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The first screech in the grasslands as a wolf chose its victim tore through me.
I cried out as my thundering heart threatened to smash through my ribs.
I grew faint.
I couldn’t cope with so much emotion.
Such raw death and despair.
Stop...
I clawed at my suffocating chest as Natim bleated.
I tumbled onto Darro.
He didn’t move. Didn’t breathe.
The fawn wriggled against me, seeking shelter from the upcoming slaughter.
Pressing my forehead to Darro’s bare belly, I begged him to wake. I clutched at the wolf pelt around his waist, pleading for him to open his eyes.
If he woke, Salak would stop.
If he was okay, the alpha would spare those who were now his enemies.
But I sensed no life, no power, no shadows.
Only death.
Death all around me.
Death about to explode in a rain of blood as the wolves hunted down their prey.
Stop...
Lida screamed, wrenching my head up.
Salak stood over the fragile girl, his eyes locked on hers as if imprinting her face, forever remembering the female who’d hurt his friend.
He reared up.
His bloody fangs glinted in the moonlight.
And my heart stopped beating beneath the bitter contempt from both sides.
Malevolence and malice.
Revenge and ruthlessness.
And the mindless, heartless faith that both were right. Both were justified in hate and horror. Both vindicated and victimized by what each other had done.
Their hate broke me apart.
It choked me.
Killed me.
Despair drowned me, pushing me deep, deep, deep.
I cried out as I gave in to the sickening darkness, on the edge of passing out.
But there, in the eternal blackness, the first nudge of true power found me.
A power that felt so similar to the strength I felt rippling through Darro whenever he summoned his shadows. A power that I’d already sampled when I’d open my heart and spirit to commune with Natim, Syn, and Kiu.
That power cradled me, welcomed me, chastised me for waiting so long to find it.
It was hot and white and blazing.
With a rush of comfort and clarity, it unfolded from its forgotten prison, bleeding through my mortal form in a burst of golden light.
I cried out as raw, resplendent power cast through the night, enveloping every mortal and beast at war.
I sensed them.
Every single one of them.
My glow expanded, encompassing each and every lifeforce.
I became them.
Was them.
I could touch every heartbeat, stroke every spirit, soothe every tattered pulse of their fear.
The unexplainable sensitivity that I shared with animals suddenly snapped into awareness, bridging a gilded link to every wolf and Nhil hunter in the grasslands.
I stiffened at the shock of it, the strangeness of it, the beauty of it.
I looked down at my glowing skin, shimmering sunny luminescence on Darro’s still unmoving form.
And I knew what I had to do.
I think I’d always known.
I’d just forgotten.
Like everything else.
“Stop...”
I closed my eyes and fed the word through the bond.
“Stop.”
A hitch, a flickering.
“STOP!
All of you.
Stop!”
The world paused.
Salak whipped around to face me, his yellowed eyes narrowed on where I kneeled beside Darro. Lida panted on the ground, pinned between his giant paws, her face white with terror.
But she was alive.
Still alive.
The sounds of running feet and chasing paws all stilled. Death hesitated, listening to me with respectful ears.
With a heavy breath, I climbed to my feet and spread my radiant hands.
My skin pulsed with a scintillating glow.
Locking gazes with the alpha, I gave him a gentle smile, all while pushing as much power as I could through the bond.
“Enough.”
Salak shook out his fur, snapping at my silent command.
Lida trembled and cried by his feet.
The shudder of relief from countless Nhil hunters rippled down my spine, followed by the taint of disappointment from the wolves.
“Come here.”
I lowered my head, never taking my eyes off Salak.
“All of you.”
My skin blazed brighter as I sensed their obedience.
Slowly, surely, incredibly, mortals and wolves slunk from the grass, lining up side by side, all facing me, breathing hard and blood streaked. Lida stood beside Salak and Tral wobbled beside Zetas.
All tamed and listening.
I trembled as I balled my blazing hands.
Darro didn’t wake, even as my light continued to pour over him. Syn licked my foot with her sand-coarse tongue, and Natim nudged my knee with his tiny head.
But I never took my eyes off Salak.
It was him I spoke to.
He who would determine what would happen next.
Slowly, he padded toward me.
He stood to his full majestic height, his spiral horns overshadowing me, his tail straight and stiff behind him. He licked his bloody jowls and stared hotly into my spirit.
We were locked together, diving into each other, learning each other, becoming each other in ways I couldn’t describe.
I felt his authority. I respected his reign and sovereignty over his pack. And in turn, he felt me. He tasted my awed disbelief that I had this power and licked at my shock that I’d forgotten what I was.
He snorted as if laughing at my unknowing. He nuzzled my chest with his nose as if scenting my heart and everything I hoped to remember.
