24

Power sang in my veins as Kael and Maris circled me like predators stalking wounded prey. But I was no longer wounded I was awakened, transformed, connected to forces they couldn't begin to comprehend.

"Last chance, Selene," Kael called, his voice carrying across the battlefield. "Surrender now, and your new friends might survive what's coming."

"Counter-offer," I replied, silver fire blazing brighter around my hands. "Withdraw now, and you might survive what I've become."

Maris laughed, the sound sharp and artificial. "Arrogant as always. Do you really think your borrowed power can stand against proper magical training?"

She raised her hands, and dark energy began to coalesce around her fingers not the natural pack magic I was familiar with, but something that reeked of corruption and forced enhancement. The grafted channels in her arms pulsed with sickly light as she prepared her attack.

"This isn't you," I said, trying one last time to reach the woman who had once been my closest friend. "Whatever he's done to you, whatever he's promised "

"He promised me everything you had," Maris snarled. "Title, power, respect. And when I help him reclaim you, I'll have it all permanently."

The dark energy lashed out like a whip, striking the ground where I had been standing. But I was no longer there the awakening had enhanced my speed beyond human limitations, letting me dodge attacks that should have been impossible to avoid.

My counter-strike came instantly. Silver fire erupted from my hands, forming barriers that deflected Maris's follow-up spells while I assessed the situation. Behind the two of them, Kael's warriors were forming into assault formation, waiting for their leaders to subdue me before launching their main attack.

I couldn't fight three hundred enemies and win. But maybe I didn't have to fight them all at once.

Power flowed through the ritual channels Moira had carved, connecting me to every living thing within range. The Nightshade wolves on the walls, their heartbeats synchronizing with mine. The very stones of the mountain, humming with geological energy. Even some of the Bloodfang warriors, their natural pack bonds creating vulnerabilities I could exploit.

"You feel it, don't you?" I called to the assembled armies. "The connection. The power that flows between all wolves, regardless of pack loyalty."

Several Bloodfang warriors shifted uneasily, their weapons wavering as they sensed the supernatural forces building around me.

"Eclipse Covenant magic," Kael spat, recognition dawning in his fevered eyes. "I should have guessed. The lost bloodline, thought extinct for good reason."

"Not lost," I corrected. "Just sleeping."

I reached out through the awakened connections, touching the minds of every wolf within range. Not to control that would have been an abomination but to offer them choice. To show them what they were really fighting for.

Images flashed through the battlefield like shared dreams. Maris's betrayal, revealed in all its calculated cruelty. Kael's obsession, displayed in memories of the night he had cast me aside. The intelligence networks that had led to so many deaths, the systematic deceptions that had made this war inevitable.

Several Bloodfang warriors lowered their weapons, horror dawning on their faces as they saw the truth their leaders had hidden.

"Lies!" Maris shrieked, dark energy lashing out in all directions. "Illusions meant to weaken your resolve!"

But the damage was done. Doubt rippled through the Bloodfang ranks like poison, creating gaps in their formation that had nothing to do with military tactics.

Kael saw it too, and his face contorted with rage. "Enough games," he snarled, drawing a sword that gleamed with its own malevolent light. "If I can't have you willingly, I'll take you broken."

He spurred his destrier forward in a charge that should have trampled me into the ground. But instead of dodging, I stood my ground and let silver fire explode outward in a dome of protective energy.

The impact was tremendous. Kael's enhanced blade struck my barrier with force that should have shattered mountains, but the Eclipse Covenant power held. More than held it reflected the attack back at him, sending both horse and rider tumbling across the battlefield.

Maris screamed in fury, pouring everything she had into a spell that turned the air itself into weapons. Dark energy formed into spears, swords, arrows, all of them aimed at my heart.

I caught them all in silver light, holding the deadly projectiles suspended inches from my skin. Then, with careful precision, I transformed them into something else entirely healing energy that flowed out to touch every wounded wolf on both sides of the battle.

"Stop fighting each other," I called, my voice carrying across the entire battlefield. "Look at what your leaders have cost you. Look at what they're willing to sacrifice for their personal ambitions."

More Bloodfang warriors stepped back, their loyalty cracking under the weight of revealed truth. But their battle-mages remained committed, weaving spells that turned the very ground into quicksand, trying to trap me in place while Kael recovered.

I sank into the earth up to my knees before the awakened power flared again. Silver fire didn't just free me from the trap it transformed the spell into something beneficial, turning poisoned ground into fertile soil that bloomed with wildflowers.

"Impossible," one of the battle-mages breathed.

"Not impossible," I corrected. "Just awakened to what magic was always meant to be."

The Eclipse Covenant hadn't been warriors in the traditional sense. They had been healers, builders, wolves who used their power to nurture life rather than destroy it. But they had also been formidable when threatened, capable of turning any attack into something that served their purposes instead.

Kael hauled himself upright, blood streaming from a dozen wounds. "You think this changes anything? You're still one wolf against an army!"

"No," said a familiar voice behind me. "She's one wolf fighting beside an army."

I turned to see Darius leading a charge of Nightshade warriors down from the compound walls. But they weren't alone several dozen Bloodfang wolves had switched sides, their weapons now pointed at their former packmates.

The revelation of truth had shattered Kael's force more effectively than any military strategy.

"Traitors!" Maris shrieked, dark energy lashing out at the defectors. "I'll kill you all!"

But her spells met silver barriers as I interposed myself between the fleeing wolves and their former leaders. The Eclipse Covenant power wasn't just about personal enhancement it was about protecting those who couldn't protect themselves.

"This ends now," I announced, gathering every scrap of awakened energy. "No more lies, no more manipulation, no more war over personal obsessions."

Silver fire erupted skyward like a beacon, visible for miles in every direction. And with it came a choice that every wolf on the battlefield could feel in their bones continue fighting for leaders who had betrayed their trust, or lay down weapons and seek a better path.

The response was immediate and overwhelming. Weapons clattered to the ground as Bloodfang warriors surrendered, their loyalty finally broken beyond repair.

Only Kael and Maris remained defiant, dark power swirling around them as they prepared for a final assault.

"If I can't have you," Kael snarled, "then no one can."

The spell he began weaving was pure destruction, designed to kill everyone within a hundred yards regardless of their allegiances. But I was ready for him.

Silver fire met dark magic in a collision that lit up the sky like a second sun. And when the light faded, only one of us remained standing.