Chapter 0356 Nina Enzo and I had to return to the werewolf realm only minutes after we buried his father.


    We didn’t have time to rest or regroup, or to even gather fresh supplies. No matter how badly I just wanted to lie down in my bed for hours or take a hot shower to ease the soreness in my muscles, I knew that we needed to leave as soon as possible. There was a possibility that Selena and the witch were already hot on our trails, as we had spent so much time that morning taking care of Richard’s funeral. I didn’t know how long Luke’s hex wouldst; it could have been wearing off at that exact moment, for all I knew


    — which meant that Selena could easily open a portal at any second and kill all of us. — Except for me, of course. She couldn’t kill me, and she knew that; but she would make sure to make me suffer.


    There was no way to stop Selena if we didn’t act quickly. Already, I imagined that she was probably fuming, and would likely find a way to get her revenge if we didn’t hurry. But my friends were exhausted, and I didn’t want to put them in any more danger than they already had been that night.


    “We can go with you,” Matt said, stepping forward from the rest of the group despite the fact that he looked just as battered and exhausted as


    everyone else. “Iwill go, at least.” Enzo shook his head.


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    “You guys need to stay here and protect the town,” Enzo said firmly.


    Even amidst his grief, he was the perfect picture of a strong and powerful Alpha. I thought back to the way that he was at the beginning of the semester, and how different he had been. All of us had been so different then... But was it for better or for worse? Did everything that we experienced bring us together and cause us to mature, or did it only hollow out our insides and make us cold and pessimistic? At this point, I couldn’t even tell. I felt too numb in preparation for my uing fight with Selena to feel anything. It was like [ was an outsider watching myself from far away. Just a puppet being


    yanked around by the strings of fate.


    Matt frowned and furrowed his brow.


    “You expect us to just let you two go alone? Selena is crazy!” “We''re going with you,” Lori said firmly. When I looked at her, she was swaying slightly in her spot from obvious exhaustion, but her eyes burned brightly despite of it.


    Then, Jessica chimed in as well, her voice high and shaky. “We won''t let you—" “As your Alpha, Imand it,” Enzo suddenly interrupted. His voice was even more stern now, and it boomed across the forest clearing. Even the morning birds that sang around us went silent for a few moments. But then he softened a bit, and I felt his


    shoulders slump slightly beside me. He looked at Matt then and addressed him firmly. “You’re my Beta. I needyou here, protecting the rest of our pack.” Finally, after some consideration, Matt nodded and stuck his hands in his pockets. Meanwhile, Lori and Jessica stood off to the side and stared at us with abination of shock and sadness. I could tell that they knew that Enzo and I had to go, but at the same time they wanted us to stay here.


    I wondered if I would see my friends again, or if this would be thest time would ever see them. I didn’t even know if I should tell them that there was a chance that I wouldn’te back... Maybe it was best, I thought to myself, if I let them go on thinking that I


    [ would return at some point. Maybe if I said a real goodbye now, it would only make it all too real for me. = I decided to keep my fate to myself — although whether it was for my friends’ sake or my own sake was a mystery to me.


    “What do you want us to do while you''re gone?” Luke asked, always the stoic one. His face was drawn; being an undead meant that he didn’t need much sleep or rest, but it didn’t mean that the entire experience didn’t make him utterly exhausted. And yet, even in his exhaustion, he still needed some sort of order to keep himself busy.


    Enzo looked down at me. I swallowed.


    My throat felt cracked and dry from the scream that escaped my lips earlier — the strange scream that created a


    shockwave that was strong enough to throw both Selena and the witch several yards away from us. I still didn’t know what that was, or where it came from. It just felt instinctual, like I always knew I could do it somehow. It made me wonder how many other powers I had, just lying dormant inside of me.


    “The antidote,” I said suddenly. “I... 1 wrote down the recipe. It’s on theputer in the infirmary. You guys need to make more.” My friends’ brows furrowed almost in unison. I realized that what I said set off some red gs; it implied that I wouldn''t be returning anytime soon, if ever. But none of them said anything, except for Jessica, who nodded and spoke up. “We''ll take care of it, Nina,” she said quietly.


    I managed a weak smile. So did Jessica.


    Beside her, Lori only stared at me with that same knowing, solemn stare that she had always been good at.


    Suddenly, Matt walked forward. He stopped in front of Enzo and myself and stared at us both for a few moments before finally reaching out and punching Enzo’s shoulder with a crooked, cheeky grin.


    “See you guys soon,” he said. “Real soon.” There was something in his eyes, though, when he looked at me, that indicated that he didn’t fully believe that he would see us soon. However, he didn’t say anything else. Enzo merely nodded in response, then looked down at me.


    It was time.


    I turned, taking a deep breath, and held my hand out.


    The portal opened much faster this time; I had gotten better at it. I didn’t even need to do the full motion, almost as though the portal was just waiting for me, as though I could have simply opened it with my mind. I wondered if the portal would take us directly back into Selena and the witch’s grasp, or if it would take us somewhere else. I couldn’t decide which oue I''would have preferred; both would end in the same way. Selena and I would likely kill each other. It didn’t matter where or when it happened. As the swirling, purple vortex spun in front of us, I took onest look at my friends.


    But through the tears in my eyes, I couldn’t see any of them anyway. They were nothing but a group of shapeless


    blobs. I swore I heard a sob escape Jessica''s throat, but I couldn’t be certain whether it was hers or my Owrl.


    Enzo’s hand slipped into mine.


    Together, we stepped into the portal.