Chapter 335: _Drag You Back Into The Light
Odessa’s POV
*****
"I would pit myself against the gods themselves if they sought to harm her. Do not mistake my civility for weakness."
Hearing Kaelos say those words to the elders of my coven was so... Healing. I don’t know how to explain it.
With everything I’ve been through—that we’ve been through—seeing him by my side through it all was a constant that always filled the space in my heart.
The spaces left behind by Caroline. By Marcellus. By elder Davina. My baby. Heck, even Layla.
I was more broken than I’d like to admit by their deaths and it was showing.
Even during sex this morning, I couldn’t stop crying... Because deep down, even with Kaelos’ kisses, his words of reassurance and his gentle touches all around my body... There was a nagging voice at the back of my mind.
A voice asking me: Why am I surviving all of this? Why wasn’t it me?
Kaelos held my hand tightly just then, bringing my mind back to reality.
"Odessa Pierce." Coven Head Arachne spoke with a judgmental voice, squinting. "Can’t you speak for yourself? Or is your husband going to do all the talking?"
Kaelos shook like he was going to bolt forward and clamp his hand around her throat but I held him back by tightening my grip on his hand.
He turned his gaze to me, watching as I gave him a silent nod.
’She’s right. This is my trial.’ I said through the mind link but he refused.
’This is no trial. It’s my roof and they can’t just barge in here demanding you serve punishment for having emotions.’ Kaelos growled mentally, his eyes softening. ’I wouldn’t let anyone do anything to break you further.’
My heart swelled, tears stinging my eyes.
But I held them back, masking it with a smile. ’You wouldn’t need to worry about that...’
Because there was no way anyone would be able to break me beyond what I felt now.
I withdrew my hand from his, turning to face the elders of the coven I grew up in.
Arachne and Nimue stood, unmoving and stern as always.
Slowly, I took a single step on the dais. Then another.
I walked down the dais, my steps echoing around the throne room like the countdown to something massive. But deep down, my heart thrummed like it was going to burst.
"You want me to speak?" I asked, my expression stoic when I finally got to the ground. I looked between them before continuing. "Well, I have nothing to say... Other than the fact that I didn’t choose to be this way."
Nimue chimed. "Which is why we insisted your aunt Althea trains you on your magic. Not to mention the fact that she hid your connection to the Vein from us."
I scoffed, shaking my head. "You could barely handle the fact that I’m a hybrid. You expected her to think you could handle me being a Vein Born?"
"THE Vein Born, Odessa." Arachne corrected, taking a step forward.
Kaelos’ breathing got heavy and I could sense his readiness to act if she did anything funny.
But I only needed him by my side for this.
"You have no idea how important you are." Arachne continued, shaking her head. "There have been prophecies of a hybrid putting an end to the century-long war between witches and wolves. But the Vein Born? A descendant of Nyx who shares her connection to the most chaotic source of magic on the planet?"
My fingers twitched beside me, my jaw tightening with barely contained agitation.
Kaelos felt it and spoke through the mind link. ’I’ll send them away and ban them from ever setting foot on the pack again.’
But I shook my head, more to myself than him. ’That’ll only put a strain on the truce continent-wide.’
The Luminari elders held the highest say among all the coven leaders on the continent.
We needed them, as annoying as it was.
"I understand the stakes. Trust me." I said finally, placing my hand on my chest. "Ryker made sure to make me understand... But our brief interaction also made me realise how much of a threat he is."
Arachne tilted her head. "Are you trying to stir our attention to Ryker now?"
"Yes," I said that with a monotonous voice, my fists clenched beside me. "Lucinda Silverwing was one of the rising witches of your coven. Yet she was swayed to be Ryker’s puppet right under your noses."
"That—" Nimue tried speaking up but I would be damned before I let them speak over me again.
"Is proof of how much you’ve underestimated Ryker. How you’ve set your eyes on me as the enemy when Ryker literally represents all the things you think I am." I smiled sarcastically. "In fact, he’s more than that. If Ryker’s plans succeed and we don’t do something quickly... Covens, packs, cities... The whole world will suffer it."
The two elders glanced at themselves and their expressions told me they knew I was right.
"What do you suggest we do then?" Arachne asked, arching an eyebrow. "Ignore you and put our resources on him? What if he gets to you again? Makes you do something worse than last night?"
My lips trembled but before I could say anything, Kaelos’ voice echoed behind me.
"That will never happen. Ryker will get access to my Luna Queen over my dead body." He let that sink in before adding. "And that goes to anyone else."
The veiled threat in that last part was hard to miss.
Arachne stiffened, her wrinkles seemingly crumpling.
She and Nimue exchanged glances for a while, causing my heart to beat heavily in my chest.
The last thing I needed now was for this to escalate.
"Very well..." Arachne suddenly spoke up with a firm voice. "We pardon Luna Queen Odessa for her use of magic in public. It wasn’t intentional anyway."
That should’ve been a relief but with everything I’ve been through, I could barely manage a small smile.
And maybe it was the exhaustion... maybe it was the bond thrumming between Kaelos and me like a drumbeat of war... but something inside me refused to stay quiet.
"Pardon me if you want," I said, lifting my chin. "Or condemn me. Either way, it doesn’t matter."
My voice echoed through the chamber, steadier than I thought I was capable of. "Because I will never be your pawn again."
The silence that followed was loud enough to rattle my bones.
Nimue stiffened, eyes flashing with warning. Kaelos’s presence surged behind me like a shield, his power spiking in the air like static, daring them to respond.
But it was Arachne who finally broke the silence, and her wrinkled face... softened. Not with kindness but with something worse—pity.
"You think you’ve claimed your freedom, child," she murmured, her voice calm in that eerie way that always carried daggers. "But the Vein does not free anyone. It binds. It consumes. And if you are not careful, it will devour you long before Ryker can."
Her words landed like ice water in my veins. My fists clenched at my sides, but I refused to flinch. I refused to let her see me doubt myself.
Kaelos growled low, stepping closer to me. "Enough riddles, old witch."
Arachne’s lips curved into the faintest smile, like she’d gotten what she wanted from this little display. "Consider this a warning, Luna Queen. We will be watching. Always."
With that, she and Nimue turned, their robes sweeping behind them as they disappeared into the shadows of the corridor.
The throne room felt cavernous in their absence, like it had swallowed their venom whole and was still echoing with the poison.
My knees wobbled.
I didn’t realise how tightly I’d been holding myself together until Kaelos’s hands landed on my shoulders and I broke.
"Odessa," he murmured, his voice soft, his eyes searching my face like I might shatter if he blinked too hard.
And maybe I would.
"What if she’s right?" I whispered, the mask I’d worn moments ago crumbling. "What if I become worse than Ryker? What if the Vein..." My throat closed as the thought threatened to choke me. "...what if it turns me into a monster you can’t save?"
His hand tilted my chin up, forcing me to meet his silver eyes.
"Then I’ll drag you back into the light myself." His words were sharp, unyielding. "Odessa, there is no version of this life where I let you fall alone."
I tried to laugh, but it came out as a choked sob.
My chest felt like it was caving in. "You say that now, but you don’t feel what I feel. You don’t hear it. The whispers. The pull."
"I feel you." He pressed my hand flat against his chest, right over his heart. "Every breath. Every crack. Every whisper you think you’re hiding, I hear it. And I will never mistake you for a monster. Do you hear me?"
Tears burned my eyes again, blurring the sharp edges of his face. "Why? Why do you still believe in me after everything I’ve ruined?"
"Because," he whispered, pressing his forehead against mine, "you’re mine. And I would pit myself against the gods themselves before I let anyone—not even you—take you from me."
The conviction in his voice wrecked me.
I folded into him, my body trembling as he wrapped me in his arms.
The world outside the throne room—the elders, the coven, Ryker, the Vein—faded until it was just Kaelos’ warmth anchoring me, his steady heart reminding me I wasn’t as lost as I felt.
Suddenly, footsteps echoed from the entrance of the throne room, forcing me to swerve my head there.
It was Elder Yune, the elderly she-wolf, stepping in for Elder Davina.
Her face was solemn as she muttered. "Alpha King. Luna Queen. You need to see this..."