Shadow's Howl

by Riley Storm

  Shaking his head, Liam refused to let himself be pulled into attacking out of anger and rage. That was a great way to wind up dead, he knew that. He had to use his skills, his training, that was how he would come out alive.

  Blue energy smashed into the floor between them, flinging both fighters backward. Liam winced as he bounced hard off his tailbone, likely bruising it. Where the hell had that come from?

  Risking a glance to the side, he saw the dual portals Jennifer had called up and realized the strike had just missed the Magi. Clever girl. She was fighting with just her instincts, he realized as she and the Magi exchanged a furious set of spells and raw magic cast at one another. I knew you had it in you.

  Something whistling through the air caught his attention, and Liam wrenched his body around, barreling getting the staff up in time to catch Layton’s two-handed overhead strike.

  “What happened to you?” he growled, sweeping at his ex-friend’s feet.

  Layton casually jumped over them, but that left him unable to move in mid-air for a second, and Liam speared him in the gut. Hard.

  “I saw the light,” Layton gasped, pushing himself back as Liam got to his feet, staff in hand. “I saw how our House was becoming weak. We need strong leadership if we’re to return to our rightful place as rulers of the paranormal world.”

  Liam couldn’t help himself. He laughed. Hard. “Rightful place? What in the hell have you been listening to? We were never the rulers of the paranormal world, you dolt. Ever. Maybe we were larger than the bears before the purges, but that was half a millennium ago! And even then, we were still fighting for our lives against the damn mages. Someone has brainwashed you, and brainwashed you good, Liam.”

  “You’re blind, Liam. Let me show you,” the other shifter said as he got his feet under him.

  Reaching behind his back, he pulled out a dagger. Liam instantly dropped into a crouch, ready to jump to either side.

  It was exactly what Layton had expected. As soon as Liam grounded himself, Layton turned and hurled the dagger.

  “No!” Liam shouted as he watched it arc across the room toward Jennifer.

  There was simply no way he could get to it in time. He was fast, but not that fast. Nobody was that fast.

  Except a mage who reacted without thinking. A portal opened in the path of the oncoming dagger as Jennifer somehow sensed it coming, though it would only have been barely visible in her peripheral vision. Then she ripped open another rent in reality right behind Layton.

  Liam grinned as the dagger followed the portals and whipped through the air, slicing a wicked-looking line down Layton’s sword arm. It wasn’t fatal, but it hadn’t killed his mate either, and that’s what he truly cared about.

  Not Layton. Not anymore. Liam was done pulling his punches. Done holding back. Whatever his friend had become now, it was clear Layton had let himself be corrupted by the idea of returning to the glory days, a time when things really weren’t as good as they were now. It was sad, but it was what it was.

  Sweeping the staff up, around, down and then darting in close as Layton was forced to block, Liam slammed his arm into the other shifter’s face, breaking his orbital bone with the strike.

  Layton rocked backward, and Liam kicked him in the groin. Then he whirled and slammed the end of the staff into Layton’s knee. The other shifter fell to one knee, somehow managing to swipe a well-timed strike at Liam’s thigh.

  He dropped back out of range, letting go of the staff as he did, then darted right back in again, wrenching the sword free through sheer brute force.

  Whipping it up and around, Liam found himself with his sword over his head, point down, aimed right at Layton’s back.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered just before the sword descended. “But you tried to kill my mate.”

  41

  Anger at the attempted murder by the shifter Liam was fighting fueled her renewed attack on the Magi.

  “This is over!” she shouted. “Done. Surrender. You can’t win.”

  She almost added ‘you can’t beat me’, but she didn’t want to come across as too cocky. This man didn’t have to die. She didn’t want to kill him.

  Please don’t make me kill you.

  “You’re weak,” the Magi said as magic flashed and impacted upon shields, blew apart huge chunks of the stone floor and ceiling.

  At one point, she was forced to create a dome of energy around herself as the Magi purposely tried to drop the ceiling on her. Jennifer withstood the heavy impact and then launched her own attack.

  “You will never be like your father!” he cackled.

  Jennifer shook her head. “I know,” she said, more to herself than anyone else. “That’s the entire point of this,” she said, straightening up as power returned to her. Good power, drawn from her heart, from the love she so desperately wanted to confess to Liam. Power that wouldn’t corrupt her.

  She took a step toward the Magi, the raw yellow-green energy flowing out of her like a snake, writhing and curling up, darting around the Magi’s strikes, avoiding his blue magic as it grew ever closer. Jennifer breathed life into it, pouring more and more magic into the spell.

  Maybe. If I can just pump it full enough…

  Suddenly, the spell reared up of its own accord, and rushed free of her.

  Jennifer stared in awe as the massive serpent came to life. A magic elemental. She’d created another one.

  The Magi gasped and stumbled backward, somehow managing to ward off the ferocious creature as it struck at him again and again.

  Jennifer wanted to watch, to see who would emerge victorious, but she couldn’t. The fight had to end, and it had to end now.

  She cast one final spell, this time unimpeded by the Magi. The pure green energy rushed out of her, easily forming, layering itself. This was a spell she’d cast thousands upon thousands of times over her life. Jennifer knew it inside and out and didn’t need her staff to help her focus it.

  With a shout, she flung it at the Magi. He heard her make noise, but the serpent elemental was occupying his full attention, and so the Magi could do nothing as her stealth spell hit him.

  Immediately, the Magi started acting wildly, spinning around, looking in every direction. His mouth moved, but Jennifer couldn’t hear anything. The Magi suddenly realized what had happened and she saw magic form in his hands, burning its way through the spell.

  It shattered in a display of green-blue shards that fell away from him. The Magi laughed. “You can’t seriously think that was going to hold me, can yo—”

  The serpent-elemental swallowed him up in his maw, teeth piercing the Magi’s skin as he was ripped to shreds by the beast. The shifter let out an ear-piercing scream, and then the elemental exploded.

  After her vision cleared, Jennifer saw the Magi’s mangled body on the floor. There was no healing from the damage the serpent had inflicted, not even for a shifter.

  Turning, she looked around wildly for Liam, finding him just in time to see the man she loved fall to the ground next to the impaled corpse of the shifter he’d been fighting, his face filled with pain.

  “Oh no,” she gasped, rushing toward him. “Liam! Liam! Are you alright? Where are you hurt?” she wanted to know, dropping to her knees at his side.

  “Layton,” she heard him mumble as he buried his face in her robe, shuddering.

  Layton? What does he have to do with any of…Oh. Oh no.

  She understood suddenly, looking over Liam’s broad shoulders at the dead body of the shifter he’d been fighting. That must be Layton, she realized, the implications of what Liam had been forced to do sinking in.

  “You had no choice,” she whispered, holding him. “You hear me? No choice. You were protecting me. If it weren’t for you doing what you did, I would be dead.”

  Liam nodded, but he didn’t speak.

  Thinking frantically, Jennifer tried to come up with other things to say. Things to distract him.

  “We won,” she said softly. “It’s ove
r, Liam. It’s over.”

  She didn’t know if that was the truth or not. There was probably still fighting ongoing in the Manor, but for the moment at least, it seemed like they had won. She could go assist the fighting. With no other mage to counter her, she should be able to help end the fighting rather swiftly.

  Assuming the Canis Assassin and his crew are going to return to being loyal. If those anti-mage hunters come after me, then we could still be in some trouble.

  “I know.”

  Liam spoke, startling her back to the present. He sounded, not weak, but vulnerable.

  “I know,” he repeated, his voice stronger. The shuddering stopped. His huge frame expanded and then fell as he breathed in deep, and then again. She stayed with him, holding him tight.

  A few moments later, he pulled back enough so he could look at her. “I know,” he said once more. “I…made peace with this before. I was aware it may very well come down to me having to kill him. I prepared for it, but…that’s not the same thing as doing it.”

  Jennifer just nodded, not sure what else to say. She’d never been in the same situation.

  “I just feel…empty,” he said in an odd tone, looking at the ground. “Sad…alone.”

  She acted without thinking, taking his hand, holding it to her face, nuzzling her cheek into his palm. “You aren’t alone, Liam. You aren’t empty. You have me.”

  Blue eyes lifted to meet her gaze.

  “Yes,” she said in response to the questioning look on his face. “Yes, I love you, Liam. I do. I love you. If it’s what you want, I will stay. With you, I mean,” she added sheepishly.

  The ghost of a smile crossed his face. “You mean that?”

  She nodded, taking his other hand in hers. “I do. I mean it all.”

  “I believe you,” he said, and together they got to their feet and embraced. “I believe you,” he said, and she felt a slight weight lift from his shoulders as they straightened ever so slightly.

  “Come on,” she told him. “This fight isn’t over just yet. Let’s go see how we can help.”

  42

  He wasn’t sure at what point they started walking hand in hand, but by the time they found their way to Logan’s command post, their fingers were comfortably intertwined.

  Logan noticed it, his eyes darting down between them, but he didn’t do much more than smile and nod politely.

  “How’s it looking?” Liam asked. “We passed a lot of wreckage on our way here. Where can we be used?”

  “The Magi is dead,” Jennifer said calmly from his side. “He won’t be a trouble anymore.”

  “Good,” Logan said, nodding in acknowledgment. “But there’s nowhere you can help.”

  Liam frowned. “What? Are we retreating?”

  He’d known the fighting would be desperate, but the Magi was dead. With Jennifer’s help, they could begin to deal with the rest of the loyalists that wouldn’t surrender. Victory should be within their grasp!

  “Retreat? No,” Logan said with a shake of his head. “It’s over. We won.”

  “Over?” Liam was stunned. “Already? How?”

  Logan shrugged. “We freed a lot of help from the dungeons, and our surprise was complete, thanks to you,” he said to Jennifer.

  “That still seems too easy,” Liam muttered to himself. “It can’t have been that easy. Did Laurien just surrender?”

  “No,” Logan said. “And you’re right, it wasn’t that easy.”

  “The Tyrant King is gone, isn’t he?” Jennifer asked, sounding as if she already knew the answer.

  “What?” Liam looked between the two.

  “No, he’s not,” Logan admitted. “He’s gone, as are some of his best warriors. They must have fled the instant we showed up. If not before, we don’t know yet, we haven’t started reviewing security tapes yet.”

  “How did you know that?” Liam wanted to know, looking at Jennifer sharply in surprise.

  “Something the Magi said during our fight,” she said. “At the time, I took it to mean he meant the Tyrant King literally wasn’t here, in the Throne Room, but now I realize he meant the Manor as a whole.”

  “So, what’s the plan?” Liam wanted to know.

  “Laurien is on the run.”

  “Right. So, we’re going to hunt him down then, aren’t we?” he wanted to know, looking at Logan while giving Jennifer’s hand a squeeze.

  “Yes,” Logan said. “But not yet. We need to secure our new position here first. Else we risk losing it before we have it. A large number of supporters of the Tyrant King will be here shortly. We need to address them and see about their loyalty before we divide our strength.”

  “Well get your ass on the Throne then,” Liam rumbled playfully, pointing back the way they’d come. “It’s mostly intact.”

  Logan shrugged. “It’s not my place to determine who sits on the—”

  “Show of hands,” Liam called out to the dozen or so shifters in hearing range, some hurt, others maintaining guard around the command post. “Who here thinks Logan should get his perky butt onto the Throne and become our new King already?”

  Every hand shot in the air. A moment later, Jennifer lifted hers, and Liam’s joined them.

  “Get your ass on that Throne,” Liam growled. “Sir.”

  Logan rolled his eyes. “Very well. For now, I’ll stay in command.” He looked at Jennifer. “Rest up. As soon as you have the energy, I need you to start restoring the wards around the Manor.”

  Liam watched his mate’s face go from startled to frown in the span of several seconds. He could see her mind churning. Despite the sudden set of orders, she was already thinking it over.

  “There’s no restoring them,” she said. “The only thing I can do is build new ones, but—”

  “Fine. Whatever you have to do. Just get started as soon as you’ve gotten some rest.” Logan paused. “Take Liam with you. He can show you a suitable place to rest, I’m sure.”

  Liam stiffened, then nodded. “Of course, my King.”

  Logan gave him the tiniest glare, then nodded his head respectfully.

  Returning the look, Liam tugged on his mate’s hands. “Come on, love. Let’s go see if my old quarters are still intact or not.”

  She came along without much protest. “Of course, my love.”

  He beamed at that. Hearing those words come from the lips of his mate was like a dream come true.

  They’d just about left the perimeter of the command post when Logan’s voice called to them again. “Oh, and Liam? Make sure she rests.”

  Liam was about to respond, but Jennifer beat him to the punch.

  “Don’t worry, it doesn’t take him long to tucker out.”

  There was a chorus of snickers from the other assembled shifters while Liam sputtered, trying to regain some form of his dignity.

  “Let’s go,” Jennifer ordered, hauling on his hand.

  “You know what you just did?” he asked calmly, reaching her side.

  “What’s that?”

  “You just challenged me to take as long as I can with you.”

  Jennifer looked forward for several long seconds, then turned the slyest, most mischievous look on him he’d ever seen.

  “I’m counting on it.”

  43

  “Do we have to?” she asked lazily, still sprawled out naked on the bed.

  Liam looked over his shoulder from where he was getting dressed, his eyes doing a masterful job of turning her on through the simple expedient of roaming shamelessly across her body, staring at her lustfully.

  “Stop that,” she said, pulling the covers up to cover the important bits.

  “Why? You’re a sight for sore eyes,” he growled playfully.

  “Because, that’s not the only thing that’s sore,” she groaned. “And it’s all my fault.”

  Liam chuckled, a very proud sound. “You called me out in front of everyone, my love. How exactly did you expect me to respond? No complaining now.”

  S
he laughed. “Now is exactly when to complain. You’ll notice I didn’t complain at all over the past—” she glanced at the clock on the wall, “hour or more. Holy shit. I’m not going to be able to walk straight.”

  “Well, that is the best evidence to prove I’m not some two-pump chump,” Liam said confidently, pulling on a t-shirt.

  “Two-hour power maybe,” she joked, then held up her hands quickly as she saw a certain gleam enter his eye. “No. No, no, no. If you think we’re going for two hours, you’ll be going without for two weeks after! Think it through, mister. Think it through very carefully.”

  Liam laughed. “I’d much rather split it up into four half-hour chunks throughout the day.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” she said, falling back into the covers. “You just like to fuck me.”

  Her only answer was a growl that rattled the walls.

  “I don’t suppose that summons was just for you, was it?” she asked, referring to the knock at the door that had drawn him out of bed a few minutes earlier. Liam hadn’t said much other than Logan was asking for everyone to meet him in the Throne Room.

  “No. So get that fabulous ass of yours out of bed and let’s go.” There was something…tight, in the way he spoke.

  “Liam?” she asked, getting out of bed, letting the covers fall away. “What is it? What am I missing?”

  Her mate—it still blew her mind to consider him that, but the term felt right on a level she couldn’t begin to comprehend—went still, his back to her. “The reinforcements for the Tyrant King will be here in roughly six hours.”

  Jennifer nodded. “Right. I’d forgotten about them.”

  “No reason for you to really remember. It doesn’t concern you, now you’ve done your part.” Liam held up a hand. “Not directly, I mean. Plus, you had a distraction.”

  “What a distraction,” she muttered under her breath happily. “But you’re right. So what does that have to do with Logan summoning us all to the Throne Room?”

  “Politics, I would assume,” Liam spat. “Two days from now, another large contingent is also expected to arrive at the Manor. If we’re to make this work, Logan is going to have to juggle all the various factions, their representatives, desires, wants, etc.”