Page 29 of Hexmate (Widdershins Supernatural Academy #1)

Chapter 29

Caden

M y blood ran cold as my father’s words cut through the night air. I kept the vines steady around Rowan, whose eyes now bulged with terror as he looked between me and Damien.

“Mr. Cromwell,” Rowan gasped. “You came! I did what you asked—I found him!”

My father didn’t even glance at Rowan. His piercing blue eyes—so similar to my own—remained fixed on me, calculating and hungry.

“Father,” I said, the word feeling foreign on my tongue. “I wondered when you’d show yourself.”

A small smile played at the corner of his mouth. “My son. Look how you’ve grown into your power.” He gestured to the writhing vines that held Rowan captive. “Impressive. Though your methods lack... finesse.”

I felt Atlas shift beside me, his body tense and ready to spring. Through our bond, I could feel his primal protective instinct surging. I sent him a silent warning to wait.

“So, you’re the one behind the curses,” I said, keeping my voice steady despite the rage building inside me. “Using Rowan as your puppet.”

Damien waved his hand dismissively. “Rowan is merely a tool. A rather desperate one at that.” He looked at the struggling student with disdain. “Did you really think I’d reward you for doing the bare minimum? Finding my son wasn’t the challenge—molding him was.”

“Molding me?” I tightened the vines around Rowan, who whimpered pathetically. “Is that what you call sending someone to terrorize me? To try to assault me?!”

Atlas growled low beside me, his shoulders broadening slightly as he fought to contain his shift. The moonlight caught his golden eyes, making them glow with supernatural intensity.

My father’s gaze flicked to Atlas, his lip curling with disgust. “And this must be the wolf you’ve been rutting with. How disappointing.” He sighed dramatically. “Centuries of careful breeding, only for my heir to spread his legs for a mongrel.”

Atlas snarled, taking a step forward. “Watch your fucking mouth.”

I placed my hand on Atlas’s arm, feeling the coiled muscles beneath his skin. “Don’t,” I whispered. “That’s what he wants.”

“Listen to my son,” Damien smiled. “He understands the gravity of his position.” My father circled us like a predator, each step deliberate. “Though I see he’s developed a rather... primitive taste in companions. Still, now that you’ve obviously made him your familiar, there’s no doubting the power it’s brought you.”

Atlas’s skin burned hot beneath my fingers. I could feel his wolf pushing against the surface, desperate to protect what it considered its own.

“What do you want from me?” I demanded, keeping my voice steady despite the tremor in my chest. “I did what you asked, now leave us alone.”

Damien stopped, his eyes flashing with something ancient and terrible. “I want what any father wants—for his son to fulfill his potential.” He extended his hand, palm up. “Come home, Caden. Your little academic adventure has served its purpose. You’ve discovered your power. Now it’s time to learn how to truly wield it.”

From behind us, Rowan made a choking sound. “Mr. Cromwell, please! I did everything you asked!”

My father’s expression darkened. With a casual flick of his wrist, the air around Rowan seemed to compress. The vines I’d summoned withered instantly as Rowan clutched at his throat, his face turning purple.

“Stop!” I shouted, instinctively reaching toward Rowan, but my magic felt suddenly weak, like trying to push through thick molasses.

“Your compassion is misplaced,” my father said, his voice eerily calm as Rowan’s knees buckled. “He would have killed you if I’d ordered it.”

Atlas moved with supernatural speed, placing himself between me and my father. “Let him go,” he growled, his voice deepening as the shift began to take hold.

My father’s eyes narrowed. “You dare command me, wolf?”

The air crackled with power as Damien Cromwell raised his hand. I felt it before I saw it—a surge of dark energy hurtling toward Atlas. Without thinking, I threw myself forward, palms outstretched. Green light erupted from my hands, colliding with my father’s spell in a shower of sparks.

The force of it knocked me backward into Atlas’s chest. He steadied me, his breath hot against my neck.

“Interesting,” my father murmured, looking genuinely surprised. “You’d protect a werewolf over your own blood?”

Rowan collapsed to the ground behind us, gasping for air. I could hear his ragged breathing as I stood my ground.

“You’re not my blood,” I said, the words coming from somewhere deep inside me. “Blood is more than genetics. It’s loyalty. It’s love.”

My father’s laughter was cold, echoing through the night. “Love? That’s what the bitch who raised you filled your head with? Pathetic.” He took a step closer, and I felt Atlas’s muscles tense against my back. “What you feel for this animal isn’t love, Caden. It’s magic recognizing power. Nothing more.”

Atlas’s breath was hot against my ear. “Don’t listen to him,” he whispered, his voice rough with the partial shift. “He’s trying to get in your head.”

I felt something warm trickle down my nose—blood. The magical barrier I’d created was draining me faster than I’d expected. My father noticed too, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction.

“You see? Already weakening. Your power is raw, undisciplined.” He extended his hand again. “Come with me. I can teach you control. Teach you to channel the same power that flows through my veins.”

“I’ll never go with you! You’re not my father!” I cried.

Damien just laughed before his gaze darkened and his hand outstretched. “Let me prove it to you.”

All at once, the shield surrounding Atlas and I shattered. Rowan fell to the ground in a heap, no longer moving. Atlas was blown backward off his feet. But me, I was shunted forward, Damien’s hand wrapping around my throat as he lifted me off my feet. He raised me a few inches off the ground, a silver blade appearing in his other hand.

“The curse will be completed tonight,” he growled. “Widdershins Academy finally purified. And then you’re coming home with me, whether you like it or not.” He glanced over at Atlas. “Your familiar can come with, but he’ll have to be caged. I don’t believe in keeping pets.”

I tried to speak, but with his fingers squeezing my throat, no sound came out. Most of my magic had been drained away by my shield, so when he raised the blade to my arm, there was nothing I could do. A cruel grin spread over his face as he slashed downward, the flash of silver followed by white-hot pain. Warmth flowed down my arm, dripping off my fingertips and onto the ground. Damien began to chant, the clearing around us suddenly glowing a dull sapphire as rune and arcane symbols appeared on the ground.

The symbols pulsed with an unnatural light, drinking in my blood as if alive. Each drop that fell to the ground sent ripples through the clearing, causing the air to vibrate with ancient power.

“Your blood recognizes its purpose,” Damien whispered, his face transformed with ecstasy. “The Cromwell lineage was always meant for greatness.”

Behind him, I saw Atlas rising, his transformation accelerating. His shoulders broadened, bones shifting beneath his skin as fur began to sprout along his jawline. His golden eyes burned with primal rage, fixed on the man who held me tight in his grasp.

“You can feel it, can’t you?” My father continued, oblivious to the threat behind him. “The power of our ancestors flowing through this sacred ground. Widdershins was built on Cromwell blood, and with Cromwell blood, it will be cleansed.”

I tried to speak, to warn Atlas to stay back, but my father’s grip tightened, choking off my words. The blood continued to flow from my arm, each drop igniting another symbol on the ground. The blue light had grown brighter, casting Damien’s face in harsh relief—making him look more monster than man. Behind his cruel smile, I saw something ancient and hungry, something that had been waiting for this moment for far longer than my twenty years of life.

Atlas lunged forward, a blur of muscle and rage, but my father merely flicked his free hand without even turning. An invisible force slammed into Atlas, sending him crashing into a nearby oak with a sickening crack. He slumped to the ground, momentarily stunned.

“Predictable,” my father sighed. “Wolves always attack from behind.” He twisted my arm, forcing more blood to drip onto the increasingly complex pattern forming beneath us. “Your pet will watch as you fulfill your destiny. And then he’ll become nothing more than a battery for your power.”

Through the pain and fear, something shifted inside me. The vines that had withered earlier began to stir, reaching tentatively upward from the earth. I felt them respond to my silent call, drawing strength not from my depleted magic but from something deeper—the land itself.

My father continued his incantation, his voice rising to a crescendo as the runes beneath us pulsed with malevolent energy. “With this blood sacrifice, I bind the Academy to the Cromwell line forever. Let all creatures not of pure blood be cast out or destroyed!”

The arcane circle around us suddenly turned a vibrant, electric blue. My father let out a howling cackle as more and more blood poured from my arm. However, he was so caught up in his reverie that he didn’t notice what happened the moment the droplet hit the ground.

No longer was my blood feeding Damien’s magic. Instead, vines and flowers pushed up through the snow, vibrant and green with energy. My blood seemed to shift too, taking on a metallic green tinge as it spilled from my body. As the plants pushed through the runes glowing near the ground, the magic turned from electric blue to yellow-green. It spread slowly at first, then faster and faster as it rewrote the very fabric of the spell Damien was casting.

My father noticed the shift too late. His incantation faltered as the greenish light crawled up his legs like living vines. His eyes widened with a mixture of rage and—for the first time—fear.

“What have you done?” he hissed, loosening his grip on my throat just enough for me to gulp down precious air.

The forest around us seemed to breathe with me. Trees creaked and swayed without wind. Flowers bloomed impossibly in the winter night. The ground beneath our feet hummed with ancient power—not the corrupted magic my father had summoned, but something older, purer.

“I didn’t do anything,” I rasped. “My blood is rejecting you.”

“That’s impossible!” he cried, both of his hands clamping around my neck. “Cromwell blood can’t reject this ritual!”

“I’m not a Cromwell,” I uttered, my fingers wrapping around his wrists as my strength returned to me. I loosened his grip, the green magic digging into his skin and constricting him tightly. “I shed all that blood days ago. Every last drop.” I looked him dead in the eye, seeing the first flicker of fear I’d ever seen there before. “I’m a Faolan.”

Damien’s face contorted with rage and disbelief. “What did you say?” he snarled, his fingers digging deeper into my throat even as the verdant magic crawled up his arms.

“I’m a Faolan,” I repeated, strength flowing through me like sap through a tree.

Behind him, Atlas rose to his feet, his transformation nearly complete. Black fur covered his Alpha form, his clothes torn from the shift. His golden eyes locked with mine, understanding dawning between us.

“Atlas and I bonded. I made him my familiar. And then I broke your curse by bleeding myself dry… and replacing it with his.”

My father’s eyes widened in horror. “You fool! You’ve corrupted our lineage?—”

“I purified it,” I countered, feeling Atlas’s presence behind me, his energy merging with mine through our bond. “Your blood was the corruption.”

The green light intensified, illuminating the clearing like daybreak. Damien’s ritual circle was completely transformed now, the runes reshaping themselves into ancient symbols of protection and renewal. The magic that had once been his, now answered to a different call—the call of the earth, of pack, of bonds freely chosen rather than forced by blood. Inside that circle I was the master of life and death itself.

“Impossible,” Damien gasped, his power visibly draining as the green magic consumed his blue. “Breaking the curse should have killed you!”

“It would have,” I said cooly, glancing up at Atlas towering over us both. “But werewolf healing and a mate bond aren’t so easily overpowered.” I turned my attention back to Damien Cromwell, a fiery hatred burning within me. “But you will be.”

“Fool!” he cackled, energy erupting around him. “You can’t destroy me! I made you! And I can unmake you just the same! You and your animal are going to die right n?—”

His words were cut off as the last bit of blue faded from the circle. Vines suddenly shot up all around him, wrapping themselves around his body and squeezing him tight. One thick vine shot across his body, wrapping around his neck and cutting off his voice in and instant. All the magic surrounding Damien faded away, the vines squeezing the very life out of him.

For one brief moment, he glanced down at me, a pitiful look in his eyes. Even without words, I knew he was scared. My father, the person that had tortured and threatened me for the past two years, was reduced to begging for mercy from the son he’d called powerless and pathetic for so long.

“You are the fool,” I said softly. “Remember what you did to me. What you’ve done to countless others over the years. How many people you have hurt.” I leaned in close, the vines squeezing him so hard his eyes had gone red. “Forgiveness is for those that deserve it.”

I turned away and walked to Atlas, throwing my arms around his waist. Then, at last, all the hate, fury, and magic I’d been holding back broke through. There was a sudden rush of power, a whoosh of wind, and silence. Atlas tensed, his arms holding me tightly, a flicker of fear and no small amount of satisfaction flowing through our bond. I stood there for a long moment, feeling my power slowly drain away. My knees weakened and crumpled, Atlas guiding me gently to the snowy forest floor. He drew me into his lap, protecting me from a threat that I knew was long gone.

Darkness filtered in at the corners of my vision as I looked back for the first time. There, where my father had been, was now a tree, taller and more grand than any in the forest. Blood soaked its roots, but nothing was left of my father except a single leather shoe lying at the base of the tree. Still, I knew what was left of him had been absorbed by the earth and the tree. The plants in that part of the forest would thrive for years to come, feeding off his tremendous power.

“Atlas,” I whispered, my voice trembling as I looked up at him. “I… I love you.”

Then, no longer able to resist the call, I fell into darkness.