Chapter 36: Reclamation

Chapter 36: Reclamation
The cup trembled in my hands, and everyone watched me like I might shatter at any moment. Dad's knuckles were white where he gripped the window frame while Mom had stopped crying but her hand on my knee still shook slightly. Marcus looked like he'd stopped breathing altogether.

I brought the cup to my lips, then lowered it again and cleared my throat.

"You know," I said, my voice coming out steadier than I felt, "if this kills me, at least I won't have to attend any more boring council meetings."

Silence fell over the room like a heavy blanket, complete and deafening as everyone stared at me, my words not quite sinking in.

Then Marcus let out a short laugh that sounded almost like a cough, and Dad's glare could have melted stone, but I caught the corner of his mouth twitching before he forced his expression back to stern disapproval.

Did I imagine that?

"Too soon?" I tried again, fighting the nervous energy coursing through me. "Okay, okay, how about this one? If I survive, I'm blaming Lucian for any weird side effects, like if I suddenly start howling at inappropriate times during dinner."

This time I saw it clearly as Dad's lips curved up for just a second before he caught himself and turned back to scowling at the wall. Mom made a sound that was half laugh, half sob, her fingers tightening on my knee.

"Chloe," Lucian said, but his voice was gentle, almost fond despite the tension hanging in the air. "Maybe just drink it before your father decides to throw me out the window."

"That's still on the table," Dad muttered under his breath.

I took a breath and raised the cup again, and this time I didn't stop as the liquid touched my lips and I forced myself to swallow, prepared for that awful taste from before.

But it wasn't as terrible this time, still bitter and wrong in ways that made my stomach protest, but underneath it I caught something sweet. Honey maybe, or some kind of fruit essence that cut through the worst of it and made it almost bearable.

Lucian saw my expression and nodded with visible relief. "I added valerian root and wild honey, thought it might help make it less awful."

I managed to get down three full swallows before my body started rejecting it, and the fourth went down harder while the fifth nearly came back up. But I forced it down, swallowing again and again until the cup was empty and I was gasping for breath.

Then I waited.

The room felt too quiet, and I could hear everyone breathing, the distant sounds of the castle settling, my own heartbeat thundering in my ears like war drums.

"How long does it usually..." I started to ask.

Pain exploded through my chest.

Not like before though, not that tearing, ripping agony that had felt like dying. This was different as fire spread through my veins, burning from the inside out and making me gasp, my hands flying to my chest.

"Chloe?" Mom's voice came sharp with fear.

The burning spread upward, crawling up my throat and into my head before it hit my eyes and I felt them change. The world shifted as colors became sharper and brighter all at once, and I could see details I'd never noticed before for so long, the individual threads in Mom's dress, the tiny scar on Dad's left hand.

"Goddess," Marcus breathed, pushing off from his position by the wall. "Her eyes are glowing."

"What's happening?" Dad demanded, his voice cracking through the room. "Lucian, what's happening to her?"

"They're white," Marcus said, and I heard wonder mixed with concern in his voice. "Her eyes, they're glowing fucking white."

White? My eyes were glowing white?

But I couldn't focus on that because suddenly I felt it, that presence, that other consciousness I'd been missing for a year. My wolf was there, pushing against the barriers in my mind, trying to break through and reclaim what was hers.

Tears streamed down my face, but not from pain, from pure relief because she was there. She was alive and present and real after a year of emptiness, that hollow ache in my chest was finally filled.

"It's working," I managed to gasp out between labored breaths. "I can feel her, she's there."

Mom's hand squeezed mine so hard it almost hurt while Dad moved closer to the bed and Marcus took a step forward, his grey eyes fixed on my face with an intensity that made my chest tight.

But something was wrong.

My wolf wasn't just there, she was wild, uncontrolled, and I could feel her rage, her pain at being locked away for so long. She'd been trapped, cut off from everything, and now she was free and furious about it, wanting blood and revenge and control.

She wanted out, wanted to take over completely, and she blamed me for what had happened to us, blamed me for being weak enough to let someone poison us and steal her away.

No, no wait, we need to calm down and think about this...

But she wasn't listening as she pushed harder against my consciousness, clawing her way to the surface with desperate fury. I tried to hold her back, tried to reason with her, but she was too far gone, too angry, too hurt by everything that had been done to us.

"Chloe?" Lucian's voice seemed to come from far away through the haze of my wolf's rage. "What's wrong? Talk to us, tell us what you're feeling."

I couldn't talk because all my energy went into fighting my own wolf, trying to keep her contained and under control. But she was stronger than me right now, fueled by a year of pain and rage that had been building with nowhere to go.

I felt my control slipping like sand through my fingers, felt her pushing past my defenses one by one until there was nothing left to hold her back.

A growl tore from my throat, low and feral, not a human sound at all but something primal and dangerous.

"Shit," Marcus swore under his breath. "Her wolf's taking over, everyone get back."

I tried to speak, tried to tell them to get back and run, but the words wouldn't come as my wolf surged forward and I felt my body moving without my permission.

The cup in my hand shattered under the pressure of my grip, and I registered the sharp pain of porcelain cutting into my palm, the blood welling up hot and sticky, but my wolf didn't care about the pain. She was focused on something else, someone else who represented weakness in her eyes.

Roslyn.

Before I could stop myself, I launched off the bed with supernatural speed, and Roslyn screamed as she dove to the side, her healing arm wrapped protectively against her chest. I landed where she'd been standing, my bloodied hand reaching for empty air where she'd been just a heartbeat before.

Strong arms wrapped around me from behind, and Marcus's scent filled my nose, pine and smoke and something uniquely him, but my wolf saw him as a threat to be eliminated. I thrashed against him, snarling and snapping my teeth, trying to break free from his iron grip.

"Chloe, stop! It's me!" His voice was right in my ear, desperate and commanding, but I barely heard him over my wolf's rage that drowned out everything else.

I twisted hard and broke his grip with strength I didn't know I had, and my body moved on pure instinct, faster than I'd been able to move in a year. I saw my next target standing frozen and lunged without thinking.

Mom stood there with her green eyes wide with shock as my hand came up, claws extended, reaching for her throat. Some part of me was screaming inside, begging my body to stop, but my wolf was in control now and she saw everyone as either prey or threat.

Mom's wolf responded instantly as her eyes flashed gold and her own claws came out, catching my wrist just before I could make contact. We stood there frozen in a terrible tableau, my claws inches from her neck while she held me back with supernatural strength, mother and daughter locked in a battle neither of us wanted.

"CHLOE!"

The command in Dad's voice hit me like a physical blow, and I felt it crash through my system like lightning. Alpha command, backed by decades of authority and the bits of power of the Moonheart Crystal that still lingered in his blood.

My wolf whimpered at the sound, and it came out of my throat unbidden, a submissive response to a stronger Alpha that she couldn't fight. I tried to pull back from Mom but my body wouldn't obey either of us now, caught between my wolf's rage and my father's overwhelming command.

I looked around the room with eyes that weren't entirely my own anymore, and I saw Roslyn on the floor with Lucian kneeling beside her checking for injuries. Mom still held my wrist, her claws digging in just enough to keep me contained without breaking skin, and Marcus stood a few feet away, his stance wary but his eyes bright with something that looked like joy mixed with deep concern.

"I'm sorry," I tried to say, but it came out as more of a whine, animal and pathetic. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt anyone..."

My wolf surged again, fighting against the Alpha command with everything she had, and I snarled as my free hand came up to strike at Mom's exposed throat.

"STAND DOWN!"

Dad's voice boomed through the room, and the command was absolute, leaving no room for disobedience. My wolf had no choice but to obey as my body went limp, and I would have collapsed if Mom hadn't been holding me up with steady hands.

Dad crossed the room in three strides and wrapped his arms around me, and the Alpha command kept pulsing from him in waves, keeping my wolf pinned down and docile. I felt her whimpering inside my mind, confused and hurt and still so angry about everything.

But I could think again, could feel my own tears on my face, could understand what I'd almost done to the people I loved most.

"I'm sorry," I sobbed into Dad's chest, my whole body shaking. "I'm so sorry, I couldn't control her, she's too angry, too hurt by everything."

"Shh," Dad murmured, one hand stroking my hair while the other held me tight against his chest. "It's okay, you're okay, she'll settle down, just breathe with me."

I cried harder as relief flooded through me that I had my wolf back, joy at feeling whole again after so long empty and broken. But also horror at what I'd almost done, because I'd attacked Roslyn without provocation, nearly clawed Mom's throat out while she looked at me with love instead of fear.

"Is everyone alright?" I managed to ask through my tears, my voice muffled against Dad's shirt. "Did I hurt anyone?"

"We're fine," Mom said softly as she shifted back to human form, her claws retracting back into normal fingers. "No one's hurt, sweetheart, we're all okay."

I looked over Dad's shoulder to where Marcus stood watching me, and he had that same expression on his face, joy and anticipation mixed together like he was waiting for something specific to happen.

My memories, he thought I might remember now that my wolf was back and connected to my consciousness again.

But when I searched my mind, trying to find those lost pieces of my past with him, there was nothing waiting for me. Just the same blank spaces as before, empty and frustrating.

"I still don't remember," I whispered, looking at Marcus with guilt twisting in my chest. "Marcus, I'm sorry, I still don't remember anything about us."

Something flickered in his eyes, disappointment that he tried to hide, but also understanding and acceptance. "It's okay, we'll figure it out."

"How are you feeling?" Lucian asked as he approached slowly, moving like I might bolt if he came too fast. "Can you talk? Do you understand what's happening?"

I nodded against Dad's shoulder, and Dad's Alpha command was still there, a steady pressure keeping my wolf contained and manageable. It was the only thing keeping me from attacking again, from losing control to her rage.

"She's so angry," I said, trying to explain what I was feeling inside. "She feels everything that was done to us, the attack, the poison, being locked away for a year. And she blames me for it somehow, like I let it happen, like I was too weak to stop them."

"That's normal," Lucian said in his healer voice, calm and professional. "Wolves that have been forcibly separated from their humans often react this way at first. She needs time to understand you're not the enemy, that you're both victims of what happened."

I started to nod, but then Lucian took another step closer and everything changed in an instant.

The air in the room shifted, and I felt it like a physical thing, some invisible current that made my skin prickle with awareness. My wolf, who'd been whimpering and subdued under Dad's command, suddenly surged with a strength I didn't know she had, stronger than anything I'd felt from her before.

The Alpha command couldn't hold her, not against this new force, not against what she'd suddenly sensed in the room.

I lifted my head from Dad's shoulder and locked eyes with Lucian, and his brown eyes widened as he saw whatever was burning in mine. My wolf pushed forward, not with rage this time, but with absolute certainty that shook me to my core.

My lips pulled back from my teeth and a growl rumbled deep in my chest, but it wasn't an aggressive sound. It was claiming, possessive, sure of what it knew to be true.

The word tore from my throat with a force that shook my whole body, undeniable and absolute.

"MATE!”