by Kimbra Swain
“In or out, Judith?” I demanded.
“Attack her!” Reyna commanded.
Judith turned to me and began throwing small bursts of power at me. They hit my skin, but it only tingled like the slap of a branch while running through the woods. She wasn’t putting her entire might behind it.
Feeling Winter’s power so strongly through Levi, I dug into that coldness once again, hoping that this time it would respond to me. I out-stretched my hand toward Judith as her tiny attacks continued. The blue glow of Winter raced down my arm to my hand. I didn’t try to force it. Instead, I let it flow out of me like a river. Once it hit the air outside of my hand, I watched the cold wind rush toward Judith, knocking her back against the wall. Her head bounced twice, and I lowered my hand. She slumped to the ground as I heard a crack behind me.
Rory had either subdued Gamma or killed him. It didn’t matter. We were winning, but Reyna smiled behind her big glowing Ferris wheel of magic.
“Time to face the real law,” I said.
“I don’t think so,” she said as she flung her hands forward which shoved the spinning circle toward Levi. Excalibur cut through it, but the hole wasn’t large enough to block all of its spinning power, knocking Levi to the ground.
Instinctively, my body burst into flame, but I kept my wings tucked close behind me. The magic passed around me but struck Kyrie and Rory to the ground. Both were unconscious while Levi was dazed from the attack. His shirt had singes, cutting holes into it and smoking from the firepower of the magic.
“You really are a beautiful creature,” Reyna said. “All of that flame and fury. I wish I had an ounce of it.”
“So, we’ve established that you are jealous of me,” I said. My voice deepened when I was in this state. I’d had to learn to talk while on fire. At first, I’d feared that I’d swallow the flame, but I had to accept the fact that I was the flame.
“I am, but I imagine that will end when I end you,” she said, throwing another smaller flaming circle at me. Once again, it passed through me with no effect.
“That doesn’t seem to work. Do you have anything else?” I asked, while walking toward her. She stepped backward toward the wall. I saw the fear in her eyes. Suppressing the desire to turn her into charcoal, I watched her weigh her options.
“Of course, I do,” she said while crossing her arms in front of her. The two shelves of magical objects and potions flew at me from both sides. The shelves incinerated when they touched me, but whatever chemicals had been in the bottles landed on my skin. It didn’t hurt, but it did itch. I looked down at my hands and watched the skin being eaten away like I’d been doused with acid. “Bye, Wynonna.”
Bit by bit, my body turned to ash and hit the floor. I heard her laughing as she began to form another circle to strike Levi who had managed to get to his feet.
The darkness overtook me once again.
My scream dissipated in the darkness. I hadn’t realized I was screaming as I died. The acid hurt as it ate through my skin.
“Hello, Wynonna,” a deep voice came from behind me. I saw the candlelight flickering as it had been before. “Come and sit with me.”
“I can’t. I gotta go back. I have to defeat her before she takes out Levi,” I said.
“He will not allow himself to go down again,” Uriel said.
“I have to go back,” I insisted.
“You cannot go back until you have sat with me,” he said raising his voice.
I stomped over to the candle and took a seat across from him. His form appeared, and the flames licked around his skin. He radiated a light that I couldn’t explain except to define it as goodness.
“I’m sitting,” I said.
“My such a smart mouth on so young a person. Tell me. What have you learned since you were last here?” he asked.
“Learned?”
“Yes, you have been gone for a few days. You must have learned something about yourself or your abilities,” he said.
“A Sanhedrin circle of power can’t harm me if I’m ignited,” I said.
“This is true. Your fire has a dispelling effect on magic. It doesn’t nullify it, but it does protect you from it,” he said. “What else?”
“I used my Winter power tonight without it fizzling out,” I said.
“Wynonna, tell me something about you. What have you learned about yourself? Are you a better person since we last met?” he said.
“Can you see me out there?” I asked.
“We can,” he replied.
“We?”
“The phoenixes before you,” he said, confirming my worst fear.
“Oh, crap. My dad saw me and Kyrie!”
Uriel grinned. “He turned away.”
“Still.” I sighed in embarrassment.
“What did you learn about yourself?” he pressed.
“That I allow my heart to feel.”
“You have felt many things over the years. Love, fear, sadness, joy. Why was this different?”
“Because it was like giving a part of myself to someone other than my parents.”
“Other than the wolf.”
I ignored his comment about Mark. “It was different, because it is a risk. Kyrie may be devoted, but ‘us’ isn’t a sure thing. It is for now, but we don’t know what our future holds. I also realized that I had used distance as an excuse to not tell Mark the truth.”
“And that truth is?”
“That I don’t want to be his submissive wolf wife. I have to be in charge of my own direction. I love him and his pack, but that is not who I want to be. He can’t be anything other than an Alpha. And neither can I.”
“I’ve never heard a phoenix describe themselves as an Alpha. You have no pack.”
“I do. My pack is Nick, Malphas, Echo, Rory, Soraya, and even Kyrie. I will lead them, and they will follow me. Which is probably the worst thing they could possibly do, but yeah.”
He stared at me for a moment, processing my words. “Could Reyna be part of your pack?”
“Absolutely not. She’s just as Alpha as I am.”
“Nick is an Alpha.”
“It’s not the same.”
“Yes, it is. He can suppress his need to control the pack. He can forsake it, but it will always be a part of him.”
“May I return to my pack now? They need help.”
“Just one more thing. Ask yourself if you can turn your enemies into friends for the greater good. Your mother and your father joined together to bring many different sides together as a whole. It was his legacy beyond you and your brother. Could you be as great or greater than your father?”
“I could never be as great as Dylan Riggs.” I hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but I had. He grimaced at my words but nodded.
“You may rise, Wynonna. Just remember as you go back, the fire burns around you, but it is nothing compared to the brightness of your soul. Rise and continue the fight.”
I tried to comprehend his words, instead I allowed the esoteric mumbo-jumbo to go in one ear and out of the other. Standing, I turned my back on him, knowing he would disappear. I wondered if in these moments I was conjuring Uriel from my imagination.
“Nah. I’d never say anything so supposedly inspiring. Time to get shit done.”
When I rose, the giant raptor I became barely fit inside the room, so I forced myself back to a human form, but kept the fiery wings. Because they were as cool as fuck.
Reyna snarled at me.
“Oh, did you think you’d killed me? Only a royal fairy can extinguish me. The verdict is in, Reyna. You aren’t queen of shit,” I said.
She threw another circle at me, then another. Levi moved slowly beside me but allowed me to take the lead. He hid behind my wings which weakened her magic. He’d built a forcefield around himself, learning from the first hit.
“We are not the only Sanhedrin. There are more. Many more. And they are coming here to stop you and your task force,” she mocked. “You will submit to the Just Law of the
Sanhedrin!”
She backed into the wall once again, but I was close enough to flap my wings once, then wrap my fingers around her neck. I pulled back on my fire. I didn’t want to snap her head off. But her skin melted under my touch. She screamed in pain until I heard two clicks. I released her and she dropped to the floor. She chanted, lifting her hands to her neck. Only her wrists were cuffed. Levi had bound her while I distracted her.
A soft tune played on his guitar as he reached up to touch her neck. The melted skin healed with his magic.
Kyrie and Rory helped each other off the ground. Levi tossed them sets of magical cuffs. They snapped them on the ones that had survived, including Gamma.
I killed my fire, and Levi snapped his fingers, forming a layer of fairy glamour clothes on me. They matched the ones I’d worn before I burned them off.
Kyrie touched my shoulder, and I spun around into his arms. He embraced me. I held on to him tightly while Levi spoke softly to Reyna.
“Where are they?” he asked.
“Don’t you know?” She had a terrible attitude considering we had just handed her ass to her.
“I don’t want to waste time. Just tell me,” Levi pressed.
She closed her eyes to ignore him. Judith sat groggily next to the far wall. “They are on the other end of the building in a room just like this one. You will have to break the ward to see them.”
Levi ran down the hall, and I raced after him. Kyrie and Rory stayed behind to watch our prisoners. He bashed through the doors into the dark room. He spun around looking at the ward. I could see him using his sight as the turquoise in his eyes flared again.
His guitar came to life. Instead of discording the ward, he played a melody. Around me I could see the darkness shake as if it were trembling at the song. Levi played it louder and hummed along. The ward shattered like black glass. I threw my hands up in defense.
When I lowered them, Nick, Malphas, and Echo stood chained to the back wall. Levi ran to them touching each cuff from the chains and shattering it with winter cold. He and Nick embraced.
“Thank you, Brother,” Nick said.
“Thank Winnie. She’s pretty damn amazing,” Levi said.
“Thanks,” I muttered. He kissed me on my forehead.
“You are my girl, Winnie. I’m so proud,” Levi said.
Nick watched the exchange, then wrapped me up in his arms. “Good job,” he whispered in my ear. “I knew you had it in you.”
Malphas and Echo shook hands with Levi, then we gathered our prisoners. Levi opened a portal to Shady Grove, and we all went through it.
Rocking in the swing on my porch back home in Shady Grove, I talked with my new friend Renata. She liked Shady Grove, but she wanted to go back to Steelshore with me.
“It would be nice to have another friend there, but what we do can be very dangerous,” I warned her.
“I’m aware of the dangers. I have talents that would be beneficial to you and the F.B.I.”
Aydan and Callum thought it was a great idea. They had seen what she could do. I hadn’t seen it, but it seemed like it would be a help. After Soraya and Rory getting captured, I hated the idea of bringing another friend into the fray.
“I’ll consider it,” I said.
Kyrie walked out of the house carrying a cup of coffee for each of us.
“Thank you,” Ren said. She got up, leaving the seat for him.
“You don’t have to leave,” I said.
“Yes, I do. I have to go pack,” she said, giving me a wink.
She went back into the house. Mom had allowed her to use my bedroom until she decided where she wanted to go.
I sipped on the sparkling coffee with special magical powers to calm your soul. Kyrie sat down next to me and put his arm around my shoulders. I leaned over on him.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“We have to go back. Kat and Cat said that there were more on that ship,” I said with a sigh.
The cats had returned to Steelshore after our short trip through Levi’s portal. I had to promise them multiple bottles of wine, but I was thankful for their help in rescuing those that we had. Nick and the Ravens had gone back as well. They reported that the Orefeo was gone, taking whatever remaining fairies they had with them.
After a thorough examination by my mother, we determined that Colton was completely human. His “father,” Seth Karis, had disappeared. We couldn’t tell him what to do, but he decided to stay in the apartment building. Ruby was spending a lot of time with him.
Killian joined us on the porch, but he sat on the steps instead of squeezing on the swing. He’d grown so much. He looked to be the same age as the rest of us. I hadn’t really noticed the night I’d died, but he was nearly a man with a few boyish features remaining.
“So, you’ve died twice now within just a couple of days, how does that feel?” he asked. He always had been inquisitive and wanted to know things without any sense of decorum.
“I don’t fear it anymore. I also know that it hurts. I feel every moment leading to death. It sucks,” I said.
“What happens while you are dead?” he asked.
I hadn’t told anyone about Uriel. My hesitation to answer caused Kyrie to stiffen. He knew I was about to hold back.
“Nothing. Just darkness.”
“I hate it,” he said.
“So, do I,” Kyrie echoed.
“It’s not like I’m trying to die,” I said.
“I have to go to work,” Kilian said.
“Work?” I asked.
“Yeah, I help Callum at Hot Tin,” he said.
I started to say he wasn’t old enough to work at a bar, but age really wasn’t a factor for us anymore.
“Tell him I said hi. We are going back to Steelshore today,” I said.
Killian rose from his spot and walked toward me. I stood up to meet him. We hugged.
“I like the natural color,” he said. My hair had been its natural brown for a couple of days. I hadn’t had time to worry about what I looked like. I kissed him on the forehead. Music came out of nowhere as Killian pulled power to himself. He disappeared, skipping to his job.
A figure walking down the driveway caught my eye. I sucked in air, seeing him approach. Kyrie stood up behind me.
“I’m going inside,” he said.
“You don’t have to go,” I said.
“Yes, I do,” he said as he kissed me on the temple.
I didn’t want to sit on the porch and talk to Mark, so I walked down the drive and met him halfway. He wore dark jeans and a buffalo check flannel shirt. He smiled widely when he saw me. I felt awkward standing before him, but he just laughed, then wrapped me up in a hug.
“So, you are dying now,” he said.
“Word travels fast,” I said.
“It’s Shady Grove. Everyone knows everyone’s business,” he replied. “Wanna walk?”
“Yes,” I replied, and he turned to walk back up the drive toward the main road.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I am. It scares the shit out of me, but then there is just peace, and I rise,” I said.
“I’m sorry that I’m not there for you,” he said.
“You have your own troubles,” I said, referring to the pack wanting him to mate.
“Winnie, it’s not just that they want me to mate. They want me to mate a wolf. I see their point. I can’t be the Alpha they need if I don’t produce heirs to ensure the future of the pack,” he said.
“So, it’s not just a mate. It’s me,” I said.
“In a way. Dad tells me that it doesn’t matter, that things always find a way of working out. But I see you now. You are with him,” he said.
My heart sank. I should have known his wolf senses would have picked up on it. “How did you know?” I asked anyway.
He winkled his nose. “I smell him on you.”
I bit my lip, holding back a giggle. He looked at me, then laughed too. “I’m not trying to hurt you,”
I said as the laughter died.
“I know that, but you are happy. That’s all that matters. My problem is there aren’t any young female wolves here,” he said.
“There is a pack in Steelshore. Nick knows them. Maybe there is someone there,” I suggested.
“Are you trying to hook me up?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye. Mark had matured since I left. Sometimes accepting our situation and working around it took courage and maturity. I already knew he was brave.
“I want you to be happy, too.”
“You know, I once thought that you were the only one that could make me happy. But I looked at the people around us and I realize that just isn’t true. Luther had a wife and children that he loved before he met Betty. Your mom loved Dylan. My mother assures me that she loved my real father even if he didn’t love her in return. I won’t lie and say my heart doesn’t hurt, but I also know that there is room there for someone else.”
I couldn’t resist. I wrapped him up again in another hug. He squeezed me back. I felt his breath in my hair. The familiarity of his embrace warmed my soul.
“You have the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever known,” I said.
“And yet, you reject me,” he teased. I heard the tone in his voice, and it made me laugh.
“It’s not a rejection. Life has led us in different ways. I didn’t go to Steelshore with the intention of falling for Kyrie,” I said.
“Yes, well, I still think he is bad news, but I see him support you. He cares deeply for you and always has despite his penchant to get into trouble. But you have the same tendency. Maybe you are perfect for each other.”
“It’s not that serious.”
“I have something for you.”
“Mark.”
“No, don’t protest. I bought it after you left.” He handed me a velvet box the size of a playing card. Inside I found a silver necklace with a silver compass pendant. “You seemed lost when you left like you were looking for your place in the world. I see more confidence in your eyes now, but I think you still need this to help find your way.”
“It’s so pretty,” I said, removing it from the box. I handed it to him, and he helped me put it on. “How does it look?”