Taking a step forward to give chase, I halted at the sudden resonant, muffled roar from behind us. Looking back, I saw a massive moose shifter speed toward Elle and me. As I moved to shift and take him on, Elle shoved me back.
“Go. Stop Bastien,” she shouted, then rushed toward the moose.
She surprised me with her speed and agility. I knew she’d been training, but her progress was astounding. She dived beneath the shifter’s thundering hooves and rolled to safety like a gymnast.
Deciding she’d be fine, I turned and sprinted for Bastien. He had a head start, but my legs were longer, and I was faster. Even with every step sending bolts of pain through my ribs, I didn’t let it slow me down. Rushing past Octavius, I locked my eyes on Bastien’s back and poured on as much speed as I could until I closed the gap and jumped forward, shifting in midair. I blasted a jet of fire at him.
His reflexes were quick, and he changed direction, rolling out of the path of the flames. Shifting to my half-dragon form, I landed on the ground. I cried out in pain as I rolled and jumped to my feet, trying to ignore my broken bones as my body did its best to heal.
Bastien glared at me, chest heaving. “Well, well, well. Been a while, Aurelius. Did you come back so I could play a few more games with you? I think you were starting to like how I was playing. Maybe we’ll do some shock therapy, or perhaps forced castration? Whatever feels good at the moment.”
“You can try,” I growled as I lunged at him.
We slammed into each other. I gasped in pain, but turned it into a roar of anger as I snapped my jagged teeth together inches from his face. Bastien shifted as well, dropping to four paws and ramming his thick skull into my shins. His mass and strength threw me off balance and sent me tumbling to the ground.
This time, I couldn’t hold back the scream. It felt as though a bag of knives were twisting in my torso where my ribs were supposed to be. Bastien took that moment to jump onto my chest and bite into my shoulder. Had I not been half-shifted and covered in scales, he probably would have ripped an entire chunk of flesh free. Another roar of pain tore from my throat.
I kicked up with my back legs, catching my enemy in the stomach and sending him tumbling through the air. When Bastien landed, he yelped, and in seconds I was back on my feet, growling and ready to fight.
As Bastien rose to his feet, a dozen of his household guards rushed in and surrounded him. They must have seen their leader in trouble and left the battle. They’d rather let their allies die than the head of their great house.
A dozen snarling muzzles growled at me. Bastien shifted again and gave me that shit-eating grin he loved to plaster on his face all the time. Without a word, he turned and continued walking toward the forest.
I clenched my jaw and ground my teeth together. How the fuck was I going to get to him? I had no doubt I could have taken the wolves had I been healthy, but my body was trying to rapidly heal, and it was sapping too much of my energy. I didn’t think I could get through them in time. If we didn’t hurry, Bastien would get away, and God only knew what would happen then. Before I could formulate a plan, a deafening dragon screech filled the air.
BRIELLE
The gigantic moose shifter nearly trampled me as I rolled away beneath its crushing hooves. When he’d passed me, I jumped to my feet and prepared for it to attack again. Huge branching antlers swung around as it turned to rush me again. Before I could allow my panic to take over, I ran forward, angling right toward the thing.
It lowered its head, ready to gore me with the huge horns, but at the last moment, I jumped, placed my foot on its head, and thrust down with all my weight. With its balance shifted too far forward, it let out a deafening roar of surprise a moment before its face slammed into the ground.
Leaping free, I turned right as it shifted back to its human form. The bulky looking man rose to a knee and cradled his head.
“I’m gonna beat your ass, little girl. I hope you’re?-“
His words were cut off when my kick-a roundhouse I’d learned from Delphine-exploded against his face. The man’s head snapped around, and he fell to the grass, unconscious. Standing above him, I smiled grimly, proud of what I’d done, despite the savagery.
When a hand grabbed my shoulder, I spun, fist raised ready to attack.
“Hang on! I’m a friend.” The woman held her free hand up to ward off my attack.
“Who are you?” I growled.
She glanced at the man on the ground in disappointment. “I’m in his clan.” her eyes widened as she saw the anger flare in my eyes. “Wait, no! I’m not with him, though. Come on. Not all of us want to hurt you.”
Glancing over, I spotted a group of bears, moose, and panthers fighting alongside the Hikshil and other fae, Vince, Rasp, and several of Aurelius’s reinforcements.
The woman beckoned me to join them, and before I could respond, she half-shifted, becoming a seven-foot-tall muscular mixture of human and moose. She used her giant horns to intercept a Laurent wolf, sending the beast flipping through the air.
Good enough for me. I joined her, hurrying toward the others. Sahalie, Achakos, and Kaskawan were casting spells, doing their best to pin the attacking wolves in, but there were so fucking many of them. All the fae looked tired, and even though we appeared to be winning, if even a few of those magic users were hurt or killed, the tide would turn fast. I gazed around at the battlefield, horrified at the destruction. One of Aurelius’s men, still in his dragon form, writhed under a mound of wolf shifters that bit and clawed at him. He gave one final swipe of a wing, and his head sagged into the steadily growing pool of blood. My heart ached at the sight of it. All this death and destruction tore at my soul. We had to finish this. More would die if this kept on any longer. I couldn’t allow that. This had to end. Now.
In the distance, I could barely make out the forms of Aurelius and my brother fighting. A group of wolves were running straight toward Aurelius. He’d need help. Bastien needed to be stopped. That was the only way to end all this for good.
To my left, Vincent-in his full dragon form-slashed out, nearly decapitating a wolf, who only survived by throwing itself to the ground.
“Vince!”
I screamed, cupping my hands around my mouth.
He swung his huge head toward me, a questioning look in his emerald-green eyes.
“Take me to Aurelius,” I shouted, pointing toward the fight.
Of all the dragons in the Decimus household, Vince was the fastest, and when he bobbed his big head and came rushing toward me, I grabbed the heavy scales of his back and hoisted myself up before he jumped into the sky.
Three quick flaps of his wings sent us bolting along. God, he was fast. We were nearly upon Aurelius and the group of gathering wolves before I had time to blink. Vince unleashed a terrifying screech of rage as we approached.
Nudging Vince with my knees, I urged him onward, bypassing Aurelius, and heading straight for my asshole of a brother who was doing his best to make it to the cover of the woods. The wolves that had been about to attack Aurelius bolted. Seeing what I was doing, they went to protect their lord.
Vince swooped in and landed with a bone-shaking thud on the ground in front of Bastien. Leaping off him, I landed more gracefully than I’d imagined possible. When he saw me, his eyes went wide with surprise, but a moment later, he began to laugh.
“Really? You? Is that what you think this is? Some final showdown? Brielle, there is nothing you can do to beat me. You understand that, don’t you?”
“All I understand is that I’m here, and I’m ready to do whatever is needed to end this,” I said.
The wolves surrounded us in a semicircle, their jaws open and growling, their eyes malevolent as they stared at me like a hunk of fresh meat.
“Stand down,” Bastien said, raising a hand. “I don’t need help with my sister. After all, she’s not even a real shifter.”
That was it. I was done with him, with all of this. It was now or never.
Stepping forward, I raised my voice to be heard over the dying rumble of fighting.
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