I watched Hannalee collapse and, were Travis not next to me to hold me back, I would have immediately run to her side. Power began to radiate off of her, causing discontent to rise among the pack. I could feel the pain she felt, the burning of the power. I wanted to go to her, to tell her to stop so she wouldn't feel such pain, but I had to let her do it.
Her decision to agree with me on reuniting the realms had practically been a declaration of war to the people who had raised her, and there was no way either of us would survive without doing this.
One by one, I watched my pack members falling to their knees, the power surging from the earth, into each of us, forcing our shift, just as we predicted that it might. Seconds passed of each of us shifting, over 18 wolves as tall as humans and twice as wide, filling the clearing and howling loudly. Some howl their discomfort, while others howl their excitement. One howl leads to another, soon triggering a chain of howls, ending with my own. Mine was at the suffering of not being able to help my mate. I don't know if she even noticed her own shift, as she lay on the ground, her body limp as pain engulfed her. She screamed in pain, a wolfish scream, a cross between a howl and a snarl, as she changed. And, finally she fell unconscious. There was a shaking in the earth, violent tremors sounding with rolls of thunder and screams in the distance. I was sure there were other packs feeling the effects of her magic as well.
I felt unsure of whether this would work or not, but I didn't have the time to care. Just as the magic began to subside, another wave exploded into the clearing, as 3 humanoid figures appeared, all donning black clothes.
Hannalee had explained how the protectors could alter time and space, a form of teleportation, when they needed to escape. She said that it was likely the way they would try to remove her, by teleporting into area and ending her life quickly. But we were prepared.
Immediately 3 wolves leapt at the 3 figures, 2 of whom were dead in seconds. The third figure stood, surrounded by several wolves now. A fourth figure appeared, standing right over my unconscious mate, a large blade raised above their head, ready to slam it down and end her life, when I launched myself at the person.
I slammed the person to the ground, my claws breaking through fabric and skin, and I recognized the bitter smell. I bit at the mask, ripping the fabric, not caring that I had scratched her skin, and looked down at Ravena. She glared up at me, venom in her gaze.
"Release me!" She screamed, and moved her arms before realizing that she had dropped the blade.
She couldn't reach my head, thankfully, so she couldn't try to screw with my memories, something else we had all been warned about, and I had time to look back at my mate.
She stay laid on the ground, the blade having landed on the ground just a few feet away from where she was.
"You beast! She can't be allowed to do this!" Ravena spat.
Part of me hated this woman, knowing that she was Hannalee's mother and yet she was about to kill her own daughter.
'Too late' I thought to myself, wishing she could hear my thoughts, just before I snapped down and did the only thing I could do. My fangs pierced her throat, breaking through muscle and trachea, cutting off her air flow, her lungs filling with blood. She would be dead in a matter of seconds, but I wished for her to suffer longer.
I knew that Hannalee may resent me for my actions, but not as much as she would hate herself for letting things get to this. I wished that I could hide this particular part of tonight, but it would only be a matter of time before she found out anyway. No matter what happened, I would be there for Hannalee, I wouldn't let her take any suffering on her own.
Alpha Travis approached me, looked at the body beneath me, then back at myself.
'You hesitated' he pointed out.
Had anyone else pointed it out, I probably would have snarled at them, but it was the alpha, and I couldn't risk agitating him.
'This is my mate's mother' I spoke quietly, hoping I didn't wake Hannalee with my mental words.
'I see. You're mate will likely be greatly hurt. But don't worry, we will all help her through it.' he reassured me.
I would have given him a weak smile if I were in my human form, but as a wolf, all I could do was nod my acknowledgment.
I left the body of Ravena and went over to my mate. It took all of my strength to shift back to human, wiping the blood away from my mouth with one of the torn shreds of cloth, then stroked my hand down her soft fur.
She stirred softly and her body began to shift back to human. Her body trembled as it shrunk and changed shape, reforming her beautiful human appearance. I felt over her soft skin as I eased her into my arms.
Her eyes fluttered open, then closed them again, before fully opening them. She smiled up at me stiffly, and I felt how badly her body ached.
"I did it" she said, her voice hoarse.
I smiled at her "Yeah? That's great."
She reached a shaky hand up and touched my face, looking around my mouth, no doubt wondering about the blood.
"Some people showed up for you. But we kept you safe."
"Then why do I feel such sadness?" She asked, picking up on my own remorse.
"Because I had to hurt someone… close to you..." I managed to say, before easing her to face the still warm and bleeding corpse of her mother.
"M-Mom..." The tears were already falling by the time she managed the words.
"She had a blade to your head. I had no choice" I gestured to the blade on the ground, just a few feet away from us.
The tears were falling in a steady stream, squeezing my heart painfully. I wished I could ease her suffering, anything that would make her smile up at me again.
Death was common for wolves, since there were many territory fights that ended in it, but family was always the hardest. And, not only was she dealing with a family death, she also had to accept the fact that her mother had been killed while trying to kill her.
I held her against me as she cried, quickly elevating into sobs as the wolves around us howled a sad howl, using the packs shared mind to take some of her suffering and release it. They may not have felt her the way that I did, but all packs shared some level of feeling, in order to protect ourselves. And now, they were protecting her, not only physically, but also mentally.