by Rebecca Main
“Atticus—” He sprints off down the hallway before I can finish. My mouth closes with a snap before I follow his lead, making my way as fast as I can back outside toward the forest. Hopefully, I’ll intercept a wolf out there.
I’m only a few yards from the forest line before the sun is covered by an ominous dark cloud and casts a shadow over the land. A brief look above and a deep breath later warns of an impending storm. Great. When I hear my name being shouted, I skid to a halt and turn around. Keenan is flying toward me, a look of distress on his face.
“What’s wrong? What is it?” He slides to a stop in front of me, hands cupping my face as he searches for any outward marks of distress. “Atticus said to get to you immediately. That something was wrong.” At the touch of his hands, I feel the full force of his concern. It’s almost overwhelming and most definitely distracting.
“They’re coming,” I tell him with a shaky breath. “The Wardens are coming. I spoke with a friend from home—”
“When did you speak—”
“That’s not important! The point is, is that I did, and I think the Wardens are closer than we anticipated. They’re out for blood, Keenan. The other pack has been messing with them, which makes it personal now for the Wardens. They’ll try and take out as many wolves as they can, and I think there's a chance they’ll go for the crystal as well. We have to hide it.”
Keenan has a sober furrow in his brow. “I don’t know if we can move the crystal, but we can try. Come on, I’ll take you to it. The witches should be on duty, and we’re bound to run into some of the wolves on patrol.”
I’m about to pull away and sprint into the forest when Keenan swoops down and claims my lips in a passionate kiss. His fingers knot themselves at the hair near the nape of my neck, tilting my head back to kiss me deeper, more fiercely than ever before. I moan into his mouth, kissing him back with equal fervor. When he pulls away, I’m gasping for air.
“I’m sorry,” he breathes harshly, his hands smoothing themselves down my arms before taking my hands. “I couldn't say anything.”
“I know,” I tell him in a hushed voice, still trying to calm my racing heart. “It’s all right. Xander and I spoke. I think I’m growing to understand the true power of an alpha order myself.”
“Are you sure you’re all right?” The question lingers in the air, heavy in its innuendo.
Out of habit, I chew on my bottom lip a bit nervously before cautiously nodding. “I think I’d be better than all right knowing the crystal was out of harm's way, and the witches and wolves are prepared for what’s headed this way,” I tell him gingerly. I don’t want anyone getting hurt from the Wardens or the pack that I now find myself tied to. “Maybe something can be done to turn their wrath toward the other pack?”
Keenan shakes his head. “I’m sure the Wselfwulf’s were hoping this would happen. I’d bet my life’s savings that they’re staying far within their territory for the next few days.” We share a look of dismay. “Let’s go.”
With my hand still in his, we race northwest. I try to tell Keenan multiple times to run ahead of me, he is clearly the faster of us, but he refuses to leave my side. The gesture is sweet, but stupid. Still, we run as one, racing as quickly as we can to the location of the crystal, intercepting no other wolf from the Adolphus Pack. Maybe Atticus got to Xander or Ryatt, and they told the wolves and witches to retreat?
“We need to move the crystal,” Keenan announces once we arrive. He is barely out of breath while I catch mine discreetly by his side. The three women standing around the large purple and pink quartz give Keenan a dubious look.
“Not gonna happen,” a woman with short red hair states. “This spot was scouted for the crystal to take root here. There’s no telling what might happen to the energy border if we move it.”
“It doesn’t have to be moved far,” I try to reason. “It just needs to be hidden. The Wardens have sent their warriors to come and take the crystal—possibly destroy it—and they’ll stop at nothing until they do. Even if it means killing everyone who stands in their way.”
None of the three women look particularly impressed by my speech, though the redhead does wear a more pensive look. “We can cloak it,” she suggests with a mild shrug, “but we’re not moving it.”
“That’s not good enough,” I argue.
“Tough,” she snaps.
“Then cloak it!” I respond heatedly. “Then get the hell out of the forest. Anybody wandering these woods will be fair game to them, and then they'll go hunting in town. You need to go back and figure out how to protect all of those people.”
“Is she serious?” the brunette nearest to the crystal asks Keenan.
“Where is everyone?” he asks, his tone leaving no room for argument.
The three women pass Keenan another look of incredulity. “It’s the shift,” the brunette answers. “Wolves and witches are rotating out for their breaks. No one’s on the border except for us at the moment. I’m sure everyone will take a post soon. Hopefully they’ll bring umbrellas. I hate running shifts in the rain.”
“Keenan….” My voice trails off in warning. Something doesn’t feel right. Maybe it’s paranoia, but I feel like we were being watched. The skin on the back of my neck tingles, and the urge to switch on my bracers is unusually harsh.
“I’m sorry, but aren’t you like, one of them?” the other brunette asks. Her hair is plaited down her back. “Or have you switched sides now?”
“Just move the fucking crystal!” I snap, lunging toward it. “Or I’ll do it myself.”
A burst of purple light blasts from the palm of the redhead before I have time to react. It should hit me squarely in the chest, but Keenan dodges in front of me. He grunts at the impact, stumbling backward into me. A muted cry tugs at my vocal cords as the hit vibrates through the bond. It is electrifying in the worst way.
“This isn’t the time for fighting,” Keenan snarls. “She’s with us, and right now she’s trying to save all of your lives, as well as everyone else’s. Don’t believe us? Then take it up with one of your elders after you move the crystal. They've already given the go-ahead, and we don't have time for this.” This time the women look at each other with uncertainty, Keenan’s forceful words seemingly doing the trick.
“Oh, hello! I didn’t realize we would have visitors,” Luna’s sugary sweet voice turns all of our heads. In her hands, she holds a large pot with green sprouts poking their way tentatively out of the dirt. She wears a large smile, but I’m surprised to see her purple eyes a startling crystal blue and her hair a pale blonde instead of icy white. Even her skin has lost its etherealness. The witches must have given her a more powerful glamor to wear. Luna walks up to us, eyes sparkling with genuine mirth. “Isn’t it a beautiful day?”
“Luna,” Keenan starts, turning his body to face her, “we need to move the crystal.”
His words obviously shock her for her mouth becomes ajar, bobbing up and down comically as she looks to the witches for confirmation. “Surely this cannot be done. This is the crystal’s home. Here.” She shifts the pot in her arms and points toward the ground upon which the crystal rests to prove her point.
“Trouble is heading our way,” I tell her.
Her eyes widen, if possible, further. “Not rokama?”
My brow scrunches in confusion. “No,” I speak slowly, sparing Keenan and the witches a quick glance.
“More hellspawn?”
“No,” I say again, agitation creeping at the surface of my tone. “The Wardens. My people are coming.”
“What are Wardens?” she asks. The pain of my fingernails in my palms does little to calm me.
“The Wardens protect ancient, magical relics. They also hunt the supernatural, and right now they’re hunting all of you. And they want the crystal. We have to move it.”
Luna’s face pales. “Not hellspawn?”
This time I release my growl of frustration, moving out from behind Keenan’s protective stance to standof
f once more. The air around us crackles with energy as the witches take in my posturing. The fingerless gloves they wear let off a distinct shimmer.
“I just said it wasn’t—”
Luna’s finger points nervously out behind us. We turn to look. Oh no. Sickly green creatures are scattered in the near distance. Their ugly faces turned upward to sniff the air. Ears perked in the air. They slowly inch their way toward the border. From their mouths, an odd clicking and chattering sound.
“Shit,” I breathe.
“It’s all right, between us and the fairy, we can take them out. The others will be along shortly,” the redhead reasons, turning to face off with the demons.
“If Atticus got to Xander, then no one is coming in for their shift,” Keenan voices. “He’ll want to keep everyone well away from the border, including all of the witches. We need to leave, now, and take the crystal.”
“It’s not as if it will take long,” she huffs impatiently. “Come on, Luna. Show them what you’re made of.”
Luna shuffles uncomfortably with the load in her arms, backing up minutely. Her head moves slowly from side to side. “I can’t,” she says unhappily. “I’ve used up my magic for the day tending to the gardens and the border. Besides, I’m not overly fond of violence. Diana said I didn't have to fight anymore since it makes me uncomfortable.”
My eyebrows rise to my hairline as I shoot Luna a look of disbelief. She looks back at me mildly offended, but that’s not what ends up capturing my attention. It’s the red dot wavering over her chest. A sharp crack echoes through the forest.
“Get down!” I scream, throwing myself at the fairy. She drops her potted plant with a shriek before I tackle her to the ground, releasing another cry as we land. “Are you all right?” I ask raggedly in her ear, pulling back up when I see the others begin to crowd around us out of my peripheral.
Luna shakes her head in a daze, her hand lifting to the growing spot of red inches above her heart. She opens her mouth to speak, a gurgle of blood accidentally spilling forth with a hacking cough. Panic leaks into every facet of her body. Eyes widening. Breath pitched to a frenzy. Body locking.
I press my hand dutifully against the wound. “Get back!” I shout once more over my shoulder just as another shot sounds. An instant later, a smattering of crystal shrapnel embeds itself into my calves. The shattering of the crystal lets off an angry chinking in the air.
“Take what’s left of the crystal and go!” Keenan commands, but as I look back at the scene, the witches and Keenan are frozen.
The magical border lets out an angry crackle in response, brilliant crimson and violet sparks hurtling from fractures that appear by the dozen all along the magical divide. Some slowly smooth back over, while other points of fissures remain gaping open.
“Oh, Goddess.” One of the witches groans in horror. “Millie, Sarah, take the crystal back to the house as fast as you can,” the redhead orders.
“But, Jane!”
“Go!” she orders more harshly, sweeping her hands up in an arch. A strange mist ascends into the air from the ground, creating a wide, hazy barrier between us and the splintered border. “I’ll hold them back for as long as I can. Send help.” The woman with the plaited hair lets out a distressed sob, glancing back over her shoulder at the approaching figures in black still a ways out. The Wardens are here.
“Jane….” Her voice trails off only to find her next words replaced with a sharp crack as another bullet tries and fails to penetrate the newly erected barrier.
“Go, Sarah,” Jane tells her coolly, eyes trained on the misshapen bullet lodged in the barrier, conveniently eye level with Sarah.
The two witches say not another word. Their hands rising in time as eerie words fall from their lips. The crystal quivers and rises slowly from the ground between them. They take a step, nervously eyeing the splintered barrier that wraps around their territory, but nothing happens.
“May the Goddess guide the light within you, from this world to the next,” Sarah says somberly. Jane gives a jerky nod, hands shaking as another bullet crashes against her barrier.
“Tell them—”
“We will, Jane,” Millie assures her, and then the two witches are off as fast as they dare go, the crystal glowing brightly between them.
“Can you get her out of here?” Jane asks, voice strained. “They’re closing in too quickly. Both the hellspawn and the people in black.”
“Can you move with me, Luna?” I ask hastily, and she whimpers her assent. I help her to stand, ignoring her cries as the pain becomes too much. “It’s all right,” I murmur to her, arm wrapped securely around her waist as she leans fully into my side. “We’ll take this one step at a time and get as far—”
“Here, let me.” Keenan tries to take my spot, but I push him away.
“You have to run and tell the others,” I protest. “You’re faster, Keenan. The witches are slowed down because they’re moving the crystal, Jane is protecting us, and I have to help Luna. Which means you have to be the one who gets the others. You’re our best chance. Go.”
Jane lets out a startled cry. I stare helplessly at her misty barrier, watching in alarm as it begins to flicker. Her body visibly shakes from the effort to keep it erect. “Get the hell out of here!” Jane shouts.
“I can’t just leave you here,” he snarls. Our mutual terror twines together through the bond, making my next words cut all the deeper.
“You can,” I shoot back. “We both know I’m right, Keenan. And if anyone has a shot at stalling them, it’s me. Not you. Not Luna. Not Jane. You have to go; you just don’t want to. And I get it, okay?” Emotion clots my voice. “I get it.”
Keenan visibly shakes at my words while I continue to hobble along with Luna. His eyes waver from brown to gold. “I can’t—” Before he can say another word, he lets out a snarl of rage, twirling around and flinging something lanky and green to the ground. The hellspawn are through the border. Jane lets out a curse, and then foreign words echo through the air around us followed by a clap of what sounds like thunder. Keenan grabs the hellspawn out of midair when it dares to attack him again. It’s neck twisting with Keenan’s deadly hold before going limp. He drops it to the ground, panting lightly.
“Go. If I can take you on and win, those little hellions don’t stand a chance.” My words don’t alleviate the mood, but they do get Keenan to turn and sprint off into the forest with an angry scowl.
“Hellspawn,” Luna corrects me between gritted teeth as we pick up into a canter. She is considerably paler when I cast her a glance, and I note she is increasing the amount of weight she leans on me.
“Stay with me, Luna. We’ll be out of range soon enough and can hide,” I promise.
Luna stumbles. Her wracking cough filling the air as an ominous rustling sounds from behind us. “Can’t,” she chokes, falling to a knee. I twist my wrists, and the bracers ignite with their light. With little effort, I call forth the Borealis I house inside me and use my strength to maneuver us behind a thick-bodied tree.
“Don’t move. Don’t make a sound,” I tell her quietly as I slip into a crouch. My body thrums with energy as I assess my surroundings.
Jane’s cry pierces the air before abruptly cutting short. It draws a cold shiver down my back. I have nothing to protect us with, except my body. And I have absolutely no idea on how to kill the mongrels closing in on us, since I’ve never been taught about them. But Luna was.
“Luna,” I whisper, “how do I kill them? Luna?” I gently nudge her foot, but the fairy only blinks back at me owlishly, a hand pressed weakly against her wound.
“Kill?” Tears cascade down her cheeks.
“Not you,” I hiss. “Them.”