by Riley Storm
With his free hand, he pointed at the rebels. As he did, the men came to attention as one.
The doors to the farmhouse opened, and one more figure emerged.
The leader. The Alpha.
It was time.
34
She watched Logan emerge. He looked impeccable. Clean shaven on his face and his head, black hair and stubble taken down to the skin. Eyes of brilliant golden amber tracked left and right with his head as he took in the assembled group, including her. She thought his eyes lingered on hers and Liam’s joined hands for just a moment, but it could have been her imagination.
Just like the tug at his lips may have been imagined as well.
“You all know the stakes we fight for,” Logan said, his voice strong and carrying easily, even to the back ranks. “This is no surprise to any of you. We’ve been training for this, preparing for this, ever since we came here as a group. Dare I say, as a family.”
She felt more than heard a stir run through the shifters. Family was an important concept to all shifters, she remembered, but to the wolves of House Canis, it ran deeper. They were a pack, they operated together. The concept of family extended beyond just bloodlines, to the wolf that ran at their left, and their right. It encompassed the entire pack, because that’s what it took to survive in the wild.
Layton’s betrayal would have felt like much more than just a friend, she realized suddenly. It would have been family turning its back on him. Casting him out, as if he was no longer worthy. That would hurt.
She gave his hand another squeeze. This time, to her delight, he squeezed back, though his attention stayed on Logan.
“You are all ready for this. You all know your missions. Your objectives.” Logan paused. “Not all of us will come back from this. With the help of our allies—” he pointed at Jennifer, who dipped her head slightly in acknowledgment, “I hope to bring as many of you home as possible. To those that won’t, I salute you.”
Logan came to a stiff position, legs together, left arm at his side. His right arm came up up, fingers crooked in the shape of a wolf paw, and he slapped it against his chest.
A heartbeat later, the hundred shifters did the same, hands clapping to chests in unison. One sound. One family.
The Alpha looked at her. No words were needed. She didn’t need them. Jennifer knew what that meant.
“I’ll see you shortly,” she whispered to Liam, giving his hand another solid squeeze.
That was when she realized she’d forgotten something.
“Uh, crap.” Slashing her hand at the air, she opened a portal back to her room and stuck her hand through, reaching around blindly until it closed around what she wanted. “Ah, there we go.”
Pulling her hand back, she withdrew a long piece of wood, stained near-black and carved with intricate runes from top to bottom, everywhere except for a pitch-black area perhaps two-thirds of the way up. Her hand settled into the blank area, and she tapped the butt end against the ground.
Magic swirled up and around her, obscuring her from the shifters.
Then she opened another portal and stepped through.
In front of her, stone walls rose up ten feet or more in the air. Trees grew on either side of her, and just behind her, a road went past in a line as pin straight as the walls themselves.
The walls of Moonshadow Manor.
She looked around, questing out with her magic, searching for any signs of life nearby, or of booby-traps that might indicate the defenders of the Manor were expecting them.
Nothing.
Just as they’d hoped for. The wards were up over the vast lands of the Manor itself, but nobody was waiting for them. Turning around, she stuck her head back through the portal. “Liam,” she called, letting the magic-cloaking spell drop for a second. “Coast is clear.”
In the background, she saw the shifters re-orient themselves to her portal. Nodding at Logan at their front, she pulled back through and fed the portal some more energy through her staff, using its focusing effects to minimize the amount of magic she used.
I’m going to need it all for what comes next.
Liam followed her through the portal and she extended the cloaking spell to include him as well, so he wouldn’t be seen by any keen-eyed observers, if there were any.
“You can do this,” he told her in a whisper.
“You know my spell means nobody else can hear us, right?” she asked in a normal voice, teasing him, using that as an outlet for some of the nervousness raging in her like a washing machine out of control just then.
“Habit,” he said, though he spoke softly instead of in a whisper. “Now go kick some ass.”
Before she could react, he pulled her in tight and kissed her hard.
“What was that for?” she asked when he pulled back several moments after she expected him to.
“You said nobody can see us,” he said, as if that explained everything.
“Men,” she muttered, but there was a smile on her face. “Thank you.”
“Show ‘em what you got,” he growled, then settled in to watch her back while she worked.
Jennifer nodded, turning to face the walls. She could feel the invisible presence of the wards around the Manor, a literal dome of energy that had been added to over the years. She was going to need to take it down for their attack to succeed, otherwise the Canis Magi would be able to refocus that energy into defense spells that would obliterate many of the rebels.
This was the spell she’d not had a chance to test out in a live situation. There was only one shot. The second she started casting it, the Magi would know she was out here, and he would begin to resist her. Which meant she had to strike, and strike hard, with overwhelming force.
I hope I’m strong enough for this.
Closing her eyes, she opened herself up to the wellspring of magic inside her, pulling it in, focusing it in her staff. This was the perfect reason mages needed tools to help them. She might be able to do this on her own, but the staff would make it infinitely easier to focus the energy and shape it the way she needed, allowing Jennifer to put more of her energy into the spell itself, making it stronger.
And it was going to need to be strong indeed if she had any hope of bringing the wards down.
The magic came quickly at first, flowing through her, into the staff. One by one the runes began to light up as she charged it, sucking in as much energy as she could, her body but a conduit between the offspring of power and her staff. In her mind she envisioned the spell, how it would have to work.
Piece by piece she layered it, building up the structure and the components necessary. The magic flew on, and slowly she started to labor. Never before had she put so much energy into one spell. Her staff was glowing brightly throughout, and there was even a slight tremble to it, but still Jennifer went on, drawing deeper and deeper.
The darkness started to stir, sensing she was running low. It reached out, tempting her, luring her in with the deceptive invitation of easy power. All the power she could want, to make her spell do what she needed and more. It was there, within reach. All she had to do was take it.
Take what was hers.
Jennifer faltered, her concentration wavering. She needed more power. More energy. But it wasn’t coming. Maybe…maybe if she dipped into the other, just a bit, she could use it, without falling to it.
She struggled with her balance, falling to one knee, left hand still on the staff.
“I can’t,” she whispered.
Then suddenly, Liam was there. He took her hand, put his other around her and lifted her to her feet. His strength was her strength.
“Yes, you can,” he growled. “You can do this. You can do it without.”
“I need more power,” she gasped, her mind starting to reel as she struggled to pour more energy into the spell.
“Take mine,” Liam rumbled. “You have me. All of me.”
She looked up at him sharply at the words, only to find Liam staring back at her, h
is face open. For the first time, she saw inside him, saw the real Liam, who he was, his values, his cares.
His feelings.
Jennifer was blown away by the depth of his caring for her. He was…was…Wait, what is that?
Looking deeper, she saw another source of power in Liam. It was reaching out to her. Joining the two of them. Was that…could it be? She reached out with her mind and touched the current of yellow flowing between them.
It wasn’t magic, but it was…something.
And she could draw on that.
Power crackled through her as she opened herself up to it, letting Liam and their connection flow into her. Along with the power came something else. A feeling.
Love.
The instant she thought it, the flow of power became a torrent. Jennifer’s skin prickled, her hair stood on end. The energy whipped around her wildly, billowing her robe like a whirlwind.
All the power she could ever want was right there in front of her. Pulling it in, she shoved it into her staff, the length of wood shaking violently in her hand.
“Jen…”
She heard Liam, but her eyes weren’t seeing reality now. They were seeing something else. The dome came into view in front of her.
Planting both feet on the ground, she stood up strong, staff outstretched in her left hand, the right held out straight, gripping Liam’s hand tight.
Jennifer inhaled a breath, and then with a mighty yell that bent back trees and skirled up debris from the ground, she flung the spell at the Manor.
Green-yellow power erupted from the end of her staff in a blinding display. It shot across the distance and then stopped cold. A golden dome appeared over the manor, a shield protecting the inhabitants.
Jennifer’s yell went on, and with it the power flowing from her staff. It impacted upon the one spot on the dome, but a few seconds later, a tendril leapt upward, and magic began to flow there as well. And again. And again.
Like a creeping vine it crept up and around the shield, searching for cracks. With each offshoot she fed more of the stored power into it, and then when that was exhausted, she drew upon the bond between her and Liam, sending that power coursing into the shield as well. She held nothing back.
“Look!” Liam said, pointing with his free hand.
She saw it. The first crack in the dome. Feeling her confidence rise, Jennifer took a step forward, renewing her attack. She was drawing deep, deeper than she ever had before, and the consequences weren’t going to be good, but she had to bring the shield down. She had to.
Liam was there with her, every step of the way. One by one, the tendrils of her spell wormed their way through the shield and began to grow, spreading the cracks. Making them larger. Eventually, some joined into big gaps.
And then all at once, the shield exploded. The blowback came racing at them. Jennifer didn’t have enough energy left to defend against it. Her legs were collapsing underneath her as weakness flooded her body.
Liam spun, roaring in pain as the energy swept over him while he used his body as a shield for her.
“Liam!” she gasped.
Can’t faint. Need to keep the portal open.
If she blacked out, it would close and the rebels would be stuck on the farm, unable to join them.
A roar went up from nearby, and shapes started to flow past her a second later.
“You did it,” Liam whispered. “You did it, Jen. The shield is down. Logan is here.”
A pair of black boots stopped next to her head, while other figures ran onward, clearing the walls in a single bound as the rebels went to war.
“Thank you,” Logan said, bending down next to her. “For everything. Thank you. We’ll take it from here.”
Then he was gone.
“Shhh,” Liam told her, pushing a finger to her lips as she tried to speak. “You can rest now. You did your part.”
Angrily, she snatched up his finger and shoved it away. “We’re not done,” she said, her world spinning slightly. “Not yet.”
“What do you mean?”
Using Liam as a support she sat up, looking at the wall as the line of rebels continued to stream over it and toward the Manor.
“The Magi is still out there. I’m the only one who can stop him.”
Liam shook his head. “Absolutely not. You did your part. You need to rest now.”
“I don’t need to rest,” she said, feeling energy begin to fill her again. Whatever this source of power was between them, it was stronger than anything she’d ever felt before. And it was clean. Pure. Good energy. Energy she wasn’t afraid to draw upon.
“Now, if you would be so kind as to scoop me up and carry me over that wall, we’re going to find him, and we’re going to put an end to him, the Tyrant King, your betrayer, and anybody else who thinks it’s a good idea to mess with us,” she snarled.
Liam didn’t need to be told twice.
35
Obsessed. Infatuated. Over the moon. Crazy. Wild.
There were innumerable words to describe how he felt about Jen after watching her succeed at bringing down the walls, but all were dwarfed by her fierceness to continue fighting alongside him and his friends, to help them out until it was over. That was a determination he could respect, and he scooped her up without protest.
“Hold tight,” he urged, approaching the wall at a run.
Arms wrapped around his neck and Jennifer made herself as small and as stiff as possible. They reached the base of the wall and he crouched low, then leapt up and over in a single bound. His boots sank into the ground on the far side and he bent his knees deep to absorb them both, but they were inside now. There was no turning back.
For either of them.
That hit home as the gravity of what he was doing sank in like his boots had. Here was this woman he cared for more deeply than any before, and what was he doing? Carrying her directly into battle. To a place where she could very well be hurt, or even die. Knowing that, after finally opening himself up to her and the possibilities between them, he might lose her, was the scariest single experience of his life.
It affected him to the point he started to slow, glancing over his shoulder, wondering if he could turn back.
“What are you doing?” Jennifer asked. “The battle is that way!” She pointed.
“I know,” he said softly. “I…I just don’t know if I can risk you, Jennifer.”
Slap!
“We don’t have time for this Liam,” she snapped, grabbing his jaw and forcing him to look her in the eyes. “It’s dangerous. I get that, I’m not dumb. But you and your family need my help.”
“But…”
Had she just slapped him?
“And I need to do this,” she added. “You know why, Liam. This has to happen. You can’t defeat him without me. Even then, maybe we can’t. You might get the Tyrant King, but the Magi will kill you all.”
He growled, the sound filling the forest around them as his feet once more started carrying them toward the Manor, the last few waves of shifters running with them.
“I don’t like this,” he said. “I wish you could stay somewhere safe.”
A hand reached up and stroked his face. “I know you do. I know. Part of me wishes that too. I’m not blind, I know this is risky. But it’s the right thing to do. It’s what I have to do.”
He nodded and ran on, reaching the edge of the forest that acted as the second barrier after the walls. They burst out onto the gently sloping lawns that occupied much of the interior of the Manor property. Before them was the Manor itself, rising four stories into the air, and extending many more below.
A picture flooded his mind. Briefly, it was there and then gone, but in it both he and Jennifer could be seen walking the grounds. Together. Hand in hand. And Jennifer…
“Holy shit,” he yelped as he realized what it was that was odd about her figure.
Her stomach had been swollen.
“What? What is it?” Jennifer wanted to know.
“Uh.” He didn’t say anything more, his words failing him. How was he supposed to tell her what he’d just seen? That he was starting to imagine a life between them after this was over. That he wanted her to stick around.
They reached the massive front steps of the Manor. So far, they had passed remarkably few bodies. It was clear their attack had caught the defenders completely flat-footed, but as the first teams rushed inside, the sounds of fighting reached his ears.
The easy assault was about to end. Now they would begin paying in blood.
Logan shouted, and half a dozen teams peeled off and headed around the side. They were going for the dungeons, he knew, where they would hopefully find and free many more supporters, those that had never had a chance to flee the Manor, prisoners it was hoped would side with the rebels and help speed up the attack.
The rest got to work breaching the defenses at the main gates. From there, it was a straight shot down the hallway to the Throne room. They weren’t taking any chances or wasting any time. Get in and go for the head. Logan meant to take the Tyrant King’s head, and end the fighting as soon as possible.
“Whatever happens today, you can’t die on me,” he said, setting Jennifer down on her own feet. “Understood?”
“I have no plans of it,” she said. “And I’ll do my best to ensure I don’t.”
“Good,” he said, unable to fight back the grin any longer. “Because I don’t want that.”
“You don’t?” she asked, sensing there was more to what he was trying to say.
“No.”
Jennifer smiled. “What do you want then, Liam?”
“You,” he said without hesitation, knowing it was what he meant deep down. “All of you. For now, and forever. I love you Jennifer Shaw.”
She clapped both hands to her mouth.
“There, I said it,” he added.
“Liam,” she gasped, reaching up for his face.
Before she could pull him in for what he assumed was a kiss, an explosion rocked the massive front doors, blowing one of the twelve-foot-high copper doors off its hinges. Several shifters came tumbling out, not all of them moving.