Letting go of Vanessa’s wrist, I lowered my gaze to my throbbing chest, capturing the sight that had her so distressed. My skin was more than melted. Natasha’s fire had burned long enough to carve small craters into me, exposing things one should never be able to see. Golden embers somehow still shimmered through the layers of my skin.
“Hannes!” Alyce gasped, reaching for me when I fell forward.
A new wave of scorching heat attacked my chest.
My fingers impaled the snowy ground as I fisted my hands, and my entire body strained to hold on. Natasha’s fire raged, fighting back against the Vampire blood trying to heal me because I, the Iron Prince, was its greatest conquest, and it wouldn’t let me go so easily.
Fight it, damn it!
“Aaargh!” A roar escaped my mouth as my mystical nature took over.
I wasn’t just a Wolf Shifter, and I sure as fucking hell wasn’t just our race’s prince. I was the son of the greatest supernatural warrior, the Iron Knight, one created by the Moon Goddess herself and sent to the human world to protect not only our shifter race but all humans.
She’d gifted me with indestructible power too, so no, I was not going down like this because like my father before me, I was alsothe Beast.
Patches of white and soft brown fur swiftly erupted along my skin while a ripple of cracking bones effortlessly reshaped my body, causing Vanessa, Alyce, and Dante to stagger away from me. Not because they feared what I might do to them, but because they knew exactly what was coming.
Turning into hindlegs, my legs extended and bent as the rest of my body transformed. My muzzle formed, canines sharpening and protruding with the development of my werewolf head.What was left of the white suit enchanted by Dante was torn to shreds.
My obsidian claws curved dangerously from every finger while another roar erupted from me, feeling the cavities in my chest fill once more with the strength stolen from me by Natasha’s flames. Muscles regenerated, nerves awoke and reconnected, and new flesh stretched over me, mending the once-burnt patches.
I stood to my full height, lifting my face to the moon and unleashing a howl of pain, uncertainty, and motherfucking werewolf rage.
“Well done, fur boy. I didn’t doubt you for a second,” Dante praised as though I were a pup, needing his reassurance.
Panting, I opened my eyes again, only to find Natasha and D fully engulfed in her blue fire while hovering in the middle of the night sky.
Exchanging a shocked glance, Dante and I lunged into action.
“André!” Vanessa dashed towards the beach with Alyce by her side just as Dante vanished into the shadows, reappearing by the shore the next second.
Urgency gripped my every stride, and I jumped clear over structures, gardens, and even the loyal Vampires still fighting the RavenWolves who had somehow made their way onto the private island with Arnoldt, only to be left behind as a distraction and collateral damage.
I landed on the sand next to Dante a few seconds after him, my gaze meeting his to find our mate writhing in pain in D’s arms. Raw fear cut through our shadow link immediately.
“Dante! Where are you?”D shouted.
“We are down on the beach, waiting for you to come back.”
“Natasha needs your healing, her fire started hurting her too.”
No!
D’s fear swiftly captured Dante and me, both painfully aware of what her power could do, just as he began to lower her. Dante immediately readied to receive her, shadow bands charged with healing magic swirling around his fists, but Natasha pushed D off her with her awakened Vampire force the next second…
Then, she began falling.
Before I could react, her fire exploded in the sky, making her briefly hover while her body glowed with bright blue flames that danced off her skin.
“Are those…?” Words failed me as I witnessed something that shouldn’t be possible.
“Wings of fire,” Isis breathed, reaching Dante, Vanessa, Alyce, and me by the shore.
Our stunned gazes connected briefly, and I caught the clawed gashes on her neck and chest healing, the blood drying on her skin.
Natasha’s fire wings flapped once, twice, as though tasting freedom for the first time, golden embers sputtering out of them with each movement. The sight entranced me, and I sure as hell wasn’t the only one.
We all looked up, speechless, while her form floated in the sky like a goddess, until the fiery power fueling her amplified. It abruptly exploded out of existence, taking our mate’s consciousness with the blast.
