Page 66 of Charmed, I'm Sure
Her hands snap out and grab each side of my face. Before I have a chance to say anything, I’m thrust into a vision. I feel us hit the ground,the only thing grounding me at the moment.
I see Miles, smiling his big, bright smile as he helps this elderly woman with a knowing glint to her eyes. I watch as he teaches young wolves how to transform. Like a kaleidoscope of memories, I watch this in flashes. These are all the moments I assume led him here. Him sitting over a map of the country with tons of notes sketched across it. He was looking for something.
I see years and years of him scouring the map in search of something. I can feel his loneliness, his need to figure out what is calling him away from everything he’s known. He didn’t know what it was, just that it was out there, and he needed to find it. His yearning was an almost physical entity sitting with him each day. It flashes forward to recently, when he finally figured out where to go; his elation is flowing through him.
Images flash of his coming here, moving into the guest cabin, and the moments right before he opened the door. He knew the second his eyes locked on mine that I was his mate, but he saw the fear, felt the trepidation, and chose not to say anything. He knew even then that I wasn’tready for fate discussions.
He laughed through every hex, loving that it meant I was thinking about him, and even looking forward to what I would do that day. Through it all, he stayed true to himself while he patiently waited for me.
As if someone hit the fast-forward button, it’s a few years from now. I never gave in to him, but he still shows up every single day. Still patiently waits for me, living contentedly in at least being near me.
One day while he’s out running in the mountains, hunters spot this beautiful amber-colored wolf, and shoot him. He doesn’t have a chance to run away, or save himself.
Sobs rack through my body as I watch him, bleeding into the snow, but the only thing he is thinking about isn’t himself…no, it’s me as I smile at him from over a book I’m reading. Even till his last breath, he still loves me even though I never gave him the same love.
I watch in horror as the two hunters cheer and high-five each other as they walk over to his beautiful wolf’s form lying still in the snow.
“Fuck yeah man, look at that coat. It’s going to fetch some serious coin in the market.”
“No!” I shout at them. “Don’t you dare fucking touch him!” They can’t hear me. But it doesn’t stop me from reaching for them. From pounding on their backs as they squat down over his body. Nor when one of them flicks open his knife and makes the first cut. I scream and scream.
My power surges out of me, ripping me out of the vision. Like an explosion, purple and black fog pours out of my body, covering everything around me as I lean back on my legs, screaming into the universe.
“It was one thing for you to take me, I was willing to accept my fate,” I shout to the darkening sky. My power surges even harder as the images flash behind my eyes. His beautiful coat matted in blood.
Stuck between the visions and reality, I can’t determine what is real and what isn’t real. I can hear someone shouting, but it’s not coming through to me.
“I knew from a young age that my life was never going to include children, husband, and laughter! I gave my life up for my fate!”
The purple and black fog is covering everything around me, like a snow globe of my own demise. I can’t stop it, I want to destroy everything. Fate can’t have him. They can take me, I’ll gladly go! But you can’t take the sweetest man I’ve ever known. You can’t take the only person who’s shown up for me day after day.
Elora’s scream rips through the air, her body convulsing as The Weaver keeps his hold on her. My magic wraps around her, holding her as much as The Weaver is. Her scream is endless, rattling everything, even the roots of The Whispering Pines. The barrier is rattling, frantically strobing in a ray of rainbow lights.
As if it’s trying to contain my power, as much as hold me together. But I can’t be held, can’t be contained. Not anymore.
The vision burns behind my eyes, Miles’ blood staining the snow, the hunters’ laughter cutting through the night. My magic answers in kind, flooding the clearing in a storm of black and purple fog, searching for the one person it’s determined to protect.
Like a living creature clawing at the world around me, I can feel it seeking him. I can feel it crawling across the ground, checking each nook, around each tree. There’re animals shrieking, but it’s not looking for them. No, there is only one person it’s looking for, and nothing will stop it.
“I’ll pay the price!” I roar into the sky. “Take me, curse me, kill me—” My throat burns, the tears streaming down my face. “Not him. You can’t have him! The world deserves a person like him; he lights up everyone’s world. Don’t take a sweet, beautiful soul because of me. I’m willingly giving myself to you!”
The ground trembles beneath us. Both Elora and I are stuck staring at the sky as our powers push against each other. The trees bow away from us, unable to stand against the surge.The barrier shrieks as cracks splinter through itsglow. I’m unable to contain myself any longer. My magic isn’t under my control; it’s a beast of its own. Unraveling, devouring, and destroying anything in the way of my goal.
But—through the chaos—one voice rings strong. Desperate, breaking through the storm surging around us. He came. I can feel my magic caress him, accept him.
“Bellamy!”
Miles
The forest is alive tonight, every shadow thick with magic, every howl echoing sharper than usual. The pack is far larger than I expected for such a small town, but they all have welcomed me with open arms and put me right in the center as we take our Midnight Run. My paws pound against the cool dirt, the wind breezes through my fur, while lungs burn. There’s nothing more freeing than being in my wolf form and running through the woods. It’s moments like this that truly feel peaceful. When Milo runs, I just enjoy the ride.
But something is tugging at me, somewhere deep in my soul. I can’t seem to let go tonight like I normally would. Something is holding me in this moment, not allowing me to relax.
Through the haze of the run, it hits me like a blade between the ribs. Her fear. Her pain. She’s shattering.
The bond that I’ve tried so hard to not spook her with seizes me by the throat, ripping me out of the run. I can’t stop it when a howl rips from my throat and my body lurches out of the pack. A howl comes from the front, my Alpha hearing my plea.
I run as fast as my legs can carry me, almost floating across the ground. My heart is beating hard against my chest as she continues to scream in pain and fear. I sprint harder, what could be hurting her inside the protection of the barrier? She said she would be reinforcing it in the thirteenth hour! My eyes shoot up, checking the full moon's position, and it’s exactly where it needs to be. Did she notmake it in time? Did something come through?