Arron Liken's Arc

Chapter 7 of 11

Arron tied Morgan's wrists with the string from her own bow. He left her sitting against the temple steps. His shoulder still bled. His thigh throbbed where the arrow had torn. But the pain was not what worried him. When he had shifted to save Lilly, the wolf had come fast and left slow. Even now, part of him still growled inside his chest. His two halves would not settle. They pulled in different directions, like two dogs on one leash. Lilly knelt beside him. She pressed a cloth to his shoulder. Her yellow eyes searched his face. "You're shaking," she said. "That's not the cold." "The wolf won't lie down," Arron said. "It never fully does. Human or wolf, I'm always half the other. I can't hold both as one." He looked at the temple doors, carved with the moon. "Selene made me for you. But how can I guard you when I don't even own myself?" Lilly took his bloody hand. "Then stop fighting them," she said. "You keep choosing one and shoving the other down. I've watched you do it all day." She pressed his palm flat against his own chest. "Feel both. Don't pick." Arron closed his eyes. He listened to the growl. He listened to the man's fear beneath it. For the first time, he did not silence either one. He let the wolf's strength rise while he kept the man's steady mind. The two currents met. They did not fight. They folded together, like two streams becoming one river. Heat rolled through him. His hands changed halfway, claws sliding out, then stopped where he willed them. Not man. Not wolf. Both at once, held by choice. He opened his eyes. He could smell the fern on the broken arrows across the stone. He could hear hunters moving far off in the pines. And he was still himself, whole and clear. The moon carved above the temple doors seemed to brighten. A warmth touched his brow, gentle as a hand. He knew the goddess watched. The bond she had forged now ran clean through him, no longer snagged on his split nature. He felt the tie to Lilly pull tight and true, a thread he could finally grip. "I feel it," Lilly whispered. Her hand tightened on his. "The bond. It's real now. Before it was loose. Now it holds." Arron let his hands soften back to a man's. He stood without stumbling. His halves stayed quiet, settled at last. He was one thing now, and that one thing was hers. Then Morgan laughed against the steps. "Sweet," she said. "But listen." Arron listened. Horns sounded across the valley, one answering another, drawing closer. Victor had spread the word well. "They're coming," Morgan said. "All of them. Whole and bonded won't matter when they surround this temple." Arron looked at the pines. The horns did not stop. His bond was won. Now the whole valley marched to break it.