Chapter 196 The Moon's power
Chapter 196
RAVENNA
I tried to stand up, but the electricity crackled inside me like live wires tearing through my muscles.
I collapsed back to the forest floor, breathing hard, my entire body convulsing.
Moonlight. "Are you still here with me?"
Her voice came back immediately, steady and strong. "I will always be here with you. I would never leave you."
"What am I going to do? I'm so weak. I can't move in my wolf form."
"Stay still. Don't you dare shift. If you try, I'll force the shift and have you back in your wolf form immediately."
I sighed internally and snarled, forcing myself to my feet despite the pain screaming through every nerve.
The man was still standing beside me, watching me with that calm, predatory expression.
I looked up into his face.
Caleb.
Son of a fucking bitch.
Rage flooded through me, hot and violent.
He bent down slowly, his expression almost admiring. "You're such a good fighter. Even for an inexperienced wolf."
His hand stretched out to pet my head.
I didn't hesitate. I lunged forward and snapped my jaws around his fingers.
He cursed viciously, yanking his hand back, blood dripping from where my teeth had torn through flesh.
Then he kicked me hard by my sides.
The impact sent me flying backwards, my body tumbling across the ground until I slammed into a tree.
Pain exploded through my ribs, my shoulder, my skull.
I yelped, the sound coming out as a broken whine.
I tried to stand up, but the impact had been too hard. My legs were shaking, barely holding my weight.
Caleb stepped forward, his face twisted with fury now, holding up his bleeding hand. "I'm going to cut yours off for that."
He pointed the iron rod at me. "Shift back to your human form now."
I snarled low, refusing.
What the hall does he want me to shift back to human form?
He pressed the rod against my side.
Electricity tore through me, and I howled in agony, my body seizing, my vision going white.
"Shift!" he yelled. "Fucking shift or else this won't stop."
I snapped my teeth at him, daring him to come closer.
He pressed the rod harder against me, and I whined, the pain unbearable now.
"Moonlight. I need to shift or we're going to die."
Her voice came soon enough. She's scared, but she said calmly. "Hang on a little bit longer. Fight. I'm not ready yet."
"Ready for what? We're dying here? What do you need to be ready for?"
"The spell used to hold you hasn't broken completely. I need time for it to break."
"I can't hold on. I don't know what you need the spell to be broken for? What's the situation with Darius?"
"Both he and Atlas are blocked out from me."
My heart sank. We were alone.
Why would Darius do this to me? I tried convincing myself he's not part of this. Because why, after a few minutes of complaining to him about an attack, he suddenly blocks us off?
I turned my head slightly and saw more men joining Caleb and then I saw Selina.
She was limping, one hand pressed against her head where I'd slammed her into the bathroom floor, but she was alive.
She laughed when she saw me, the sound shrill and triumphant. "She fought like someone who was really going to survive. But here we are."
Caleb showed her his bleeding hand. "Look what this bitch did."
Selina's expression twisted with fury.
"How dare you...." She rushed toward me, her leg raised to kick me in the face.
I grabbed her leg with my jaws and bit down hard.
She screamed.
The men rushed forward, trying to pull her away but it was too late.
I dragged her down and bit through bone and muscle until her leg came off completely.
I threw the severed limb at them.
Selina's scream was deafening, raw and broken, tears streaming down her face.
Caleb roared in fury and pressed the electricity rod directly against my body.
I howled and whined, the pain tearing through me in waves, each one worse than the last.
I could feel myself separating from Moonlight, my wolf form flickering, my body starting to force the shift.
"Just a few more seconds. Hold on."
I was bleeding now, my vision blurring.
Selina was screaming at Caleb through her sobs. "Stop! You're going to kill her, and all our work will go to waste!"
Caleb's voice was cold. "She's going to shift or die. I don't care which."
Moonlight's voice came through suddenly, sharp and urgent. It's time.
I felt power shimmer inside me, like something had been released. Like chains breaking.
I felt full and complete.
"Look at the moon."
What was I supposed to do looking at the moon? Was I to look at the moon while we both die?
"Just do it and stop being silly!" Moonlight yelled.
I lifted my head, and my eyes locked onto the full moon hanging in the sky above me and I felt a connection to it.
Like it's the other party of me.
The moon's power poured into me like liquid light, filling every empty space inside me, flooding my veins.
The pain dulled out immediately.
Strength filled me up, raw and overwhelming.
I tried to pull my face away from the moon, but I couldn't.
It was holding me and worse, feeding me.
What the hell was going on?
Caleb was yelling at me. "Shift! Shift now!"
But instead, there was another sudden blast.
Power rippled out from my body in a visible wave—a blue arc of light that spread out toward the woods like a shockwave. The Earth shook in a sudden quake.
The force of it knocked me backwards.
When I looked up, all of the men were on the floor.
Caleb was unconscious, his body sprawled out awkwardly.
The others were groaning, trying to get up.
I turned and saw Selina lying there, her remaining leg twitching, blood pooling beneath her.
I saw something that made me pause. A necklace was around her neck.
I recognized it immediately.
Martina had been wearing one just like it earlier tonight.
It's a matching couple's necklace.
What the hell was Selina doing with it?
I didn't have time to wonder.
I snapped the necklace from her neck with my teeth and turned. And without waiting to confirm if they were all alive, I ran.
I ran through the woods, my paws pounding against the earth, my lungs burning.
I only stopped when I saw the lights from the house ahead.
I hid by the edge of the woods and tried to shift.
Nothing happened.
I was stuck.
"Moonlight. Why can't I shift?"
Silence.
She wasn't answering.
Why wasn't she silent? The part where I did reach her had suddenly gone quiet.
And then I remembered the blast; What had happened? What was the meaning of that blast? I didn't have an answer to it but I knew I had just let that blast happen by calling on whatever from the moon.
What had Moonlight asked me to do?
I could hear commotion from inside the house now—voices yelling, people running. I think the blast had affected them too.
I needed to find Torren. Was this what he predicted would happen?
But the only people who could take me to him were Darius, Dorian, or Sam.
And I was still in my wolf form.
Damnit!
I ran inside. I didn't have any other choice.
Thankfully, the door was open.
I stepped into the main hall, staying low, scanning the room and scenting the air for anyone I recognized.
Someone yelled when they saw me.
I ran forward, dodging between tables and chairs.
More people noticed me now, their voices rising in panic.
Where the hell were they?
I heard a commotion from the front of the hall.
And then the bond slammed into me like a freight train.
Darius. He's here.
I ran forward, my body moving on instinct, his view soon came out in my sigh. I bounded up towards him and crashed into him with full force.
He went down hard, hitting the floor with a grunt.
He yelled in shock.
I snarled angrily at him through the bond. Where the fuck have you been?
His eyes widened as recognition dawned.
"Raven?" he gasped.
I ignored him, tapped into the mate bond, and anchored my shift.
The change tore through me violently, my bones cracking, my body reforming.
I gasped as I collapsed on top of him in my human form, completely naked, my entire body trembling.
When I looked up, he was still staring at me, his eyes wide with shock.
"Fucking stop looking at me and cover me, Darius.”