Feral Bonds

Chapter 62

"Oh thank god," Gretchen moaned as Natania shrank in front of them, the shadows drifting away. The wolf staggered and collapsed, fading into her human form. Gretchen ran towards her, stumbling from the weakness in her limbs, until Amani heaved her up, wrapping Gretchen's arm around her shoulder and half carrying her to her wolf.

The rest of Natania's pack went silent, blinking in confusion as they came back to themselves, but Gretchen didn't pay any attention to them as gashes began forming out of nowhere along Natania's skin.

"What is happening?" she whispered.

"I don't know," Amani replied.

Vincent returned to her side, hastily wiping blood off his face. He hadn't really reacted to her power drain, but it must have been painful, considering the others.

"Can you feed her power?" Lily whispered.

Gretchen reached for their bond and bit back a groan of agony. "I've got nothing left." Her magic was spent, and her body burned like she'd been running for three days straight.

"Use this." Keira dropped an obsidian amulet in her lap, then sank to the ground beside them. "Fuck, I'm exhausted." Koda let out a weary whine and collapsed next to her.

Gretchen frowned as she felt the familiar tingle of Natania's power in the amulet, though it felt different, wrong somehow. "What the hell is this?"

Keira closed her eyes and leaned back on the grass. "Her fear. Her backup plan. So you could kill her, if you couldn't pull her back."

Gretchen set her jaw. "Excuse me?"

Keira waved her hand dismissively. "Her idea. Now shut up and put some of that power back into her before she loses to the beast."

"Won't this feed him?" Gretchen growled.

"Your magic," Keira said, without getting up. "You can give it to the wolf."

Gretchen groaned with exhaustion, but grasped the amulet and drew the power into herself, almost gagging at the memories that came with it. "If this doesn't work," Gretchen choked out, "I'm going to stab you for doing this to her."

"It will work," Keira replied. "But good luck getting past Koda."

Koda rumbled with agreement and Keira stroked his chin. Natania's pack crept forward and hovered around her, whining anxiously. Some of their other allies also came forward to watch, but they kept a respectful distance.

"She's hurting," Brady whispered as he shifted, then clutched his head as if it ached.

"She's fighting," Bran corrected.

"But she's losing," Hayley added.

The cinnamon wolf that was Sara came forward and nudged Natania's limp body, licking at her skin. She whined deep in her throat and pressed her muzzle in Natania's neck.

Gretchen bowed her head and put a hand on Natania's shoulder, trying to bring forth the opposite feeling to when she pulled power out of her. It took a moment, like trying to pull a tire through a clogged pipe, but eventually she could feel a tiny trickle of power fading into the wolf.

Lily bit her wrist and pried open Natania's mouth, dribbling blood between her lips and massaging her throat to force her to swallow.

Then they waited.

"Has anyone seen Grace?" Avery whispered. The wolves all stiffened around them.

"Dead," Amani answered. "I'm sorry. So are Rolf, Sam, and several of mine." Amani gritted her teeth. "And there are dozens of injured, more might join them."