Traded To The Lycan King

"Why is this fucking place so big?" I growl to no one as I sprint through the dying trees and over the once lush green moss under their canopy. How much further must I go to find her? Every ticking second feels like agony as panic and fear trickle down my spine, reminding me how much I fucked up by not listening to her thoughts on Ezrah.

Howls break in the distance, victorious, and for once this wretched night I feel a slight release of tension in my shoulders. I am not entirely sure what the hell is going on, but I see the dragons flying overhead, almost as if they are lost, unsure of where to go or what to do. Lily is dead, she must be. How she met her end, I do not know, but there is no world in which we would win if she still had her control.

But even that thought does nothing to quell the painful stabbing in my stomach. All it does is make the pain burn hotter, an uncontrollable pain like the feeling of loss. One where pain fades to a bleak future of nothing but loneliness and wanting to die. Shit, I need to move faster.

The woods before me explode in light, my arm coming up over my eyes, shielding them from the onslaught. The trees sway in a warm breeze that grows more steady, a warning of what is yet to come. It feels like my lips are sticky as I try to lick them, giving them whatever wetness I have before forcing my heavy legs to propel me toward it.

"No," I groan, the staggering feeling of despair washing over me. "No!"

The words are nothing against the roaring heat and the cries of agony. It can't be Colette. I would feel the loss of her. I would know if she was gone. So I do the only thing I can do. I shift and I run blindly into the light, knowing I will find her even if it brings me nothing but death.

The heat grows painful, my fur singing, the scent stinging my nose as my skin's rapid healing abilities rage against the blisters forming, trying to heal as fast as we burn, only to fail. Then, with no reason or indication of why, the earth shakes, my feet cool as tiny drops of water rise from the ground. My gaze shifts and I see her.

It's as if the world ceases in a moment of time, the way sound ceases and the water seems to hang in the air. Colette lifts into the air, a large wave forming before her as if a tide is rising and she is riding it. Her fingers seem to glow, her hair going translucent as if she is the water. And then, her wolf appears, her clothing swirling away in the water that seems to grow taller, wider. A vast liquid wall rising to protect us all.

try to reach out to her through the mind link only to find myself blocked, as if I am underwater. The sound

sending a cascading array of tiny rainbows over Percy, who fights off a dragon of a smaller stature,

water, seeking the refuge of the lighthouse's guidance to shore. She is glorious as she grows larger with every passing beat of my heart. If she sees me, she doesn't show it. She is too wrapped up in what she is doing to care about the world outside of her

grows between her and Giselle. The heat rapidly turning the water closest to it into nothing but a steam that rolls up to the sky and over the

Colette whispers, her face appearing from the water, her frame immersed and her eyes swirling a vibrant blue as she reaches for me. My lycan touches her and her exhaustion nearly knocks

grabbing hold of her, pulling her close to my chest. The cool temperature of it wraps around me, like a current, protecting

need?" I ask Colette, my lips brushing

stroke the wet locks from her pale face, giving her every ounce of strength and healing I can manage

she whispers, her body shaking as she tries to give me a weak

have all of me," I remind her, and press a kiss to her

and ready to protect us until the end, if needed. "Hopefully not much longer," I murmur, squinting through the swirling waves at Giselle, who still burns in a

He says, giving a nod to me and Colette. "If I

clamoring to its feet and racing toward us. Percy intercepts it, but the wolf lowers its head in submission and then shifts, revealing a tired-looking