“Hold on to her arms,” Tyler barked, but he sounded muffled and far away.
I convulsed. I felt it, but I was only vaguely aware. My wolf howled. I tried to hold on to consciousness, but I was losing focus fast. My wolf ripped at more of the lines, snarling wildly. We have to share power and attack it together, or we can’t win. Without coupling our strength, we wouldn’t make it. She growled at me, still attacking the sea of red in front of her with single-minded intent.
The entire spell meshed together like a honeycomb of lines, and I knew once it coated my mind completely there would be no way out. I pried open my eyes, but my field of vision was completely red. We have to combine our strength now. My wolf stopped biting and focused on me. A slow pulse tingled through my fingertips. No, you have to blast me! Like when we shift to Lycan form. She peered at me through the haze of my mind, tilting her head like she was trying to understand. Her eyes were unfocused and she faltered slightly. That’s why I hadn’t gotten any power from her. This time the spell had affected her, as well as my physical body. It was adapting, getting stronger. If we don’t snap out of it, we die here.
In a single moment, I made a decision.
With the last strength I had left, I blew open the opaque barrier between us. In an instant my wolf and I snapped together as one. My fingernails shot to sharp points and my canines dropped within the span of a heartbeat. Power shot through my senses like a lightning bolt as my muscles coalesced and fur sprang to the surface.
“What is she doing?” Ray yelled, dropping one of my arms.
“She’s fighting it; that’s what she’s doing,” Danny said. “Stand back. This could get ugly before it gets any better.”
On a thread of consciousness I put my wolf in control. As the energy shifted to her completely, she let out a fierce snarl, and as she did it, my mouth opened and I could hear the sound reverberate in my eardrums. It was terrifying.
“Holy shit.” I barely heard Tyler’s voice over the rushing in my ears.
Instead of snapping at the lines, my wolf closed her eyes, gathering as much power as she could to her. I understood what she was doing and, as my muscles pulsed and grew, I threaded all the energy to her as fast as I could. You have to hurry. I can’t keep it up. It’s too much. Her eyes snapped open and she lifted her muzzle to let out another grating howl. The power streamed out of her mouth in one huge mass of energy and exploded through my senses like a fireball. My body jumped like it’d been defibrillated. The power manifested itself in a shock of white and annihilated the red lines like a nuclear blast, racing through my veins, wiping everything clean in a single sweep. As the energy wound its way through every cell in my body, I felt exhilarated.
My eyes flashed open.
It was dark and I was on my back.
The red haze was completely gone. I sat up in my Lycan form, half wolf, half human.
“Jesus Christ, Hannon,” Ray breathed. His voice held both awe and revulsion. “What are you?”
“I’m a Lycan, Ray.” My voice sounded like rocks bouncing around a garbage disposal as air grated over my distorted throat.
Danny stepped forward first. “You turned completely red this time. That was too close for comfort.”
There was movement in the tree line. My head shot to the noise, my senses still on high alert.
My wolf growled and it came out of my throat, loud and scratchy. We were still connected, like two eyes peering out of the same body.
Naomi stepped out of the woods first. She stood in a weak pool of moonlight. I must have been out for longer than it’d felt, because it had gone from twilight to full night. Her steps were tentative as she came near. Eamon approached behind her. From their expressions, it was clear they had both witnessed my episode from the forest. They must have landed right as the spell took me over.
“You were fighting Selene’s death spell. I could tell by the red lines. It’s highly potent,” Eamon said with slight accusation in his voice. “By all rights you should be dead.”
I glanced down at my hands, no longer red but full of claws and smoky gray fur. “I’m clearly not dead.” I stood to my full height, which was considerable. Beating Selene felt fantastic. “And, just so you know, the spell won’t be coming back.”
“She is the strongest of her kind, possibly in the world. You should not be able to rebuff her mastery so easily.” Eamon glanced around, seeming confused. “That spell is made out of her essence, not just conjured. There is no cure.”