A Werewolf's Unexpected Mate-Chapter 72: Unexpected Ally

Ovelia’s POV

A sudden gale-force wind ripped through the clearing, its force so powerful it sent the Electro-Blast veering off course. The crackling energy detonated harmlessly above the treetops, lighting up the night sky in a brilliant blue flash.

My eyes caught movement near my face - what I first mistook for a butterfly fluttering erratically. As it drew closer, the creature’s form became clear: a male fairy no taller than my hand, his iridescent wings refracting light like prisms. His snow-white hair floated around his delicate features, and his storm-gray eyes glowed with an inner light.

"He saved us again," Lady Firera grumbled inside my skull, her mental voice thick with annoyance.

Again?

My breath caught in my throat. "You’re... real," I whispered, my fingers trembling as they rose unbidden toward him.

The fairy tales about Apple Forest—they hadn’t been mere stories after all.

Before the fairy could respond, Ann’s shout cut through the air. I turned to see her twist the black werewolf’s arm with a sickening crack, breaking his grip on her leg. A brutal kick to his stomach left him motionless in the dirt.

Then Ann was upon me, her warm hands cradling my face with surprising gentleness. "Thank the gods," she choked out, her voice thick with uncharacteristic emotion. Her arms wrapped around me so tightly I could feel her racing heartbeat. "I never should have left you alone. This failure is mine."

Her nose twitched as she sniffed the air, then fixed her black eyes on the hovering fairy. The tiny creature immediately backpedaled through the air, his wings beating frantically. "D-don’t even think about eating me!" he squeaked, his voice jumping an octave.

"You’re what I scented earlier in the underbrush," she said, her voice low and blade-sharp. "Identify yourself."

The pieces clicked together in my mind - the mysterious presence, Lady Firera’s cryptic comment. She must have known it was a fairy all along. The realization struck me that despite being sealed inside me, Lady Firera possessed abilities far beyond my understanding. I needed to learn more about her.

The fairy ignored Ann’s demand entirely, instead darting so close his tiny face filled my vision. Up close, I could see the fine tremors running through his frame - whether from exhaustion or anger, I couldn’t tell. "Your so-called prince left you defenseless," he spat, his delicate features twisting into a mask of contempt that looked wrong on such an ethereal being.

Ann growled low in her throat. "That’s not an answer, little one."

His words stung, but I pushed the hurt aside. Ace had entrusted my safety to Ann - that was its own form of protection.

Then understanding dawned like sunrise after a stormy night. The voice in the wind, the familiar presence... "Wind?" My voice came out barely above a whisper. "That was you all along? You’re a fairy!"

Ann’s jaw went slack. "That explains why your voice..." Her words trailed off as pieces clicked together in her mind.

The fairy opened his mouth to respond when suddenly his wings stuttered mid-beat. His glow dimmed visibly, the light draining from him like water through a sieve. He plummeted toward the ground like a shot bird, and only my reflexive catch saved him from impact. His tiny body trembled violently in my cupped palms, his breaths coming in shallow gasps. The effort of diverting that spell had drained him to the brink.

"Electro-Wave!" The witch’s shrill voice shattered our momentary reprieve.

"Damn these witches!" Lady Firera’s mental roar made me wince. "If I weren’t sealed away, I’d tear them apart limb from limb!"

A new wave of electricity surged toward us, this one thrice the size of the last. Ann scooped me up in one fluid motion, but before the attack could reach us, a blur of brown fur interposed itself between us and danger. A massive werewolf wielding an ornate shield absorbed the full force of the attack, the electricity grounding out in a spectacular shower of sparks. Without hesitation, he charged toward the witch, his sword gleaming like a sliver of moonlight.

Ann’s entire body relaxed against mine. "The reinforcements," she exhaled, her warm breath ghosting across my ear. "They’re here."

Ace’s POV (A Few Minutes Earlier)

The acrid scent of burnt ozone filled the air as another volley of spells exploded near our position. Ray, Philip and I moved in synchronized dodges, the ground erupting in bursts of flame and jagged stone shards where we’d stood moments before. My claws dug furrows in the dirt as I pivoted to avoid a crackling bolt of electricity.

A distant explosion of blue light had caught my attention earlier - somewhere near where Ovelia and Ann were positioned. My wolf senses confirmed they were unharmed, but there was something else with them... something I couldn’t quite identify.

"Hey, Ace!" Ray’s shout snapped my focus back to the immediate danger. His orange eyes flashed with irritation as he barely avoided a flying boulder the size of his head. "You planning to take a nap mid-battle?"

The witches’ chanting reached a fever pitch:

"Flameburst! Electro-Manipulation! Rupes! Aeris Levatus! Maximus Fluctus!"

Elemental magic of every variety rained down around us. The air itself seemed to vibrate with raw power. My ears flattened against the onslaught of noise - the crackle of electricity, the roar of flames, the grinding of stone.

I bared my teeth in frustration. This was beyond tedious. In three swift strides, I closed the distance to Philip.

"New plan," I growled, gripping his legs before he could react. His eyes widened comically as I hefted him like a javelin. "I’m throwing you at the witches."

Philip’s mouth worked soundlessly for a moment before finding his voice. "Wait, what? Are you completely insane—"

I didn’t let him finish. With one powerful rotation, I sent him spinning through the air toward the clustered witches.

"ACE YOU SADISTIC BASTARD!" Philip’s scream trailed after him as he flailed mid-air like a upended turtle.

Ray’s exasperated shout joined the chorus. "By the gods, what are you DOING?"

"Proving a point," I called back, watching Philip’s trajectory with satisfaction. "Good luck!"

My so-called ruthless nature was rewarded instantly. Philip crashed bodily into the lead witch, sending her sprawling in a tangle of limbs and robes. To his credit, he recovered with remarkable speed - his daggers flashing as he systematically shattered each witch’s wand with precise, almost surgical strikes.

Ray shook his head, but I didn’t miss the grudging admiration in his voice. "You gamble too much with his life."

I shrugged, already moving to flank the now-disarmed witches. "And yet he always delivers."

The satisfying snap of breaking wandwood filled the air as Philip worked, his earlier panic replaced by focused determination. One by one, the witches’ shocked faces twisted into masks of dismay as their precious conduits became kindling at their feet.

Philip’s POV

The world became a nauseating blur of sky and ground as I hurtled through the air, my stomach performing acrobatics somewhere near my throat. That silver-furred bastard had launched me like some damned javelin, the trees whipping past in streaks of green and brown. My fingers instinctively tightened around my daggers - if I survived this, I was going to strangle Ace with his own tail.

The witches’ shocked faces zoomed into focus as I crashed among them. Their spellcasting rhythm was predictable - fifteen to thirty seconds of chanting between attacks. More than enough time.

Steel flashed in the firelight as my daggers found their marks. One after another, wooden wands splintered in my hands, the sharp cracks echoing through the clearing like gunshots. A red-haired witch staggered back, clutching the broken remnants of her focus like a grieving mother.

"You’re just a human!" she spat, her voice cracking with disbelief. Her fingers twitched uselessly without her wand. "How—"

"Electro—" she began again, desperation creeping into her tone. My fist connected with her solar plexus before she could finish. The air whooshed from her lungs in a gratifying rush as she folded like a poorly-made puppet.

"I’m making sure you can’t hurt anyone ever again," I panted, wiping sweat from my brow. My arms trembled with exhaustion, but the fire in my chest burned hotter than ever. The remaining witches’ glares could have melted steel.

One of them, a gaunt woman with hollow cheeks that spoke of starvation or dark magic, let out a rasping laugh that raised the hairs on my neck. "Foolish boy. You’ve no idea what powers we command."

I adjusted my stance, daggers raised despite my screaming muscles. "Power without control is worthless," I shot back. I’d be damned if I showed weakness now.

Ace’s POV

Philip’s reckless charge created the opening we needed. Ray and I exchanged a glance - one curt nod - before surging forward to flank the remaining witches. Then my blood turned to ice.

A witch at the far edge of the clearing raised her gnarled wand, its tip crackling with blue energy. My enhanced vision tracked the precise arc of her aim - straight toward the tree line where Ovelia and Ann stood exposed.

"Electro-Wave!" The incantation sliced through the battle noise like a knife.

The air itself seemed to tear apart as a surging wall of electricity roared across the clearing. Trees in its path exploded into flaming splinters, the acrid stench of ozone and burning wood flooding my nostrils.

Ray’s claws dug into my shoulder. "That’s master-level magic!" His voice cracked with rare panic. "They can’t dodge that!"

My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped animal. Every muscle in my body coiled as I launched forward, my paws tearing up chunks of earth. The world narrowed to that deadly arc of blue light racing toward Ovelia.

*Please.* The prayer burned through my mind. *If there’s any power inside her, any protection at all, don’t let her die. Not like this.*

Then - impossibly - the Electro-Wave wrenched sideways as if caught in a hurricane. It detonated high above the trees in a dazzling burst of blue-white sparks that rained down like deadly confetti.

My relief lasted only seconds before new scents registered - the musky pine-and-iron signature of Crimsonheart warriors, the sharper metallic tang of Silverhowl troops. The reinforcements had finally arrived.

Ray’s grip on my arm tightened. "Focus," he growled. "The battle’s not over."

I forced air into my burning lungs, claws retracting slightly. Reinforcements had arrived—*we could end this now*. I wanted to see Ovelia’s face with my own eyes, to feel her pulse stuttering beneath my fingers. But I shoved the hunger aside. First, I had to restrain every last one of these bandits. Only then would she be safe.