I am Wolf
Chapter Thirty - Six

ATLAS

The moment I see Kris go down and the rogue go for his jugular, I instantly lose my mind, screaming out his name. I can barely think straight. I leap towards him without even thinking, ‘How the fuck, where did this rogue come from.’ My mind races as I lunge forward to rip the wolf from him.

The moment I hear his guttural scream followed by silence, I know it’s over before the wolf even gets off him. The gut-wrenching rage that starts to flow instantly has me unleashing a vice grip of my power around the rogue; without even blinking, my arms suddenly swing out to either side of my body, the rogue’s body immediately being ripped into two, landing far away in opposite directions from me as I launch his severed corpse body through the air.

My eyes land on Kris, and my body goes numb. I suddenly fall to my knees beside him, his silent form, the blood. Fuck!

Screaming out at the top of my lungs, I feel the lack of oxygen burning its way to my soul, my eyes stinging with tears as my chest constricts in pain. My best friend, Kris, fuck. I’m scanning his body for any signs of life, but I’m not an idiot; I know he’s gone, yet I can’t bring myself to believe it.

A sudden flash of Kris and me growing up together as kids has me swinging around to face Lisbon, an illuminating force or rage tearing from me like a cyclone.

My anger instantly falls short the moment I see Lisbon inside a force field on top of Sasha, and at that moment, it feels like being punched in the gut twice.

I’m instantly running toward them, but I can feel the dark power of the force field. I can’t penetrate this one even if I wanted to. I’m screaming at Lisbon, my entire body buzzing with anger, but it’s the sudden panic I feel inside of me that scares me. Power blue rays from my body begin thrashing against the force field, again and again; the powers deep inside me keep beating against the force field, tears crippling me. I can’t think; the feeling of Kris lying dead behind me is weakening my strength. He’s dead; it’s my fault. He’s dead because of me.

My powers are doing nothing against the force field, but I won’t stop; I can’t stop. I don’t even notice the army of rogues descending on us until one nearly collides with me, jumping back. I instantly glare at him, his canines extended and his eyes feral. He’s about to attack when my energy suddenly explodes into him, glaring at his limp body as it hits the ground. I’m panting as I glare at him, adrenaline fueling this feeling I’ve never experienced before. Swinging my head back to look at Sasha, I roar as I push more energy into my power as it crashes into the force field. I’m not going to allow Lisbon to take her from me; I can’t; I’ve lost too much as it is. It’s then that I notice the she-wolf run straight into the force field; either she’s sacrificing herself or doesn’t know it’s there, but she’s instantly catapulted back as she cries out in pain.

My other boys, Liam, Noah, and Caleb, are fighting off the rogues somewhere to the left of me; I can sense them covering my back; our whole plan has gone to a ball of shit, all because of me. I wasn’t focused enough on the job at hand. My mind was on Sasha, and it clouded my judgment. Now, my best friend is dead, and our princess is about to die at the hands of Lisbon. I fucked up so bad; this is all on me.

The next thing I know, Sasha’s up on her feet, and my body freezes; when I see her eyes, it’s like an ice pick rips at my chest as my jaw drops in horror. Her eyes... The white of her eyes has been replaced with black, menacing purple eating away at the life as fine black crow lines spread from her eyes outward.

She doesn’t even look like herself at all, and I know straight away what Lisbon has done. She’s infected Sasha with darkness, and it’s eating away at her light.

I’m suddenly shouting for Sasha, for her to fight it. To fight the darkness. I don’t know if she can even hear me, but I can’t give up. I’m attacking the force field with all I have, blue electric rays cascading down against it like an electrical storm.

Out of my prereferral vision, I suddenly see that same she-wolf come catapulting towards the force field again, but this time in her wolf form. Does she have a death wish or something? She’s running straight at it again like a tornado; is she crazy? I go to shout stop! When suddenly she explodes into the force field, crashing her entire body against it like a self-detonated bomb, she is crazy.

The moment she does, the entire force field suddenly shudders and shakes, her body is instantly electrocuted, and she’s launched across the air. I try to look back, but I’m instantly surprised when I see a gap in the force field. Wasting no time, I attack that one area with everything I have, tearing at it with all my might. I’m in so much pain, my limbs and arms feeling shaky, but I can’t stop, I can’t stop, I can’t stop...

The moment Lisbon loses her grip on Sasha, I’m right there to take advantage of her weakness within the force field, and the moment she realizes the tear in her wall of protection, it’s too late; I’ve already begun ripping it open.

I’m fighting with all I have; there’s nothing else, no other way. I’m getting Sasha out of there, even if it kills me. I suddenly feel my boys right there with me, fighting against the force field, projecting their energies at it, pulling at it with their powers, tearing at it with me as a team. Lisbon is losing her grip on it; she’s losing her grip on Sasha.

The moment the force field finally busts open, something suddenly explodes from Sasha like a catapulted rocket, knocking Lisbon down to the ground, her ass hitting the dirt as she skids across the field. Sasha looks at Lisbon, nothing but cold, hard, numb emptiness in her eyes. Shaking her head, she suddenly says,” No.” Her voice sounds dark, not like her at all.

Lisbon’s brows furrow as she stares at Sasha from a few feet away. Caleb wants to advance toward Sasha; he’s trained to retrieve, but I suddenly hold my hand up to him as I shake my head.

“Don’t, just wait.”

Lisbon snarls at Sasha but then quickly gets back up onto her feet,

“Give me what is mine; I order you by the power of darkness...” She snaps at her in infuriated rage. Tilting her head, the purple in Sasha’s eyes becomes predominantly darker; growling deeply, she suddenly bares her canines at Lisbon. “I said no.”

Lisbon’s eyes widen in rage as she comes at Sasha, her bony claw-like fingers ready to attack her. I’m about to lunge forward when suddenly Sasha lets out an ear-piercing scream that has everyone shielding their ears, including Lisbon, as she stumbles back. What the fuck was that?

And at that moment, something incredibly dark begins to vibrate from Sasha; my eyes widen as I watch it take hold of her.

Liam, Noah, and Caleb are still keeping a protective force field around us; the only thing at this point is keeping the snarling rogues out. When Sasha suddenly turns to face the chaos, her eyes darken even more. She moves towards the rogues so quickly that it’s almost a blur. When she abruptly stops, she lifts her hands up and begins to tear our force field down like it was nothing but weightless air in her way; the force of it knocks all four of us down to the ground, and all four of us gasp as our jaws drop.

Liam looks over at me, and I can see the shock on his face when he says,

“How did she just do that?”

I don’t get a chance to answer him because, in the next breath, she walks past us towards the chaos of the rogues coming straight at us. And if I wasn’t seeing it for myself, I probably wouldn’t believe it ever happened. My jaw just drops as I watch her suddenly tear into the rogues like a hot knife through butter; I mean, is that how someone explains the process of ripping through rogues in this fashion? I don’t know.

She’s ripping them to pieces one at a time; it’s an absolute bloodbath massacre, and we’re just sitting on the outskirts staring at the unbelievable sight before us.

I momentarily look back to see Lisbon just standing there, staring at Sasha. Even she’s in shock, almost as if she didn’t realize the true power that has been unleashed in this girl, and now the fact that she can’t control it suddenly has her panicking.

By the time I turn back to look at Sasha, she’s just standing there, dead rogue corpses scattered around her in pieces like a graveyard. Her entire body is covered in blood, in their blood. I still can’t believe it.

She has this bewildered, lost look of darkness in her eyes as she stands with fists by her sides, a shaking mess. I instantly get up and slowly move closer to her; after what I just witnessed her do, I should be terrified of her, but I’m not. She just gutted a rogue army single-handed like they were nothing, and yet my body is being drawn to hers like a beacon.

The moment I’m standing right in front of her, Sasha turns to face me, and even with the darkness inside of her eyes, I can’t help but be drawn to her; my hand gently touches her cheek as it wipes away at some of the chunkier pieces of blood-caked against her face. Looking her in the eyes, I suddenly whisper, “This is not who you are.”

At that moment, she gulps, a sudden shudder running through her body as she grips me by my throat in a flash. I’m startled by the action, yet I don’t move away. Even though she is much shorter than I am, her strength still takes me by surprise as she begins to squeeze. The black voids in her eyes are being controlled by the purple swirls of darkness in them; I can feel her body vibrating as her grip tightens even more. Instead of pulling away from her and fighting back, I slowly lean more into her hold, my eyes suddenly piercing hers.

I’m not scared of her eyes; I’m not afraid of what I see. The sparks dancing across my skin where she’s touching tells me there is still hope; she isn’t lost to me yet.

My hands lift up to cup her face; the electric blue radiating from me to her earns me a small gasp from her lips. The moment my head dips, my lips suddenly touch hers; I kiss her without even thinking it through; call it instinct, call it madness. But the moment the warmth radiates through my body to hers, it’s as if something shakes at her core, and the moment I feel her kiss me back, I pull her entirely to me.

Time stands still in that moment as my tongue dives into her mouth, the warmth of my blue rays of energy branching into her as it starts to push the darkness back. Her tongue slides against mine, an illuminating source of energy I’ve never felt before beginning to burst through us.

I’m the first to break the kiss, pulling away slowly. My eyes land on hers, and my breath hitches in my throat the moment the green and blue swirls stare up at me, the innocence and radiating beauty of her true self suddenly right there like it never left. It worked; kissing her pushed the darkness back. I can’t believe it actually worked.

Her brows slowly knit together as she touches her lips with her fingertips, and I’m suddenly worried when she clenches her jaw; ‘What is she thinking?’

The moment she pushes hard against my chest and mutters, “Don’t touch me.” I’m instantly shocked as I scoff.

Well, you’re welcome to save your life.

She’s about to say something as she parts her lips; her words suddenly get stuck in her throat as a gasp explodes from her, her eyes widening in shock as she stares at me; her grip on me tightens as her entire body spasms. I’m holding onto her, my own eyes widening in shock; ‘What’s wrong with her?’

Sasha suddenly collapses in my arms as her eyes slide closed; it’s then that my own eyes meet the sinister look of Lisbon as she’s crouched down on the ground a few feet away, her hand resting against a large rock.

I frown questioningly for a moment, but the second she lifts the rock, the horror of what I see almost has me choking on the air around me.

“What have you done!?” I shout out at her in shock.

“Her powers are too strong to control, and no one should have that kind of power.”

The crushed pieces of the Moldavite stone are scattered across the ground, and as Sasha’s body suddenly goes limp in my arms, my eyes shoot down to her.

“Sasha! No- no- no...” My knees suddenly buckle under the weight of the horror before me, pulling her against my chest; I bury my face against her blood-covered hair. “No, please, no...”

My mind vaguely registers Liam, Noah, and Caleb going after Lisbon, but everything seems out of focus. I was meant to protect her; my purpose and reason for being alive was to keep her safe, and instead, I’ve allowed her to die in my arms.

My entire body tenses as tears suddenly sting my eyes. Fuck, what have I done?

“Atlas?” A woman’s soft voice suddenly startles me; the moment I look up at her, I instantly recognize her face. I can’t help the tears suddenly flowing down my cheeks as my eyes lower back down to look at Sasha.

“Edith, please... help her...”

Looking down at Sasha’s lifeless form, I suddenly feel broken inside. How could I let this happen? This is all my fault.