Moving Forward

Betrayal (45)

As more blood was added to the circle, it took on a life of its own, following the chalk drawn lines, taking on the shapes of the sigils and words Lara had written. Her eyes were dark and unreadable, blackening with every chant until the pretty blue of her irises were swallowed whole.

Blake was the last to have his wrist slit, and as Lara took his hand, Max burned with hatred. Everyone he'd tried to protect - everyone Kyle loved - had become a victim in this. All because Lara was related to Gillespie and Gillespie was psychotic in the worst way.

Lara exited the circle, intensely focused on the blood as it bent to her will. Each of her words a command, it rose from the floor and swirled like a whirlpool, gathering speed and closing in on Max.

He and Kyle were going to drown in blood and there was nothing he could do. Lara's binding spell was still in affect. Neither his voice nor his limbs work and Max was left merely an observer. If he and Kyle were going to die - for certain, this time - he only wanted one thing: to hold Kyle's hand.

To feel the warmth, the callouses on Kyle's fingers, against his own skin. To run his thumb over Kyle's knuckles and feel him do the same. To have the lines in Kyle's palm slide over Max's.

A tear escaped, sliding across Max's cheekbone and into his hair.

He couldn't see Kyle's face from where Gillespie had dumped him, but he could hear the shallow, struggling breaths of a man close to death. Was Kyle in pain? Did he know he was going to die with Max next to him?

Max wished, if only so that Kyle's soul could rest, that he died before Lara finished her spell. So he couldn't be used as pawn in Gillespie's desire for ultimate power and could pass on in peace. Max wouldn't be able to go with him, but it would be enough to know that his soul wouldn't be tortured by the knowledge that Gillespie got what he wanted.

He swallowed hard.

And then choked as blood flooded him. His nose, his mouth. His lungs were full of it. His vision reddened as it pushed through his eyes. Deaf with the blood pulsing through his ears.

Body stiff, Max knew that if he could scream, he would be. It could have been hours, it could have been seconds, but for every moment that the unfamiliar blood coursed through every inch of his being, Max only knew pain. And knew that Kyle was being put through the same torture.

Or, he assumed.

The blood left him, torn from his body through every pore and opening in a searing rush. And as Max's vision returned, he saw the direction it moved in. Towards Kyle.

The screaming was terrible.

Max had never heard Kyle's voice like that. Terrified and tortured as it was. Hoarse, as if his throat couldn't handle the force of it, as if he felt too much to be capable of expressing it.

The blood wasn't expelled from Kyle's body as it had been from Max's, but when Kyle's voice failed, his breathing returned - strong. Much stronger than it had been before.

"I... what?" Kyle sounded lost, confused. "Max?"

Ah. Max cried. Nothing could pull at his heart the same as Kyle calling for him. And as the tears pooled, he heard his voice cracking with the sobs.

"Kyle," Max heaved, pushing to his feet to embrace his mate.

Movement out of the corner of his eye made Max cut the hug short to stand defensively in front of Kyle.

Lara stared at them wide-eyed, exhaustion written in the lines of her face and swear dampening her hair. "I'm so, so sorry, for everything."

"Lara?" The voice belonged to Gillespie. "What have you done?!"

She turned to him, standing tall despite the spell clearly having taken the energy out of her.

"What did you do?" Gillespie snarled, face a mask of rage.

"I healed Kyle." There was no fear in her voice. "I healed everyone."

That was not what Gillespie wanted to hear. "Why?" The word sounded strangled. As if it had taken everything not to scream it at her.

"I've tried, all this time, to be a good sister to you," Lara said, hands clenching. "I tried to help you become a wolf, and I tried helping you become Alpha. But there was so much death! So many people who had happy lives that we stole from them!" She breathed deep and hugged herself. "This? This would be too far. With every failure you just set your sights higher and I couldn't do it, Gil. I just couldn't."

"Don't call me that, as if you're still my sister."

"You're not trying to find a place for yourself anymore, Gil," Lara continued. "You're just after power."

"I said, don't call me that!"

Max watched, as if in a trance, as Gillespie went for Lara, fist clenched and ready to fight. But Lara shook her head, and as she did, the air around him became distorted and he dropped to the floor, unable to pick himself up no matter how much he tried - an insect squashed.

"Did you forget? This space is mine." Lara crouched to look Gillespie in the eye. "No one is more powerful than me in here."

With that, she turned to face Max and Kyle once more.

Kyle put a hand on Max's shoulder and gently pushed him to stand at his side. Their hands tangled together - Max's last wish granted, and he revelled in the tenderness of it.

"We can't just let him go," Kyle said.

Lara nodded. "You won't be. He can stay here indefinitely unless I let him out. Or I die for real."

"That isn't a guarantee," Blake's voice rumbled from behind them, barely contained anger obvious.

Amelia came to stand next to them, Finn in her arms. "You've also destroyed the peace of this town. My husband is dead because of your actions. You don't get to just decide your own punishment."

There was a tick in Lara's jaw. But she smiled, and waved a hand. "I do, though. Goodbye."

The world disappeared then. Dragged from Lara's dimension, Max lost his breath yet again, going from hot to cold - up and down and losing all sense of direction. Ripped from Lara's world without any consideration for his comfort.

When he regained control - had he lost consciousness at some point? - it was on the edge of the lake, grass tickling his palms. Where Lara had first betrayed him. What was her fascination with this lake?

Max's attention was drawn away from his thoughts as he became aware of Kyle's eyes, looking down at him with concern, dark and comforting.

"I missed you," Max whispered.

Kyle's eyes crinkled with a smile. "I love you."