Filed to story: Tangled in Moonlight Unshifted Novel by Lenaleia
She didn’t even have time to scream.
I stumble back, gagging on the smell of her death. The snow beneath my boots is stained with Mira’s blood, and now the air is thick with smoke that carries particles of… of…
I retch, doubling over. Nothing comes up but bile. The magical flames still rage where Marisol stood, but I can’t look. Can’t process what I’ve done. The smell alone tells the story.
I don’t care. I don’t care that I just killed someone. I don’t care that I wanted her to suffer. I don’t care about any of it.
“Mira?” My voice breaks as I stumble forward, falling to my knees beside her still form. Her gray fur is matted with blood, so much blood. “Mira, please.”
My hands shake as I reach for her. She’s still warm. Maybe that means something. Maybe she’s just unconscious. “Wake up. Please wake up.”
The snow soaks through my pants as I gather her head into my lap. “You can’t die. You’re pregnant. You have a baby to think about.” My fingers tangle in her fur, desperately searching for any sign of life. “Please. Please don’t leave.”
Tears blur my vision, falling onto her fur. “Mira, please. You were so kind to me. Wake up. Just wake up.”
But she doesn’t move. She doesn’t respond. Her body grows colder by the second.
“Please,” I beg, my voice nothing more than a broken whisper. “Please don’t be dead.”
Snow crunches behind me and I whirl around, my arm already raised, ready to unleash another deadly blast. My heart pounds so hard I can barely breathe.
But it’s Kellan. Just Kellan and our guards, all of them bleeding and limping toward us with careful steps.
Fresh tears spill down my cheeks at the sight. Blood all over their fur, dripping onto pristine snow. One wolf’s leg hangs at a sickening angle. Another keeps shaking his head, like he can’t see straight.
Not a single whimper escapes them, despite their clear pain.
My gaze darts past them, searching the battlefield. Only three bodies of our attackers lie motionless in the snow. The rest have vanished like smoke.
“Is it over?” The words come out as a broken sob. Mira’s body grows colder with each passing second.
A shimmer of magic ripples through the air as Kellan shifts back to human form. His chest and arms are covered in deep gashes, blood still flowing freely.
“They ran.” His voice sounds rough, strained. But there’s something else in his tone, a wariness I’ve never heard before. His eyes keep darting between me and the pile of ash where Marisol stood. “What happened here?”
I can’t answer. Can’t find the words to explain how I burned someone alive. How I wanted to make her suffer. How her death brought me satisfaction even as it made me sick.
My fingers tighten in Mira’s fur. “She killed her.” The words taste like ash in my mouth. “Mira tried to protect me and that… that monster killed her.”
“Lisa.” Kellan takes a step closer, then stops as if unsure. Blood drips steadily from his wounds. “Who was she?”
“Marisol.” The name comes out as barely a whisper, my eyes dull as I stare at the pile of ashes where she once stood. “She was there—the vampire’s servant. The one who kidnapped me.”
The smell is everywhere. Blood. So much blood it pierces through the crisp winter air, making my stomach turn. The pristine white landscape ahead is no longer—violent arcs and puddles of blood mix with churned patches of snow, depicting the aftermath of battle.
The sled slows as we approach. There are a few unmoving wolf bodies on the ground. They aren’t ours.
Except one, further off, surrounded by Lisa and the others.
“Lisa!” My voice cracks as I jump off the sled and rush toward my best friend. She sits motionless, the head of our fallen wolf in her lap. “Are you okay?”
It must be Mira she’s holding.
My guards fan out around us, creating a protective circle. Vanessa rushes to the nearest injured wolf, her medical supplies already in hand. Not sure what she can do for what’s clearly a broken leg, but this is her field of expertise.
Mine is… well, I don’t know.
First, checking on Lisa. Then, figuring out what the hell we’re going to do.
“I’m fine.” Lisa’s surprisingly calm, but it doesn’t seem right. More like she’s detached from reality. There’s no emotion, no sense of self in her words. Lifting her arm, where her brace glints in the light, she says simply, “She didn’t stand a chance.”
Who? Mira?
Another betrayal?
No. Selene’s voice is clipped and tight. These ashes were a body once.
Oh.
So Lisa…
Killed them.
Good riddance.
Yes.
But there must be something wrong, because Selene seems upset.
I’m not sure yet, but they smell wrong.
Kellan, naked and bleeding, shimmies into some clothes he pulls from the sled, watching Lisa with a surprising amount of caution.
Pressing a hand against Lisa’s shoulder with a gentle squeeze, I slip by her to kneel beside the ash pile. Strange magic tingles across my skin. The residual energy almost makes my teeth ache. Is it from Lisa’s brace? Or from the owner of the ashes?
Marcus stands near Kellan.
“Seven missing,” Lucas’ beta says, his deep voice carrying easily. “We aren’t in shape to chase them down.”
Of course, the hotheaded part of me wants to declare that we’re uninjured and we can do it. But that would be stupid. We need a better plan.
“What does Lucas say?”
“Reinforcements are on the way.”
Pointing at the ashes, I change the subject to what’s bothering me the most. “This wasn’t a wolf, was it?”
“No.” Kellan glances at his mate, who’s just stroking Mira’s head, oblivious to what’s happening around us. “She says it’s a woman associated with the Mad Prince. She was there during her captivity. His ally.”
My stomach twists into knots. The Mad Prince. A name I’ve pushed to the back of my mind since Lisa’s return, buried under an avalanche of—well, so many things. He wasn’t supposed to be part of our present anymore. Old news.
Has he been searching for her this entire time? For me?
Damn it.
Even if he was, it’s unlikely he would have found you since you learned to shield your powers. But I don’t think this was a vampire. Probably a thrall.
“A thrall?”
I don’t smell vampire, Selene confirms. Just blood magic and death.
Grimoire materializes beside me in his child form, crouching to examine the ashes. “Blood magic lingers past death. This one was under an immense level of control—likely one of his favorites.”
Lisa mentioned Marisol. This must be her. Unless it’s another one.
“How many thralls does he have? Do you know, Lisa?”
She continues stroking Mira’s fur. “I don’t know. He apparently collects them like toys, but they don’t survive long. I was lucky, because he was out looking for another one. No idea if he found her.”
Sister Miriam might know, but she’s impossible to reach.
We haven’t heard from her in months. I don’t even know if she’s alive.
Lisa’s vacant stare pierces my heart as she continues stroking Mira’s fur, lost in her own world. My knees sink into the snow beside her, but she doesn’t acknowledge my presence.
“Lisa. We need to get you somewhere warm.”
No response. Just that mechanical petting motion, over and over.
“Please.” I touch her shoulder again, squeezing gently. “You’ll freeze out here.”
“She told me this morning.” Lisa’s voice cracks, barely a whisper. “About the baby. Her last present from her mate. He died, too.”