by Jayne Hawke
It should have been a steady lumber, a rolling motion that I could move around and use to gain access to its soft stomach. Instead, it was a rapid run that I barely got out of the way of. The bear turned with far more speed and elegance than a beast that size had right to do.
Swallowing down my bitter arrogance, I focused on what I had before me. Sky was busy wielding her lightning and focusing it with a new sword I assume she had pulled from the ether, courtesy of Set. I needed to slice open the bear’s throat, or gut it. The stomach lay too close to the floor for me to gain easy, or safe, access. I had to risk those savage teeth set into a strong jaw and hack its throat open.
Thankfully, the rest of the bears remained rooted where they were, determined to block access to Liam and Cole. Fighting multiple bears at once was beyond me. I grounded myself and opened my eyes, taunting the bear, pushing it to charge at me. It didn’t resist. Much like a bull, it came straight at me with its head low, great paws sinking those long claws into the soft earth as it hauled itself towards me.
I waited until the very last second when its hot breath was clouding my sense of smell and I could feel the savage need to kill in its dark eyes. I stepped just out of reach of those heavy jaws and lunged forward, driving my dagger through the thick hide and into the powerful muscle of its neck. It stopped dead, snapping its head at me with a deep guttural roar.
It wouldn’t die from a simple cut. I needed to hack at it deep enough to reveal the pure white bone of its spine, to cause enough damage it would never heal. Glancing at Cole, I kept hold of my dagger as I swung myself up onto the broad shoulders and began sawing at its throat while it thrashed and cried out in deep rumbling tones that shook the very earth.
The other bears made no attempt to come to its rescue as I slowly bled the life from it. They were too busy trying to defend themselves against Sky’s incredible swordsmanship that cut through bone and flesh, leaving blackened wounds in her wake. They healed at first. Bright red muscle began to form over the black, but she kept pushing and hacking at them, moving throughout the group, constantly moving.
As the bear beneath me slowed and tired, unable to heal from such savagery, its fellows slowed too. Burnt and exhausted, they never had a chance.
52
It was Sky and me against the man that would end the world. Natasha’s eyes snapped up; her lips curled back into a snarl as she settled her gaze upon me. I should have felt more fury, but I was lost to the battle raging around us.
That woman was nothing. She was a pathetic little worm that had dared try and interfere in things far beyond her scope. Yet I was torn. Liam was between worlds, his eyes shining a brilliant sand yellow as the clear shadow of a snake coalesced around him.
If I killed Natasha first, there was a real chance that Liam would have too long and we would never stop him. The world would be lost because I needed to exact revenge.
Grinding my teeth, I gripped my blades tighter and rushed across the space, intending to sink both blades deep into Liam. The witches would come with their fire. I could stop the ass from completing his ritual and distract him at least.
Something stopped me when I got to just outside of arm’s reach of him. Natasha’s insane cackle drew a snarl from my throat as I circled around Liam, testing the limits of this bizarre shield he had formed around himself. Sky paced back and forth muttering before she began slicing through the air with her lightning coated swords.
Nothing would keep us out for long.
I moved around the altar, getting a closer look at Cole. His eyes were open and stared skyward. His chest rose and fell with shallow breaths. I saw no signs of bruising on him, but shifter healing was a miraculous thing. He likely went through Hell and didn’t have a single mark to show for it.
The shield kept me away from him, too.
Slowly it broke. Liam’s chanting was reaching a crescendo, a keening sound with long hisses at the end of each verse. The shape was solidifying around him and time was slipping between our fingers as an ancient battle raged.
Set, through Sky, fought back Apophis as he took hold of Liam.
The shield broke. I burst forward, torn between freeing Cole and stabbing Liam. Cole groaned before he started growling and thrashing. Sky held her arms up to the skies while Liam’s chanting turned to screaming and Natasha joined him. I lunged forward and drove my guardian dagger into his throat, feeling the tip scrape against his spine.
The keening scream continued on around us as black blood coated my hand and Liam’s eyes turned glassy. A pair of Brigid witches raced across to us, their entire beings seemingly formed from pure fire as they did so. Flames flickered across their bodies, and I was glad of the beautiful phoenixes as Liam began to transform.
A pitch-black snake was forming from thin air as Sky summoned a storm that covered the sky above. Dark grey clouds rode low, with heavy thunder charging across the horizon. Lightning cut through the darkness, arcing closer and closer with every brilliant flash.
My dagger caught fire, causing blisters to bubble up on my hand while pain cut through the fibres of my being. Once again, I dug deep and hacked at Liam, slicing him from crotch to sternum, watching in satisfaction as his organs tumbled outwards onto the charred earth at his feet.
Natasha screamed, her arms outstretched as she lunged at me, a madwoman having lost whatever tenuous ties she had to sanity. In one fluid motion, I cut her throat open, leaving her to crumple at the feet of her fallen master.
Great raindrops tumbled from the sky, bringing much needed cool moisture to the parched and burnt earth.
My mind was returning to my body, my instincts receding as I turned and freed Cole of his bindings. Reaching up, he pulled me to him, and we were whole once more.
53
We lost two cougars, a garou, and three witches to that battle. None of it mattered as I curled up in Cole’s arms and forgot the world existed. There was nothing but the familiar scent of him and the safety of his strength as it wrapped around me.
“I thought I’d lost you,” I whispered.
He stroked my hair and nuzzled his face against my neck.
“Never,” he whispered.
“The shadow bond...”
“They found a way to sever it, hoping that it would break you or drive you away from your mission.”
Cole had not left my side since the moment I freed him from his bindings. We walked with his arm around my waist as we checked on our allies and made sure our pack was entirely intact.
Once the pleasantries and checks had been completed, we were given some space, left alone in the quiet forest.
I ran my fingers over his cheeks and through his hair, drinking in every detail of him, never wanting to forget a single thing.
“What did they do to you?” I asked.
He frowned and sighed, looking away.
“It wasn’t as bad as you’re imagining. Natasha took her pound of flesh, although she is rather poor at torture. It was easy enough to endure. Most of the time I was locked in a small concrete box.”
He leaned in and kissed me, tenderly caressing my lips as he wrapped himself more entirely around me.
“I am sorry that I allowed my sense of duty to get in the way. Can you forgive me?”
I understood why he had done what he had. My taste of politics gave me a far greater view into Cole’s world.
“Of course,” I said before I kissed him deeply.
Time passed us by as we explored each other in our entirety with lips and teeth. He thoroughly enjoyed teasing me, bringing me almost to the point of begging when I realised I couldn’t take control from him.
What began as something gentle and loving turned into something far deeper and more passionate, culminated in deep bloody bites that solidified the bond between us. We were complete, and everything was as it should be. Never again would we be separated.
54
When I woke in Cole’s bed the following morning, I was consumed by a happiness like no other. A smile sp
read across my face that I couldn’t shake even if I wanted to. There was a spark within me that I had never felt before. Cole’s gentle caress idly wandered down my spine, bringing me to close my eyes and wish we could remain there in that moment forever.
Of course, it never worked like that. At least I could hide from the worst of things with the sense of bliss and completeness that came with our new bond.
Rowan was sitting at the kitchen table when we strolled in, me in one of Cole’s shirts, and he in just his boxers. Both garou tensed as they eyed each other up.
“Rowan, Cole. Cole, Rowan,” I said casually.
“I might be joining your pack,” Rowan said with his eyes slightly downcast.
“Is that so?” Cole said with a soft growl.
I didn’t interfere between them. As fellow alpha, I could if the need arose, but this was between them for now.
“Amy is your packmate, and as her life bond...”
Cole looked between them with his eyebrow raised.
“I see a lot happened while I was gone,” he said drily.
There was the grumpy brooding alpha I’d fallen for, with his mouth nudged down into a stubborn frown and the crease between his eyes. Delight filled me and turned into a laugh that I couldn’t contain.
Everyone looked at me in surprise before Amy and the siblings joined in. Cole shook his head and sighed, trying to keep the smile from his face. I saw it dancing in his eyes, though.
Amy made the coffee, and I made far too many pancakes. Briar and Adam took turns filling Cole in on the broad strokes.
“You killed half the council!?” Cole exclaimed.
I smiled at him sweetly.
“It had to be done.”
“You do understand that a new council needs to be formed? The paperwork will be neverending.”
“Oh, don’t worry. We have all of that pinned down,” Fionn said.
Cole snarled at the elf.
“Do not tell me this elf is also a new packmate.”
Fionn laughed, a sharp sound lacking mirth.
“No,” the elf said flatly.
“He was an ally of sorts,” I said.
He had been missing from the final battle, but the oath had been fulfilled. And I was sure he was there to take his due.
“I aided your life-bond in her mission to remove the Apophis witches and their ilk from the world. We have already vetted and made arrangements for a new council. The Morrigan witches are more of a problem, but I’m sure you’ll figure something out,” Fionn said as he sat down at the table.
Cole glared at him before he turned an expectant look on me.
“Think of it this way, today is the first day of a bright and beautiful future,” I said.
The path ahead of us wasn’t going to be easy, but together, as a pack, we could take on anything. We’d already saved the world, after all, how much worse could things possibly get?
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