Mated to Her Alpha Instructor Chapter 155

Eileen

The world had narrowed to the weight of Regis's body across my lap and the slow, stuttering rhythm of his heartbeat through our bond.

*Too slow.* Like a candle guttering in the wind, each pulse weaker than the last.

My hands pressed uselessly against the wound in his chest, blood seeping hot and sticky between my fingers. The runestone's poison had turned his veins black beneath pale skin, spreading like cracks in ice. I could feel it through the bond—burning cold, dragging him down toward something dark and final.

"No." The word came out broken. "No, please—"

Twenty feet away, Owen lay crumpled against the rocks, poison arrows jutting from his back. Beyond him, Mother Ianthe's silver chains still glowed faintly where she'd dissolved into light, and Nina knelt frozen in that spot, purple magic crackling uncontrolled around her clenched fists.

Above it all, Cornelius's laughter echoed off the ravine walls. "Three minutes!" His voice was manic, triumphant despite his mangled arm. "Maybe less! This whole valley will be *ash*—"

The ritual circle pulsed with sick grey light. Cracks spread through the earth, glowing from within. The air tasted like lightning and rot, and I could *feel* it—the wrongness building, building, about to explode and take everything with it.

Everyone. Regis. Our daughter. Nina. Owen. All the warriors who'd come to save us.

*I can't—*

But there was no one else. No one coming. No miracle except the one I had to make myself.

Regis's pulse stuttered again. Through the bond I felt him slipping, consciousness fraying at the edges. His wolf Valdor howled somewhere deep, fading—

*"NO."*

The word tore out of me, not sound but pure will. I pressed my forehead to Regis's, tears streaming down my face. "You don't get to leave. You *promised*—"

Heat exploded in my core.

Not the gentle warmth I'd felt before when silver light flickered through my hands. This was *fire*, raw and consuming, racing up my spine like lightning seeking ground. Every nerve lit up at once.

*Eileen.* Lumina's voice in my head, but different now. Stronger. Not separate anymore—*part of me*. *Feel it. Our power. Finally whole.*

The heat spread down my arms, into my legs. My bones began to *shift*, grinding and reforming beneath muscle that pulled and stretched in ways I'd never imagined. Pain lanced through every joint.

I bit down on a scream, fingers digging into Regis's blood-soaked shirt. *I won't let go. I won't—*

"What—" Cornelius's laughter cut off. "What are you—"

Light burst from my skin.

Silver, pure and blinding, pouring from the cracks as my body *changed*. Fur rippled across my arms—not gray, not brown, but silver-white that glowed in the dim ravine. My spine arched, restructuring. My hands pressed flat to the ground as fingers shortened, became paws.

The pain peaked—one final, searing moment—

And then I was *free*.

I stood on four legs, steady despite the trembling in my muscles. My vision sharpened, colors bleeding into shades I'd never seen. Scents flooded my nose—blood and poison and fear and *pack*, my pack, the people I would die to protect.

Through the bond, I felt Regis's shock. His wolf stirring, recognizing—

*Mate. Finally. Whole.*

But there was no time for wonder. His heartbeat was still slowing, poison still spreading. I dropped to all fours beside him, pressing my muzzle to that terrible wound in his chest.

Instinct took over.

I *licked* the injury, tongue rasping over torn flesh. My saliva touched the blackened edges and something in it *reacted*—silver light met corruption, pushing back. I could *sense* the poison's path through his veins, following it with each stroke of my tongue, chasing it down and *burning it out*.

The black receded. Flesh began to knit at the edges. Regis's heartbeat strengthened, just a fraction.

*More.* I pressed harder, pouring everything into the contact. My wolf-self knew what to do, had always known, waiting for me to be strong enough to channel it. This was what healers were *meant* to be—not separate from their wolves but fused with them, instinct and knowledge working as one.

The worst of the poison cleared. Regis's breathing evened out, shallow but steady. Through the bond: confusion, pain, but *alive*. Holding on.

I lifted my head and fixed on Owen across the clearing.

My paws barely touched ground as I ran. When I reached him, I didn't hesitate—nuzzled aside his torn shirt and set to work on the arrow wounds, silver light flowing from my touch into his damaged flesh. The poison here was weaker, easier to chase out. Within seconds, color began returning to his face.

A rattling breath. His eyes fluttered open, unfocused but aware. "What—"

I pressed my nose to his forehead once—*Stay down*—then spun toward the center of the ravine.

Nina stood there, surrounded by a corona of purple-silver magic that crackled like a living storm. Her wolf Thea had fully emerged, merging with the witch power her mother had unsealed. The girl's eyes glowed amethyst, fixed on the ritual circle where black light pulsed faster, faster—

"Two minutes!" Cornelius was backing away, stumbling over rocks. His remaining hand clutched uselessly at the stump of his severed arm. "You can't stop it! It's already—"

Nina raised both hands.

Purple magic *exploded* outward, forming barriers along the ravine walls. Translucent shields of crackling energy that caught the falling rocks, the tendrils of dark power lashing out from the circle. She gritted her teeth, feet sliding backward from the force, but the barriers *held*.

But that wasn't enough. The corruption was still building at the circle's heart, moments from critical mass. Nina's shields could contain the blast—barely—but they couldn't *stop* it.

*Not her job.*

I padded forward until I stood at the edge of the glowing runes. Close enough to feel the wrongness radiating off them in waves, trying to pull at my energy, my life, the spark of my daughter inside me.

I planted my paws and *pushed back*.

Not with magic. Not with power like Nina's. With something simpler, older. The same energy that had driven out Regis's poison, that had sealed Owen's wounds—*life*, pure and stubborn, refusing to be extinguished.

Silver light spread from my paws into the earth. Where it touched the ritual runes, they flickered. Dimmed. The sickly grey glow met my silver and *recoiled*, like infection fleeing from a cleansing flame.

I felt Nina's magic shift in response, her barriers tightening, drawing strength from the stable foundation I was creating. Our powers weren't the same—hers was all sharp edges and controlled destruction, mine was warmth and mending—but together—

*Together we could hold.*

"NO!" Cornelius's shriek echoed off stone. "You *can't*—this is *mine*—"

The ritual circle gave one final, violent pulse.

And collapsed inward.

Not an explosion. An *implosion*, all that gathered energy turning on itself with nowhere to go. The runes shattered, light swallowing light, and in the center—

Cornelius stood frozen, eyes wide with belated understanding.

The darkness he'd summoned wrapped around him like chains. He opened his mouth to scream, but the sound never came. Black light consumed him from within, burning through flesh and bone, and then he was just *gone*—not even ash, just empty air where a man had been.

Silence crashed down.

The ritual circle went dark. Nina's barriers shimmered and faded. I stood there, legs trembling, silver light still glowing faintly around my paws, and watched the spot where Cornelius had vanished.

No anger. No triumph. Just... *over*.

The wrongness in the air dispersed like smoke. Moonlight broke through the clouds overhead, spilling into the ravine in silver sheets. It touched my fur and I felt it like a caress—*well done*—before fading back to ordinary light.

My legs gave out.

The shift reversed in a heartbeat, fur receding, bones cracking back into human shape. I barely felt it this time, too exhausted to register pain. When I opened my eyes, I was kneeling naked on cold stone, arms wrapped around myself, every muscle screaming.

*But alive.*

Behind me, someone stirred. Footsteps, heavy and uneven.

Strong arms caught me before I could topple sideways. Warm fabric—a cloak—wrapped around my shoulders, and then I was being lifted, cradled against a familiar chest.

"Easy." Regis's voice, rough as gravel but *his*. "I've got you."

I turned my face into his neck and *shook*, reaction finally setting in. He was warm. His heart beat steady against my ear. Through the bond I felt his pain, his exhaustion, but underneath it all—awe. Wonder. *Pride*.

"Our daughter?" The words came out barely a whisper.

His hand settled over my belly, gentle but sure. Through the bond I felt him reach deeper, and then—relief flooded both of us. There. Tiny and perfect and *safe*, her heartbeat steady as a drum.

"She's fine." His voice cracked. "She's fine, and you—Eileen, what you did—"

I felt his gaze on my face, intense enough to burn. When I finally looked up, his eyes were silver-bright with unshed tears.

"Your wolf." He touched my cheek with shaking fingers. "She's *magnificent*."