by Leia Stone
“Sloane, no!” Eva yelled, throwing her hand out in desperation as I leapt into the air, staff-first and attempted to breach the dome.
The moment that yellow stuff hit my skin it was like I’d been slapped. I was pushed backward with force, and fell hard on my ass, my neck whipping back enough to hurt. Logan was right there picking me up and dragging me backward against my will.
Ardan held tightly to Nadine, her harpoon gun in his one hand, aimed up at her throat. She didn’t look scared—this was Nadine we were talking about—but I knew she was.
“Here’s the deal,” Ardan began. “If you come with me, Sloane, I’ll leave all of your friends alive. I’ll let her go and everything will be okay.”
The sound of five bullets rapidly hitting the dome caused the druid to flinch and glare at my mate.
“Not a chance,” Logan shouted after emptying one of his clips into the yellow wall.
Nadine turned her head to look directly at Ardan and spat on the side of his face in response to his demand.
Oh shit.
Ardan’s hand with the harpoon gun came up so fast that when he cracked down on the side of Nadine’s temple, I barely saw it. She crumpled against him and he dropped the harpoon, grabbing her tightly to his shoulders.
“Alright, we’ll do this the hard way. I’m taking her and cutting one finger off each day that you don’t show up to retrieve her. On the tenth day, I’m cutting off her head.”
“No!” I shouted, stepping forward. “Okay, I’ll come,” I said desperately, as I looked at her head sagging against his neck.
Logan yanked me back so hard I stumbled into a sitting position. “Forgive me,” he breathed as green magic poured from his palms.
“Logan, NO!” I shouted, but it was too late. He’d caged me. The motherfucker had pinned me to the ground.
Ardan looked displeased. “My army is in route to finish you all off. I will have Sloane’s power, even if I have to take her friends one by one and kill them until she comes to me.”
Then he and Nadine were gone. Gone.
I sat there for a second in shock, wondering if maybe he would pop back in with her and announce he was kidding. It didn’t happen. They had both disappeared. He’d taken my best friend and he was going to hurt her. Rage uncoiled with me; I felt my dragon rush to the surface. Scales unfurled on my skin and purple flames rushed from my hands, breaking Logan’s caging spell like it was made of paper.
“Sloane!” Logan yelled, but I didn’t care anymore. Screw the rules. My muscles plumped out to my full dragon form and I took flight as Logan started shedding his clothes, calling after me.
‘What are you doing?’ he asked, mystified.
The rage inside of me had not eased, only intensified. ‘I’m going to kill all of these sorcerers and then I’m flying to Ireland to get Nadine back.’
I felt the shock ripple through our bond.
‘You can’t fly to Ireland! Have you lost your mind?’
‘Yes. I have,’ I replied, opening my mouth and unleashing a torrent of flames upon the dome before me. It crackled as my magical flames seared the edges of the dome. The sorcerers inside were freaking out, shedding clothes in an effort to stay cool and throwing more and more yellow magic at the protections.
With a mighty scream, Eva threw the largest ball of yellow magic I’d ever seen. It was the size of a chair. It hurled through the air and crashed into the protective field, finally shattering it. The moment the yellow dome disappeared, the sorcerers scattered, running every which way. I had two in my sight, running for the tree line. These people had helped Ardan kidnap Nadine. They were here to hurt Lily. I let my fury unleash in a torrent of purple fire, engulfing them, bringing them to their knees screaming. Spinning around, I saw Logan flapping above another sorcerer who was making a run for Lily’s cabin.
Oh hell no.
I veered that way, flapping my wings as hard as I could, and came up behind Logan just as he doused the sorcerer with fire. Scanning the area, I saw that Isaac had his staff wedged into some druid’s groin and was blasting him with orange magic while Dominic finished him off with his gun. Dee’s crew had dropped from the trees, and taken care of the rest of the sorcerers with the help of our newest skyborn fighters, Isabella and Marco.
Movement to my right caught my attention. I saw Gear running half naked from where he’d just landed and shifted into his human form.
“Nadine!” he was screaming. I knew he’d seen the commotion from above, but he must not have seen it all or was in denial. Oh God.
With things relatively calm for the time being, I spun on my mate and flapped dangerously close to his face.
‘You should have let me give myself up! He has her now and it’s your fault!’ I shouted, although I didn’t really mean it.
His deep green dragon eyes looked pained.
‘Keegan, Nadine, Dom, and everyone took a pact when you were talking with Isaac that if Ardan pulled any shit like that, we wouldn’t let you give yourself up. It’s clear he wants your power, needs it to defeat Isaac and go through with his pure race plans. We all agreed one life wasn’t worth it compared to all of humanity.’
I tipped my head back and roared into the sky, letting the fire pour out of me at the same time. He was right from a logical standpoint. If I had given myself up to save Nadine, Ardan would probably have me split open back in Ireland right now, siphoning my power until I was drained of every drop. Then he would defeat Isaac and kill all of the skyborn, taking out humanity.
‘I’m sorry,’ Logan said finally.
I huffed, feeling my anger calming now that the immediate threat had passed.
‘I didn’t mean that. It’s not your fault,’ I told him. I couldn’t blame him for protecting me.
‘It’s okay,’ was all he said.
‘Let’s get going. We have no time to waste,’ I told my mate, ready to fly off to Ireland, whatever direction that might be.
‘Let’s land. I have a plan,’ he told me, and started descending.
I wanted to argue, to tell him we didn’t have a moment to waste, but the truth was, other than storming Ardan’s castle, lighting him on fire, and saving Nadine, I didn’t have a plan. I decided to hear him out, and if his plan didn’t involve saving Nadine and barbequing Ardan, I would just leave and fly there by myself if I had to.
We landed and shifted, finding our clothes and haphazardly getting dressed. Gear was devastated, standing there next to Keegan, hands shaking as he stared off into the forest.
Dee and her tree pack stood behind Keegan as our pack stepped up behind me. I saw Sophie open the door to the hut and peek out, Casey pushing past her to come outside and see the damage. For now the threat was gone, and we were safe but it was only a matter of time before the rest of Ardan’s druids showed up.
“Alright! Here’s what we’re going to do,” Logan shouted. It was one of those rare times he outranked everyone and took charge without asking.
He motioned to my mentor. “Isaac, do you think Rufus would take in Dee’s pack and help protect Lynn’s family and Casey?”
Isaac nodded. “Without hesitation.”
Logan gave him a nod. “Then that’s the plan. Dee’s pack will immediately get on the bus to stay at Rufus’ house in Lake Tahoe. He’s an alchemist and skyborn friendly. Keegan’s pack will immediately get on a private plane with us. We finish this. We will get Nadine, kill that son of a bitch Ardan, and this will all be over.”
Dee nodded, okay with the plan, and looked to Keegan. Keegan nodded back and it was done. That simple. How we were going to charter a last-minute private plane I had no idea. But I did know we had bricks of gold lying around, so I was sure we could figure it out.
Logan’s plan immediately put me at ease. Lynn, Baby Lily and Casey would be safe, and we were going to get Nadine.
“I want to go,” Casey groaned behind me.
I spun to face her. Tears were welling in her eyes, but she wore a determined frown. Reaching out, I to
ok hold of both of her shoulders. “I’ll tell you what. Sophie and I will train you more, and when you’re seventeen, then you can go on druid-killing missions with us, okay?”
She smiled, but it was quickly replaced with a look of sadness. “Is Nadine…?”
“She’s coming back—alive,” I told her quickly, and she nodded. “We all are.”
I couldn’t emotionally handle one more dead friend. I just hoped I hadn’t lied to Casey, and that we would all be coming back together.
Chapter 10
The flight to Ireland was beyond awful. To know that an evil man had someone close to you, was going to hurt them, and there was nothing you could do but sit there … was horrible. It must have been how Logan and everyone else felt when I’d been taken.
We had packed the plane with fifteen shifters, our two sorcerers, Isaac, and four skyborn, Logan, Isabella, Marco, and myself. That’s all the private jet would hold or we would have brought more. Time was of the essence, and waiting hours for a bigger plane was out of the question. We were only an hour from landing in Ireland and running through all the possible scenarios, different ways in which we could take out Ardan. Logan looked at me. “You really think you can find Ardan’s castle again?”
I nodded. “I … I’m pretty sure, yeah.”
We’d flown through those trees, then there was that water, and I’d driven the Jeep through the small town. I was pretty sure I could find it again by reverse engineering my route.
Isaac leaned forward in his seat. “Minka will be meeting us to help find it again. She remembers.”
Minka! That fairy who ate my tooth!
I froze. “And exactly what type of payment will Minka be requiring? ’cause I’m not giving any more teeth.”
Isaac smiled. “She’s happy with her new body, so she is doing it as a thank you gift.”
I shivered. I was going to meet my body double doppelganger. Again my tongue went to the place in my mouth where my tooth was growing back. It had nearly formed all the way, which was incredible and freaky. That went down in history as the weirdest thing I’d ever done. I’d done some weird stuff over the past few months, but giving my molar to a fairy so she could grow a body like mine topped the bizarre charts.
Keegan stood from his place at the front of the plane with Danny and Eva, hanging up a satellite phone, and walked back to where Logan and I sat.
“I’ve just gotten word from Rufus that the pack has settled in safely at his house, and all is quiet there,” Keegan said. “Apparently, he’s obsessed with the skyborn baby. Has already given her a gold necklace.”
I grinned. Rufus was kind of cool once you looked past his semi-hatred of Isaac. And he was generous with his wealth, which was nice, as that was how we’d gotten Eva’s friend to fly us on his private Learjet last minute.
“Good,” Logan said distractedly. Nadine was like a little sister to him and I knew this was eating him up.
I looked across the aisle to see Gear sunken in his seat, staring out the window in a complete depression. I couldn’t imagine what he was feeling. He’d only just declared his love for Nadine and now she was…
I tried not to think of what Ardan was doing to her in that metal cage.
My eyes were drawn to Isabella. She was talking in a low voice with her brother. They’d turned out to be invaluable in helping us take out the remaining sorcerers. They were good fliers and good with weapons. I was glad when they’d volunteered to come help bring back Nadine and finish off Ardan.
Logan’s hand found mine and I squeezed it. We were going to get her back and end all of this once and for all. I just hoped I didn’t have to sacrifice myself in order to do it, because I really wanted more time with the man next to me.
Before I knew it, we were landing. I hadn’t slept at all. I was too jacked up on adrenaline and worried about Nadine. When the stewardess opened the door we all rushed out, taking our bags of weapons that we’d snuck on under an illusion spell with us.
The tarmac looked familiar. It was the same area, and side gate, we’d pulled into when they’d rescued me.
“I wonder if they have their eye on the airports,” Keegan exclaimed.
Danny and Eva were walking ahead of us, yellow magic trailing from their fingertips. “Won’t matter. All they will see is what I want them to,” Eva called over her shoulder.
She must have had an illusion up. For all I knew we looked like a group of Japanese businessmen walking to a waiting limo.
Instead we were walking to her. Minka.
She sat on the hood of the same Jeep as before, a tall lanky man beside her. A man I assumed was her boyfriend. Her large gossamer wings floated out behind her back. She wore tiny cut-off shorts and a short shirt that exposed her belly.
“She just does that out in the open?” I whispered to Logan. If the pilot or anyone saw her wings, they would trip out.
Logan looked confused for a minute, then realization dawned on him. “Oh, the wings? Only we can see them because of our magic nature. She looks human to anyone else.”
Right.
“Sloane!” She waved and hopped off of the jeep’s hood.
Oh God. She didn’t think we were friends now, right? Eat your tooth and become instant besties?
Danny looked back at me and was white as a sheet. I was reminded of his description of her gobbling my tooth, and growing five feet. I shivered. Nightmare city.
I waved at her and found myself checking out her body. I recognized her belly. My belly. That was my bellybutton! I looked over to Logan, who knew my body pretty well by now, and he looked disturbed also.
As we got even closer, I smelled something off about her boyfriend. He looked human … but wasn’t.
‘What is he?’ I asked Logan.
Logan’s mouth was turned upside down. ‘I don’t know. Something old and powerful from Faery.’
Oh God. Clearly a lot more creatures from Faery had escaped than we’d been told or thought. But hearing my mate say he didn’t know what he was, just that he was old and powerful, didn’t put my mind at ease. The man wasn’t big or overly scary-looking, but there was an air to the way he carried himself. He had shaggy blond hair that fell in waves atop his head, and his eyes were a piercing blue. His nose was crooked, like it had been broken a few times and never healed right. He leaned against his Jeep, arms crossed, looking at us all with an unreadable gaze. He looked about twenty-eight years old, but I knew that was likely not the case.
Minka weaved through the crowd of shifters until she was standing before me. “Hey, twinnie!” She winked.
Oh God. She was going to make this painfully awkward, wasn’t she?
I gave a nervous laugh. “Hey … you’re a lot taller than the last time we met,” I said uncomfortably.
She grinned, running her hands from the sides of her breasts down to her hips. “This body is wonderful! Thanks again.”
I couldn’t help but rub my nubby tooth with my tongue. I just nodded. As if I’d had a choice. She’d threatened to shoot my boyfriend with her blue fire arrows that turned things invisible.
“Sorry to hear about your friend. My boyfriend got really mad when he heard what Ardan did, and you don’t want to see him mad.”
Another nervous laugh escaped me. “Oh? Yeah, thanks. We’re here to get her back. You guys will help us?”
She nodded. “Those druids cause hell for us Faery creatures that live in the area. We want them gone. For good.”
My mouth opened as I processed what she said. “There … there’s more of you?”
She laughed and reached out, smacking my arm. “Well, duh. My best friend Paisley, she’s a fairy too. She said to ask you for one of your teeth, and she would do anything in return. Anything.”
I froze, the blood draining from my face. Logan stepped forward then.
“Not interested, but thank you, Minka. Now, let’s plan out how we are going to save Nadine.” Logan scooped my hand into his, dragging me away from the fairy.
; I pulled my lips taut over my teeth so that I wouldn’t be showcasing the goods to her anymore.
Dear God, please let me get out of this alive and with all of my teeth. No more Sloane body doubles.
Isabella and her brother were talking with Keegan in hushed voices and he was shaking his head. “No, I don’t like it.”
Logan and I came up to him, with Minka coming up behind me. She was way too close. Clearly she had no boundaries.
“What’s up?” I asked Keegan, ignoring Minka’s presence at my back.
Keegan turned to face us, the stress showing on his face, which looked tired and weary. “Isabella and Marco want to drive twenty miles away from here and shift to try and draw the bulk of the druids away from the castle while we storm it and get Nadine.”
It was a brilliant plan, but one that could likely ended up with them dead.
I shook my head. “Too dangerous.”
Minka popped her small face, framed by short-cropped black hair, over my shoulder. “That’s actually a good idea. Paisley is at the druids’ castle right now, checking it out for me. She said they have over a hundred druids and hunters there.”
My eyes bugged out. Over a hundred…
I looked down at her, repulsed by how close my body snatcher was to me. “How long ago did she tell you that?”
“Just now,” Minka replied.
My brow furrowed. I hadn’t seen her take a phone call. Minka giggled and tapped her head. “Fairies share a hive mind.”
Oh Christ, as if this chick wasn’t scary enough. I nodded, leaning in closer to Logan, hoping she would back up and give me space. The only thing that brought me comfort, was when she’d said she needed my tooth willingly for it to work. It gave me a small measure of relief that she wouldn’t club me over the head and snatch all of my molars for her tiny fairy friends.
Keegan started pacing, I noticed Minka back up a few steps and start walking in a circle around our pack. Her eyes were pinned on Isabella, looking her body up and down. The female skyborn was aware of it too; her eyes snapped down to glance at the fairy.