Chapter 56 The Mountain Journey
Jolie POV
The light burns through me like acid poured directly into my veins.
I try to scream again, but nothing comes out. My throat feels raw, stripped bare. Every nerve ending in my body is on fire, and I can't remember what it felt like to not hurt.
Strong hands pin my shoulders down. "Jolie!" Ryder's voice sounds far away, like he's shouting from the bottom of a well. "I'm here! I've got you!"
I want to tell him it's okay, that I can handle this, but the pain steals my words. The moonfire inside me twists and writhes like a living thing trying to claw its way out through my skin.
"Hold her!" Elena's voice cuts through the haze. "The power is fighting my control!"
Something cool touches my forehead. The relief lasts half a second before the burning returns twice as strong.
My back arches off the table again. This time, Ryder's full weight presses me down, and even through the pain, I feel the heat of my skin blistering his chest.
"Stop." The word barely makes it past my lips. "You're getting hurt."
"I don't care." His face appears above me, and his eyes are wet. "Stay with me, Ash. Please."
Ash. The nickname grounds me somehow, pulls me back from the edge I've been teetering on.
The light from Elena's hands grows brighter, and I watch through half-closed eyes as silver symbols appear in the air around us. They float like smoke, ancient and powerful, and when they touch my skin, they sink in deep.
"What are you doing to her?" Ryder demands.
"Binding the excess power." Elena's voice strains with effort. "She's burning because the moonfire has nowhere to go. I'm creating pathways, channels for it to flow through instead of consuming her from within."
The symbols multiply, covering my arms, my chest, my neck. Each one feels like a brand, hot metal pressed against flesh. Tears stream down my temples and into my hair.
"Almost done," Elena says. "Just a little more, child."
I want to believe her, but the pain keeps building. How can there be more? How can I possibly survive more?
Then something inside me shifts.
The burning doesn't stop, but it changes. Instead of acid, it feels like water rushing through a dry riverbed. The moonfire surges through the new pathways Elena created, and for the first time since this power woke up, it doesn't hurt to hold it.
My body goes limp on the table. The tension drains out of me all at once, leaving me weak as a newborn.
"It's working." Ryder's hands cup my face. "Jolie, can you hear me?"
"Yeah." My voice comes out hoarse and broken. "I hear you."
Elena steps back, and the light from her hands fades. "She'll sleep now. When she wakes, the pathways will be permanent. She'll still need to learn control, but she won't burn herself out anymore."
"Thank you." Ryder looks up at her, and his face is streaked with tears and sweat. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet." Elena wipes her hands on a cloth, and I notice the blisters covering her palms. "The hardest part is still to come."
But I don't hear what she says next. Darkness pulls me under like a wave, and I sink into it gratefully.
When I open my eyes, soft morning light filters through a window I don't recognize. The ceiling above me is made of rough wooden beams with dried herbs hanging from hooks. Everything smells like sage and pine.
I try to sit up, and my body protests with a thousand small aches. But the burning is gone. The constant fire that's lived under my skin for weeks has finally gone quiet.
"Easy." Ryder appears beside the bed, pressing a hand to my shoulder. "Don't push it."
"How long?" My throat feels hoarse.
"Eighteen hours." He holds a cup of water to my lips, and I drink greedily. "You scared the hell out of me."
"Sorry." I finish the water and lean back against the pillows. "Where are we?"
"Elena's cabin. She fixed you up, created some kind of magical highway system inside you for the moonfire to travel on." He sets the cup aside and takes my hand carefully, like I might break. "How do you feel?"
I take inventory. My body aches everywhere, like I ran a marathon and then got hit by a truck. But underneath the soreness, there's something new. The moonfire hums contentedly in my chest, no longer clawing to get out.
"Different." I squeeze his fingers. "The fire isn't fighting me anymore."
"That's what Elena said would happen." He brushes hair back from my face. "She wants to talk to you when you're ready. Teach you how to use the pathways she created."
"Where is she?"
"Outside with the pack. They've been taking turns keeping watch." His jaw tightens. "We're deep in uncharted territory here. No pack claims this land, which means rogues and worse could be anywhere."
A knock sounds on the door before I can respond.
"Come in," Ryder calls out.
Elena enters, and in the daylight, she looks even older than she did in my fever dreams. Her hair is pure white, hanging past her waist in a thick braid, and her eyes hold a depth that makes me think of ancient oceans.
"You're awake." She moves to the bed with surprising grace for someone who must be at least eighty. "Good. We have much to discuss and very little time."
"Time for what?" I ask.
"To teach you how to survive what you've become." She pulls up a chair and sits. "The pathways I created will keep you from burning out, but they're only the first step. You need to learn to channel the moonfire properly, or those rogues yesterday won't be your biggest problem."
My stomach drops. "What's my biggest problem?"
Elena looks at Ryder, then back to me. "Yourself. If you don't learn control, the next time you draw on Luna's power, you might not be able to stop. The moonfire will consume you completely, and there won't be anything left of the girl you were."
Ryder's hand tightens on mine hard enough to hurt.
"How do I learn control?" My voice shakes slightly.
"By coming with me." Elena stands and moves to the window, looking out at the mountains beyond. "There's a place in these peaks where the veil between our world and Luna's realm is thin. A sacred grove where moonfire wolves were once trained centuries ago. If you want to master your power instead of being mastered by it, that's where we need to go."
"How long will it take?" Ryder asks.
"As long as it takes." Elena turns back to face us. "Days, weeks, maybe months. There's no rushing this kind of training."
"Months?" Ryder stands, his whole body going rigid. "We don't have months. Her old pack is hunting her, and the Council will eventually hear about a moonfire wolf. Every day we stay away from Iron Fang territory makes us more vulnerable."
"Then you have a choice to make." Elena crosses her arms. "Risk going back untrained and watch her lose control at the worst possible moment, or stay here where I can teach her properly."
The room falls silent except for the distant sound of birds outside.
I look up at Ryder and see the conflict written all over his face. He's an alpha. His instinct is to protect his territory, his pack. But I'm his mate, and the thought of leaving me here clearly tears him apart.
"We stay," I say before he can speak.
"Jolie"
"We stay." I squeeze his hand. "Your pack can handle things for a while, and Knox is strong enough to keep everyone in line. But if I go back like this, I'm a danger to everyone."
Ryder stares at me for a long moment. Then he nods once, sharp and final. "We stay."
"Wise choice." Elena moves toward the door. "Rest today. Tomorrow, we start your training. And fair warning, girl—you thought yesterday's pain was bad? That was nothing compared to what comes next."
She leaves, and the door clicks shut behind her with a sound like a death sentence.