by J. E. Cluney
“He took Izzy from them, they have just as much right as any of us,” Wes murmured.
I knew Mr Oxley wanted to handle this himself, especially with the history between him and the Collector, but Declan had messed with all our lives.
He needed to be stopped.
”We won’t drag them into this, and that’s final,” Mr Oxley’s voice boomed through the room. “Now, inform the others. They’ll need to prepare. I’ll inform Tessa and Melinda, and we’ll prepare the shelter for the children. It’s big enough down there that they can still continue their schooling. We’ll lie to them about what’s going on and move them down before the attack comes,” Mr Oxley said.
There was no arguing with him, not with how set his jaw was and the way his eyes flickered.
We needed to inform the others and prepare.
But I knew that no matter what, Sav would not sit this one out. She was a warrior, and Declan was someone she wanted to bring down more than anything.
Telling her no was not possible.
28
“What?” I blinked, positive I’d heard Leon wrong.
He was standing before me, looking all angelic and hot as fuck, and I swear he’d just told me I was not to be a part of the incoming battle.
“Mr Oxley—”
“Like fuck I’ll cower down and sit this out!” I growled. Who the fuck thought that was a good idea? Surely they’d told Mr Oxley it was a dumb suggestion.
“Told you,” Tristan chuckled.
“Declan wants you, Sav. We need to make sure he doesn’t get to you,” Nate tried to be the voice of reason.
Leon had asked us to meet him in the library so we could all talk. I was just glad him and the other two were okay. Declan apparently hadn’t been at the warehouse by the time they got there.
Which I was beyond grateful for.
“I don’t give two fucks. I’ll take him head-on. I took him down once before, I’ll do it again. He wants to kill me,” I smirked, “he can give it his best shot.”
“No, he won’t get near you,” Damien bristled, digging his nails into the arms of the armchair he was in.
“I don’t need you all trying to stop me from being a part of this. I’m more a part of this than any of you,” I argued, balling my hands into fists as I shot off the couch and paced. They all would feel better if I just agreed, but honestly, fuck them.
I was the one who’d been captured, whose sister-in-law had been raped. I’d not exactly had a pleasant time there either.
I paced back and forth, fuming at the audacity of my mates.
“Mr Oxley was the one who suggested it,” Wesley mumbled.
“Well, this is the only time I won’t listen. We’ve got the upper ground. You guys found out when they plan to attack, so we can be ready. This place is warded to high heaven, and Mr Oxley has that fancy orb thing,” I said, waving my hand as I tried to rein in my fury. “What about the children?”
“They’ll go into the underground shelter. Only Mr Oxley can access it. I’m sure he’ll grant access to someone else in case anything goes wrong so they can get back out,” Tristan said, his voice dropping.
The air was heavy with uncertainty at those words.
Was it actually possible we’d struggle in this battle?
Declan had gathered a lot of his followers. But there were also a lot of extremely well-trained supes here.
“My family needs to know,” I growled softly. As much as I didn’t want them involved, Samson and Soren were highly trained, and they’d be useful in this fight. I didn’t want to endanger my family, but they’d wanted to be kept in the loop.
And they wanted to get back at Declan for what had happened to Izzy.
“Mr Oxley…” Wesley started, but stiffened when I shot him a dark look.
“Mr Oxley is wrong today,” I growled softly. I knew Mr Oxley wanted to protect everyone. But that wasn’t his decision to make.
We all deserved to have the choice.
“Well, we should prepare then. Train, have weapons ready. Dom will get onto some spell-work, and I know Mr Oxley wants to ready the place. He’s thinking of dropping the wardings to let them onto the grounds. The Institute itself will be protected still, but most magic will be focused on the underground shelter to protect the children. He wants to keep the battle to the grounds, not letting it spill into the supe community. He’s alerting the Council, who will inform the town leaders and make sure the area is clear just in case. Probably evacuate some people in a certain radius,” Tristan said.
Right. It wasn’t just us in this fight. The Institute was set right on the edge of town, so there were civilians in the area.
“Shouldn’t we evacuate the kids?” I asked.
“That might be what he wants, so he can get his hands on them again. They’re safest here,” Leon stated.
“I thought the Council was all grand and mighty, but they can’t protect the kids?” I arched a brow at the men.
“The Council could be compromised for all we know,” Tristan said quickly. A little too quickly for my liking as I spun to face him.
“You mean, you’re sure it is,” I said, knowing full well what he meant. He couldn’t hide it from me, we were bonded mates.
He grimaced at my ability to read him like an open book.
Mr Oxley had expressed concerns to him, stating that that was why the Council had handed the kids over as well. The men he was in contact with suspected the Council wasn’t completely trustworthy. That Declan may have an in with a few of them, so they’d kept only their best people watching the children before moving them here.
Great, guess we couldn’t rely on them to stop Declan then.
“Those who are on the Council for the right reasons will do their best. Those that aren’t, won’t risk revealing themselves by not going after him,” Leon stated.
I guess that was true.
“Well, I guess all we can do is prepare then,” I said after a moment.
That was all that was left for us to do.
I’d contact my family and let them know what was going on, see if they wanted to help. I worried for their safety, but we’d have a better chance with them.
“Mr Oxley called the Council too, they’ll be sending out people to help us. Dom will be setting up a whole heap of sleeping quarters,” Tristan informed me.
I wasn’t too keen on having a heap of housemates, but I’d rather be ready for Declan than anything.
We’d manage this.
Time to get ready for the battle of our lives.
29
Nate.
The days dragged by slowly, and we trained and prepared ourselves, making sure all weapons were in good shape.
Mr Oxley made sure the shelter was completely protected even if he fell, and the institute would be practically untouchable. So we could retreat if needed.
He drained himself a bit setting up all the magical wardings, but he’d recover by the time the battle came to us.
Dominic prepared the rest of the east wing, which was past our rooms. On that first night, we had twenty Council fighters arrive, followed by another twenty the next day.
Some of them were rare supes too, which surprised me.
Many of them wanted to bring down Declan from the conversations I’d had with them.
One of them, Aaron, had his wife taken by Declan, and when Sav brought down his mansion, she was discovered as one of the specimens in his test tube room.
The man had nearly broken when telling me that, but he’d turned it into rage.
He wanted to make sure Declan didn’t survive the battle, no matter the cost.
Many of them had heard stories of the Collector, and were considered the top fighters for the Council.
The wardings were lessened on the perimeter, but not fully dropped. Mr Oxley didn’t want them being suspicious of anything, so they’d need their strongest witches to bring down the wardings on the perimeter, and Mr Oxley would put up the backup ones once they were
on the grounds.
Sav’s family arrived yesterday, the day before the attack was coming. We didn’t know the exact time tomorrow, so we were making sure we were on guard.
Today, we paced the halls, trying to busy ourselves with odd things and training. The walls were silent, the children having holed up in the shelter for what they believed was a training exercise.
They’d been compliant more-so than I would’ve expected from children, but they were child soldiers originally.
The eerie calm and quietness flooded the institute, and I moved through the hall silently, passing Council fighters who were just as wary, walking with their bodies taut and at the ready.
Being on edge for the past few hours was proving frustrating, but we dare not let up our guard.
I rejoined Sav and Soren in the library, where they were gazing out the window overlooking the gardens.
“Do you think they’ll come through the front or the back?” Sav asked her father.
“I have a feeling he won’t take any chances, and that he’ll come at us from all sides,” Soren murmured as I joined them.
We stood frozen, the library deathly silent, the air heavy with unease and tension. Sav’s emotions were steeled, and her expression grim alongside her father.
Those gorgeous blue eyes sparkled with an inner fire though.
‘They’re here. They’re trying to bring the perimeter wardings down.’
Mr Oxley’s voice seemed to ring through the entire library, heavy with apprehension. We exchanged glances, and set off to the dining hall, where we had decided was the best place to stockpile the majority of our weapons. It was the most central room on the ground floor, and had enough space for us all to gather weapons without getting in one another’s way.
Sav’s movements were graceful as she strode down the hall with Soren and I behind her.
She already had her kitsune blade sheathed along her back, and she was wearing stretchy tights and a long-sleeved black shirt for the battle. Paired with some small heeled boots, of course.
My heart pounded as we entered the dining hall, and I made sure I had the set of daggers and throwing knives I’d chosen to brandish into battle. I’d already tucked them into some sheaths before dawn, preparing myself as early as I could.
I picked up the handgun on the table, one of the few firearms on offer. A fair few of the Council fighters had firearms, but nothing automatic. It was too risky to have something like that in this kind of battle, and bullets themselves could be deflected by powerful witches, so we needed to be careful before relying on them.
Close up fighting with blades, teeth, and claws was the best method.
Soren already had his crossbow, but he picked up a pistol, along with Sav.
And then we were marching out to the front doors, meeting up with Tristan and Wesley at the door.
Sav’s icy eyes met mine, steeled for battle, but blazing with the anticipation and drive to bring Declan down once and for all.
This was it.
And when Mr Oxley’s voice rang through our minds, informing us the warding was down, we burst out the front door.
30
Damien.
Leon and I stood on the rooftop, in our shifted werewolf states, our wings splayed out and at the ready.
We had two witches up here with us, trained snipers who used their magic to make sure their bullets weren’t deflected.
Magic that had to be highly focused into each shot. I’d asked why the same magic couldn’t be imbued into every firearm we had. She’d said it was because the levels of magic for every witch varied.
We didn’t know how powerful the protective wardings on incoming witches were, so they had to adjust in the field.
Both snipers were women, which surprised me. But the two tattooed sisters were not your everyday women. One had a crew cut, while the other flaunted a pink mohawk.
Sav would love them, and when I’d told her of them earlier, she did say she thought they were awesome.
They’d also owned our asses in card games while we’d waited on the rooftop.
Brandy and Helda were their names. Brandy had the awesome mohawk, and had chided me for peeing off the rooftop earlier.
“Sounds like this shit is about to start,” Brandy sneered as she got into position on her belly.
Mr Oxley’s voice had just penetrated our minds with the heads up, and I felt the warding drop.
The auras of the supes now swarming the grounds made me do a double-take.
Witches, shifters, demons.
They were all coming at us, nothing overly strategic in their attack either.
Just full frontal offense.
‘Be on guard, there has to be a strategy to this,’ Leon murmured into my mind.
I agreed. This full frontal assault was probably to gauge our numbers and test our defenses. Either that or Declan thought sheer manpower was the way to go.
‘Don’t engage just yet, you can use your grace abilities, but remain on high ground. I need my eyes up high,’ Mr Oxley’s voice rang out in my mind, and when I flicked my eyes to Leon, I knew he’d spoken to just the pair of us.
He’d selected our bonded group to communicate to, and Dominic, and we were allowing him unbridled access to our minds so he could see everything.
He remained inside the institute for now, and was going to wait out the first wave.
I watched the horde of supes approaching, smirking as some of the shifters were too reckless.
These followers of Declan were either paid morons or just plain stupid.
And considering some of them were running into the traps set by the witches, I was going with both.
Immobilizing pressure bombs went off, magic ensnaring the weaker shifters who were vulnerable, while the witches used their magic to break through.
I watched Dominic’s favorite one go off, the earth snapping up and claiming victims down into an earthy prison below. We’d have to fetch those guys later, and Dom had made sure to mark all the locations on a map in case anything happened to him.
Guns sounded off down below, and I scowled as I spied some supes wielding rifles and automatic weapons.
“On it,” Brandy called out.
I decided to assist, and Leon joined me as we began blasting our grace down into the oncoming supes.
Brandy and Helda shot down a few of those with guns. I knew today was going to a be bloodbath, but Declan had chosen this, and we were only defending ourselves.
I only hoped our own side didn’t lose too many.
The swarm was within a hundred yards of the institute now, and I felt Sav’s being launch out onto the field.
I flicked my eyes down, spying her and a bunch of Council fighters and her family dashing out to enter the fray.
Magical arrows were being fired from the lower windows of the institute, and I knew Soren and Samson had gotten Dominic to enhance their arrows with a few special touches. Exploding fire, acid touch, even arrows that broke apart into three arrows right before they hit their target.
A whizz of black smoke informed me Tristan’s demon blade was out, and it shot around like black lightning, striking down a bear, gorilla, leopard, tiger, and a few other supes. Even a few witches were struck down, unable to fight off the powerful blade with magic.
I focused back on my grace magic, hurling glowing orbs down into the mix, making sure to channel my magic into it and make sure not to hit any friendlies.
To all those on our side, we each glowed slightly golden to our comrades thanks to Mr Oxley’s magic, which made distinguishing shifted shifters a little easier.
‘There’s a lot of ground troops,’ Leon growled as he continued shooting grace orbs down.
As if on cue, a screech from the skies had my head snapping up, and I snarled at the incoming wave of bird shifters and witches on actual brooms.
I’d never seen Dom do that, but apparently quite a few witches chose to.
Perfect.
I guess this was ou
r area.
Down below, flames erupted, and the phoenix shot into the sky in a fiery mass of energy and power.
Pride swelled in me from Sav for her mate, and I stretched my wings.
‘You stay here, Wes and I will handle them,’ I barked to Leon before launching into the air.
Flames shot off Wes as he lurched towards the incoming aerial attack, and I flew beside him, using my grace orbs to throw off the witches as they tried to deflect his flames.
He exploded in flames repeatedly, sending out shockwaves of incredible flames that left me unscathed.
His phoenix call rang out as the eagles and ravens dropped from the sky, a few witches plummeting too with my help.
But the two of us against this giant flock wasn’t easy, and the witches weren’t weak.
At least we had powerful magic warding us.
For now.
I swooped and dodged a magical blast and hurled hex bags from the witches, returning fire with my grace orbs.
Wes continued erupting and sending flames in all directions as he gracefully flew through the birds and witches, rendering most of the shifters useless as their feathers caught alight and they dropped from the sky like flies.
This left the witches, and we were dodging their attacks rather well, until two of the witches began chanting.
Wesley’s body seized up, and he began to plummet from the sky as I tried to attack the pair of witches, but they’d thrown up a powerful barrier.
Panic set in as Wesley got closer and closer to our side of the ground force, but a glowing arrow zipped past me, burying itself into one witch as she wailed.
A quick mental message from Tristan informed me Melinda had spelled the arrows of a Council fighter to deal with them, and she was countering as many of the curses and spells on the field as possible with her enhanced magic.
Wesley regained himself, igniting harshly as he soared upwards once more, and we fought on.
We were gaining the upper hand easily now, but a chill swept through me as I sensed something.
I whirled in the air, hovering on the spot as my ears flicked around, my eyes scanning the grounds for what had unsettled me.