Chapter 30 The Blood Moon Approaches

Chapter 30 The Blood Moon Approaches
Clara's POV

"You met with Marcus Bloodfang behind my back."
Kael's voice is ice when I walk into his office. Damon stands by the window, looking guilty. So much for keeping it quiet.
"He had information I needed," I say, setting Margaret's journal and Marcus's documents on his desk.
"Information." Kael's laugh is bitter. "Is that what we're calling enemy propaganda now?"
"Read it." I push the journal toward him. "Margaret Chen figured out the truth seventy years ago. Your grandfather's mate. She knew Elara was sabotaging the bonding attempts."
"Margaret died of cancer…"
"Caused by Elara's poison. It's all documented. Read it, Kael. Please."
He opens the journal reluctantly. I watch his face change as he reads, confusion, then shock, then dawning horror.
"This can't be real," he whispers.
"Marcus had photographs. Records going back two centuries. The Thorne family has been ensuring every bonding attempt fails because they're terrified of what a successful human-wolf hybrid would become." I pull out Marcus's documents. "Elara isn't just some pack witch. She's Lydia Thorne's actual daughter. Over two hundred years old. She feeds on the suffering from failed bonds."
Damon moves closer to read over Kael's shoulder. His face goes pale.
"Seven women," Damon says quietly. "Seven deaths. And Elara was involved in every single one."
"Which means the medicine she's been giving me…" I can't finish the sentence.
Kael stands abruptly, his chair crashing backward. "Where is she? Where's Elara?"
"Her cottage, probably. But Kael, if Marcus is right about how powerful she is…"
"I don't care how powerful she is. She's been poisoning you. Killing women for two centuries while pretending to help." His eyes flash silver. "She dies tonight."
"Wait." I grab his arm. "We need a plan. If she's that old, that strong, we can't just…"
"Watch me."
He's out the door before I can stop him. Damon and I exchange looks before running after him.
We find Elara exactly where I expected, in her cottage, calmly grinding herbs like she doesn't have a care in the world.
She looks up when we burst through the door, and something in her expression tells me she knew we were coming.
"Alpha. Clara. Damon." She sets down her mortar and pestle. "I assume you've been reading things you shouldn't have."
"Margaret Chen's journal," Kael says. "She figured you out."
"Clever woman. Too clever for her own good." Elara wipes her hands on her apron. "Though not clever enough to survive, obviously."
The casual admission makes my blood boil. "You killed her. You've been killing Arden mates for two centuries."
"Preventing abominations, actually." Elara's voice stays calm. "Human-wolf hybrids with powers beyond any single species? Do you understand what chaos that would create in our carefully balanced world? The old powers would never allow it."
"The old powers?" Damon asks.
"Ancient beings who've maintained order for millennia. We don't let new species just pop into existence because two people fall in love." She looks at me almost pityingly. "You think you're special, Clara? You're just the latest human stupid enough to believe love conquers all. It doesn't. It never has."
"So you poisoned me. Made me weaker. Ensured I'd fail like all the others."
"I gave you medicine to ease your suffering. The poison was a kindness, quick death instead of the prolonged agony of a botched transformation." Elara moves to her shelves, selecting bottles. "But since you've figured it out, I suppose there's no point in pretending anymore."
She uncorks a bottle and drinks. The air around her shimmers.
When the shimmer fades, she looks different. Younger, maybe thirty instead of sixty… with power radiating off her in waves that make my teeth ache.
"This is what two centuries of collected grief looks like," she says. "Every failed bond, every broken heart, every Alpha watching his mate die, all of it feeds me. Makes me stronger. And you three are about to contribute significantly to my power."
Kael shifts partially, claws extending. "You're not walking out of here alive."
"Neither are you, child." Elara's voice drops to something inhuman. "Did you really think I'd let you interrupt two hundred years of work? The blood moon is in three weeks. Clara will attempt the transformation, and I'll ensure it fails spectacularly. The resulting grief will sustain me for another decade at least."
She moves faster than should be possible. One moment she's across the room, the next her hand is around my throat, lifting me off the ground.
"Let her go!" Kael lunges, but Elara waves her free hand and he slams into the wall, held by invisible force.
"You Arden Alphas. So predictable. So easy to manipulate." She tilts her head, examining me like I'm an insect. "This one's stronger than the others. Might have actually succeeded if I hadn't been dosing her medicine with transformative inhibitors. What a waste."
Black spots dance in my vision. Can't breathe. Can't…
Damon tackles Elara from the side. She releases me to deal with him, and I collapse gasping.
"Foolish beta." Elara's magic throws Damon across the room. "You're all so easy to…"
She cuts off as Kael, freed from her spell, crashes into her. They go down in a tangle of claws and magic.
I force myself to my feet, looking for something… anything… to help. My eyes land on the bottles Elara was selecting. Labels written in language I don't understand.
Except one. Written in English: "Thorne Blood. Emergency Use Only."
I grab it without thinking and throw it at Elara just as she's about to blast Kael with magic. The bottle hits her shoulder and shatters, liquid splashing across her skin.
She screams. Not pain, rage.
"Do you know what you've done?" The power radiating from her fluctuates wildly. "That was pure Thorne essence. The source of my immortality…"
The cottage starts shaking. Books fall from shelves. Glass shatters.
"She's destabilizing!" Damon yells. "Everyone out!"
We run. Behind us, Elara's screams turn inhuman as her stolen power tears itself apart.
We're barely clear when the cottage explodes. Not fire, pure magical energy tearing reality apart for a split second before collapsing back in on itself.
When the light fades, there's nothing left. No cottage. No Elara. Just scorched earth and silence.
"Is she dead?" I whisper.
"I don't know." Kael stares at the destruction. "With ancient beings, death isn't always permanent."
We stand in the clearing where the cottage was, processing what just happened. The witch who's been manipulating Arden Alphas for two centuries is gone. But what does that mean for me? For the curse?
"The medicine she was giving me," I say slowly. "She called it transformative inhibitors. What happens now that I'm not taking it?"
Kael and Damon exchange looks.
"I don't know," Kael admits. "Maybe the transformation accelerates. Maybe it stabilizes. We're in completely unknown territory."
My phone buzzes. Text from an unknown number: "Cottage explosion detected. My offer stands. - M"
Marcus. Even now, he's watching. Waiting to see if I'll choose his path instead.
"We need real help," I say. "Someone who actually knows about transformations without the Thorne family manipulation."
"There's a coven three states away," Damon offers. "They have no connection to the Thornes. Specialize in supernatural transitions."
"How long to get there?" Kael asks.
"Four hours. Five if traffic's bad."
"Then we leave tonight." Kael's voice is firm. "No more secrets. No more hidden agendas. We find people who actually want to help and we figure out how to do this transformation right."
"And if they can't help?" I ask quietly.
He takes my hand. "Then we figure it out ourselves. No more letting ancient witches dictate our fate. No more playing into prophecies designed to fail."
For the first time in weeks, I feel something like hope.
Until I notice my hands. In the fading light, I can see them changing, bones shifting slightly, skin taking on a faint shimmer. The transformation is accelerating without Elara's inhibitors.
"Kael," I whisper. "Look."
He sees the changes and his face goes pale. "How fast is this happening?"
"I don't know. Hours? Days?" I flex my fingers, feeling the wrongness. "But it's definitely speeding up."
"Then we leave now. Damon, get the car. Pack emergency supplies. We drive through the night if we have to."
As Damon runs toward the mansion, Kael pulls me close.
"I won't lose you," he says fiercely. "Not to the curse. Not to ancient witches. Not to transformations gone wrong. We're going to figure this out."
"And if we can't? If the transformation…"
"Then we face it together. But I'm not giving up on you, Clara. Not ever."
I want to believe him. Want to believe that love and determination can overcome centuries of manipulation and magical sabotage.
But as my bones shift under my skin and pain lances through my body, I wonder if we're already too late.
The blood moon is three weeks away. But the transformation might not wait that long.
And without Elara to slow it down, or speed it up properly, I'm transforming blind.
Into what, I have no idea.
But I'm about to find out.