Chapter 480: Fight the spell

Viola, unused to her wolf who seemed to be running with a force that felt like flying, could barely control her from the inside, but she tried her best not to lose the connection when she felt Sebastian closing in hot on her heels.

She dashed into the trees, leaves crunching and tearing beneath her powerful paws.

’Should I tire him out?’ Cyan asked, her voice sounding a little too excited about the chase, when Viola felt only panic, worried she’d provoked him and would now have to fight him to keep them both alive or he would kill her with that sword he was holding.

’Stop at the clearing, and let me shift. We have to face him head-on.’ Viola said to Cyan, who sounded immediately disappointed that the chase was ending and her human would take over her when she hadn’t ran as much as she wanted to.

’I haven’t run as much as I wanted to yet.’ Cyan complained. But right at that moment, before Viola could reply, promising that once they broke the spell off Sebastian they’d race his wolf properly, the breeze stirred, and one might have mistaken it for wind, if not for Sebastian’s full weight landing against the wolf’s back a second later, tackling her to the forest ground with a force that shook the tree she collided with, stirring up dusts and dried leaves.

Cyan stumbled several times on the ground, hitting trees before regaining her footing, turning furious eyes on Sebastian. Under the spell, his own wolf lay dormant, unreachable, so Cyan couldn’t sense or recognize him as her mate, right now he was just a man who had annoyed her and knocked her to the ground.

’Oh, now you’ve done it. I will bite the meat right off your bones!’ she growled in fury, and Viola quickly took control before Cyan could lunge at Sebastian, who had already risen with the sword in hand, coming for her.

Viola shifted back into her human form, feeling an unfamiliar strain run through her bones from all the shifting she had done. She looked down and was surprised to find that her clothes hadn’t disappeared during the transformation like they did for others. The few tattered pieces of fabric she still had were somehow still clinging to her body.

It would take time to get used to this. She could barely stand on her own human feet after the shift, her legs unsteady beneath her, but she forced herself to steady her balance before looking at her husband.

’If we’re going to fight him, let’s do it in my human form. Just lend me your strength, Cyan.’ She spoke to the wolf, who gladly gave over her strength, and when Sebastian came at her with the sword raised to cut her down, Viola ducked and drove her fist into his chest, sending him stumbling backward off balance.

’Cyan! That was way too much strength!’ Viola gasped, watching Sebastian slam into a tree hard enough to crack its trunk and send a shower of leaves raining down around him like snow.

’That’s for hitting me first. Now focus, before he kills us with that blade, I think we have to beat the spell out of him.’ Cyan said, clearly unhappy that her mate was trying to kill them after she’d spent years locked away because of his curse, only to finally face him like this. This wasn’t how Cyan imagined her reunion with their mate.

Viola watched as Sebastian recovered almost instantly, but now his eyes carried an even sharper edge of fury as he told her, "You’ve gotten stronger, I see. Let’s make this more interesting, shall we, no sword. Just you and my bare hands."

He threw the sword aside, and in a flash he closed the distance and stood before her. Before Viola could dodge, he’d already landed a punch to her face. But with her wolf’s healing and strength behind her now, she returned it, double, straight to his face, before tackling him down with her knee hooked behind his, and once he went down, she wrapped her arm around his neck, locking him in place on the ground.

Even without her wolf, Viola had long relied on her human strength and the combat skills she’d learned at school in Moonwillow, and she never thought she’d one day have to use them against Sebastian of all people.

"Come back to your damn senses, Sebastian!" Viola gritted out, pouring every ounce of her strength into keeping him pinned beneath her.

Sebastian thrashed violently beneath her, both hands clawing at the arm she had locked around his neck as he tried to wrench himself free. His shoulders twisted against the ground, and he bucked his hips hard, attempting to throw her off. But Viola hooked both legs tightly around his waist, using her weight to keep herself anchored against him as she fought to maintain her hold.

"Sebastian, fight it!" she shouted, tightening her grip when he nearly managed to roll them over.

’Beat the spell out of him, woman.’ Cyan said. ’I’ve heard of it before, a hijacking spell can be broken if the host defeats the person controlling them from within. He was weaponized against you before you had me, before you had your full strength. Beat him and see, the darkness will leave him.’ The wolf spoke with the authority of someone who had lived through another host before Viola, carrying more knowledge than her human ever had about more things.

Viola, hearing this, hesitated, even though she felt she had the strength it would take to beat Sebastian in his current state, she didn’t want to do it. But while she hesitated, he didn’t, he drove his elbow into her ribs, a jab so painful it stole her breath for a moment.

"Okay, now you’ve done it!" Viola’s anger flared, and before she knew it, she’d flipped their positions, pinning him to the ground and straddling him this time. Once there, she began delivering punches on him and anywhere else she could reach.

’Cyan, not the face, I love his face, and you will ruin it for me!’ Viola protested, when her wolf began steering her punches to his face.

’He’ll recover. Now let’s break some ribs and show him who’s boss! We’ll beat the evil right out of his body!’

Despite the barrage of punches, Sebastian still found the strength to knock her off him. But the moment he began to rise, Viola grabbed a fistful of sand and hurled it into his eyes.

He cursed and immediately squeezed his eyes shut, and something inside him seemed to jolt back into place. The moment his eyes closed, the presence possessing him seemed to recede, as though shutting out his vision also shut the entity out from within him.

"Amor? Are you all right? Did I hurt you?" His panicked voice came through as he tried to sense her.

"No, but do me a favor and keep your eyes closed. Let me catch my breath," Viola said, exhausted. "We’re going to try every possible way until you’re free. And it has to be now or never."

She wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep this up, but she refused to give up while there was still a chance to save him.

’I thought you said beating him would wake him up. He’s bloody, and nothing’s happened.’ Viola said to Cyan, who replied,

’Perhaps he’s different, or I might be wrong. Maybe we should beat him some more?’

Viola yanked at her own hair in frustration until she heard Sebastian ask, "Have you really awakened your wolf?"

She turned toward him, both of them still panting from their struggle.

"I have..." she admitted in a resigned voice. "But I’m starting to think it’s useless when it comes to helping you. I thought I would be able to help you with it..."

"Don’t be discouraged, mi amor. I wish I could see what you look like." His voice softened before, as though a thought had just occurred to him, he added, "We could try something, if you’re willing."

He calmly wiped the blood trickling from his nose and down over his busted lips. Once he was sure he had her attention, he continued.

"Mates can heal each other if they have their wolves and are truly fated mates. Can you give me some of your blood?"

Viola stared at him for a moment, caught off guard by the request. Her exhaustion seemed to disappear beneath a sudden spark of hope.

"My blood?" she repeated, glancing down at herself before looking back at him.

She hadn’t thought of that before, but now that he mentioned it, she remembered the many cases where fated mates with full wolf blood had been able to help heal one another. And now she was no longer wolfless. She was a full she-wolf with the powers needed to feel the bond between mates.

She turned to where the sword lay and walked to it. She picked it up from the forest ground, then walked back to stand in front of him, bringing her palm up and pressing the blade against it.