Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 29

The ear-splitting howl sends the streets into a panic, surrounding us in the symphony of screams from the already paniced civilians. My ears slant back, triggered by the running bodies as my vision flickers to the concentrated gaze of a lycan. The sleepy district begins to crumble, there was little to offer for protection down here with the heroes busy wrangling Caspian's people.

It would be difficult to get police visuals, we were far from any Artifice but that also meant very little protection for the civilians who lived here. The only thing standing between them and Verando would appear to be me. Much as I had to protect them from him, I needed to guard him from retaliation.

I use every ounce of my strength to call my wolf back to me, grounding myself on all four paws. It was the first time I'd been truly conscious in this state, despite being shoved to the back seat of my mental control. The creature shakes his scruff, unwilling to allow me any sort of input in our decisions. The chill of the enhancer rolls down my legs, into my paws, flexing my toes as frost forms beneath my feet. 

This seems to startle the wolf, he jumps back, flashing his teeth at the frosted street. Foggy breath appears before the tanned muzzle, the enhancer reeks havoc on this foreign body. A wolf was never meant to weild ice.

"You're going to need my help. We've taken a pretty powerful drug." I warn the creature, struggling to stay at the surface. It didn't want to speak to me, though it guarded it's motives, it seemed intend on keeping it's focus on the silver werewolf.

On two legs, the were-beast steps out of the depths of the shadows, looking more like a wolfman than the lycans I'm used to. Baring his fangs, he snarls at us, coat bristled and muzzle dripping the deadly poison that would convert any being it touched into one of the extinct wolves. 

Before I can stop him, my wolf barks back in response, a challenge to the creature. It wanted to draw him to us, to keep him focused on us.

"Are you insane?" I mouth in my head. "He'll kill us."

But I could hear the thoughts clearly. Better us than them. At the end of the day, this was a version of the man that I loved, I would have to think much more broadly, I would need help as well.

Leading the werewolf towards us, I feel the deeply ingrained fear causing my heart to race. As a human, we'd been told stories of these beasts, mythical though they were in our time as well. My father had chosen werewolves for their low status after the great wars with the vampires. Hunted nearly to extinction, there were so few left when we cursed them. Childhood stories could not prepare me for the response my body produced. 

Werewolves fed on humans, they were feral, savage, something that would not be reasoned with. It was in my very DNA to fear them, to retreat, for only vampires had been able to contend with them.

 Ice spreads from my paws into the cracks of the streets, I'm not equipped to control my magic in this form, it chills me to my core, and yet I feel as though I might burst from the heat mixed in from the lycan side. My wolf feels unstable, quivering in my bones, he must be chilled much as I often was when I was at my strongest. 

I form an ice barrier on the street, circling us as the beast shrinks away and roars at the spreading ice. Displeased, it would seem he was as unamused by the ice as my wolf was. Blasting a gust of wind in all directions, I send the streets patrons out of harms reach. They might be scuffed and bruised, but they were further away from us.

The tattered white shirt begins to sag, threatening to fall off his shoulders as he steps towards me. Verando was unrecognizable, there was no hint of the Alpha or the man I knew in this being. With a snarl, he lowers his body, poised to strike. I take a step back, reminding myself that I couldn't hurt him or harm him, we had no idea how this would affect my current husband.