Chapter Eighteen
The Sister's Rage
Hazel POV
"…And so that's how it all happened. I'm stuck with you. I've actually always been—just now I'm not dominant," Helene finished.
The words settled heavy in the air between us.
"Damn," I muttered, staring at the space where Selene had stood. I don't even know how I got outside. I could've sworn I was on my bed. "I didn't expect a story like that at all. I'm really sorry that happened to you. Must've been hard. And shocking."
"Ha! More than," Helene scoffed lightly. "She was so innocent. I didn't expect it at all. But I should've guessed. We're gods after all. It's what we do."
The ground was still warm where Selene had stood.
Moonlight lingered like a bruise in the air—pale, sickly, wrong. The forest was silent. Too silent. Peaceful in the way a held breath is peaceful.
Then it wasn't.
My hands started trembling.
Not shaking—trembling, like something beneath my skin was pulling strings it had never touched before. My fingers slammed into the dirt, digging in deep enough to hurt. I barely noticed when my skin split, blood seeping into the soil.
"What the hell—" I whispered.
I didn't understand what was happening to me.
Inside me, Helene shifted.
Not abruptly. Not violently.
Deliberately.
I felt it deep—deeper than bone, deeper than instinct. Flora whimpered, the sound echoing through my chest and skull at once.
"H-Hazel… this isn't good," Flora's voice trembled. "She's—she's losing control. Mad. She's about to… to—"
Silence.
"Flora?" Panic surged sharp and sudden.
"Flora! FLORA!"
I yelled it out loud and inside my head at the same time. My heart slammed so hard it hurt. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.
Heat exploded inside me.
Not warmth—fire.
It crawled through my veins, scorched my lungs, wrapped around my spine like a living thing. I screamed, collapsing flat against the ground, breath coming in broken gasps.
"Helene!" I cried. "What's happening? Whatever you're doing—stop! It hurts like hell. Helene!"
I wasn't sure if the sound tearing out of my throat was screaming… or something else screaming through me.
Then I felt it.
Something rising.
Helene rose.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
My body arched without my consent, muscles locking, bones humming with unbearable pressure. I thought the process was over—but it wasn't even close.
The heat coiled tighter, sliding beneath my ribs, wrapping around my heart like it was waking from a long, violent sleep. My vision blurred, silver bleeding into red, the forest stretching and warping as my heartbeat doubled—then tripled.
"Do not fight me," Helene said.
Not sharp. Not cruel.
Gentle.
"Just… let go."
My throat burned. "Don't—"
Too late.
The scream that ripped out of me was raw and unrestrained—loud enough to shatter human ears, violent enough to make a werewolf bleed.
My body straightened without permission.
My hands lifted slowly from the earth, fingers flexing as if testing joints they'd never used before.
Power rolled through me in waves—ancient, precise, terrifyingly controlled.
It didn't feel like possession.
Not exactly.
It felt the way it did with Flora when I shifted.
Like sharing space with a storm.
I was still there. Watching. Breathing.
But I wasn't feeling pain anymore.
I was inside my mind now—truly inside it. Not like with Flora, where I watched from behind my eyes.
This was different.
Flora lay on the ground of my mental space, completely still.
"Flora!" I yelled, running to her. I shook her shoulders. Nothing. I pressed my ear to her chest, panic clawing at me—
Her heart was still beating.
"Relax," Helene said calmly. "She's not dead. I wouldn't kill your wolf. Besides… she's grown on me. In two lives."
I sagged in relief. "Okay," I breathed. "Now explain yourself."
"Is this really how you speak to a goddess, child?" she teased—and laughed.
"Alright. Fine. I'm kind of taking possession of your body. I haven't been able to before. But tonight, you opened up to me. Finally. So now I can. And I have to do a little payback."
"A little warning would've been helpful," I snapped. "Haven't felt that since I was turning."
"I—I'm—so—sorry—blergh." She made a gagging sound.
I laughed despite myself. Hearing my own voice do that was… weird.
"Is it so hard to say sorry?" she added.
"Alright," I said, bursting into laughter.
And then—
The forest reacted.
Trees bowed inward, bark splitting with soft, agonized cracks. The air thickened until every breath felt electric, sharp enough to cut. The moon above flickered—dimmed, then flared—like it didn't know who it belonged to anymore.
"Selene," Helene said aloud through my mouth.
Her voice was mine.
And not mine.
It carried centuries. Rage sharpened by restraint.
The air folded.
Selene reappeared.
Not calmly this time.
She staggered as she emerged, silver light cracking around her like fractured glass. Her gaze snapped to me—then widened as she felt it.
"You shouldn't be able to do this," Selene said quietly.
Helene smiled with my lips.
"You always underestimate what you bury," she said smoothly.
"Karma's a bitch, little sis."
Power detonated.
The forest screamed.
Roots tore free of the ground, spiraling upward like living serpents. Wind slammed into Selene from every direction, dense with divine pressure, forcing her back step by step as Helene advanced—each movement slow, deliberate, merciless.
"You stole my birthright," Helene roared. "You stole my name. My sky. My destiny. All because of what?"
Selene raised her hands, light flaring. "I did what I had to—"
"You chose cowardice!" Helene snapped. "You chose comfort over consequence. If only you'd talked to me—we could've joined our powers. We could've prevented it. But instead you did this!"
Another surge.
Selene slammed into a tree hard enough to split it down the middle.
"And you let her suffer," Helene continued. "You watched Hazel bleed. You watched her family burn. You let royals and weak, useless werewolves butcher innocents in your name. She's your creation. And so was Helena. You could've stopped it all."
Selene coughed. Silver blood slid from her mouth.
"I kept the balance," she rasped.
Helene laughed.
Not amused.
Wounded.
"You broke it."
She lifted my hand.
For a heartbeat, I felt it too—the terrifying ease with which Selene could be ended. Even trapped in my body.
How powerful was Helene before this?
The thought scared me.
Helene felt it.
She laughed again—bright, sudden, completely switching from murderous to casual.
"I won't kill her," she said inside me. "Not today."
The pressure eased.
Selene staggered upright, wounded, dimmer now. She looked at me—not Helene.
At Hazel.
"I'm sorry," Selene said softly. "For everything."
Then she turned to Helene.
"You're right. I was scared. I was to marry that useless god, and you would've been Moon Goddess. I acted on impulse. I'm sorry. I'll release you. I'll give you a body."
Helene leaned close, eyes blazing through mine.
"All I have to do is blink and you're gone. Switching bodies isn't a problem. I'll be seeing you, Selene."
The air snapped.
Selene vanished.
The forest collapsed inward—wind dying, roots slithering back into the soil like nothing had happened.
I gasped. My knees buckled. Power drained too fast, too violently. I caught myself with one hand, lungs burning, heart hammering.
Helene receded—but didn't disappear.
"There's something I need to tell you," she said softly. "About Caleb. About the lie."
I laughed weakly. "Tell me later. I'm exhausted."
A pause.
Regret.
"I am sorry," Helene said. "For taking your body."
I burst out laughing. "Chill. It's fine. Just—don't do it again."
"I won't."
I stood, shaky but whole. The moon above pretended innocence.
Inside me, Helene settled—awake, watchful.
"H-Hazel?" Flora's voice returned.
I exhaled. "Yeah. I'm okay."
"We unlocked everything," Flora said softly. "We're back."
I felt it.
Exhausted. Terrified.
But not alone.
And for the first time since everything began, I knew—
Whatever came next…
I wouldn't face it by myself.