Chapter 148 Power Pull-- Esme POV

Chapter 148 Power Pull-- Esme POV
Esme POV

I woke with a start. My eyes flew open, and for a moment I had no idea where I was. Bessi pushed me out of my sleep. What was that for?
“The eclipse is close. I can feel it,” Bessi said.
I stared at the curtains.
I smiled. This was the closest to normal we’d come to. My smile didn’t last long because Bessi’s presence was nervy, almost like someone pacing restlessly.
I got up and walked to the window. The sun had only just begun to rise, painting the sky an overpowering shade of yellow. The sun burned brighter than normal. The powers of the moon’s cycle had emerged.  Zeron lay on his side and snored softly beside me.
“Your powers are growing. It’s the eclipse,” Bessi said.
That doesn’t sound good.
I closed my eyes and focused on my power. It felt like a ball of fire hurling a thousand miles per hour towards Earth. It was so hot and strong. I didn’t know what to think or what to do next.
Bessi whimpered.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.
“Your powers are too strong for me,” she replied. “I can’t handle the heat.”
“What do I do, Bessi?”
“I just want it to stop,” she replied.
“Esme,” Zeron called, his voice thick with sleep. “What are you doing over there?”
He climbed out of bed and ran a hand through his hair. His eyes were still filled with sleep, but when he focused on me, the disorientation vanished. He marched over to me. “Are you okay?”
“I-I don’t know,” I replied. I hated how small my voice came out.
He wrapped me in his arms and inhaled. “You’re burning up.”
“I am?”
“Yes, babe. Sit down.”
“No, I don’t feel sick.” That was the weird part. I felt Bessi’s anxiety and fear, but I felt fine.
Despite my protest, he led me to the bed and made me sit. He pressed his palm to my forehead and my cheek. He reached for his phone on the nightstand. “I’m calling the pack doctor.”
“No! That won’t help.”
“How do you know?” Zeron’s voice sharpened, and I could see the fear masked by irritation.
“It’s my powers. The eclipse is affecting them.” It should go away after the eclipse is over, right?
Zeron took my hands and squeezed. “Esme, the eclipse is hours away! What’s going to happen to you when the eclipse finally arrives?”
I swallowed hard. The fear in his eyes fuelled the uncertainty and fear I had. I touched my cheek and winced. My skin was on fire, but I didn’t feel like a burning fire. How long could I tolerate this? Or was I going to explode?

Zeron dragged me to my biological mother’s chambers. He didn’t let me change out of my nightgown. She wasn’t there. Her husband told us she went out at the crack of dawn. I suggested we search for her somewhere that resembled her home. She loved being out in the open. Somewhere far from anything that could easily catch fire.
Sure enough, we found Reya standing in the middle of an open field all alone, staring out into nothingness. The morning sun hung higher now. It shone unnaturally brightly.
When I saw her, I knew something was wrong. Her hands continuously flexed, her shoulders were stiff, and her expression was blank.
“You feel it too, don’t you?” I asked.
Zeron squeezed my hand.
Reya didn’t bother to turn to look at me. She just kept staring out. Only she knew what she saw.
“Yes…” Reya finally responded.
“What does this mean? The eclipse is nowhere in sight!” Zeron demanded.
Reya turned around to face us. “The sun and moon are in the sky and pulling together each second. It’s affecting my powers too. It feels like lava bubbling under my skin.”
Reya’s powers were way more mature than mine, but Reya was more skilled than I was. She should have been strong enough to handle this, but she looked defeated.
“If I feel like this, Esme. I can’t imagine how you’ll feel as the day continues. Our powers are drawing strength from the sun, but it’s too much. It’s more than either of us will be able to handle. We weren’t meant to have all this power.”
“You’re shifters too,” Zeron barked. “You draw power from the moon.”
Reya shook her head. “Our powers are highly destructive. The whole point of them is to destroy. They’re growing too rapidly for our wolves to fight them. The only thing that could have stopped the inevitable was Kinslee, but she lost her powers.”
“What are you saying?” Zeron demanded.
“I’m saying this eclipse will kill us both. I should have removed your powers when I had the chance. At least I wouldn’t have to watch my only daughter die.”
I gasped, and the world around me slowed to a crawl.
Reya’s words replayed in my mind. My wolf can’t withstand the intensity of the eclipse, and it will kill us. The words were final. No loopholes, but that can’t be possible.
There had to be an out.
“That…” Zeron dropped my hand and ran his fingers through his hair. “That can’t happen.”
“There has to be another way. There’s always a loophole,” I said.
Reya laughed without humour or hope. That shattered my heart. “My sister always says that. My damn sister. She was supposed to protect you. This shouldn’t have happened.”
“We can’t lose hope now. She couldn’t have known this would happen. I’ve known about the eclipse for days, but I didn’t think something like this would happen.”
“It’s too late now, Esme. We don’t know how the eclipse will affect our powers. I think we should leave to protect the pack members.”
Zeron put his hand on my shoulder. “Nope. There has to be another way. We have time.”
Reya exhaled deeply, but she seemed void of ideas.
I wanted to scream. If only there was a way for me to blow my powers into the sky and lose everything. Bessi’s suffering with each second my powers grow. Then it hit me. Kinslee lost her powers, which were even more powerful than the powers of destruction.
“If Kinslee could lose her powers, so can we!” I said.
Reya frowned. “Kinslee lost her powers because she destroyed a curse older than her powers.”
“We have a curse right here,” Zeron said. “The time is now. We’ll burn that curse to the ground. We don’t have a moment to lose.”
“Esme, that might weaken your powers, but there’s no guarantee that you’ll lose them.”
“An Alpha female can contain weakened powers,” Zeron said.
He pulled me to look at him. He held my cheeks in his palms. “I won’t lose you, Esme.”
“Babe, if I die, so do you. I can’t do that to you.” My eyes filled with tears.
“Don’t cry, sweetheart. We’re going to be fine.”
“You can’t promise that. I have to do what’s best for you right now.”
He held my cheeks even harder, as if I would disappear at any moment.
“Rejection isn’t in our story. If we go down. We go down together!”
I can’t watch him die. We’re destined mates; rejection wasn’t possible. It would just end us either way. However, would it be a better way to die than to watch me be consumed by the power of destruction?
“Fine, we’ll try. We have to destroy the curse and free this pack, and I hope that will free Esmeray too,” Reya said.
Zeron took my hands and brought them to his lips. “Let’s go.”
At least we already knew where the centre of the curse was, so we wouldn’t spend what little time we had searching for it.
We marched halfway across the open field when a deep, broken howl cut through the atmosphere and stopped us in our tracks. It wasn’t just an ordinary howl. It was a distress call.
“Something’s wrong,” Zeron muttered.
He gripped my hand. “You have to get back to the pack house where it’s safe.”
“We don’t have time, Zeron,” Reya said. “Look at the sky. The sun and the moon are pulling at each other quickly.”
I didn’t want to let him go, but reality wouldn’t let me.
“Zeron, I have to go, and so do you.”