The Mouse and The Wolf - Chapter 61: Chapter 61

-Arch-
I stayed awake the entire night. For one, it was a full moon, and our kind never slept much that night. Two, we were in constant danger, and even though I wasn't feeling sick anymore, I was still restless and anxious and worried. And three... I couldn't stop thinking about the spirit Aurora was carrying with her. Who was it? Could it really be...? No. The idea of Jack Thorn considering me as his mate was just absurd. It was not possible. Had he ever even talked to me? I wasn't sure if he even knew my name!
I let out a deep sigh, trying to move my legs a little. We all stayed in our wolf forms and slept on Oliver's bed as a big bundle of fur. Oliver was sleeping at least, using me as his pillow. I tried my best not to wake him up while wiggling around. Oliver moved and muttered something in his sleep, before squeezing Jaden harder as if he was his favorite plushie. Poor Jaden was almost strangling in his mate's hold. He looked at me like he was begging for help, but I only snorted at his distress.
Tilly had the best place to sleep all for herself. She was snoring away, comfortably lying behind Oliver, back to back. Those two had taken most of the bed for themselves, while Jaden and I – the biggest of the bunch – had only a little room. At least I was next to the wall, but Jaden looked like he was halfway on his way to falling off the bed.
Oh well, as long as Oliver got his goodnight's sleep. The kid definitely needed it after a few days of complete madness. He was still taking everything pretty well.
I shivered when I thought about what would've happened if Jaden hadn't accepted Oliver. The Shadow Walker would have him now. Although, the reason why the enemy wanted Oliver was because Jaden did accept him. Poor kid. He truly was born under very unfortunate stars.
I let out another sigh. I really wanted to know what Rayleigh and others were doing about the Shadow Walker. It was frustrating to stay put and just wait it out, not knowing anything about what was going on... I wanted to be there and help, but no... Suddenly we weren't the mature adults everyone expected us to be. Instead, we were just a bunch of puppies that needed to be protected, hiding in the safehouse.
Seventeen... What an annoying age.
Later I heard Aurora start making breakfast. When the smell of bacon started flowing into the room, Tilly woke up. She lifted her head up, sniffing the air, and finally moved to lay on her stomach. Our noses were only an inch apart, so I snorted at her. She yawned and licked my cheek, wagging her tail lazily. Jaden let out a muffled growl – probably because he was left out – so Tilly leaned over Oliver to nibble at his ear. All Jaden could do was growl quietly. I assumed he didn't want to wake up Oliver, otherwise there would already be a wrestling match going on on the bed.
Tilly kept teasing Jaden, and his growl turned frustrated since he couldn't defend himself without waking up his mate. Soon, Oliver started waking up anyway. Both Tilly and Jaden froze as he began moving, letting out sleepy mumbles. He eventually released his death-grip on Jaden, who lifted his head up, and turned to glare at Tilly.
She was in big trouble now. She tried to act all cute and innocent, rolling over on her back and wagging her tail, but Jaden leaned over Oliver, showing his teeth with ears pinned back. Tilly let out a whine but Jaden replied with a growl, and when she moved, Jaden responded by snapping his teeth sharply right next to her throat.
"Guys..." Oliver muttered with a tired chuckle, trying to push Jaden off him. "Good lord, it's hot in here..."
Tilly tried to say good morning to Oliver, but Jaden wasn't letting her up. Oliver placed his hand on Jaden's nose, making him look at him.
"Why are you being mean to Tilly?" he scolded Jaden.
Jaden whined loudly, turning to glare at Tilly, who was smirking at him.
"Are you suggesting that Tilly was behaving bad?" Oliver asked, scratching him behind his ear. Jaden nodded, still glaring at her. "Nooo..." Oliver breathed out dramatically. "She would never! She's such a good girl!"
Tilly barked, and Jaden snapped his teeth at her, growling lightly.
"Hey! No fighting!" Oliver said when the two of them started biting each other over him. Neither of them was listening, so Oliver sat up, pulled himself closer to me and crossed his legs. "How are you?" he asked me.
Not as energetic as the two morons who now had more space to be morons. I rested my head on his knee, letting out a deep breath. He gave me a small smile and scratched the back of my neck.
"Everything will be fine," he said quietly.
I hesitated for a moment, before I lifted my head up and licked his cheek, making him chuckle. This guy had been through a lot, and he still had enough kindness to share with everyone else. I rested my head back down on his knee, trying to push out all the bad thoughts and the fear of danger from my head and just enjoy the attention.
But it wasn't easy.
As time went by, I started to feel increasingly exhausted because of the constant warnings I was feeling. It got to a point where I couldn't stand being around people, because of the noise they were making. I had a bad headache, and even quiet conversations made me irritated. At some point, I had to step out to get some fresh air.
I didn't bother putting my jacket on when I told Aurora I'd step outside for a moment. When the door closed behind me, muffling the sounds, I sighed in relief. The silence sounded amazing. The sky was filled with heavy clouds so the sun wasn't there to hurt my eyes, and I didn't mind the cold.
I stared over the yard without actually seeing anything. I tried to focus on the warnings, but I was constantly bombarded from every direction, making it hard to single out any of them. Danger was lurking everywhere...
I didn't want to be the Diviner. It used to be such a handy skill, but now it was driving me crazy. Before this all started, I could use that sixth sense to win in battles, even against Jaden or Tilly because I knew where and how they would attack. I could sense a deer that was about to jump in front of our car. I could sense a weak spot in the ice that covered our lake. Hell, I could even sense snow that was about to fall from a roof. Jaden, Tilly and I easily avoided getting into trouble because I knew exactly when we had to make a run for it, whatever we were doing.
That was the ability I wanted and missed. Not this... As if it wasn't enough that I could feel the danger I was in... Every single person in our pack was in danger. Every single person in our town was in danger. And every single one of them was a danger to me. It was literally everywhere, and it was growing worse, and worse, and worse, and I...
I was so close to losing my mind.
The door opened behind me, and Aurora's scent filled my senses.
"How are you holding up?" she asked quietly, closing the door.
I shook my head, taking a few, deep breaths. "Could you just knock me out until this is all over?"
"That bad, huh?" she muttered, and I turned to look at her. "I'm sorry for intruding, but I'd rather not let you be here all by yourself. And I think the little one wanted me to come after you."
"Little one?" I frowned.
"The spirit," she smiled. "When you stepped out, I... I think I could feel his worry."
"I'm his mate..." I muttered, shaking my head. "I have no idea what to think about that... I feel... guilty. Like what happened to him is all my fault. I don't even know his name..."
"It's Jack."
I almost jumped by the familiar, but unwanted voice. Both Aurora and I snapped our heads towards the sound of footsteps. It was Jack, stopping in the middle of the yard. He was smirking at us.
"How did you get here?!" Aurora hissed at him, and I realized the gates were still closed and locked with heavy chains.
"Hold still," Jack said, slowly raising a gun at us, and not just any gun. I had never seen one in person, only pictures of it. It was made to fire glass bullets that contained liquid wolfsbane. Death by those was slower than with silver, but more effective since the poison was harder to get out of our system.
The door behind us flung open, and Jaden and Tilly barged out, but Jack pointed the gun at them, making disapproving noises.
"Don't even think about it," he said slowly, making my friends stop.
"What the hell do you want?" Jaden growled at him, halfway changing his form into a wolf.
"I just decided to drop by to fulfill my promise to an old friend," Jack said with a smile.
"You won't get out of here alive!" Tilly hissed at him.
"True," Jack said, pointing the gun at her. "Then again, I haven't been alive in years."
"That's not Jack," Oliver whispered by the door.
"You're Henry," Aurora spoke, trying to push us back inside, but none of us moved a muscle. "I won't let you hurt any of them! You will die before you can pull the trigger!"
I could hear growling by the gates when her hunters gathered around. One of them was still in human form, trying to open the lock in a hurry. Still... There was nothing they could do. Jack – no – Henry had enough time to pull the trigger once, maybe even twice, before any of us could stop him.
And I couldn't sense this.
"Old friend?" I asked to get us some time, trying to keep my voice calm. "Who might that be?"
"Oh, he's here. I can hear him beg..." Henry said, letting out a laugh. "You shouldn't have angered me, Jack."
I didn't need to be the Diviner to know the bullet had my name on it. When Henry moved, I leaned in to push Aurora away so she wouldn't get any poison on her. I knew Henry would pull the trigger on the next second. That I could sense.
But at the same exact moment when my hand touched Aurora, something bright and blue flashed around us, sending Aurora on her knees, and I could hear someone yelling, "NO!"
I turned to look away and saw a glimpse of Henry, who was suddenly jerked back by some invisible force just when he fired the gun. Something scraped my arm, but I was so full of adrenalin that I barely noticed it. Jaden and Tilly launched at Henry in their wolf forms as the gates opened behind him, letting a swarm of Blue Moon hunters in.
In a heartbeat, Jaden reached Henry, rushing into him so hard he flew a few feet backwards before being slammed onto the ground. I saw Jaden biting his teeth into Henry's shoulder, making sure he wouldn't be able to even lift the arm, not to mention use the gun again.
"No! Don't kill him!" I could hear myself yelling, but at that moment, everyone was forced back when a massive, black wave of smoke erupted from Jack's body.
'You insolent brat! That was the last thing you did!'
The voice I heard inside my head was dark and sinister. The dark smoke gathered over Jack's immobile body, and I could see a dozen shadowy tentacles impaling it.
'You are coming with me – I'll make you pay for everything you've done!'
The shadow was now retreating, pulling something out of Jack's body. In the darkness, I saw something small and purple glowing dimly in Henry's grip.
"No!" both Aurora and I yelled when we realized the small ball was Jack's spirit. All that was left of it.
Jaden and Tilly with the rest of the hunters were circling around the body, unable to get close enough to attack because the shadow was slowly rising up in the sky.
"Don't take him!" Aurora screeched, but Henry laughed at her.
'Say goodbye to your little hero, Diviner. He loved you so much he gave the last of his life to save yours,' Henry spoke to me.
"You are not taking him anywhere!" I was pushed aside when Oliver rushed out of the door, looking mad as he stared at Henry. "Cedric!"
'It's about fucking time.'
Once again, I was nearly blinded when something bright flashed right next to me. When my eyes finally worked, I saw a young man on the top of the stairs. He wasn't much taller than Oliver, and he definitely didn't look like any of the spirits I had seen so far. For one, he was pure white, and two, instead of the mists around him swirling peacefully, he looked like he was standing in a thunderstorm.
'And what's your name then, brat?' Henry laughed at him.
'It's Cedric, bitch,' the guardian spirit spat at him a second before he launched himself at the shadow.
I couldn't see much else than bright flashes up in the sky, and them both, the shadow and the spirit, yelling profanities at each other. I was halfway turning into a wolf, but for some reason, I couldn't make a full transformation. I felt so powerless, but then I remembered Jack's body. The black smoke was clearing out, so I hurried down the stairs to him.
When I got to him, his eyes were wide open, but they were staring into nothingness, without even the smallest gleam of life in them.
"Jack?" I shook him gently, but he didn't react. His body was completely limb, like he was... dead.
I turned to look up in the sky, where Cedric and Henry were fighting. One of the flashes was so bright I had to look down to protect my eyes. I was met with Jack's unseeing ones...
It was true... Oliver was right...
"Jack?" I breathed out his name. "I'm sorry..."
'FUCK!!! OFF!!!'
I turned my gaze back up just in time to get blinded again, and this time the light was so bright I really did go blind for a moment. I could hear Henry yelling in pain and anger and every other negative emotion, but then, silence fell upon us.
It took me a while to get my vision back, and by the time I finally could see at least something, Cedric was returning back down, and Henry was nowhere to be found.
"Cedric!"
Oliver dodged Aurora, who tried to stop him, and ran down the stairs to his guardian spirit. Tilly and Jaden came to me and quickly turned into humans again. They both stared at Jack, looking shocked and speechless.
"Cedric?"
'I'm sorry – there's not much of him left,' Cedric spoke, and I saw him holding a tiny purple something on his hand.
"No..." I breathed out when I realized it was Jack's spirit.
"No!" Aurora ran to Oliver and stopped to stare at Jack's spirit with tears in her eyes. "Oh, baby..." she whispered, trying to touch the spirit, but it suddenly vanished. "No!"
I felt numb. I had never felt so goddamn numb as I did at that moment.
"It's all right. He's with you now," Oliver told her. "He didn't vanish – he's in you."
'You need to take care of him,' Cedric told her, before he turned to look at Jack's body. 'His body will die if we don't do anything.'
"What do you mean?" I asked, turning to look at Jack. His shoulder was bleeding, but it couldn't be enough to kill a werewolf.
'Without a spirit, he will perish,' Cedric explained, making his way to us.
"What can we do?" I asked weakly.
'I can possess him.'
"Do it," Aurora said before I could. "He has to survive."
'Sure,' Cedric said, turned into a mist of light, and vanished inside Jack's body.
A few seconds later, Jack – Cedric – took in a deep breath, and slowly sat up while I helped him.
'This body is broken,' Cedric told us. 'Not badly, but... There's a lot of wounds as well.'
"Arch, what is that?" Tilly suddenly spoke, and all eyes were on me. On my arm, to be exact.
"I think I got shot," I muttered, staring at the blue goo that was all over my clothes.
Tilly hurried next to me, grabbed the sleeve of my shirt and pulled it up. "No!"
I had a big wound on the outer side of the arm, covered in tiny shards of glass. And it was soaked in wolfsbane. I looked up at Tilly, feeling weak and sick all of a sudden.
"You're poisoned," Aurora breathed out. "Go get Rayleigh, now!" she yelled at her hunters, her voice filled in fear.
"We need an antidote," Jaden said with a shaky voice while Aurora rushed to my side.
"We must hurry," she said. "You don't have much time."
Her words were not really sinking in as I stared at the wound.
I was dying.