93. Chapter 93

Waverly gripped the dashboard with both hands, her nails digging into the age-worn vinyl. She anchored herself with it, mentally and physically as Wynonna persuaded the old truck to give them everything it had. A part of Waverly that was trying to spiral out of her control wondered if they wouldn’t have to take a shotgun to Ol’ Blue’s engine and put it down after this.

If it got her home in time to put a stop to whatever was wrenching endless screams from Nicole though, she swore she would have ‘Nonna’s beloved truck restored twenty times over.

The feeling was different, but no less horrifying, that when Nicole had been attacked with silver. That was all physical pain. This was all mental anguish, a mind-numbing fear that was eating away at her Alpha control. Both times it had stopped her dead but instead of knocking her out, this time Waverly had stayed alert enough to tell Wynonna to get her home… NOW!

Even through it all, she had felt the restlessness of the werewolves in the bar but whether their distress had been because of her shout or their pack connection to Nicole, Waverly didn’t know and wasn’t too bothered about.

“Hang in there, Baby Girl! We’re nearly there!” Through the grime kicked up on the windscreen, Wynonna could see the house coming into view looking just as pretty as ever. A distressed whine ripped up through Wynonna at the sight of it though. Because of her friendship with Nicole and her bond with Waverly, she could feel the echo of Nicole’s anguish buffeting at her mind, telling her to stay away.

Thoughts like those, whether they were from herself, Nicole, or whatever was hurting her friend, could just go to hell! There was no way she was leaving her to face whatever she was alone and no way she was letting Waverly get hurt either.

The closer they got, Wynonna realised that what she could feel pushing at her was Nicole’s power as an Alpha. For one moment that sent a ripple of fear straight down Wynonna’s spine. They knew Nicole was the most powerful Alpha they had ever encountered. All that power was tempered behind an even stronger desire to protect and to not end up living up to her father’s legacy. And it was held down further by love. The fear, the pushing away, that was still Nicole protecting them but it made Wynonna wonder just how much strength Nicole would have if she wasn’t so good… if she turned it the other way and had them kneeling before her, powerless to resist, stripping them of their forms on a whim!

The fear had her lifting her foot off the gas, the truck slowing as she struggled to breathe and fought against the urges to run and get help or throw herself on Nicole’s mercy that was ripping her apart.

Waverly dragged her eyes away from the sight of their house as it dawned on her that the truck was slowing. She could taste the fear rolling off her sister in bitter waves and saw it in her wide blue eyes as she glanced towards her. “Wynonna?”

“Wait!” Shooting out an arm, Wynonna grabbed a hold of Waverly before she could jump from the truck. Fear for her sister and Nicole washed aside everything else. “Wait… I’m okay… going to be okay!” she amended grudgingly. “I’m not letting you go in there alone, sis! Let’s go help our girl!”

Gritting her teeth, Wynonna slammed her foot back on the gas and gave a grin that was all feral and flashing teeth as her faithful truck responded eagerly and only gave out on distressed sounding clunk as it skidded to a halt, nearly sideswiping Nicole’s cruiser on the way, and Wynonna killed the engine.

Waverly barely even waited for the truck to rock to a halt before she had the door open and was leaping out. She could feel Nicole’s distress beating at her, imploring her to stay back, to stay safe. Waverly knew within her heart though that the only way to stay safe was to be at her Alpha’s side. It was where she belonged.

She shielded herself in the belief, the knowledge, of that and rushed into their home. The screams in her head were deafening but the house was eerily silent until Waverly adjusted her senses and heard the heart-breaking whimpers and moans coming from above. As the first one registered, her foot landed on the stairs and she hurried up them with Wynonna right on her heel.

Waverly pushed open the door to the spare bedroom and froze for a moment, her eyes taking everything in. There was an unnatural heaviness in the room, a palpable darkness that crept around the edges and cast the walls and corners in deep shadow. It closed everything off and made the room feel bigger than it was all at the same time. Like a beacon of light, a metal box shone in the centre of the room but brighter still was the glow from the ring lying beside it.

Waverly glanced at it, more concerned with finding Nicole, but she found herself mesmerised as the ring pulsed and changed shape even as the design stayed basically the same. Silver in colour, but more likely platinum or white gold, with a stone set in it that was either black or a dark blood red. One moment it was quite obviously a man’s ring, chunky in size and lacking in grace and the next it became more feminine, the stone splitting and becoming a cluster.

Taking another step into the room, Waverly searched the edges of the room… or where the edges should have been. She could hear Nicole’s panted whimpers and her feet scuffling upon the bare floorboards but the sound was distorted, muffled and bouncing all around. “Nic?”

Wynonna stared at the ring, mesmerised by its strange beauty even as the sight of it made her feel sick to her stomach. She leaned closer. “Is that…”

A roar shattered the air and Wynonna fell back from the ferociousness of it and from the flash of red and black leaping from the darkness to land in a crouch between herself and the ring.

“Baby!?”

It was Nicole… Waverly knew it was but along with the name came the word… ‘barely’. Her body was hunched over, her clothes hanging from her body in tatters. As she lifted her head, Waverly gasped as she saw the deep, ragged, scratches gouged into her face, chest and arms. Her eyes, peering out from hair dripping with sweat and blood, were wild, filled with pain and anger.

Waverly held out her hand and froze as Nicole’s eyes darted towards the motion like a starving wolf spotting its next meal. “Nic?” The storm raging in her eyes cleared for a second, filling with all her love as they met hers but before Waverly could barely register it, Nicole’s body was bowed back so far that Waverly felt sure that her spine would break under the pressure. A scream of pain ripped from her soul, turning into a feral howl as she collapsed to her knees, the back of her head slamming against the floor. She writhed on the ground, her body shifted, rippling between all her forms at the same time without pause as she clawed and bit at herself.

“DON’T… TOUCH THE RING!!”

Despite the thrashing of Nicole’s body, Waverly threw herself onto her knees before her and cupped her face between her hands. The storm cleared in her eyes again, her body stilling its thrashing and changing.

“It’s trying to control me,” Nicole whimpered, turning her eyes away from the seductive glow of the ring. “It wants me to put it on. Trying to force… change!” She grabbed the sleeves of Waverly’s jacket, her nails digging in as a fresh wave of pain threatened to break her in half.

“Will it stop if I put it back in the box?”

“Don’t know…” Nicole shook her head, trying to clear her mind and hold on to her control at the same time. “Didn’t feel it until I opened it… maybe.” She grabbed Waverly tighter as she tried to move away. “Can’t touch! Don’t!” Nicole pointed across the room and heard Waverly gasp as she saw Calamity’s body sprawled upon the floor.

“Oh… C.J.! Wynonna, could you get… Wynonna?!” Waverly’s heart leapt into her throat as the sight of her sister laying on the floor, her body stripped of its human features leaving behind her wolf. Her chest rose and fell in a rapid panting but she was out cold.

Waverly wasn’t sure why it hadn’t changed her… maybe it just didn’t think she was powerful enough to bother with. She had to do something though before whatever had kept her safe from it, changed. Darting from the room, she grabbed up a dustpan and brush from outside. In the back of her mind, she could hear Wynonna making a quip about taking out the trash and had to hold back an almost hysterical giggle.

Lifting her head, Nicole dug her claws into her palms and watched as Waverly moved towards the ring and the box. Hope flared and died, horror rising as Waverly staggered back, her hands flying to her stomach as the dustpan and brush clattered and bounced upon the floor.

“WAVERLY!”

Surging to her feet, Nicole grabbed her love and dragged her away from the ring. As carefully as she could, she propped her up against the wall near the door. She would have taken her further, would have carried her from the house and not stopped until they hit Mexico or further… but as though sensing her desires, the pain beat at her from the ring trying to turn her inside out. Turn and the pain will stop! Turn! Wear me! Use me!

Forcing her hands to return to their human shape, Nicole used them to caress Waverly’s jaw and her abdomen. Anger burned in her, pushing aside the pain from the ring with its fury. “Tacky assed piece of jewellery!” Putting one foot in front of the other, Nicole made her way closer to the ring. “Changed me once now I change when I want! WHEN I WANT!” Picking the ring up, making sure to only touch the outside edges, Nicole glowered at it as burning heat spread up her arm and crushed it. “Worst mistake! No one touches my family!”

Dropping the ring back in the silver-lined box, Nicole closed the lid on it and collapsed to the floor with the box clenched shut in her hand.

Waverly crawled across the floor to Nicole’s side and gently brushed the damp hair back from her eyes. Taking the box from her hand, Waverly placed it aside and pulled Nicole so her head was resting in her lap. With the ring out of sight, hopefully, destroyed, the room returned to normal, growing lighter and more airy, feeling like home once more.

“Hey, cutie.”

“Hi, sweetie pie.” Nicole’s voice was soft and raspy, forced from a throat that had been forced through too many changes, but it was the best thing that Waverly had ever heard, as was the soft moan from her sister as she sifted from wolf to human and let out a string of cusses about her ruined clothing, and the soft mew from Calamity as she limped over and crawled onto Nicole’s chest.

“Crazy here tried to take the ring on all by herself,” Nicole whispered as she gently ran her hand over Calamity’s fur and felt her purr spreading through her chest. “She bit down on it and got tossed against the wall.”

“You look a hot mess, Haught,” Wynonna chuckled weakly at her, for once, completely unintentional pun. “Haughtmess.” Groaning Wynonna glowered at the tattered remains of her clothing and at the box on the floor as she staggered her way over and sat down beside them. “Is that it? The ring is destroyed, right?”

“I wish,” Nicole sighed. “I crushed it but it was already getting its shape back as I shut the lid on that thing.”

“What the hell was going on with it, Haught?”

Nicole quickly filled them in on how she’d found the ring… or rather how Calamity had finally let her know where to look. “Soon as I opened it, it started ripping into me, trying to get me to change and put it on. I think Bulshar was pretty much off his rocker for wanting that in the first place but… wearing that every second for all those years… no wonder he was how he was. And he wants it back.”

“It never did anything like that when you were little?”

“I was never around him much anyway, my mom and Rayven did their best to see to that but… no. I feel like I’m putting too much sentience on it with how it made me feel but… Maybe it was happy just being worn… Maybe I wasn’t strong enough back then to interest it.”

“It was definitely after you then, Haught. Yeah, I’ll admit it, it was shiny and caught my eye but it never felt like it was trying to get me to wear it. Not that I’m complaining but I would like to think if you weren’t playing ball I’m a strong enough of an Alpha to be tempting.”

“It was made for him,” Waverly mused, “maybe it takes someone from his bloodline to be able to wear it?” Knowing how much Nicole hated to be reminded of what Bulshar was to her, Waverly grimaced at the expression on Nicole’s face. “Hey, you might share blood but you are nothing like him, Nic,” she grasped Nicole’s chin, forcing her Alpha to meet her gaze. “If you think that about yourself then you must think the same of our baby? Do you?”

“Of course not,” Nicole mumbled around Waverly grip.

“Good. Now. Let’s get that thing locked away and check Calamity out,” though Calamity seemed to be doing fine if her contented purrs were any indication. “Then we need to get to planning… after you two get some clothes on.”