“Because it’s going to work and it’s our only chance.” Sabella squeezed my hand. “It’ll work.”
“Without you getting hurt preferably.”
She kissed my cheek, and I wanted to hug her and find somewhere to keep her out of the way when this fight turned south, and it would, as soon as those doors burst open.
Forrest agreed to get the stones, he was the fastest out of the three of them. The rest of my guard would stay here to hold the door and protect those amongst the gathered shifters who were not fighters. The four remaining pack leaders were huddled near the front line, and after leaving Sabella with Craig and Kate for a moment, I went to speak with them.
“We’re going to need anyone who can fight,” I told them. “What’s coming through that door, it’s one of Baladon’s demons.”
“Do you have a plan?” Alice asked.
I ground my teeth as I glanced over my shoulder at Sabella. “She does.”
“King Tristan,” Thompson, the large blond pack leader, said as he stepped forward. “This seer, how much do you truly trust her? And I ask for the sake of all the packs.”
“I know you do,” I told him sincerely. “When we first found her, I used a truth spell on her.”
“And?” he urged.
“And I learned exactly who she is to us, to me. She is here to save us, and I trust her with my life. This maybe be hard for all of us to understand, but times have changed. And Sabella? She is mine, from now until forever,” I stated proudly. “If you still don’t agree with me, that is your right, but I will not let any harm come to her.”
The four of them exchanged a look and to my surprise, bowed their heads to me. “If she gets us through this,” Thompson said as he held out his hand for mine, “we’ll trust her.”
I shook his hand and nodded firmly. “Thank you, my friends. This war is just getting started.”
The doors cracked with the next hit and the four leaders turned to the shifters, calling for their guard and warriors to step forward.
I ran back to Sabella, standing far too close to the damned doors that were ready to break.
“What do you need us to do?” I asked her.
“Distract it as long as possible,” she instructed, wringing her hands. “I need to create a hole in its center, but it’s going to take time.”
“And you’re sure this will work?” She was going to use the crystals, but those crystals were nothing without power. “Sabella? What is it you’re not telling me?” I demanded.
She refused to look at me.
I turned her around and gently moved her face until those stormy grey eyes had no choice, but to see me. “Explain, right now.”
“My light magic, if I can power the crystals to the point it overwhelms them, they’ll explode.”
“And how are you going to do that without standing right beside the demon?” I asked through gritted teeth.
She didn’t answer.
I saw the answer in the way she shifted closer to me, and I cursed, resting my forehead against hers. “If you die, I will find a way to bring you back to me. Know that.”
I kissed her, but it was over too soon.
Another hit by the demon and part of the doors fell inward, leaving a gap for us to see out of. We backed further away, Kate jerked her left arm, and the shield of the Vindicar appeared.
Craig held the Executioner blade forged by the sorcerers, and I shifted, throwing my head back and howling the order for the others to do the same.
Hank, I need you to start evacuating as many as you can through that rear door, I told him through the link. The second those doors open, you get them out.
I can fight.
You will do as I say and save them. That is your duty right now.
He growled in argument but said nothing else.
The four of us backed up when it went completely silent on the other side of the doors.
I glared through the opening, trying to see, when its arm burst through, trying to snatch at anyone too close. When it grabbed air, it roared in fury and rammed into the doors, sending them exploding inward in splinters and chunks of metal hinges and stone from the wall the hinges were attached to. When the dust cleared, the red-eyed demon stood in the opening, those whips back in its hands, and those eyes zeroed in on Sabella.
“Shit,” she muttered.
The demon charged right for her.
I shoved her out of the way, both of us hitting the floor as those whips sailed overhead, crashing into the floor right where we’d stood. Stones cracked beneath the attack, and then he was coming after us again.
Kate rushed in this time, raising her shield to block the next attack.
I waited for the whips to crack the glass and metal, but instead, a bright flash of light blinded me and sent us all flying backward.
The demon was thrown into the nearest wall, and I grunted. Why did I bother repairing the castle when it was just going to get destroyed again?
I growled as I pushed to my feet, wobbly, and searched around for Sabella
She was getting back up too, her eyes glowing, and that white power swirling around her again.
If I’d thought she was beautiful before, now she truly did look like the daughter of a goddess.
“We got this, furball,” she told me, and I wished I felt so confident, but right now we were getting our asses kicked.
The demon was slinging those whips around itself as it moved closer.
I glanced around, praying for Forrest to return with the crystals.
Hank was quickly getting the others out, at least, and the shifters moved in closer to me, flanking me as I stared down the demon.
Those whips will kill you, I informed them. Stay clear of them. Our game is to distract and not engage. We can’t do any damage to this thing.
Sabella moved toward it, and I was ready to bite the back of her shirt and drag her away, but when those whips lashed out, they connected with the streams of light and ricocheted back.
She took another step, but when she went to attack as she had before, shooting those beams of pure white magic right at it, one of the whip’s vanished and a shield made of bone appeared, preventing the light from hitting its chest.
“I have to get through to its chest,” she told me.
I howled and prayed to the gods we wouldn’t lose too many, charging forward.
I sprinted and slid right beneath the tail end of that whip, while the pack moved in a circle around it, slipping in when the coast was clear to bump into its legs, trying to throw it off balance.
Sabella rushed to stay out of its sight, attacking its back with her power.
The stone was singing, more than what happened when Forrest attacked with his dragon fire, but then it whipped around on her, and she flung herself out of the way just as a whip slashed toward her.
I growled and launched myself through the air, landing on the statue’s arm and clawing and biting at the hand with the whip.
I did no damage, and it easily flung me off.
“Are you insane,” Sabella yelled at me as I shook my head and got back to my feet.
I winked at her, and she rolled her eyes, but then I was back at it.
It was like a game of tag from hell. Get caught with a whip, and you went down.
A wolf yelped, and I saw him limp away, bleeding from a wound on his side.
A few more followed as the whip cracked in the air, creating an explosion of air that sent us soaring away from him.
But not Sabella.
She’d flattened herself to the floor and the second that whip fell, was back on her feet, focusing on that same spot.
I started to worry she was overexerting herself as her eyes glowed even brighter, but when the demon turned its back to me, I saw the hole was getting larger.
She was doing it. A bit deeper and she could shove the crystals in there.
And then power them up while possibly getting herself killed in the process.
Out of the c
orner of my eye, I spotted Forrest rushing back to the hall, and a leather bag in his hand, and Lucy behind him.
He waved, but Sabella didn’t see him. She was too busy focusing on the hole in the demon’s back, even as it continued to spin around, trying to snatch her up in its hands.
I rushed to Forrest and took the bag from him, looking at Lucy.
“I don’t know,” was all she said, but it would have to be good enough.
With the bag securely in my jaws, I sprinted to Sabella’s side and dropped it at her feet. The hole was nearly big enough, at least halfway through the demon’s massive chest.
I nudged her leg, and she looked down, grabbed the bag, and slung it over her body.
“Get out of here,” she ordered me, but I refused to leave her side. “Tristan, just go.”
“Look out,” Kate bellowed.
Too late.
The demon had turned around and glared at the two of us.
I threw myself in front of Sabella, but it slammed its shield into the floor. The blast was worse than the previous ones, and the entire hall filled with shadow. My feet left the floor, and all I heard were growls of pain and Sabella’s scream before the sound of bodies being thrown into the walls and floor cut off all other noise.
Stones crumbled around us and I struggled to breathe, shifting back from the pain washing over me.
“Sabella,” I choked, squinting through the dizziness and the haze.
I couldn’t see her, or hear anything else.
I sat up, shoving stones off my body and spotted Kate lying a few feet away.
I crawled to her, tapping her cheeks until her eyes opened. “Tristan?” She groaned, pushing herself up. “Craig! Forrest!”
“Here,” I heard Craig reply and thought I saw a hand shoot up.
Kate stumbled her way to them as others started to call out in pain.
Sabella. I had to find her.
The shadows swarmed around the center of the room, blocking out any sign of the demon, but it was still here.
I felt it’s evil presence.
I stumbled forward few steps and saw a bright red head of hair.
“No,” I whispered, trying to run, but was too weak from the blast. “Sabella, wait.”
She glanced back at me over her shoulder, her lips moving over words I couldn’t hear, and then she was gone, sucked into the darkness.
22
Sabella
The second I lost sight of Tristan, the voices rushed back. All around me was darkness.
I couldn’t see, and the voices drowned out anything beyond the shadows. But the crystals were still in the bag, and that was all I needed.
I closed my eyes, grimacing each time the voices grew louder, but they weren’t going to scare me away, not this time.
I concentrated on the one thing keeping me sane. It took a few precious moments, but his face appeared in my mind. Tristan. Those hazel eyes that showed when he was happy or annoyed with me. Eyes that failed to hide how much he cared for me, or about his pack. He was my center and the only one who could keep me grounded. I remembered our first kiss, and every kiss after. How he held me close and swore vengeance against anyone who hurt me.
With each memory, the voices faded.
I opened my eyes.
The demon stood before me; I only had a few feet to go. The whip was gone from its hand, and instead, it held a sword, one that could easily cleave me in two.
But I wasn’t alone. Tristan might be outside the shadows, but he was in my mind, a part of me, always. The demon raised that sword and swung it downward, but I easily stepped to the side.
It spun, bringing the blade up again, but I ducked and rolled, letting my instincts take over, instincts that had been dormant from too many years of listening to the crazy in my head.
My eyes glowed as power grew and expanded within me, pushing back against the darkness.
The demon bellowed as it attacked again and again, but I moved too fast, ducking and spinning just out of reach of that blade. It brought the sword down again, but this time, it was stuck in the stones.
I rushed around behind it, climbed up its back as it fought to get the blade free.
The second I laid the crystals inside its back, the demon spun around, trying to dislodge me and them, but I clung fiercely using its hair.
I placed my hand on the crystals.
“This time, you’re going to stay dead.”
I poured every ounce of power I had in me into those crystals as the demon continued to fight.
The shadows began to fade, and I caught glimpses of the others in the hall.
I tried to look for Tristan, but the power leaving me made me dizzy.
The crystals glowed under my hand until I couldn’t see anymore, the light was too much. It burned my eyes, and my hand screamed in sudden agony, but I didn’t let go. I had to finish this to prove to Baladon I was strong enough.
And that I’d be coming for him next.
Just when I thought my power was tapped, the shadows cleared, and my eyes locked onto Tristan’s. He was holding his side, staring at me so intently, it was like he was holding me.
Another burst of power shot from me into the crystals, and the demon bellowed one more time and then it exploded.
I was thrown from the blast, consumed by white light, and everything went silent.
I felt like I was floating. It was peaceful here. No voices, no visions, just nothing. I wondered what it would be like to stay, but something tugged on my hand.
“Is she dead?” a voice said somewhere near me.
Dead? Who was dead?
“No, she’s not dead, I won’t let her be,” a growl replied, and that tug came again. “You are not allowed to leave me, understand? Open your eyes, Sabella, I know you’re still in there.”
“Look at her hand,” another voice said.
A different voice said, “We need the physicians for the wounded. Get them down here, now.”
People were hurt. That was sad; I frowned.
“She’s alive,” that same growl yelled, and the tugging on my hand intensified. “Look at me. Please, just look at me. You know you belong here, right? We’ve still got a long life ahead of us so don’t you dare leave me.”
Warm lips pressed against mine and I did the only thing I could think of.
I kissed them back, wrapping my hand up into a head of soft hair. I blinked, and the world came into sharp focus, including a pair of hazel eyes full of emotion.
“Tristan,” I whispered.
He lifted me off the ground to hug me close. “Thank the gods,” he said, his voice muffled against me. “Can you please stop scaring the piss out of me, Red? I can’t take much more of this crap.”
“Just ‘cause you’re an old man,” I teased, and he cupped my face in his hands, staring at me long and hard before I leaned in and kissed him again.
I was rather enjoying the moment until my injuries caught up with me and I was no longer numb to them. I gasped at the sight of my burnt hand and then noticed the throbbing in my head and back.
I managed a look around, but the demon was gone. Not even a pile of rubble was left this time. “It’s dead?”
Tristan nodded firmly, a rumbling growl issuing from his mouth as he glared at the burnt spot in the center of the hall. “It’s dead.”
“How many did we lose?” I asked as he helped me to my feet.
“Four, but you saved so many more.” He kept his arm around my waist as he helped me to where they were gathering the rest of the wounded to be treated.
I waved off the physicians, telling them to help the others.
Tristan scowled at me. “You’re hurt, too.”
“They’re hurt worse. I’ll be fine for a few more minutes.”
I settled in with my back to the wall, watching Lucy and the physicians move among the wounded, using salves and magic to close wounds left by that whip and the blasts.
Kate, Craig, and Forrest stood huddled together, fa
ces bruised and scraped, but otherwise looking no worse for wear.
Tristan dropped down beside me, holding his side, and I rested my head on his shoulder.
“Not bad for our first fight, huh?” I mused.
“First fight,” he repeated. “I’m not sure how much more of this I can take; watching you nearly kill yourself.”
“That’s what I’m here for, to save everyone, remember?”
“It appears you are,” the woman pack leader said as she came toward us.
Tristan started to stand, but she shook her head and her, as well as the three others, knelt with her.
“We owe you both an apology.”
“Sabella, these are the pack leaders, Alice, Thompson, Walt, and Stewart. Victor, sadly was the one Baladon possessed,” Tristan informed me.
“His son will run the pack,” Thompson said sadly. “He’s of age and will be a good leader.”
“Just as you have proven once again you should be our alpha,” Stewart added. “And it appears, you have found your beta.”
Tristan glanced at me and smiled. “I think I have.”
“Wait, his what?” I asked confused.
“His soul mate and also our leader,” Alice told me as she held out her hand. “May I?”
I wasn’t sure what was happening, but Tristan lifted my hand for Alice to take. She placed her lips against my knuckles, and each of the leaders followed suit. When they were finished, they stood, promising to lend whatever aid was necessary to fight in the war against Baladon.
When they walked away, Tristan laughed quietly.
“What’s so amusing?”
“You were just accepted by the packs,” he told me, taking my hand and kissing it. “A seer. Funny how the world works.”
“What does this beta thing mean?”
“It means, if you’re willing, you will become essentially my queen. Can you handle that?”
His queen. I let my head fall back to his shoulder, closing my eyes as my destiny became clearly laid out before me. “Yeah, think I can, furball, think I can.”
We sat exactly how we were for a while until Lucy eventually made her way to us. She bandaged my hand and checked Tristan’s side. The wound had opened up, and she gave him a lecture about overexerting himself. He tried to get her to give me one, too, but Lucy just shrugged before she moved on.
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