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“No!” Kade roars, shoving Guy away.
Guy stumbles back, his warm and loving expression turning to one of outright anger. Appalled, Kade’s fist tighten at his sides and for the first time in his life he feels fear when he looks at him.
“No?” Guy repeats, stepping closer, anger radiating off of him like fire. “What do you mean, no?”
“I mean to hell with the prophecy, to hell with it all! Elara’s in danger, she’s going to risk her life to save Laith from the shifters! I can’t stand here and keep searching for some mythical, magical talisman with you while she might die! It’s not right!”
“It’s not your place!” Guy seethes, his anger becoming more and more palpable with every second.
“Maybe it’s time I decide my own place!” Kade glares at Guy, his skin bristling as he starts to shift.
Before Guy can react, Kade’s running away from him on all fours. His nose to the sky, scenting Elara, he lets out a mournful howl.
Trees pass by Kade in a blur, all he can see is the ground in front of his paws and the setting sun on the horizon. He doesn’t have time to run, he doesn’t have time for any of it. He wishes he could just blink and he’d be by her side, protecting her.
The falls where he saw her swimming so long ago fill his peripheral vision. He remembers watching her laugh and splash. He remembers her floating on her back and staring up at the sky with a smile on her face. Those days were so bittersweet, so innocent before any of this happened. Before Guy made him attack her. Before Guy made him change her.
Before Guy changed everything.
Kade howls again, mourning the loss of innocence as his paws skate over the shallow part of the water. He wants nothing more than to go back in time and swim with her that day, swim with her instead of attacking her. He looks up at the twilight sky, wishing with everything in him that he could do just that.
A growl rises on his right, and Kade has a millisecond to turn and see Guy in wolf form lumbering toward him. The bigger wolf collides with him, throwing them both bodily into the pool beneath the falls.
Kade’s breath rushes out in a woosh as his body hits the icy water. He watches, shocked, as bubbles rise toward the bruised sky high above him as they sink deeper and deeper into the abyss below. He blinks, his lungs starting to burn, and kicks Guy away from him with his back legs.
Guy’s shoved away with the powerful kick and he turns and bares his teeth before lunging again. But where Guy has the size, Kade has speed.
Before Guy can get close enough to bite him, Kade propels himself away and swims as fast as he can toward the surface. As soon as his muzzle breaks water he sucks in an agonizing breath. His limbs feel too heavy as he swims toward the shore, his heart heavier at the thought of disobeying Guy, but he has to do this.
He has to protect Elara.
His paws hit the sandy beach and he’s running, faster than he’s ran in his life. He pauses on an outcropping of rocks, turning to face the falls and be sure that Guy makes it out of the water alright. He watches as the larger wolf breaks water and swims to the edge, his older body struggling against the work.
Guy shifts and crawls onto the sand on all fours. “You can’t do this, Kade!” he cries, sitting on his knees and reaching for him. “This is not your part in the prophecy!”
“I will chose my part now, Guy. I chose to love her, I chose to fight for her, and if that means that I’m the one that has to die for her? So be it!”
Kade howls at the sky one last time, a long, mournful cry that pierces the night. A cry for Guy, a cry for Elara, a cry for the unfairness of this prophecy and all the damage it continues to do day after day.
All the damage he has done in the name of the prophecy.
Everything he’s done to Elara, who he loves more than anything…
All for a prophecy he’s beginning to doubt.
15
Elara
Elara and Kira head back to the dorms to regroup, unsure what to do next. Elara’s explained it's important that Excalibur is found. The problem is with Laith, a life is on the line. How does one choose between one life they're close to and thousands of lives they’ve never met?
As they gather in Elara’s room, Jordyn is there waiting for them. "Everyone’s saying Laith’s been kidnapped. What the hell is going on?" she asks, panic written all over her face. Laith is well-loved by everyone at college. Shy and sweet, always holding the door for people, him missing is having an impact. There are several people out in the hall, talking about it.
Kira shoves Jordyn and Elara inside Elara’s dorm room. "We need privacy," Kira explains, taking charge.
Elara looks at her friend in a new light. Kira has always been quite the firecracker, but just moments ago, she was falling apart because the guy she's practically been in love with since they got to college was taken right before her eyes. Now, here she is barking orders. Elara’s grateful for her friends. Even though they're not supernatural like her, she knows they'll help her through this.
"Okay, what is it?" Jordyn asks. "How can I help?"
