Pippa closed her eyes. The wolf spirit within her went into him. I closed my eyes and followed. Where I went, I wasn't expecting what I saw. The two were pups again and they were playing in a field. Pippa tripped him with her large paws and Pete grinned crookedly, tongue hanging out as he bounded towards her. He stumbled over his own paws, but the two rolled over each other in the grass. Though in wolf form, their joy was evident. Both grinned and whimpered in excitement until the air cooled. They stopped in the next second and lifted their heads to gaze at the far corner of the woods.
An older woman in black garb floated out of the trees. She held a long arm with a finger pointed to them. As a spell started to spew from her mouth, I lunged at her. Black eyes widened and whirled to me before I fell on her. All her battles were won or lost through words and magic. I grinned in enjoyment as I wrapped both hands around her neck and lifted her head free. The fight was over. Her body slumped to the ground, both pups breathed in relief, and her head melted in my hands. It became a puddle of black gunk and I dropped it in disgust.
I felt Pippa's approval, but was back in my real form the next moment. She was still bent over his body. The air sizzled with relief instead of despair and I breathed more lightly.
Roane grasped my elbow and frowned. "What just happened?"
"I have no idea." I smiled at him. "But I think it was good."
He cast a concerned look at the two wolves. "Are you sure?"
"It's for the best. I promise."
Pippa looked up now. She brushed tears away. "Everything's better now. She can't touch him again."
"Mother Wolf?"
She jerked her head up in a nod. "That was her inside him. She was trying to come back in and fix him. She underestimated you." A laugh sputtered from her. "Who knew you could do that? You stopped her, Davy. Thank you."
Pete still lay on the ground unconscious. He had curled into a fetal position.
"Is he going to be okay?"
Pippa shook her head. "I have no idea, but I'll take him back with me."
"To school?" Alarms went off in my head. If Emily went back there too, how would that go?
"No." A grave look entered her eyes. "I'll take him back to my family. I won't be returning to Benshire again."
"Huh?"
"I come from the old wolves. We want to remain hidden. We don't want to war against the vampires. We'll never win. That was her agenda for the last hundred years, but now that the Alpha doesn't exist anymore, we'll make our stand. You shouldn't have to worry about us anymore."
When she turned to leave with a determined glint in her eyes, I was taken aback. There was fierceness in the female wolf that I'd never witnessed before. She was like a new person, but one that I already respected.
"How are you going to move him?" But as I asked, the words died in my throat. Wolves emerged from the shadows surrounding us. Their green eyes glowed in the night. I jerked forward, but Roane caught my arm. He pulled me back.
He murmured in my ear, "They're allies."
"How do you know?"
"She called them."
"Pippa?"
I whirled back to where she was greeting one of the larger wolves. He had shaggy grey fur. His old age was evident, but his eyes looked through me. In wolf form, he towered over Pippa. He would've stood a foot higher than even the Alpha's wolf form. As more wolves moved to the unconscious w
olf, a sense of ancestry filled in the air. I felt it surrounding us and knew it came from them. They were old, wise, and strong.
I was grateful that they had chosen the side they had. If we had gone against them, I wasn't sure who would've won.
Pippa turned back and approached with the older wolf beside her. Pete had been transported away. Fresh tears filled her eyes when she stopped before me and then she threw her arms around me. As she hugged me tight, she whispered, "Thank you so much, Davy. For everything. I don't know what we would've done if you hadn't helped us."
All this because of the essence in Pete? That was all they needed from me?
She smiled. "We didn't know it was possible to separate it from him. If we had and if I'd been more certain that you were the Immortal, I would've asked you right away."
"What?"