further away to another shadow.
The Unseelie glanced at his shoulder, gushing purple blood, and roared with rage. His massive wings of shadow unfurled in all of their glory, and even the snowflakes refused to fall on and cover such splendor. Snippets of shadow detached from his wings and slithered across his skin as if they had a life of their own. Most of the blobs of shadow coalesced around the wound on his shoulder, but others crawled over the lingering injuries from his battle with Calla. The shadow fused into the wounds, creating an airtight bandage that staunched the blood flow and provided the Unseelie with a near-instant healing ability.
The Prince screamed as the shadows dug into his wounds like parasites until the wriggling finally stopped, and the torturous screams cut off with a choke, leaving him panting. “You human abominations, always cheating and tricking with power that isn’t your own. You will find no glory in this battle, human. As the light leaves your eyes, I will capture your spirit before it leaves this plane, and you will spend an eternity of suffering by my side.”
With a flap of his majestic wings, the Prince charged at Noah, teleporting between shadows in a dizzying increase of speed. Even with his alpha-enhanced senses, Noah barely had time to swing his cane before the Prince materialized before him. When the iron blade and the onyx claws struck one another, a metallic ringing echoed out, and a shower of sparks mixed with the snow flurries to create a snowfall of burning embers. The blazing sparks illuminated the pitch-black forest, spotlighting the two warriors who traded lightning-fast blows with blades, claws, and fists.
Darting between the trees, Noah landed a few sizzling cuts but received a few crushing punches and lacerating claw swipes in return. Their electrifying battle brought them to the middle of the clearing once more, with Noah slicing a deep wound across the Prince’s chest at the cost of an explosive punch that sent him soaring across the clearing.
His body bounced and skidded across the ground with tremendous force until his momentum finally slowed. He jumped to his feet and stared at the Prince across the clearing as he tried to catch his breath. Shadow bandages covered the Prince, twisting and slithering in his many wounds. Each time the Prince teleported or bound a wound with shadow, his wings became smaller, but the domineering wings remained whole and flared in a breathtaking wingspan.
Noah glanced at his body, examining himself for injuries. Blood leaked from three cuts across his ribs thanks to a claw swipe he couldn’t dodge. One eye was almost swollen shut from a devastating punch, and he struggled to maintain a clear vision. He was winning the clashes with the Prince, but he just wasn’t causing enough damage. He needed to either deal an instant lethal blow or score enough strikes to exhaust the Prince’s shadows. Unfortunately, he had little time to do either, as his power was fleeting while the Prince’s was everlasting.
Movement in the lodge windows caught his attention, and he spotted Silas and Luna maintaining vigilance at his old post. Luna’s head barely cleared the windowsill as the siblings watched his battle with wide eyes. He couldn’t gamble everything on his ability to defeat the Prince before his time ran out; the risks of failure were too great. Even if he couldn’t defeat the Prince before his high wore off, he needed to bide enough time for Sylvie and the other warriors to return to the lodge.
With grim determination, he made his decision and released a mocking chuckle that carried across the clearing. “Well, I must say that the power of an Unseelie Prince has been a monumental disappointment. No wonder Ajax forced you to burn your life essence for a cowardly curse.”
“Before this night is over, human, you will know genuine despair,” the Prince said in a growl, his purple eyes blazing at the mere mention of Ajax.
Noah laughed uncontrollably and mimed wiping tears from his eyes. “How will that come to be, Prince? You can’t even defeat a human. I picture you hiding behind your throne for a decade, weakened and avoiding conflict like a coward, and I can’t contain my laughter.”
The Prince roared at him, flapping his wings of shadow and creating a tornado of dust that veiled his body. Suddenly, the flapping froze, and a knowing smile spread across the Prince’s face. “If you live long enough, you will see naïve human. Bodily harm is not the only pain you will experience tonight.”
With a snort, Noah beckoned him with a wave of his cane. “Come, little Prince. Nature will stand witness to the end of our battle.”
Noah and the Prince sped toward each other and collided in the middle of the meadow in a shower of sparks. Striking one another at incredible speeds, the sparks blanketed the purple flowers until one ember finally ignited the dry pollen powdering the petals. Flames engulfed the meadow, but Noah had no time to douse them as his relentless pressure forced the Prince into the woods. Patiently waiting for Noah’s power to run out, the Prince fought defensively, allowing Noah to push him deeper and deeper into the trees.
Onyx claws blocked each strike of his iron blade, denying Noah the opportunity to inflict severe damage upon the Unseelie. Noah strained his enhanced sense to the max as the Prince teleported between shadows at a furious rate. His luck finally ran out as he whipped around to a shadow behind him, but the Prince materialized from another shadow at his side.
A sickening crack reverberated through the trees as the Prince’s punch landed on his shoulder. With a cry of pain, Noah flew through the air until he landed in a small clearing, sliding through the thin layer of ice and snow that covered the ground. Panting heavily and with blinding pain immobilizing his now useless left arm, he struggled to his knees before standing up on wobbling legs. He glanced at his new surroundings and smiled when he recognized the open-air market.
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“Just last a few more minutes and lure him as far away from the lodge as you can,” he whispered, as all thoughts of emerging victorious in this battle disappeared from his mind.
The Prince floated gracefully into the small clearing, smirking down at him as his wings flapped gently to cushion his landing. “You seem to be running out of time, human.”
Blood streamed from Noah’s ears and nostrils down onto his ruffled white shirt, and he wiped at it with the back of his hand, accomplishing nothing more than smearing the blood across his face. His straining muscles felt as if they were snapping fiber by fiber, and an unnatural ache had settled deep within his bones.
Noah laughed at the Prince while struggling to point his shaking cane at the Unseelie. “I see it differently, Prince. Your wings have grown so small they can barely keep you aloft now.”
The Prince wiped the smirk from his face with a snarl. “I have plenty of power left to finish you, human.”
They wasted no more time on insults and began their lightning-fast clashes once again. All the while, Noah retreated further into the forest under the guise of weakness. Relying on his vampire-slaying strategy, Noah allowed the Prince to claw past his guard. The razor-sharp claws raked down his chest, splitting his skin open with a spray of blood.
Before the Prince could teleport away, Noah swung his cane so fast that the magic-enhanced metal bent into an arc. Time seemed to slow as the iron blade approached the Prince’s neck, seeking to decapitate the Unseelie. The Prince’s head leaned slightly, and instead of cutting off his head, the iron blade sliced through one of his onyx horns.
Purple blood showered into the air before splashing down and covering the forest floor. As the Prince screamed in agony, his wings diminished at a visible rate as the shadows sought to bandage the wound.
“I think this trophy will look amazing on the mantle in my mate’s cabin. What do you think, deformed Prince?” Noah said with a chuckle, ignoring the burning pain from his own wounds and pointing at the severed horn.
With a bellow of rage, the Prince attacked him wildly, his clumsy but powerful attacks pushing Noah further into the forest. After a few seconds of the brutal onslaught, Noah emerged from the tree line, rolling across a familiar embankment. Tall grasses stuck up defiantly through the thin layer of icy slush, and the black water of the lake lazily lapped against the shoreline with gentle waves. The Prince broke free from the woods, glaring and snarling at Noah before surveying the lake.
“You do realize, human, that I am no vampire? Deep water has no power over me,” the Prince said with jeering chuckles.
Noah smiled as he fell to his knees, his cane falling from his weak fingers and plunging into the slush. “I have fulfilled my duty, Prince. Your forces are being routed as we speak, and the Alpha and her warriors will return to the lodge to find the lifeblood of their pack safe and sound. You do not still have the strength to conquer this territory, Prince. Return to your portal in defeat!”
The Prince cocked his head in confusion. “You think I have come to destroy the pack? Those weak wolves you were sheltering in the lodge were never in any danger from me.”
“You lie,” Noah whispered as he struggled to keep his face from plunging into the snow.
The Prince chuckled, and his diminished wings fluttered in delight. “You have made assumptions about your enemy, human, and have guessed incorrectly. You risked your life on a false conclusion, and it has cost you dearly.”
No, he had to be lying. If the goal wasn’t to conquer the pack, what other reason could the Unseelie have to invade their territory? No matter what horrors were threatened against a pack, Shifters would never serve an Unseelie master. In order to lure the Prince away from the lodge, Noah had pushed his body to ruin. If the wolves in the lodge weren’t a target, then he had risked everything for nothing.
“Ah, yes. I can practically taste your doubt, your fear, and your unwillingness. It is a glorious sight that I will cherish forever. You will die knowing that your sacrifice has saved no one and has served no purpose. You will not be remembered as the hero you aspire to be but as a foolish unknown whose memory shall fade from hearts and minds within weeks.”
Taking his time to savor his victory, the Prince slowly stalked toward Noah’s broken body. Noah couldn’t even stand and knelt in acceptance before the death that loomed over him. With the last of his strength, he forced himself to glare into the Prince’s purple eyes. He would not look away from his doom but stare it down in defiance.
In the forest behind the Prince, a flashing light drew his attention. No, not light, but lights. Ignoring the Prince, he peered into the forest with his pathetic human night vision. Upon identifying the silver lights, blood leaked from his mouth as he released a choking chuckle. His silver in the dark, illuminating the blackness of this world and bathing him in radiating warmth.
Two pairs of yellow eyes appeared beside the silver, shining menacingly and cutting through the shadows. As the lights emerged from the trees, three massive pitch-black wolves materialized behind the blazing eyes. Noah laughed uproariously as the strength of his pack arrived.
Confused by the defeated prey’s joy, the Prince whipped around to see what had drawn Noah’s gaze over the death that inched toward him. The wolves stalked toward the Prince one slow step at a time with violent growls that caused even Noah to shiver in fear. Their fur stood up straight on their backs, and their ears pinned flat against their heads. As the Prince saw their snarling maws, covered in gore from battles fought elsewhere, he retreated a hesitant step.
A step that signified the first flash of fear that the Unseelie had shown. Pathetic wings of shadow, no bigger than a sprite’s wings, flapped comically on his back. Weakened and almost empty of his particular brand of devastating magic, he now faced the best the Baleful Fiend Pack had to offer.
“Sylvie!” Noah called out while struggling to prop himself up on his elbow.
After whining at the broken state of her mate, she gazed at him with her silver eyes blazing.
“Kill him!”
Sylvie’s head snapped toward the Prince, and she bellowed an earth-shaking howl. After signaling the attack, the three wolves charged at the Prince with bloody snarls. To create distance between himself and the wolves, the Prince retreated away from Noah with breathtaking speed. Without his enhanced vision and struggling to see through the night’s gloom, Noah’s eyes could barely follow the blurring forms of the combatants.
As the wolves charged in a coordinated attack, none of the clumsiness or inexperience the volunteer wolves had shown hindered their practiced movements. Wolves were pack hunters and relied on each other to bring bigger quarries down. He sighed as he realized the massive disadvantage Calla faced when fighting the Prince alone.
The wolves bit and clawed at the Prince, who dodged some strikes but couldn’t avoid others. All of his focus concentrated on avoiding lethal bites, leaving him no chance to counterattack. As the battle reached the trees, the Prince began teleporting between the shadows, but the wolves were undeterred.
No matter where he teleported, one wolf cut off his path of retreat and corralled him back toward the others. The wings of shadow rapidly depleted until, at last, the demonic power dissipated completely. Without his shadows, the Prince had no means of escape and desperately tried to keep the three wolves in front of him. Step by step, he retreated until his back almost reached the woods he had relied on until now.
Movement between the trees drew Noah’s gaze, and he spotted an auburn wolf slowly creeping out of the forest. Wren! Noah’s eyes widened in excitement, and he struggled to remain silent and keep a smirk off of his face. This was their chance. She had a clear opening to attack his neck and could end this war with a single bite. The auburn wolf stalked a few more feet before taking off in a mad dash to her target. She lunged through the air with her jaws wide and fangs glistening, flying closer and closer to her prey. Noah pulled himself onto his knees in excitement, anticipating the final blow.
Like he had eyes in the back of his head, the Prince sidestepped just as Wren’s fangs snapped shut on the empty air where the Prince’s neck had just been. After her missed strike, she slid through the icy slush toward the other wolves, struggling to regain her footing on the slippery snow. Instead of turning around and following up with another attack, she let the momentum carry her toward the biggest yellow-eyed wolf.
Paying no attention to the auburn wolf sliding toward him, Rowan kept his gaze fixed on the Prince. When Wren reached the First Beta, she snapped her jaws around his foreleg with a sickening crunch. Rowan howled in pain as Wren thrashed her head from side to side until the detached limb flew into the air. While Sylvie and Alder froze in shock at the stunning scene, the fresh blood of her pack mate stained Wren’s mouth and dripped onto the ground.
Enraged at the crippling of his father, Alder lunged toward Wren’s neck, attempting to sink his fangs into her tender flesh. Blinded by rage, he forgot Wren wasn’t the only enemy in the clearing. The Prince flashed to Alder’s side, striking the unguarded warrior in the chest. Onyx claws impaled the wolf, and the force of the blow rocketed him across the clearing until he struck the trunk of a majestic tree with a loud crack.
Alder’s body plummeted to the ground with a loud thump, and Noah couldn’t tell if the unmoving mass was unconscious or dead. With agonized howls, Rowan thrashed on the ground, spraying blood from the stump where his arm used to be. Eventually, his regenerative powers would heal the wound, but it couldn’t regrow the limb. Rowan would carry the burden of being crippled and disfigured for the rest of his life, and not even vampire blood could save him from that fate.
Within inches of victory, the battle had flipped in an instant. Sylvie was now outnumbered by enemies and surrounded by powerless allies. Without cowering before her best friend and an Unseelie Prince, she charged the pair with dazzling speed. While Wren was also a combat wolf, she couldn’t match Sylvie’s level of power, and the Prince had become weakened, losing his ability to use magic.
Sylvie darted around them, attacking any openings they gave her and then retreating while dodging both of their counterattacks. Wounds opened across the Prince’s skin, and no shadows answered his call to bandage them. Wren’s auburn fur darkened with blood as the scout futilely tried to match the strength of an Alpha.
After a few minutes of domination, Sylvie's speed slowed, and her strength weakened. She needed to burn more energy than her enemies, and the grueling pace began to catch up with her. She landed fewer and fewer attacks on Wren and the Prince, and some of their counterattacks began to connect. Red blood mixed unseen into her black fur, but Noah could see the glistening of wetness on her coat. Both sides seemed to be one hit away from losing the battle, and Noah struggled to stand before collapsing back onto the ground. His heart was willing, but his body was broken.
Finally, his worst fears came true as the Prince dodged an exhausted lunge from Sylvie and countered with a thundering punch to her side. Noah heard her ribs shatter from across the clearing, and Sylvie shot through the air, sliding in the frozen slush until she came to a stop ten feet away from him. The Prince’s blow must have caused internal damage to her organs because when Sylvie tried to rise, blood splattered from her mouth, and she collapsed to the snow in a heap. They had thrown everything they had at the Prince, and every one of them had failed.
Wren shifted into her human form, covered in blood from her wounds and limping on a shredded leg. A blue bandana kept her bushy hair out of her eyes, and the tassels on her jacket dangled derisively.
Beside Noah, Sylvie shifted into her human form, and the pain on her face was unbearable for him to see. She couldn’t catch her breath because of her broken ribs, and each inhale caused her torturous agony.
“Wren?” she gasped out, heartbroken at her friend’s betrayal.
“Hold, Molochith,” Wren commanded, blocking the prowling Prince from approaching them and finishing the job.
The Prince froze and nodded to her with adoration in his eyes. “Yes, Partner.”
Wren sighed and shook her head in disappointment. “I told you, Molochith, wolves don’t use the word partner. We are mates!”