Chapter 148: Claws And Love

Maddie Pov

I looked at Calix and I saw the blackness in his eyes. He did not look like the boy who had kissed me by the river. He looked like a machine made of fur and muscle. He stepped toward me and the floorboards beneath his paws were glowing red from the heat.

"Calix, I know you can hear me," I said and I held my hands open.

He did not answer. He just bared his teeth and made a low sound in his throat. It was a cold sound, it did not have any love in it.

I felt the heat behind me. The stairs were gone now. The fire was eating the wood and the smoke was so thick I could barely see the balcony where Simone was standing. I heard her laughing. It was a sharp, mean sound that made my ears ring.

"He is mine now, Maddie," Simone shouted and she raised the stone.

"He is not a thing you can own," I said.

I did not want to shift again. Every time I did it, the red feeling got stronger. Gory was waiting in the back of my mind. She wanted to bite. She wanted to tear things apart. But I looked at Calix and I knew I had to be fast. I had to be stronger than the stone.

I let the shift happen.

It was fast this time. My bones snapped into place and the white fur grew out of my skin. I saw the red streaks in the fur. They looked like blood. I felt the anger rising up and I tried to push it back. I did not want the anger. I wanted the light.

Calix jumped.

He moved like a black shadow. I did not move out of the way. I let him hit me. We crashed into the wall and a heavy wooden clock fell over and smashed into pieces next to us. His claws caught my shoulder and I felt the sting of it. It was a sharp, hot pain.

I did not bite him back. I used my weight to push him off. We rolled through the embers on the floor. The fur on my legs started to smell like it was burning. I ignored it. I kept my eyes on him.

"I am not going to hurt you," I said in my head.

He lunged again. He caught my neck with his teeth. He did not bite down hard yet, but I could feel the pressure. He was trying to pin me. He was trying to do what Simone told him to do.

I used my back legs to kick him away. He hit a stone pillar and I saw him stumble. This was my chance. I did not think. I just moved.

I launched myself at him before he could find his footing. I hit him in the chest and we both went down. I was on top of him now. I pinned his front paws to the floor with my own. I used my head to press his neck down.

He thrashed underneath me. He was very strong. He snapped his jaws inches from my face. I could smell the smoke and the metal of the stone on him.

"Look at me, Calix," I thought.

I closed my eyes and I looked for the light. It was deep inside me. It was under the red feeling and under the fear. It felt like a warm sun on a cold morning. I grabbed onto that feeling and I did not let go.

I felt the light move. It went from my heart into my legs. It flowed through my paws and into his skin.

Calix stopped moving for a second. He let out a long, high whine.

"Do not let her win," I thought.

I poured everything I had into the bond between us. I thought about the first time I saw him. I thought about the way he stood up for me when the pack was mean. I thought about the mark on my neck.

I felt the red glow on my fur start to go away. The streaks of blood-color faded back into white. The anger in my brain stopped screaming. It was just me and him.

Calix’s eyes started to flicker. The blackness was not a solid wall anymore. I saw bits of gold shining through. It was like the sun coming through dark clouds.

"Maddie?"

The voice was very small. It was inside my head. It was his voice.

"I am here," I thought.

"It hurts."

"I know. Just hold on."

"I can't breathe."

"Yes, you can. Just look at the light."

I felt the stone in his head start to pull back. It was fighting me. I could feel Simone screaming from the balcony. She was pressing the stone as hard as she could. I could feel her hate. It was a cold, sharp needle that was trying to break my light.

I did not let it. I pushed back harder. I felt the light get brighter. It was so bright that I couldn't see the fire anymore. I couldn't see the smoke. There was just the white light and the gold in his eyes.

The blackness finally broke.

Calix’s eyes went fully gold. He stopped fighting me. His body went soft underneath mine. He took a long breath and he closed his eyes.

"You're back," I whispered in my mind.

"I'm back," he thought.

The red fur was completely gone now. I was the White Wolf again. I let go of his paws and I stood up. I felt very tired. My legs were shaking and my chest was burning from the smoke.

I looked up at the balcony. Simone was standing there with the stone. But the stone was not purple anymore. It was grey. It looked like a regular rock. She was staring at it and her mouth was open.

"No," Simone said and she shook the stone.

"It is over, Simone," I said.

"It is never over!"

She looked at me and I saw the madness in her face. She raised the silver dagger. She was going to jump. She did not care about the fire anymore. She just wanted to kill me.

But then I heard a sound.

It was a loud, groaning sound. It was coming from above us. I looked up and I saw the big wooden beams of the roof. They were black and orange. They were bending.

"Maddie, get out!"