“Ow! What the…” Whisper pulled her fist back toward herself and inspected it, hoping that she hadn’t broken any of her knuckles. Then she spun around, trying to understand how Violet had disappeared into thin air. To her horror, she caught a glimpse of Violet running out of the back room and toward the front of the bar.
“Violet! Come back!”
Of course, Violet ignored her. Violet must have turned and decided to flee the back room at the exact moment before Whisper’s fist would have run into her. Now, the crazed woman was running straight into the thick of the battle.
“So much for lying low,” Whisper muttered, then ran after her.
Whisper never even considered staying behind and letting Violet face her own fate. Violet hadn’t been very nice to her, and Violet had tried her best to steal Axel, that was true. None of Violet’s actions exactly screamed out, “I’m worth rescuing.” But for Whisper, it didn’t matter. Any shifter, no matter how rude they had acted, deserved saving. No one deserved to be hurt or killed at the hands of the Gilt Hollow attackers just for being a shifter.
And so, Whisper chased after Violet, muttering curses and then coughing deeply as the smoke from the front of the bar quickly filled her nose and mouth. Things were so hazy up here that Whisper had a hard time keeping an eye on Whisper, and an impossible time trying to locate Axel. She’d been hoping to catch a glimpse of him and get some reassurance that he was alright, but unless she accidentally ended up within two feet of him, she had no chance of seeing him.
Violet kept running, so fast that Whisper had trouble staying close enough to not lose her. The smoke, blood, and noise in the front of the bar must have spooked Violet even more than she already was, and before Whisper knew it Violet had reached the front door and was running out into the open. Whisper hesitated at the door.
She didn’t want to leave Axel behind. What if he needed her help in the middle of the fight? But even as Whisper asked herself that question, she knew what Axel would want her to do. If he could assess the situation, he’d tell her that he was well able to take care of herself, and that it wasn’t right to leave Violet on her own and helpless. Because really, that’s what Violet was right now. Helpless.
Whisper wanted to make Axel proud, and she knew that saving Violet would accomplish that. Besides, she had vowed to herself to protect all of Bear Hollow during this fight, and that included Violet.
I hope I’m making the right choice. Whisper ran down the street after Violet, praying the whole time that Axel really would be able to take care of himself. Searching for him in the smoky bar would be a fruitless effort, anyway. Out here, where the smoke didn’t hang so heavy, she could see much clearer. And she could see Violet ahead still, running down the street in such a strange, zigzag pattern that she looked drunk.
With a roar, Whisper began shifting into bear form. It was time for her to join the fight, ready or not. The streets here had cleared out somewhat, other than the dead bodies that lay around. But up ahead, the fighting continued. Roars of anger came from both shifters and Gilt Hollow attackers. Some of the Gilt Hollow attackers were on horses, but that didn’t seem to be giving them much of an advantage, since the horses shied away and tried to rear up every time a shifter ran toward them. Whisper growled at a few horses here and there as she ran after Violet, and had to dodge the angry sword of a Gilt Hollow citizen who didn’t appreciate the fact that she’d spooked his horse.
Out here, and in bear form, Whisper easily caught up with Violet. Somewhere along the way, Violet had had a run in with a sword or two. Her clothes were slashed and bloody now, and a long, angry scratch ran across her face. Her hair was a wild tangled mess, but her eyes looked even wilder. She stared at Whisper’s bear form as though she’d never seen a bear before in her life.
Okay then. Time to get you off the streets. Whisper used one of her giant bar paws to swipe at Violet’s legs from behind, quickly knocking the panicked woman off her feet. Violet was so startled and disoriented that she didn’t protest. Whisper grabbed Violet’s shirt in her mouth and started dragging Violet across the dusty pathways as fast as she could. This wasn’t at all sanitary, and Violet’s wounds were probably full of dirt now. But it was better than leaving Violet out in a daze on the streets to die. Whisper dragged Violet several rows of houses away, and then picked a random house to leave Violet in. Whisper pushed open the door to the house with her grizzly paw, only to find about five startled shifters hiding inside, all still in human form. Their eyes widened a bit when they saw Violet and then Whisper’s bear, but they seemed to understand.
“Leave her with us. We’ll clean her up.”
Whisper grunted her thanks, then turned to leave. Before she had fully turned, though, one of the people inside called out and stopped her.
“Hey, wait a minute! Aren’t you Whisper? Axel’s girl that works at the bar?”
Whisper turned around and huffed, giving a little nod of her bear head. She was a bit surprised that someone had recognized her in bear form, but her eyes did look the same. A sharp observer might see the similarities.
“Good luck out there,” the shifter said, giving her a small salute. “Take care of yourself, and of Axel. Our little community couldn’t stand to lose either of you.”
Whisper grunted again in appreciation, and then turned to run back toward the battle. She felt relieved to be rid of Violet. Someone else could deal with that crazy girl now—she was off of Whisper’s conscience at least. Whisper decided to head back to the bar and see if there was still fighting there. If Axel was still fighting, she wanted to help him first.
But the bar was completely empty when she got there. Several tables and chairs were broken, and the walls had gunshot holes in various places. Several bodies of dead Gilt Hollow attackers were scattered across the room as well, and Whisper shuddered at the sight. The smoke had cleared, and she forced herself to look the room over carefully from left to right and front to back, just to make sure that Axel’s body wasn’t among the fallen. With great relief, she confirmed that he wasn’t one of the dead. At least, not the dead out front.
Whisper went behind the bar and then to the back room, but there were no bodies back there. It looked like the fighting had never even made it that far, because there was no damage back there other than the small amount of damage Violet had done when she fled their hiding place behind the crates.
The back door was open now, though, and Whisper knew in an instant that Axel had come back here looking for her. Knowing him, he must have been frantic when he realized she was gone, and now he was out tearing the town apart to find her.
I have to find him.
She ran out into the streets, her heart pounding with fear for Axel’s life. The fighting had moved on from the area near the bar, so she took off running toward the other edge of town, where she could hear anxious shouting. She came around the corner of one dusty street to see a mob of people. Dozens of shifters and Gilt Hollow attackers were locked in a battle. The fighting was so thick that Whisper could hardly tell where one body ended and another began. She scanned the crowd, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of Axel’s face. She couldn’t see him anywhere, but she did see a little old lady, a bear shifter if Whisper remembered right, using a metal pot as a weapon. The old lady was swinging wildly at the Gilt Hollow men who were twice her size, and she was having a surprising amount of success at holding them back. The old lady wasn’t going to hold them off forever, though, and Whisper found herself running toward the fight to defend the woman. From there, Whisper was fully sucked into the battle. She kept an eye out for Axel, but she couldn’t see him anywhere. So she fought. And fought, and fought. She fought until she felt like she was going to pass out, and even then she kept going. Time seemed to stretch on forever, and Whisper felt like she was going to be fighting for the rest of her life.
She couldn’t tell which side was winning or losing, but still, she kept going. She would have kept going forever, if it hadn’t been for one of the Gilt
Hollow attackers landing a sharp blow to the side of her head with a heavy club. Whisper felt a sharp flash of pain, and then everything went black.
Chapter Fourteen
Axel walked through the aftermath of the fight, hardly able to believe how much destruction and loss of life there had been. He had known the price for freedom would be high, but he hadn’t realized just how high until he saw all the bodies lying around. And the war was far from over. The shifters had won this battle, finally pushing the intruders from Gilt Hollow back across the river. But Axel wasn’t foolish enough to think that they wouldn’t be back.
Still, the reprieve was welcome.
Axel had already taken several wounded shifters back to his bar, which had been turned into a makeshift hospital of sorts. Now, the only bodies left out here seemed to be from dead Gilt Hollow citizens. But still, Axel searched.
He still hadn’t found Whisper, and he wasn’t going to give up this search until he found her. He’d been searching for her since the moment he’d discovered her missing from the bar, but he hadn’t had any luck. All during the fight, he’d tried to find her, but she’d eluded him. He’d asked around, and a few people had reported seeing her during the battle. But now she was nowhere to be found, and with every minute that passed Axel grew more desperate. Had she escaped to the woods in the end after all? No, Whisper would not have abandoned the fight. She’d been determined to stay and help.
Axel had reached the end of the battle zone and still hadn’t seen Whisper. He was about to turn around, when he suddenly heard a low moan and saw some of the Gilt Hollow bodies moving. Instantly, he was alert. The bodies had looked dead, but perhaps they were only severely wounded. He wasn’t going to take any chances on getting shot out here, and he stood tensely waiting to see what the bodies were going to do.
What happened next shocked him. The pile of bodies was pushed aside, and a familiar face appeared from the bottom of the pile.
“Whisper!”
Apparently, she’d somehow been buried under all the bodies. Her face had a huge gash across it and she was covered in dirt and blood—some of it must have been hers, but some of it was probably from other people too. She blinked and looked around, disoriented, then tried to stand but stumbled forward.
Axel ran to her, scooping her up before she could make another attempt at standing.
“Shhh. It’s okay. I’ve got you. You’re okay now.”
“Axel?” she looked at him as though she was having trouble focusing on his face. “I finally found you!”
He laughed, wanting to tell her that he had actually found her, but he was too overcome with emotion to say much of anything. So he only laughed harder, feeling delirious with joy.
Whisper, meanwhile, seemed to be completely disoriented. “Is the fighting over?” she asked, confusion etched into her face.
“For now,” Axel said. “Come on. I’ll take you to my house and get you cleaned up. You’ve been through a lot. You need to rest and to eat something.”
“I’m so tired,” Whisper agreed, closing her eyes again. By the time Axel got back to his house, she was passed out again, this time from sleep. He roused her long enough to get her wounds cleaned up and get some clean clothes on her. She was scratched all over, and the gash on her face would need to be watched to make sure it didn’t become infected. But other than that, she seemed fine. She was muttering something about being hit on the head, and he figured that’s why she had been unconscious.
After forcing a bit of broth down her throat, he let her sleep. He should have gone back to the bar to check on the others, but he couldn’t bear to leave Whisper again. He was arguing with himself about whether he should go when a sharp knock sounded at the door. He opened it and was surprised to find Violet standing there.
“Violet,” he said, his voice wary. “What are you doing here?”
Violet wasn’t very scratched up, which figured. Axel doubted she’d fought at all.
“I…I just wanted to make sure you were alright.” She looked down at her feet as she spoke, looking embarrassed. Her former brazenness seemed completely gone, but Axel still wasn’t taking any chances.
“I’m fine. And I’m glad to see that you look like you’re okay as well. But if you came here to try to make another move on me, then—”
“No. I didn’t. I came here to see if you were okay. That’s it, honest. And to see if Whisper is okay.”
“Whisper?” Axel was surprised that Violet cared.
“Yeah. I haven’t seen her and I’m really worried. She…she saved my life.”
Axel’s eyes widened. “She did?”
“Yeah. Or so I’m told. I freaked out and went completely hysterical and ran straight into the battle. She pulled me out and got me to safety at a house where some other shifters were hiding out. They told me she made sure I was okay before running out to fight some more.”
Axel shook his head in wonder. Whisper had made no secret of the fact that she wasn’t fond of Violet, and he wouldn’t have blamed her if she had let Violet run off into the battle without stopping her. But he should have known Whisper wouldn’t do that. Whisper was loyal to the shifters. All of the shifters. Even the ones like Violet who seemed determined to steal lifemates.
“Well, Whisper is fine. She’s here actually, but she’s sleeping. She has a few wounds, but nothing serious. I’ll tell her you came by to thank her.”
Violet nodded. “Thanks. And I’m sorry. I acted horribly toward both of you. You two are obviously meant to be together, and I’m really happy for you. Truly.”
Axel smiled. “Thank you. And don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll find a fantastic lifemate of your own soon.”
Violet nodded wearily. “I’m going back to the makeshift hospital. I told them I’d help take care of everyone who’s there and injured.”
“That’s great! They need lots of help, I’m sure. Tell them I’ll be by later to check on everything.”
“I will.” Violet turned to leave. “See you around, then.”
“See you,” Axel replied, but Violet was already disappearing down the street into the growing darkness.
Axel closed the door and went to peek in on Whisper, who was sleeping soundly.
“You’re amazing,” he said softly. She kept sleeping, and Axel smiled. His lifemate was even braver and more honorable than he’d thought. She’d risked her life for a woman who’d hated her, but Axel shouldn’t have been surprised. Whisper always did the right thing.
After watching her sleep for a while, he decided to go down to the bar and help with the wounded shifters for a bit. Whisper didn’t look like she was waking up any time soon, and he’d leave her a note in case she did.
Her actions had inspired him that he also needed to go do his part to help in any way he could. The shifters might all have their differences, but together they would come out of this. Today had not been easy, but it had been necessary.
The revolution had officially begun.
Chapter Fifteen
Whisper blinked her eyes open, wincing a bit as the bright morning sunlight hit her eyes. She looked around and recognized the room she was in as Axel’s bedroom, but she couldn’t remember how she’d gotten there. She sat up slowly, then heard the sound of the front door clicking shut. That door creaked horribly. The sound of it opening must have been what woke her up.
“Axel?” she called out. “Is that you?”
It should be him. He was the only one who lived here, after all. But part of her was afraid that it might be someone from Gilt Hollow who was still roaming through the neighborhood. She wasn’t sure whether any fighting was still going on. She wasn’t sure about anything, in fact. The last thing she remembered was pushing dead bodies off of her. She shuddered, thinking how awful the fighting had been. And then she shuddered again, trying to remember if she had ever found Axel in the midst of the battle. She remembered looking for him, but she couldn’t remember whether she’d found him.
To her relief, A
xel stuck his head into the room a moment later.
“Hey,” he said softly, his eyes lighting up when he saw her. “How are you feeling?”
“Alright. But confused. How did I get here? And is the battle over?”
He came to sit on the edge of the bed beside her. “The fighting is over for the moment. Gilt Hollow is in quite an uproar, I’m told. The poison worked perfectly, and almost their entire army was wiped out, as were the majority of guards in the city. The Gilt Hollow Emperor is furious, but there’s not much he can do at the moment. He sent over that group to fight us, but they weren’t very skilled at battle.”
“Did we beat them?”
Axel shrugged. “Hard to say. We drove them back to Gilt Hollow, so I guess we did beat them in a sense. But it came at a cost. There were quite a few dead and wounded.”
Whisper’s heart clenched up in fear. “My brother?”
“He and his wife are fine. I don’t think anyone very close to you was killed. But we’re still sorting everything out.”
Whisper nodded. “What’s the next step, then?”
“We have a meeting of the resistance this afternoon. There’s a lot to sort out, but we think we have a few days at least. Gilt Hollow isn’t used to being driven back or to taking such huge losses. They’re not quite sure where to go from here. I’m sure they’ll be retaliating soon, but they’re going to need a little bit of time to figure out how. We have to use that to our advantage.”
“Do you really think this is it? Do you think we’ll be able to finally break free from them?”
“I’m hopeful. Things are looking really good. Better than they ever have before. We have a long road ahead of us, but I think we can do it. Especially with people like you on our side.”
“Me?” Whisper asked, surprised. “I didn’t do anything special. You probably fought off a lot more attackers than me.”
The Warrior and the Snow Leopard (The Shifter Games Book 4) Page 12