Liam Wolfe's Arc

Chapter 5 of 10

The hunters were gone, but Liam could not stop shaking. He led Luna to his den, a small cave tucked under soft stone and trailing green. Warm lantern light spilled from the door. Inside, he sat on the cold floor and pressed his back to the wall. "I won," he said. "But only because you held the ground. If you'd been a step slower, the wolf would have taken me. And you." Luna knelt across from him. "Then we fix it. Tonight." Luna Thornwood was the witch bound to him at birth, drawn to him by the full moon. She was his fated mate. But they had never trained together. They had only fought, side by side, guessing at each other. That guessing had almost gotten her killed. "We don't know each other's rhythm," Liam said. "Your magic. My breathing. We've never matched them on purpose." "So we match them now," Luna said. She did not soften it. She took his hands and set them flat on the stone. "Feel the roots under the floor," she said. "They run to the willow. When I pull them, you'll feel it." Liam closed his eyes. He breathed in the way Luminara had taught him. In. Hold. Out. Luna pressed her palm to the ground. A low hum moved through the rock. He felt it climb his arms, steady as a heartbeat. "Now the hard part," Luna said. "I want you angry." She struck a match and lit a shard of iron by the door. The smell hit him. His spine burned. Fur pushed under his skin. The wolf clawed up his throat. "Don't fight it alone," Luna said. "Match my pull." The roots hummed faster. Liam breathed to the beat of them. In as she gathered. Out as she released. The two rhythms locked together. The heat in his chest cooled. The fur sank back. He opened his eyes. He was still a man. But this time it felt different. He had not leaned on her. He had moved with her. "Again," he said. Luna lit a second shard. They ran it four more times. Each time, her pull and his breath found each other faster. By the last, he barely needed to think. Luna sat back and wiped her forehead. "That's a rhythm," she said. "Now it's ours." Liam flexed his hands. The wolf was quiet, held not by force but by two people breathing as one. "When they come back," he said, "we won't be guessing." "No," Luna said. "We'll be ready." Then the floor trembled. Not from Luna's magic. From outside. The roots carried a warning up through the stone, sharp and cold. Luna's face went hard. "Iron," she said. "A lot of it. Close." Liam stood. Their teamwork was no longer a hope. Tonight it would be tested for real.