Page 159 of Empowering the Wolf's Heart

Jacob saluted me. “At your service, ma’am,” he said with a jaunty grin.

Anna smacked the back of his head. He rubbed it, shooting her a glare.

Dad finished off a rogue and came to stand beside Mom. “We trust you.”

I nodded. “I won’t be able to fight.”

“Then it’s time someone protected you for a change, little sis,” Anna said with a gentle, knowing smile. “Let us do for you what you’ve done for us.”

My lips quavered. I turned before they could see what their support brought me. How Ineededit.

“I trust you guys,” I said, deciding to let them see my tears.

Mom gathered me to her bosom, as if knowing just how much Ineededthat.

"Enforcers! Rally around your matriarch!" Dad yelled, and those nearest to us finished their battles and gathered around us, fighting back the hordes of rogues which just kept coming like a massive tsunami.

Not only that, but unicorns gathered around us as well, stabbing anything within reach of their horns with unerring accuracy. The sphinx used her nose-like beak to protect Enforcer Markus as a rogue pushed him to his back. He nodded at the sphinx before diving after another rogue.

The dryad and elf couple were behind us. The elf used force fields to bash mages and then the dryad used his vines to tie them up or kill them. I saw the bald shopkeeper who always wrung his hat in his hands with a plank of wood, his face coatedin blood as he swung at a rogue, taking it down with his fellow villagers.

When the heck did thevillagersjoin the fight?

My heart thudded with affection so deep it warmed my soul.

My people and those we saved were coming together… for me. For us. For our freedom.

Determination burned in my soul. I wouldn’t let them down.

“Sometimes strength is knowing when to let others help you, honey bunny. I love you. Now kick your grandmother’s hinny.” Mom kissed my forehead, stepping back as I pulled away.

Dad gave me a nod that was pure respect and pride. Jacob saluted—and called me ma’am—again. And Anna gave me a glowing smile that made my heart leap with joy. She looked radiant.

I sat, my family surrounding me and my enforcers and my magical creatures surrounding them. I laid my hand on Fenbutt’s forehead and he scrambled into my lap, his soul linking with mine. I cuddled him close as I dove into the realm between worlds.

I fell into a well of darkness, surrounded on every side byneedsscreaming for help. By my side was a snarling puppy who darted off into the fog.

“Fenbutt!” I cried, but he was already gone.

An unfamiliar darkness surged. It was a blackness that darted from person to person, killing, reaping, destroying. It was darker than the darkness itself, a black hole of emptiness instead of a soothing peace.

It was not meant to be here. It feltwrong.

The mages themselves who wielded the emptiness hadneedsburied beneath their desires, but their choices had left them numb to thoseneedsand vulnerable to manipulation.

Ahhanhi,I whispered.Forgive me, but I do call upon your promise.

A blue-haired, amber-skinned being with hieroglyphs all along her forehead appeared before me in this alternate reality of the real world. Was this the spiritual realm? I would likely never know.

Hello, little human. How may I serve?

Can you set them free?I asked, gesturing to the mages with the black so deep it coiled like a serpent in their souls.

Ahhanhi turned to the enslaved souls who didn’t even realize they were bound, and I could nearly see through her head. She turned back to me with a gentle smile.I knew my promise would not go in vain in you, little human. This will be my pleasure.

She turned. One moment she was floating before me and then she was by souls of differing colors, their very beings surrounded by an emptiness feeding on theirneedsand whispering to their wants.

The emptiness screamed as she ripped it from the mages. Some reached for it and got it back in the moments before it disappeared, and Ahhanhi frowned in displeasure but let them have it back. Others cowered away from it, their souls free for the first time in many years and clarity making tears roll down their face. Funny how darkness can be so alluring yet so very foggy when bound to it.

---