Page 59 of Chaos Demons

Fen? Can you hear me?

Ana?I sought out the source of this voice, but couldn’t find one.Where are you? Is this really you? How…?

Fen! Oh, thank the gods!

Where are you?I repeated.What is this?I had to hope it wasn’t some delusion brought on by Melinoe’s madness.

Too long to explain. You need to get yourself under control.

My beast has fully emerged. I’ve lost all control. I’m sorry Ana. I’ve tried, but…

Doesn’t hearing my voice help?

That stopped me. Her voice had always calmed my wolf before. Could the dulcet tones of her words stop it now?

I didn’t know, but I desperately hoped that might work.

I… I don’t know.The trouble was…I’m hearing your voice within my wolf, but I don’t think my wolf is hearing it. Whatever this is we’re doing, it’s not reaching my wolf.And if that was the case, I didn’t want to say the next part, but I knew I had to.Perhaps if… my wolf hears you… with its own ears?

But to do that, she’d need to be close, too close. It would devour her.

Oh!she said, trepidation in her voice.I… I guess I’ll have to try to talk out loud then?

Ana, wait, no. My wolf will devour you. Stay away from me. Stay safe.

I can’t. I have to help you, and this is the only way. I’ll see you soon, my beloved.

Beloved?That had been the first time she’d said it. My heart swelled, feeling a true connection with her in that moment.I love you too Ana. So much. With all my heart and soul and being. Please be careful!

I was a bit stunned when she actually laughed at that.Careful? Is there a careful way to confront a world-ending beast? Don’t worry about me Fen, I’ll be fine. I’ve… changed.

And I believed her too. There was a newfound confidence in her voice, a surety and power that hadn’t been there before… unless she’d been taking control during sex. But this wasn’t sex. And yet she seemed just as certain now.

My wolf was massive, the size of a city block, so tiny things didn’t really register for it. But as I looked out through its eyes, I saw the white flash of wings, the soaring dance of a dove as it came to perch on a building nearby. It was beautiful, white and pure, and I wept for its impending death as the head of my wolf swung toward it.

Then it shifted and became Ana. I was stunned, but my wolf wasn’t. What was another tiny person to it? Ana was radiant, sheathed in brilliant armor and exuding a confident power as she raised her voice and called out.

“Fen!” I heard her through my wolf’s ears, which meant it heard her too. “Fenris Lokisen! Listen to me you oversized mutt!”

I choked on those words, even as I wondered how she was amplifying her voice to be so clear over the distance between us.

My wolf slowed in its thrashing frolic of destruction, head swinging up to look fully at Ana. A great cracking sound grated through us… the world-ender’s jaws clacking shut as it simply listened to Ana.

This… just might work!

“Fenris… Fen… I — oh fuck it — I love you, okay? And I can’t live without you. So, you better get ahold of yourself and your wolf this instant!”

She’d actually said it:she loved me.

But then it occurred to me that she was staring down my wolf and telling it — and me — that she loved…us.

Somehow this amazing woman could love me, all of me, even the horrid, destructive, world-ending part of me.

My wolf drew closer to her cautiously, curious.

“I can’t lose you, Fen, I—”

My massive tongue lashed out and licked her, knocking her completely off her feet… and off the edge of the building on which she’d been perched.

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