Day 28 of sanctuary life
I was mid-shift when the wards screamed.
Not literally screamed. But the silver light that protected the sanctuary flared bright and angry, and I felt the violation like nails on a chalkboard.
"Something's trying to get in here" Sahya said urgently.
"Something or someone?"
"Does it matter? RUN."
I shifted back to human, grabbed clothes, and ran for the main room where Ina was already standing at the altar, hands raised, face pale.
"What's happening?" I asked.
"They're here." Her voice was tight. "The enemy. The ones who killed your parents. They've found you."
My blood went cold. "How?"
"Your awakening. The power surge when your seal broke. It was like a beacon." She gestured to the wards, which were flickering now, struggling against whatever was attacking them. "These wards are ancient. Powerful. But they won't hold forever."
"How long?"
"Minutes. Maybe less."
Fuck.
Outside, I heard howls. My mates. All five of them.
They'd felt it too. Through the bonds.
The wards flickered again, and I saw them.
Dark shapes beyond the silver light. Not quite solid. Not quite shadow. Something in between that made my skin crawl.
"What are they?" I breathed.
"Gerhanas. Servants of an ancient force that feeds on power. They wanted you as a child to drain your bloodline. To consume what makes you special." Ina's hands trembled as she fought to maintain the wards. "They can't take your power if you don't give it. But they can kill you. And they will."
A crack appeared in the ward. Small, but growing.
"We need to fight," Sahya said.
"I don't know how to fight these things!"
"Then we learn fast."
The crack widened.
And then Raka's voice, loud and commanding: "Ayla! When the wards fall, run for the tree line! We'll hold them!"
"You can't—"
"We're your mates! Let us protect you!"
The ward shattered.
Silver light exploded outward, and the Gerhanas poured through like smoke given form and malice.
I shifted without thinking—pure instinct—and my white wolf form blazed with power.
The Gerhanas recoiled from the light.
"They hate what we are," Sahya said. "Use it."
I didn't know what that meant, but I pushed power outward—raw and uncontrolled—and the Gerhanas nearest me dissolved into nothing.
But there were more. So many more.
Raka crashed through the broken wards in wolf form, massive and dark and furious. He placed himself between me and the Gerhanas without hesitation.
Rivan followed, then Tama, then Bima, then Elara.
All five of my mates formed a protective circle around me.
"Go!" Raka snarled, still in wolf form but somehow I understood him through the bond.
"I'm not leaving you!"
"We can handle this!"
A Gerhana lunged at Raka. He tore into it with teeth and claws, but it reformed. Laughing. These things didn't die easily.
"They're not physical," Sahya said. "They're energy. We need to burn them with our power."
"How?"
"Stop thinking. FEEL."
I closed my eyes—stupid in a fight, but necessary—and felt for the power inside me. The white wolf bloodline. Ancient and vast and terrifying.
It responded.
Power surged through me, blazing white-hot, and I opened my eyes to see my fur glowing like the moon itself.
The Gerhanas screamed.
Good.
I lunged at the nearest one, and when my teeth closed on shadow-flesh, light exploded from the contact. The Gerhana dissolved with a shriek.
"Yes! Like there"
But there were too many. For every one I destroyed, three more appeared.
My mates were fighting hard—Tama coordinating their movements, Bima using raw strength, Rivan moving with deadly grace, Elara protecting my flanks—but they were overwhelmed.
And then I saw it.
A Gerhana twice the size of the others, darker and more solid, rising from the shadows at the edge of the sanctuary.
It looked at me with eyes that burned like cold fire.
And it spoke.
"White wolf." Its voice was wind through graves. "You belong to us. Your power. Your blood. Your soul. All of it, ours to consume."
"Fuck off," I growled.
It laughed. "Your parents thought they could hide you. Thought they could deny us. We killed them slowly for their defiance."
Rage exploded through me.
White-hot and absolute.
My power surged—uncontrolled, massive—and every Gerhana within fifty feet dissolved into nothing.
The large one staggered but held form.
"Yes," it hissed. "Show me that power. Make it easier to take."
It lunged.
Not at me.
At Raka.
"No!" I screamed.
But I was too far away. Too slow.
The Gerhana's shadowy claws tore through Raka's side, and he went down hard.
Through the bond, I felt his pain. His shock. His life bleeding out onto the sanctuary floor.
Something inside me snapped.
Not broke. Snapped into place.
Power flooded through me—controlled this time, focused—and I was on the large Gerhana before it could strike again.
My jaws closed on its throat, and I poured everything into the attack. All my rage. All my fear. All my desperate need to protect what was mine.
The Gerhana screamed and dissolved.
Completely.
The remaining shadows fled, retreating into the forest.
I shifted back to human, stumbling, and ran to where Raka lay bleeding.
"No, no, no," I gasped, pressing my hands to the wound.
It was bad. Really bad. The claws had torn deep, and I could see—
"Don't look. Heal him."
"I don't know how!"
"Yes, you do. White wolf blood heals. FOCUS."
I placed my hands over the wound and thought about healing. About knitting flesh and bone. About keeping him alive.
Power flowed from me—different this time, warm instead of burning—into Raka.
The wound began to close.
Slowly at first, then faster.
Raka's eyes opened, unfocused and pained. "Ayla?"
"Don't talk. Let me work."
"Did we... did we win?"
"Yes, you idiot. Now shut up."
His lips curved slightly. Even bleeding out, he was smiling. "You called me yours. Through the bond. When you attacked."
"I did not."
"You did. I felt it."
"You're delirious from blood loss."
"Maybe." His hand found mine, bloody and weak. "But I heard it. You called me yours."
I had. In that moment when I thought I'd lose him, the bond had screamed it.
Mine.
"Don't read too much into it," I muttered, even as I poured more healing power into him.
The wound closed completely, leaving only scars.
Raka sat up slowly, testing his side. "That was... fuck. You healed me."
"Ina said white wolf blood heals."
"I thought I was dead."
"You almost were." I pulled back, suddenly aware of how close we were. How my hands were still on his chest. "Don't do that again."
"Do what? Protect you?"
"Nearly die protecting me."
"Can't promise that." He looked at me with those dark eyes, intense and alive. "You're my mate. I'd die a hundred times before I let them take you."
"That's stupid."
"That's love."
The word hung between us.
Love.
I opened my mouth to argue, to push him away, to maintain distance—
He kissed me.
Gentle this time. Not claiming. Asking.
And I kissed him back.
Because he'd taken a hit meant for me. Because he'd protected me without hesitation. Because in that moment when I thought I'd lose him, I'd realized I didn't want to.
Not completely.
Not yet.
When we broke apart, my other four mates were staring at us.
"She healed him," Tama said, awed.
"With her power," Bima added.
"The legends are true," Rivan breathed.
Elara just smiled, knowing and warm. "Told you she'd come around eventually."
I glared at him. "Don't get cocky."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
Ina emerged from the destroyed sanctuary, looking exhausted. "They'll be back. With more. Your awakening has drawn every enemy your bloodline ever made."
"Great. Fantastic. When?"
"Soon. Days, maybe. We need to return to Pack Mahardika. The wards there are stronger, and you'll have the full pack to defend you."
"I thought I was supposed to stay here until I was ready."
"You are ready." She looked at my mates, all five surrounding me protectively. "And more importantly, you're not alone anymore."
I looked at them. At Raka, healed and watching me like I was the only thing that mattered. At Rivan, poetic and desperate. At Tama, structured and solid. At Bima, fierce and changed. At Elara, warm and chosen.
Five mates who'd just fought beside me. Who'd protected me. Who'd nearly died for me.
I wasn't ready to forgive them.
But maybe I was ready to try.
"Fine," I said. "We go back. Together."
Through the bonds, I felt their relief. Their hope.
And maybe, just maybe, the beginning of something that could become real.
Ninety-one.
No.
Eighty-nine.
Getting there.