Rejected Mate and Following Fate novel Chapter 76

"COLTON! COLTON! ....." I yell in the hopes of him hearing me and being close enough to respond, but there's nothing but deathly silence in the eeriness of this green mist. It seems like even the wind around us is captured on the other side of the boundary and we are left standing in an airless stillness that isn't natural. My body shudders involuntarily and I cover my arms with my own palms to comfort the sudden pang of vulnerable that courses through my body. My heart screeching that this is all kinds of wrong.

"What's that, look, there." Meadow points thorough to a slightly less dense patch to our right and we catch sight of a huge dark figure moving across our horizon, getting close to the rune border and yet not coming further. It's almost like they hesitate as they reach the line from fog to clearing.

"Who's there.... who is it?" I call out boldly, feeling nothing of vampires and sensing only wolves nearby. I can feel the presence of my love, somewhere beyond that line, yet he can't seem to interact with me at all.

"Why aren't they answering us?" Meadow steps forward to gaze intently into the wall of emerald smog but she can't see through as it still billows and bombards our magical resistance with an effort to get at us. It's like watching the clouds roll in a thunderstorm and if it wasn't so terrifying, it would be almost mesmerizing.

"Maybe it's dampening sound out there and we can't hear them..... I can feel them, so surely they can feel us too. They're right here and yet not a single one has breached the boundary." I query in confusion.

We both flinch and instinctively step back as a pair of clawed hands come at us through the mist and meet an invisible almost glass like wall. It makes the barrier shudder with a magical spark that travels outwards like a ripple of disturbed water. Enough to startle my heart into pumping like I've been running and we both leap further back and stare in open eyed shock as they come at us a second time to try with more force. The claws bang against it with a violent reverberation, making us both recoil slightly into our own bodies this time and a face appears through the mist pressing to the separation, baring teeth and fueled with rage.

"Cesar?" Meadow frowns at the familiar face of her mate in wolf form, relaxing slightly, even if she seems confused at his behavior and moves to him, but his eyes catch my attention and I grab her by the upper arm and haul her back in panic. Fear gripping my soul and I shake my head dramatically to drive home she should stay back.

"Don't! Look at his eyes..." I nod towards the angry snarling glare of our pack brother and Meadow gasps as her own soft eyes land on the emptiness of his. Where normally his amber eyes would glow, is deep almost endless black, covering every part, including the whites and completely changing his entire appearance. Sheathed in darkness, sending tremors of mistrust through me and I step further back as another wolf makes a break at the wall to my left. The same ripple shuddering between us as they fail to get through and the slight dampening of fog reveals more wolf turned angry kin coming our way.

"They can't get in.... something is wrong with them." I point out as more appear along our invisible line and growls and snarls aimed our way pierce the air, proving sound is not a barrier issue as they spy us standing here. I shudder with a wave of apprehension and back away, hauling Meds with me so we leave a good ten feet gap from the rune line.

"Chica... It's Cole." Meadow drags my attention back to the center with a pointed finger, as the mist begins to thin out enough that those within the first few feet begin to become completely visible. I spot Colton standing only feet from me, tucked behind them, directly facing us, only he's not wolf, he's still human but his claws are extended, and his eyes are the same terrifying abyss of black as Cesar. He's focused straight at me, with a blood curling glare that isn't the Colton I know and love at all. He's a hunter in kill mode, rage pulsating around him, his snarl in place and his teeth beginning to peek. It's obvious that I am his prey. Trembling under his unbreakable and penetrating gaze I shiver and curl my arms around Meadow's arm, feeling instantly vulnerable and unsure what to do. The way he's looking at me makes my blood run cold in my veins.

"Colton, what are you doing?" my words tremble weakly, shaking with emotions as they pass my lips and for the first time since I have known him, I'm truly afraid of him in this moment. He looks like him, only he's not. I can feel the aura of sinister ebbing from them all and I sink down against her as he bares his teeth fully, elongating as he growls at me and scoops forward into pounce mode.

"It's a spell, it has to be. Only that could keep our own out. Look at them. They're almost feral and if they could get over here, I think you and I would be brindis" Meadow shudders and reaches out impulsively towards Caesar as he punches a clawed fist at the barrier and roars in rage when he can't get through. There's no denying the anger and aggression seeping from them, that we're what they want, and it's not for sweet reunions. Our pack mates are looking at us the way they look at vamps just before a kill. Somehow, we are now the enemy and who they want to tear limb from limb.

"Maybe when the fog clears, they'll be okay." My voice breaks as the words tumble out like a child, and Meadow grabs my hand and starts pulling me away as she notes Colton readying himself to leap at us. He's poised, moving low and setting his sights higher than where the others keep trying to get through. "Wait. I can try something." I gasp in desperation and yank free, turning my attention back to Colton. Pulling my hands together to cage my own palms with my fingers until I feel my energy build into a loose ball, I throw it out wide, like a veil, to part and push the fog into the background of where our mates stand. Trying to clear the air around them in a bid to remove its effects.

Meadow watches with silent anticipation as a clearing in the shape of a half dome is thrust back like a 'poof' of someone blowing at it. It's gentler than I expected given the force I threw but I guess that's the nature and power of the fog. There's instant clarity as I clear around them completely, and they stand in perfect focus breathing in newly fresh air as I hold my breath and wait. With the immediate ten feet lifted and clear in the morning light we can see just how many of the sub pack are standing close by and staring murderously our way. How many of the other packs are hanging behind, crowding around, and surrounding their alpha as though waiting for something. All of them. Every wolf that was caught out there in that green smoke is huddled here and not a single one has amber eyes.

They all seem to be waiting on Colton to make a move, still in pack hierarchy, even if they're enchanted. Colton looks up and around at the fog clearing, pulling back like the tide, the air around them returning to normal. He tilts his chin back down and stares me dead in the eye. Eyes still black, gaze still venomous and he makes a run for me through the clearing. A vicious and high leap that sends his full body shuddering into the invisible veil. The entire wall of air in front of us vibrates and ripples horrendously, as though he almost pushed it to its limit. The cascading effects sent out along left and right, like it was hit by a sonic boom, yet he still remains on the other side as he tumbles back down to land on his hind paws.

I fall back in startled shock as he smashes the barrier for a second attempt, level with my height and the subs follow, all aggressively pounding into the magical safety net and clawing, trying to rip through. It's like they are hoping combined force will be enough and my breathing becomes ragged as I freeze in real terror. Afraid they may actually get through, and then what? Teeth gnashing as they all fully turn to wolf form and begin a frenzied attack, intent on coming over. Piling up together in a wave of furred bodies and the light is blocked out by the mountain of them clambering together.

"Come on, we're going to Sierra! NOW!!!..... She can tell us what the hell is going on, Chica. This is fucking terrifying. They don't know us!" Meadow takes one last desperate look at Cesar, her eyes welling up with tears and I glance at Colton, afraid to make eye contact when it hurts this much to see him like this. My heart ripping in two that he's a stranger to me and it's as though all his love and humanity is gone. Someone I don't know; he's never been like this in all the time I have known him, and I recoil as he lurches again and again at the barrier in an attempt to take me down repeatedly, throwing his body into unbreakable glass and insane with the need to do it. They are consumed by bloodlust, much like vampires going after a feed.

"Fuck you!" I snap impulsively at him, at all of them, emotion getting the better of me as a fire rages deep in my belly. Tears pricking my eyes, at this whole situation; my heart breaking while I throw my hand at the wall in one impulsive last anger ridden reaction to make them stop.