Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 105939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
But Bastien knew victory was temporary at best, containment rather than cure. He could feel energy retreating rather than dissipating, pulling back to source like a tide that would inevitably return with greater force once it gathered strength from other nodes in Charlotte’s network. The blade in his hand had grown heavier, its properties strained by the effort of containing something that was fundamentally beyond permanent containment.
This wasn’t a problem that could be solved through ritual purification or protective barriers. Charlotte had been too thorough in her preparations, too clever in magical frameworks she’d established across multiple lifetimes. She’d created system designed to reunite them regardless of cost to anyone else, and now that system approached its intended culmination with mathematical inevitability.
Tib approached the cabin and called softly to Gabriel Jr., who responded with recognizable English for first time in hours. The young wolf was himself again, confused and frightened by what had happened but no longer a conduit for ancient power seeking expression through werewolf consciousness. His voice shook as he asked what had happened to him, why he remembered speaking words in languages he’d never learned.
Immediate crisis had passed, but all three of them knew it was just beginning.
“If Delphine’s energy continues escalating like this,” Tib said quietly, looking at corrupted sigil stones that had returned to normal appearance but remained vulnerable to future contamination, “our entire territorial boundary may collapse. Pack bonds protecting us from hostile magic won’t resist this level of spiritual interference indefinitely.”
He looked at Bastien with mixture of respect and desperation that marked alpha recognizing threats beyond his ability to counter through traditional pack authority. “Whatever’s happening between you and this woman, it’s going to destroy everything we’ve built here. Every alliance, every treaty, every protection that’s kept peace between species for over century.”
Bastien wanted to offer reassurance, to promise he could keep Delphine from falling into full awakening before they were both ready for consequences that would reshape their existence. The words were there, familiar phrases he’d used before when making commitments to Maman Brigitte, to himself, to the memory of Charlotte’s trust in his ability to navigate complexities of their eternal connection after she was gone from her first human form.
But standing in the bayou with the Votum Blade heavy in his hand and taste of reflected wardwork sharp in his mouth, he found he no longer believed his own reassurances. Truth was becoming impossible to deny, tether energy was growing stronger each day, and Delphine’s unconscious resistance to it was weakening under sustained pressure from forces designed to overwhelm any individual will.
Dreams that had started as gentle echoes were becoming vivid recollections. Moments of recognition that should have remained buried were breaking through to conscious awareness with increasing frequency. Her questions about echoes and memories, her unconscious humming of melodies from past lives, her growing certainty that something important was missing from her current existence—all signs that awakening approached whether he was ready or not.
“I’ll find a way to control it,” he said finally, but the promise felt hollow even as he spoke it. Charlotte had understood him too well, planned too carefully for him to find simple solution to complexity she’d spent centuries crafting.
The pack would survive this particular crisis, their bonds cleansed and territory temporarily secured through ritual intervention. Gabriel Jr. would recover with nothing more than confused memories and healthy respect for forces beyond understanding. Sigil stones would hold protective power for a while longer, though Bastien suspected they’d need regular maintenance as tether energy continued building toward inevitable climax.
None of that changed the fundamental problem; it was almost a certainty Delphine was awakening, and he was running out of ways to delay what Charlotte had designed to be inevitable. Each time he used blade to contain or cleanse spreading influence, he drew her closer to full consciousness of their connection. Each protective measure he took made her soul more aware that something vital was missing from current life, something that could only be restored through recognition of eternal bond.
Walking back through the bayou toward his car, blade secured at his side, Bastien felt the weight of Charlotte’s final gift and curse with perfect clarity. She’d given him the tools to find her in every life, to recognize her soul regardless of what form it took. But she’d also made certain recognition would be mutual, that connection between them would grow stronger until neither could ignore or deny it.
The echo of Delia’s touch on piano keys, a memory of Charlotte’s braided moon-thread hair, even the warmth of Delphine’s unconscious smile—all part of same eternal moment, same love story playing out across decades and identities. Like the melody Delia had played that summer evening, some things became beautiful precisely because they couldn’t last, because their perfection existed in space between anticipation and memory.