Eric did a brief nervous chuckle. "So, maybe I'll just stay on the ground here. Unless I'm needed to go back up, but to save Nick's life."
Damien slashed Nick's side again, and then his face. Seeming a bit dazed, Nick sank a few dozen feet with blood pouring from his side. Damien followed him down and grabbed him by the throat, exactly the same as Nick had held him. He shook Nick, making his head snap back, before holding him still to breathe a jet of fire in his bloodied face.
Several men nearby began murmuring in low voices. I picked up a few words and got the idea that everyone was wondering if the fight should now be broken up.
Scoffing, I turned in the direction of the murmuring men. "Oh, now you think the fight should be broken up. Now you do. But when Damien was about to be killed, it was fine. Well, guess what? I've heard that Nick said 'no interfering,' and I think no interfering means no interfering, regardless of who's winning or losing."
Just then, Claire gasped. "By the treeline. By the treeline over by the woods. Wolves. Thousands of them. Just look."
CHAPTER 19
After Claire had gasped and said to look across the clearing to the forest, I immediately did. And what I saw made me gasp myself. Thousands of wolves filled the dim spaces between the trees. Not that it was easy to see that they were wolves with certainty from such a great distance; their shaggy-furred bodies in various shades of gray blended in with the general grayness of the forest and the entire day.
But, I knew, like Claire did. I knew the gray shapes in the forest were wolves. It was Ezra and most, if not all, of his men. They'd surely crept past the guard posts while all the guards were distracted watching Nick and Damien fight.
Claire surveyed the forest beyond the clearing with her eyes big as saucers and her face pale. "My God. Obviously the wolves had the same idea for a large-scale attack. But they just decided to do theirs a day earlier than us."
Eric, who'd been peering over at the woods as well, suddenly seemed to spot the wolves in the spaces between the trees. He whipped around and grabbed one of Claire's shoulders and one of mine as well. "You two. Take Lucy and get inside Nick's cabin. Open the trapdoor on the third floor and go up to the roof. Nick's had a new lock put on the door just for an emergency such as this.
“Lock it shut, and the wolves won't be able to get to you. Just stay down to avoid any dragon flames from us shifters. Maybe crouch low behind the chimney. I'll keep an eye out and keep any shifters away from the cabin, though. Now go. Run!"
While Eric shouted to alert everyone else about the wolves, Claire and I immediately did as we were told and took off running, grabbing Katie and another woman named Elise along the way. Now being jostled in Claire's arms, baby Lucy finally woke up, shrieking. Thankfully, Nick's mansion-sized cabin wasn't that far away.
When our group reached the porch, I flung open the front door and began ushering everyone in. "Is this all of us women? Were there any others delivering lunches?"
Claire and Elise both shouted no at the same time, and I dashed inside, slammed the door, and bolted it.
On the way up to the third floor, I stopped to grab my longbow and arrows, which were still in one of the guest bedrooms from when I'd first arrived in Crystal Falls. I figured while we were all up on the roof, I may as well try to stun a few wolves to make them easier for our dragons to kill.
Once we'd located the trap door-type opening to the roof, which was located in a massive walk-in closet in one of the guest bedrooms, I told Claire to go ahead up
the ladder with Lucy first. After her, Elise and Katie went up, and I followed right behind them.
The trapdoor led to a flat part of the roof that could have been described as a widow's walk, except there was no rail around it. And it was only maybe ten feet by ten feet. We were going to have to be careful.
While I slid the enormous trapdoor lock into place, I glanced back at everyone, shouting to be heard above the din of the fight. "We should probably all sit."
Everyone did, and I soon joined them after securing the lock and giving the trapdoor handle a few good tugs just to make sure.
The scene below in the clearing could only be described as pure chaos. Dragons swooped down on the wolves, breathing jets of bright orange fire. Snarling wolves chomped at dragon wings, pulling the dragons to the ground. Groups of two, three, and four shifters fought in frenzied tangles of flashing white canine teeth and razor-sharp dragon claws. The roaring and snarling from the thousands of shifters was nearly deafening. Wrapped in a thick pink blanket, Lucy cried on, inconsolable, despite Claire rocking her and kissing her rosy little face.
At first, it was simply impossible to tell who was winning, if anyone was. But after a while, maybe twenty minutes or so, the clearing became littered with motionless wolf carcasses, though not a single dragon carcass. So stunned and almost dazed had I been at the turn of events caused by the surprise attack, it was only at this point that I remembered about my longbow and arrows.
After carefully rising to my feet, very aware of the lack of a rail on the roof, I took an arrow out of the drawstring bag on my back and fitted it into my bow. "Let's see if I can help our side. Not that it looks like they need it much."
I was able to stun a few wolves, but only a few, before running out of arrows. Even though we were directly overlooking the clearing, much of the fighting action was still quite a ways away. But still, I felt good that at least I'd been able to do something to help.
I'd just began to sit back down when Katie suddenly whipped her face up to look at me. "Tell me you have another arrow."
"What?"
"Tell me you have another arrow. Do you?"
With a sense of dread knotting my stomach, I shook my head. "I don't. I just shot the last one. Why?"
"Look right up front and a little to the right. Almost to the bottom right hand corner if the clearing is a square. But sit down first. You should probably sit down."
Legs suddenly rubbery, I did as she'd instructed and sat, then looked where she'd told me to. And my blood instantly went cold.
Damien was on his back on the ground, with no fewer than a dozen wolves pinning his wings down, and even more climbing on. All shifters nearby who could possibly help him were very occupied fighting off wolf attackers of their own. But one wasn't. Nick wasn't. He stood just off to the side, silently watching. Even from a good distance, I could see that his enormous scaly face was expressionless.
And that's when I knew. A feeling that had begun rising inside of me the moment I'd seen Nick choking Damien seemed now to fully rise in my chest and pop, flooding me with certainty. I could never be with a man who could just watch his brother be killed. I could never be with a man who truly wished his own brother dead.
Damien was the man I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with. He was the man I was supposed to give my heart too fully. Now I knew. I'd gotten my cosmic sign.
But I only reflected for a moment, because we obviously wouldn't have a lifetime to spend together if he were killed. He needed help, and I knew I had to try to get it for him. And so, while more wolves piled on his wings and one jumped on his chest, probably preparing to stab him through the heart with a fang, I immediately sprang into action.
I rose to my knees, ripped the empty white canvas bag off my back, and began waving it. "Everyone yell! We've got to get someone's attention to get help for Damien."
But it turned out that we actually didn't. Because right then, Eric, who was semi-nearby, seemed to spot Damien, gave the wolf he was fighting a mighty slash with his claws, sending him flying, and then took off for Damien, roaring. This got the attention of several other shifters, who also joined in to help Damien. And very soon, he was free. After that, it only took him a minute or two to kill several of the wolves who'd had him pinned.
Shortly before the battle was over, Damien also killed Ezra, but that wasn't what made me cry, completely overcome with emotion. Right after killing Ezra, Damien spotted Nick pinned by several large wolves wh
ile another pounced on his chest, fangs bared. Without a second's hesitation, Damien charged over, roaring, and fought off the wolves trying to kill his brother.
When the dust cleared, it appeared that nearly all the wolves had been killed. Their carcasses littered the clearing so densely that hardly any ground was visible. I only saw a few stragglers escape into the woods.
The dragons had not just won, but had been positively victorious. Not a single dragon carcass lay among the wolves.
I was still crying when Damien landed on the roof and immediately shifted into human form. I was actually crying so hard I couldn't even speak. When he pulled me into his arms, I just nodded, tears streaming down my face.
After planting kisses all over the top of my head and the side of my face while I nodded some more, still unable to speak, Damien moved his mouth to my ear and spoke in a low voice. "I might be a bit groggy from being knocked around a few times during the fight, so you'll have to clue me in to what all this nodding means."
Stifling a laugh through my tears, I lifted my face from his hard chest, nodding again, completely unable to help it for some reason. "It means I got it. I got my cosmic sign. I know you're the man I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life with. And I can't wait to plan a future with you."
A wide grin slowly spread across his handsome face. A grin that turned my heart to jelly.
He scooped me up off the ground and planted a hard, lingering kiss on my mouth. "You've just made me the happiest man alive. And let's make it official, then. Let's get married. I've been dreaming of the day I can call you my wife. But first...in regards to that future planning you mentioned, I think I hear the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee calling our names. Ours, and anyone else who wants to come with us."
Laughing, I tightened my arms around his shoulders. "What? What are you talking about? I think you did really get knocked around during the fight. On the head!"
With his gray eyes twinkling, he chuckled before turning his expression to one more serious. "We can't stay here. Not for long. Not with Nick. But if it's okay with you, and if it's what you want, too, I think we can leave and start a very happy new life. And I've been kind of already thinking about it since our trip to get the crystals. Why not Tennessee? It was beautiful there. It's a whole new world there. Let's leave the Michigan winters behind.
“Let's leave everything behind. Let's start fresh. Me, you, whoever else is ready for a move from Crystal Falls...maybe even some of the folks in your old hometown are ready for a change. Some of the women and children from Howler's Creek might want to come, too."
Claire, who'd risen to her feet with Lucy in her arms, suddenly spoke. "I want to come. Definitely count me and Lucy in. I've lived my whole life under a leader with a dark heart...a very dark heart, actually, and I don't want to spend the rest of my life under a leader who obviously also has a bit of a dark heart, as well. I'll ask Eric if he'd like to come with us, too."
Damien nodded, smiling a little, clearly pleased. "All right. Good." He turned his gaze back to me. "And how about you? Do you think you could be happy down in Tennessee?"
Smiling, I nodded for what felt like the millionth time. "I think I can be happy anywhere, as long as I'm with you."
It turned out that a lot of people wanted to come with us. Several hundred shifters from Crystal Falls decided to go, along with their wives or girlfriends, and children. Word had quickly spread about Nick's actions, or inaction, rather, on the battlefield, and many people were shocked. And definitely not pleased.
To my extreme delight, Katie and Sam decided to come. Eric also agreed to come with Claire and Lucy. He said his home was now wherever they were.
Several hundred people from Stone River, my hometown, also wanted to start a new life in Tennessee. Most of them were young men ready for adventure after being walled in the town their entire lives.
Several hundred of the women from Howler's Creek wanted to move to Crystal Falls, but several hundred others wanted to join the group moving to Tennessee, bringing the total number of people making the move to a couple thousand.
The several days after the battle flew by in a flurry of preparations. I dismantled everything in the museum I'd built, planning to take most of it with me to Tennessee. I didn't speak to Nick, nor did I want to. I really had nothing to say to him. Word reached me through Katie that he'd heard about me choosing Damien, and why, and he really didn't have much to say about it. Katie described him as being "kind of angrily resigned."
I was planning to leave Crystal Falls without even so much as saying goodbye to him. But while I took a little walk around town shortly after dawn on the day of the move, I saw him sitting on the porch steps in front of his cabin with a cup of some steaming beverage.
And I realized that maybe I did have a few words to say to him. As I approached, he looked up at me with something like a hopeful expression, his dark blond brows angling upward toward the center. And for some reason, it tugged at my heart. But only for a split-second. Only until I remembered how he'd just watched Damien nearly get killed.
I came to maybe within ten feet of the porch and then stopped. "When I first met you, I saw you as the leader with a heart of gold, but that's not what you are. You have something dark in you, and I don't like it. It disgusts me, actually. I saw when you stepped back and just watched as Damien was nearly killed. I saw when you went cold."
Looking him right in the eye, I paused before continuing. "And I don't ever want to see you again."
I immediately turned on my heel and walked away. I didn't even glance back. I had no reason to.
A little over five months later, Damien and I were married in the town square of our new settlement at the foot of the Smoky Mountains. Every single citizen of the town was in attendance. Numerous cabins, shops, and schools had already been built, and they were all decorated with banners and garlands of flowers.
Damien and I had waited so many months after the move to get married because I'd wanted a spring wedding. Even though that meant my wedding dress was just a bit tight across the waist. A month or so after moving to Tennessee, I'd realized I was very late for my monthly cycle. A whole month late, actually. I'd been so distracted by the move, I hadn't even noticed. An examination by a very experienced midwife from Howler's Creek confirmed my suspicions.
With his strong jaw clenched, Damien had silently cried, nodding, just like I'd done after the battle, for about a solid minute after I'd told him the news. After that, he'd picked me up and held me so tightly I had to alert him that I could barely breathe.
Once an elderly minister from Stone River had pronounced us man and wife, everyone cheered, some of them shouting congratulations to me and Lord Damien, which is what the council that had elected him leader of our new settlement had begun calling him.
After he and I had shared a passionate kiss, making the crowd cheer even louder, Katie handed me my bouquet. Smiling in the bright spring sunshine, I tossed the bouquet into the crowd, happier than I'd ever been in my life.
THE END
Message From The Author:
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