Her djinn was a little bloodthirsty, but, given the circumstances… who could blame her?
“Go.” He kissed me on the lips one more time and stepped back, retaking his wolf form in one smooth motion and shouldering his way back in to help with the fight.
“Ready?” Elodie asked me, not missing that I was depleted, the green energy around Gael already beginning to flicker.
“Yes. I’ll keep up.” I would, no matter what. I willed the green light to focus on his vital organs as we made our way out of the battle.
To my surprise, Lucien and Reed broke away from the group, bracketing us as we worked our way toward the city.
When we were free of the melee, they turned, standing guard between us and any pursuers.
We only made it another block before I had to stop.
“I’m sorry, I can’t keep going. I’m about to lose the power. You need to run. Get him to Brielle.” I finally broke, letting my desperation show, and Elodie flew into action.
“Stay with her, Fiona, and fry anybody who even looks at you funny.” Elodie scooped Gael into her arms and, with impressive speed, sprinted back toward the caves.
I felt it when the thread of power snapped out of my hold, the edges of the world around me going soft and fuzzy black, closing me up until all was darkness.
Lucien
There just weren’t enough of us. The enforcers were relentless, and no matter how many we killed, more kept pouring out of the woods. It had to be another magic user, someone in the forest, flashing reinforcements here from one of the ODL bases.
If that were the case, the stream of enforcers would never end until we’d been crushed under the ODL’s boots. Something had to change, and fast, or we were going to lose. Sheer fatigue was going to start taking us down eventually.
Making a snap decision now that the girls were safely out of sight within the deserted, burning goblin city, I barked at Reed to get his attention, and then ran into the fray.
He stayed on my heels, the pair of us weaving at top speed through the oncoming fighters toward the forest.
It was like swimming upstream, and our path wasn’t without skirmishes, but we made pretty good time, dodging and leaving enemies at our back using our superior speed.
Only the vampires were really an obstacle, but their general youth and solitary nature helped us take them out. Older, more powerful vampires didn’t join the ODL.
I was panting, sides heaving, when we finally broke through the stream of attackers into the silent forest. I paused, listening, trying to expand my senses far enough to pick up the telltale tingle of magic.
For several long minutes, there was nothing.
Frustration built as we waited, and I heard Reed shifting on his feet at my side, clearly not understanding why we’d abandoned our pack to stand around in the empty trees.
But then I felt it. It struck faster than lightning, the tingling electricity, the crisp scent of ozone off to the right.
Bingo, bitches.
I took off at a full run, Reed getting the picture now that he’d felt what I felt. The scent of ozone grew stronger, making my wolf want to sneeze as we cut through the forest. Within a minute, we could hear the thundering racket of reinforcements running away from the spot, and I knew if we didn’t hurry, the magic user would be gone again, out of reach.
Our only hope was a refractory period, where he couldn’t flash away before we could take him down. I dug deep, pulling out all the stops and urging my wolf forward, forward-and he gave it his all. It was the first time I’d felt truly in sync with my wolf since before the torture. Maybe for years. We practically flew, paws barely touching the earth, single-minded focus on taking out the one who kept bringing more forces to attack our pack, endanger our mate.
Our mate.
My wolf’s pleasure at merely the thought of Olivia was breathtaking. It was the first time I’d seen her through his eyes, and in that one moment of clarity, I understood more than I had time to process in the middle of a battle.
I understand now, I told the wolf, and a sense of well-being flooded me, as if something were trying to knit itself back together.
The bond
?
I didn’t know.
But at that moment, we closed the distance, and the same fucking lesser fae that had been in the clearing earlier stood, looking bored after having dropped off no fewer than a dozen reinforcements in one go.
He noticed us a second too late. I was already in the air, arrowing toward his groin as Reed went high, aiming for his throat. His barriers went up just in time, diverting me from making contact with less than an inch of margin between his family jewels and my razor-sharp canines.
We couldn’t stop, couldn’t give him time to recharge, though, or this would all be for naught. He’d change where he returned, and we’d be even worse off than we were now. I hit the ground and circled tightly, continuing to charge and snap, Reed and I working as one as we sought a break in his personal protections.
I could feel time ticking past, knew we were about to lose him, when the same magical tingle zapped over me like electricity.
The scent of ozone was so close by, it burned my nostrils, and this time, I did sneeze.
Defeat. I froze in place. We’d fucked it up, and he’d gone.
Except, the lesser fae was still in front of me, his face etched with awe as he looked behind us, over my shoulder.
Shit, he has backup!
I spun, not wanting to leave my and Reed’s flanks exposed to another attack-but what I saw had me stopping in awe of my own.
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