by Jayne Hawke
As the bear shifter drooped to the floor, his skin fell away, revealing deep coppery scales. His body was more human than Kyra’s had been, but the transformation had begun, and it sat there for all to see.
“He was an Apophis ally.”
Fionn walked to my side, an imposing presence.
“Understand this. We will remove the Apophis scourge from this world. Every single one of the god’s allies, lackies, and pets will die. Some at my hand, some at the guardian’s, but it will happen,” Fionn said.
“How dare you! Fae are all the same, bringing war to our peaceful plane. You have no right to be here at all,” the Morrigan witch raged.
The pixie and the puka moved to stand on my other side. The promise of death and violence radiated off them as they dispassionately gazed upon the witch.
She swallowed hard, understanding that her chances of leaving this room in one piece were slim to none.
“As a Morrigan witch, I am in the best position to help remove this plague from our lands. I will lead this investigation,” she said as she smoothed her skirt.
I laughed, a sharp bitter laugh that made the witch’s blood rise, colouring her skin a deep shade of pink.
“You will be lucky to live until sunset.” I took a step forward. “We are coming for you, and we will return Cole to his rightful place.”
49
FIONN HAD PLACED A tracking spell on the Morrigan witch before we left. We were pretty sure she’d go running straight to whomever was running the full Apophis cult and lead us there. They knew we were hunting them, and that would push them into action.
The garou, Rafe Webster, alpha of the White Oak pack, remained behind after the meeting.
“How do we help you?”
He was easy to overlook, but there was a fire burning within him. I could see how he became alpha of a very respected pack. They hadn’t managed to climb the social ladder high enough to hold a position on the national garou council, but I had read up on his reputation. I planned on making him and Erin co-leaders of the Vermont packs. Eventually I’d push to elevate them further, but one step at a time.
“We’ll be attacking the Apophis coven this evening. Gather every pack member you have that can fight. We’ll text you the location,” I said.
We exchanged numbers and Daniel walked out with his head high and a sense of purpose about him. We were so close, I could taste it. Now we just needed to get the Brigid witches on board. Amy was trying to talk to the techno-witches.
The redheaded witch was waiting by my Mustang when we stepped out into the beautiful sunny day. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I almost paused to enjoy the peace of it, but there were battles to be won.
“You’re serious about removing the Apophis influence?” the witch asked mildly.
“We are,” I said.
She nodded and smiled, a feral expression that seemed almost out of place with her less memorable features.
“You understand that I won’t risk the lives of my coven for nothing.”
“Your place on the council will be secured, and that will give you some sway over what happens to the businesses that find themselves without ownership,” I said.
Fionn had told me what to say on the ride over there. This was a business transaction. The Apophis witches were an irritation to the witches. They were sure their gods would watch over them should the darkness come. They would find a way to turn their businesses into something that would keep them comfortable.
The witch nodded.
“Many of my coven are healers, not fighters.”
“Then they shall heal,” Fionn said.
“Those of us who can wield our lady’s fire shall do so, the rest will hold back and heal the injured. Let me know when and where.”
And we had one more ally. I didn’t know how many Apophis witches we would be up against, or how many shifters would rally around the now fallen Digby. This was going to be the fight of the century, and I had no intentions of losing.
50
THE TECHNO-WITCHES had refused to get involved. Amy had spent three hours trying to get them to talk to her, only to have them flat out refuse. They wanted nothing to do with our little war. It was disappointing, but we had bigger things to focus on.
Erin and Daniel had arrived with their betas to meet Nicole, the Brigid witch, and her second in command, Scott.
The kitchen felt as though it was overflowing with people as everyone turned to face me with expectation that I would know the tactics and logistics. Fionn’s tracker had shown that the Morrigan witch had gone to a recent clearcut. It looked to be the size of a football field, large enough for the type of ritual we thought they were going to be doing.
The forest gave the shifters a place they were comfortable moving through. It also offered cover and hiding spots for the enemy. We wouldn’t be able to control the entry and exit. There weren’t enough of us to surround it entirely.
My stomach twisted as I understood how many lives were depending on me. If I screwed this up, countless lives would be lost for nothing.
“We need the healers scattered throughout the area so there will always be one close enough to reach. The fire-wielding witches can disrupt the enemy lines, stop the ritual, and give the shifters room to come in behind them and kill the enemies. The Apophis witch can only be killed by a flaming blade. Those shifters who’re fighting in their human forms will need a witch on hand to produce that fire,” I said.
Strange footsteps came up the porch. I left the group and opened the door to find a pair of cougar shifters.
“We’re offering our pride to help fight,” the taller man said.
“Come in.”
We were going to need all of the help we could get. Fionn told the newcomers the broad plan. It was loose and basic, but it was all I could manage. We had no idea how the Apophis witches were going to be arranged, how many there were, or what weapons they’d wield. We were going in blind, and had no choice but to depend on brute force and fire.
Swallowing hard, I put on a brave smile and told myself this was going to work.
DEEP IN THE FOREST, not far from the open space where we believed the Apophis witches were gathering, I stood on a tree stump and looked at the people gathered before me. There were almost one hundred people there, each looking at me. Waiting.
I had no idea how to give a rousing speech, or plan a war, but I would do everything I could to ensure each and every one of those people returned in one piece.
“Remember, the Apophis witch, the full Apophis witch, can only be truly killed with flaming blades. Do not waste your time and energy hacking at them with a non-flaming blade. Kill everyone present that isn’t with us. Do not take any risks.”
A small murmur went around the group. It was a cold calculated move, but there was no point in all of this if we allowed someone to get away.
“Remember. The fate of the world is on our shoulders.”
“No pressure,” Briar muttered behind me.
Those who were shifting did so in silence before they slipped away through the mature trees on silent paws. The witches moved through the space with long swords made by their own hands and fire burning in their eyes.
Sky’s face was ashen as she watched them.
“I will have to kill my sisters. I don’t even have any magic,” she said softly.
“You need to make a temporary alliance with Set,” Amy hissed.
Sky frowned at her.
“This is not a small dragon like last time. This is the real avatar, and only Set can defeat that. We need you, we need Set,” Amy said.
Sky tried to read her face in the dimming light.
“My lady has spoken, and we need you to step up, Sky. For the sake of everyone here, make a temporary deal.”
“Are you saying all of those people will die without her Set magic?” I whispered, not wanting to alarm Briar and Adam.
“Possibly,” Amy said.
Sky stood taller and closed her eyes.
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“Never let it be said I shied away from what needed to be done,” she said.
I watched in awe as she changed before my eyes. On the surface, she was still the fearsome blonde witch I had come to care for. Beneath that, though, a storm brewed, lightning crackled through her veins, and chaos was born.
Sky opened her eyes and exhaled slowly.
“He has agreed to this. A temporary agreement for the sake of the world. A decision must be made within a month,” Sky said with a slight crackle to her voice.
Rolling my shoulders, I turned towards the space where the trees had been cut down leaving short trunks and bare ground. It was time to end this mess.
51
THE FAMILIAR CALM OF my guardian state settled over me as I approached the screams of agony, fury, and victory that spread through the area before me. Blood already coated the charred and broken tree stumps. Ruined bodies lay between the hardy shrubs that had been spared from the culling of the trees.
My pack was nearby - the siblings in their lithe wolf forms, my witches striding with swords drawn and expressions of vicious determination. Gone was any sense of empathy or mercy. We were here to tear limb from limb and ensure that no Apophis witch walked in our territory again.
The Brigid witches were spread evenly throughout the area before us. Fire plumed from their hands and left blackened earth and crackling plants in their wake. The Apophis witches and shifters, I soon saw, fought with ferocity. The bears were clustered around a familiar form, one with a scar upon his cheek that I had given him.
Liam.
A familiar scent snapped my mind away from the bloodshed and screams around me. Cole’s scent. Scanning the space around me, I tried to pinpoint his location. Fire licked at the air to my left, searing my skin from the heat of it and alerting me to the presence of the enemy. My blade sank deep into their scaled chest before I had fully acknowledged they were there. A hissing gurgling sound accompanied the look of surprise upon their now lifeless face.
The bears moved their great brown forms, and I caught a glimpse of him. Cole. He was bound to a makeshift altar formed of an old log. Whatever shred of fear I might have felt previously was extinguished to be replaced with the certainty that I would save my life-bond.
I ran between tree stumps, jumping over bodies and shying away from great streams of fire as I made my way closer to the bears and my prize. Natasha was there somewhere, I caught snippets of her voice over the death gurgles and curses. She would die at my hand.
The bears formed a solid wall of muscle and dense brown fur. Liam was inside that wall chanting and pacing around Cole who lay there, too still for my liking. Natasha knelt at Cole’s feet, her head bent over a book as she whispered. A roar from the closest bear pulled my attention back to them and the problem they presented. I was strong, and fast, but bears were three or more times my size, with claws that would slice through me with ease.
A brilliant light blinded me for a second. Once my vision had cleared, the stench of burning fur and flesh overwhelmed my senses and I saw the blackened hole in the bear that had stood directly in front of me. Sky strolled up next to me with small arcs of white electricity playing over her hands.
“I could get used to Set’s magic,” she said casually.
A garou screamed in pain nearby. I felt its anguish slicing through me more keenly than any claws could. I had failed her as a guardian.
The bears looked down at their fallen comrade and back to us. The witches were being kept busy with my allies. It was just us and the bears. The largest of the group, with shoulders wider than my arm span and head bigger than my torso, began towards us.
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.
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 spread 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.”