Chapter 217: Reclaiming Crescent City (part 1)
Chapter 216: Reclaiming Crescent City (part 1)
\[Hazel\]
The hidden train carrying us from the station at Devil’s Ridge, just beyond Moon River City, to the coastal town of Crescent City, moves swiftly, faster than any monorail on the surface. Even the elegant train in Moon River City, the most sophisticated civilian transport in the west, feels slow compared to the rapid movement of this 50-year-old rail system. According to Dan, our pilot, it had been built in secret by a group of loyal engineers and capable soldiers using the best available to wolfkind.
“We had a wolf-born artificer at the time,” he explained. “Pup by the name of Silas Silverclaw. He had enough witch in him to charm any piece of metal between his paws, but was alpha enough to have a wolf and live as part of the pack. Kinda like that young witch, what’s his name, Patrick?”
“Parris,” I corrected him. “Parris Abernathy.”
The pilot nodded and continued his story, telling all who would listen about the labors involved in making this amazing contraption. With its combination of technology and spellcraft, it was moving at an even faster rate than the helicopter could have managed, cutting our original travel time by one third.
“We should arrive in about 10 minutes,” the pilot announced, looking back over the controls. “Let’s hope the station is still clear. Otherwise, we might have an…interesting stop.”
My husband wraps his strong arms around me, keeping me safe as I lean my head against his shoulder and close my eyes. The rhythm of his pulse beneath my cheek is calming as our blended scents remind me of the passionate moment we had casting the spell that brought down the last of the drones. It had been exhilarating, better than any time when we had crafted magic together before. Could it be because we are a marked, mated, and married pair?
“Yes and no,” my wolf, Haley, tries to explain. “Our new connection to our mate is strengthening our bond, but it is your reawakened power that is driving this change. Now that you’ve faced your darkest memories and come out of the shadows more fully yourself, you’re going to find there is so much more that we can do that was possible before. You aren’t just a witch, Hazel, or a wolf, but a powerful hybrid. A weather witch.”
According to Haley, all the most powerful strains of wolf and witch are from hybrid pairings. The most powerful Alphas, Betas, and Gammas are all hybrids, as are all the unique types of witches and wolves–like tech mages and weather witches–it's the blending of both sides of the moon that makes us more powerful.
Powerful enough to reshape the world.
“It is no coincidence that so many powerful hybrids found one another in the Alpha King’s court,” Haley continues. “Like is drawn to like. Even without the destiny behind this spell and this moment, you were always meant to find one another. Mates are brought together based on compatibility more than fate–it is your genetics and personality that make the connection–the Moon Goddess simply helps it along.”
“So you’re saying I was always going to find Rudy, even if the ending had been different, we were always going to be together?” I question my wolf. “Not because of fate but because of…DNA?”
“Both,” she responds cryptically. “Always both.”
“We’re here,” Rudy announces, shaking my shoulder to snap me back to reality and out of the strange conversation I was having with my wolf.
Sitting up slowly, I stretch my arms above my head. As I do this, Rudy reaches for a change of clothing out of one of our cargo sacks and I grin appreciatively. We had been wearing cobbled-together clothing after our “spell casting” got a little too vigorous. Taking it into the next car to change, I am soon joined by my husband.
“Hazel,” he says my name quietly, his words soft and serious. “You need to be prepared for what is waiting for you on the other side. Crescent City is not how we left it.”
“I know,” I acknowledge as I shimmy into a new pair of pants. “The plague…”
“The plague was the start of it, but it’s worse now,” Rudy explains. “Even before Alexis left the pack had been a mess under Rodrigo's rule. With both of them gone, the Brotherhood filled the void left by their absence.”
A small silence fell between us as we considered what that meant. We were both in Crescent City at the start of this war. He had been tortured by Rodrigo’s goons who had taken over the pack before, in his efforts to win it back for Sylvester, who at the time had disappeared.
“I already knew it was going to be a fight,” I remind him as I adjust the straps on my vest. “We’re in the middle of a war. We have been for a while now,” I sigh, putting on my bravest grin as I add, “Don’t worry, Rudy, I’m not that delicate.”
“Oh I remember,” he grins, “I saw what you could do back at the prison. Even so,” he paused, placing a hand on my Kevlar-covered belly. “Please, be careful. If something were to happen to you and our child, I’d…I don’t think I can do all this without you.”
Seeing true concern in my gentle mate’s eyes, I lean towards him, pulling myself up onto my tiptoes to place a gentle kiss on his worried mouth. “We’re going to come out of this on top, Rudolph.”
He grunts in agreement as he takes a step back and places a kiss on my forehead. “Alright, Luna Forrester. I’ve got your back if you’ve got mine.”
Sending a wave of love and hope through our link, I reply, “Always, Alpha Forrester. In this life and the next. After you,” I nod towards the compartment door, leading to the rest of the group.
As a unit, the pilots, our gammas, my husband and I moved through the station to a nearby stairwell that led to the sewers underneath the city. Pulling out my phone, I flip open a map that we had downloaded from our servers before heading out. “We’re about 1 mile south of the pack house,” I surmise, my finger tracing the path through the sewers.
“If we run, we can be there in 5 minutes,” Rudy surmises. “Less if we partially shift.”
At best, I could run a 7-minute mile and that’s pretty fast for my short legs. And I may have a wolf, but I can’t do a partial shift like an alpha can. How am I going to keep up? On Rudy’s back?
“We can do it,” Hayley cuts my thoughts with her own. “Remember, you have more than your legs to carry you.”
She sends me an image of the air picking up around us like a wave and propelling us all forward. A day ago it wouldn’t even have occurred to me to use my inner glow to try such a thing, but a day ago, I didn’t know I was a weather witch.
My wolf is right. Now that I’ve tapped into my new powers, even in a place with minimal airflow, I can call the wind.
“I think I can get us there in half that,” I announce to the group. “No shifting required. Just hold on tight.”