She turns to me. Fear grips my heart, I want to scream. “Then let’s find out.” She points at me—and Delilah lunges.
Chronomir sighs, already placing his hand in front of Rose, shielding her. Moireth screams, the sound piercing, desperate.
My voice breaks free. “Athanasius! Help me!”
“Be still,” he says, voice low, almost broken.
Delilah growls inches from me, her breath hot and thick, fangs glistening.
“Call her off!” I scream, flinching as her paw pins my shoulder to the kitchen floor.
“Remove your wolf,” Athanasius demands.
Luciara folds her arms. “How much do you care for this human, brother? Enough to kill your own kin? Why not start with her?” She snaps her fingers.
Delilah snarls, her teeth so close to my face I can smell the blood from her last meal. I scream.
“STOP!” Athanasius roars—and suddenly everythingfreezes.
The shadows lash out like vipers, seizing Delilah in midair. She whines, suspended by cords of inky darkness that choke and bind. But he doesn’t stop there. Luciara gasps, clutching her throat. His shadows are wrapped around her too.
“Tell her to change,” he growls, eyes glowing like pits of endless night. “Now.”
Luciara coughs, her light flickering. She presses her hand to her chest. “Delilah,” she rasps, “change.”
The wolf whimpers and begins to shift, shrinking, warping back into flesh and blood, sobbing as she collapses beside me. "I'm sorry, Ione, please believe me, I have to obey, but I would have never wanted to!"
The shadows fall away. Athanasius is at my side in an instant, cradling me in his arms like I’m something fragile, like I’m the only thing that matters. His chest is trembling.
Luciara kneels, coughing. “You care for her more than you admit,” she says, voice quiet now. “Think twice, Athanasius. Think of what your plan will do—to her. To us. To you.”
Silence.
Then a low whistle from the corner. Caspian. He claps his hands once, slowly. “Well,” he says, forcing a smile. “That got dark fast. Let’s all take this to the living room before someone else grows fangs, hmm?”
Everyone slowly disperses, tension still thick in the air. But Athanasius doesn’t move. His arms tighten around me. I can feel the tremor in his body, the guilt, the fear.
He almost lost me.
And for a moment—I saw the monster inside him.
But I also saw the man who chose to stop it.
And I don’t know what scares me more.
Athanasius steps outside with Moireth and Chronomir to speak. Rose, and Caspian are doting over me, and Delilah is still apologizing. Luciara enters the living room, hands clasped in front of her.
"Can you three give us a moment?" She asks softly.
I'm not afraid of her, but I am wary of how far she's willing to go to prove a point to her damn brother. I'm not hurt, just shaken up and shocked by it all.
As they leave, us, Luciara holds up both of her hands. "Please forgive me. I never intended to hurt you, I wanted to make my twin react and see reason. I also wanted to show him what he refuses to see with you."
"Excuse me?" What I want to do is launch myself at her and beat the brakes off of her. Not sure how'd that go though.
"You were not privy to the conversation between siblings much earlier, but, I believe if you'll allow me to explain, things will come into focus. Me having Delilah hold you down was a trick, a ploy to force him to make his move."
Chuckling darkly, I shake my head. "Next time, leave me out of your fucking sibling squabbles."
