by Jaymin Eve
Not sixty seconds passed before I heard Selene’s shrill scream. “Arianna!”
I gripped my sword so tight my knuckles were white.
Bring it, bitch. I’m ready for you.
Chapter Fifteen
The blood of thy enemies is the liquid of thy victory.
The double doors to the entrance closest to me blasted open, knocking my guards off their feet. Sabina stepped in with Selene at her side, and ten guards funneled in behind them. Selene let out a shriek as she moved forward with a surge of mecca energy, and even though I hadn’t been able to see the waves since releasing it back into the Otherworld, I felt more attuned to the magic of it. I could feel how much she was channeling.
She was dressed all in black – it actually looked like she was wearing a leather cat-suit, covered in armor and with pockets across her thighs. Probably where all her weapons were.
“You’re dead, Arianna,” she screamed, her face bright red, a series of red marks down her cheeks, like she had been clawing at her face. “For Larak I’m going to torture you slowly.”
I remained calm as she stalked toward me with a hissing, blinded Larak across her shoulders, blood dripping from his eyes, his massive head swinging left and right frantically.
A sliver of sympathy for the animal pierced through me. He might be evil and slimy, but maybe that was Selene’s influence. I mean, Finn was definitely his own being, good with no help from me, so probably Larak was as evil as his bonded heir. It was this thought that helped me shelve my weakness and harden my resolve.
To my right there was a heavy thud as Violet and Sabina crashed into each other, sparks of mecca flying around the arena. Their battle was hard and fast as they used a combination of physical and magical warfare. The ten guards followed Selene, who was still moving toward me.
I smirked, acting relaxed. “What’s the matter, Selene? Afraid to fight me one on one?” She wanted to see my fear, and I would give her no such satisfaction. She didn’t scare me. I was more than ready to take her down.
Selene’s eyes practically glowed, and a purple sheen licked along her skin. She wore mecca like a coat. “That’s Your Highness, not Selene. And I have every intention of killing you myself … fae.” She sneered the last part; the subtle changes to me had not escaped her attention. Turning to her guards, she shouted, “Kill the bear king!”
I tried to tamp down my fear. Even with ten highly trained guards, my mate could take care of himself, and I needed to focus.
“Kill her quickly, my love,” Kade whispered, and then charged forward, sword raised to take on the line of guards. I was surprised to see that some of Selene’s inner circle were not present. In fact, it looked like she was down more than a couple of guards. Had they defected from her? Another weakness for me to exploit, possibly. A queen was always going to be powerful, we had the power of our people within us, but as more defected from Selene, the less power she could wield.
The cat-suit clad shifter glided toward me, her eyes spitting with unbridled rage. Larak slid down to the ground, hissing as he slithered across the floor. His eyes were gone, but he still had strong senses and could scent where we were. I expected him to come straight for me, but he went for Finn.
My worry for my familiar was put on hold as Selene let out a shrieking battle cry, swinging her sword for my neck. Her attack was wild and uncontrolled, careless; she was full of emotion and weakness. I easily stepped aside, swiping her blade away with my own. Her emotions were going to be her downfall. I would make sure of it.
“What’s really made you so mad, Selene?” I deflected another blow and kicked out, snapping her knee. She groaned and limped backward. “Is it that even though you did everything in your power to steal the crown from me, our people still prefer me? That deep down you know I will always be a better leader than you? That our people love me the most…?”
Selene’s exotic features crumbled, her brows drawing together as red tinged her cheeks. She cried out in anger again, but this time she lunged and tried to take a swipe at Finn, who was close by, circling Larak. Oh hell no. Finn must have seen Selene coming. He rolled at the last second as a growl ripped from my throat. My familiar went back to Larak, keeping the snake in his focus. The serpent hadn’t made any attempt to attack yet; losing his eyes had made him hesitant, but even without vision he was still deadly. Finn would not underestimate the creature.
Selene focused on me again. “The love of our people has made you weak. The Red Queen would be disgusted!” She lashed out with mecca, pushing me back a foot.
Her taunts brushed off me without even a twinge of hurt. I knew something she didn’t – the Red Queen was anything but disgusted with me. She had protected me, to the point it had cost her her life.
I was getting tired of looking at Selene. I gathered up all of my magic, both mecca and fae, and pushed it right at her chest, adding a little extra width to include Larak.
Both she and her snake flew backward and slammed into the wall, and I kept my magic pressed into her, pinning them there.
“Help me, you idiots!” she shouted at her guards, but one quick glance over my shoulder told me that Kade, Carrie, and the other wolves who had joined our team, were having no problem keeping Selene’s guards from reaching me. In fact, most of them were unconscious on the ground and of no use at all to Selene.
I felt her draw on the power of the mecca then, on the power of the people. It sparked something inside of me because I still held a bond to the shifters. My queen connection had never been properly severed. Selene started to fight back against my hold then, she was off the wall, stepping toward me. My legs shook as I continued pushing power at her, unsure if I would have enough juice to go against her now.
Selene grinned, and took another step closer. “I’m the true queen,” she said, pride brimming in her tone. “The shifters give their power to me.”
Everything inside of me rebelled at that statement. She was not a true queen, she was a thief. But there was something in what she said … it reminded me of Bianca’s statement. The Boston alpha had said that the defectors chose me, that they stood behind me. Which might mean I could use the same connection as Selene, I could still win this.
With unwavering faith in my people I sent out a call along the tattered queen bond still flickering within me. I called for the energy which would help me take Selene down. As the first burn of power hit my center, the redhead shifter let out a cry and fell to her knees. In a single burst of energy, the fae and mecca inside of me burned hot and bright, on the edge of being too much for me to handle. I felt all the shifters then, as I had when I was queen. Their love and energy. Their support.
It gave me the strength I needed to hold Selene in place. She was slumped forward on her knees, her face streaked with tears, black makeup running along her cheeks. Hardening my heart I stepped closer, ready to end this. I was done with Selene. This woman had stolen my crown, allowed hundreds of my people to be killed on the Island while she created a magical blanket, and worst of all, she had tried to kill my familiar. She had barely been queen for a week and was already trying to start a war between wolf and bear after years of peace – a peace that even the Red Queen had suffered to maintain.
Selene deserved death. Before I could reach her Larak’s head shifted in my general direction; he hissed and lunged wildly at me. But he was slow, and had bad aim with his blindness. I was able to catch him easily, squeezing his head in my hands. Selene was fighting me again now, sobbing and shouting, “I’m the true queen, you are scum. I’ll kill you and re-earn the love of the shifters.” Her desperation was visible.
Making a split-second decision I pinched Larak’s jaws so his teeth were bared, then taking a leap toward Selene, slammed his venom-filled fangs into her neck.
“Nooo!” she shouted at the same time Larak hissed.
Tightening my grip on the snake, I ripped him away from her and tossed him back to my waiting familiar. Finn wanted the honor of ending Larak’s life. I woul
d keep my eye on Selene. Pearlescent venom dripped slowly from the gaping holes in her neck, and as I heard the crunching of Finn taking Larak’s head off behind me, Selene roared in agony.
I wanted revenge, but I wasn’t evil. I didn’t want Selene to feel the death of her familiar for too long. I lowered my head close to hers, and in a low voice, without inflection, I said, “You will die a failed queen. May you have more honor in your next life.” She was beyond caring at this point. The death of her familiar had left her no more than a shell.
I dropped my hold on her at the same time I slashed my sword across her neck, taking her head clean off. Purple mecca blasted from her as her body crumpled to the floor.
I spun around to make sure the rest of my people were okay. Kade and Carrie were cutting down the last guards. Finn was standing beside Larak’s headless body. And Violet – oh God, where was Violet? Sabina looked dead in the corner, but my best friend…
“Violet!” I shrieked frantically.
She appeared right before me, scaring the crap out of me. I grabbed my chest.
“Vi! You scared me.”
She gave me a wink. “I wasn’t going to walk over here through all that blood and ruin my new shoes.”
I pulled her in for a hug, not even caring that she didn’t like to be touched. I needed to feel her warmth, hear her heartbeat. I never wanted her taken from me again.
She squeezed me hard, then pulled back, looking me in the eyes. “Long live the queen!” she called over her shoulder.
Carrie, the two remaining guards, and Kade all bowed in agreement.
“What is your first order of business, My Queen?” Kade’s deep voice carried across to me and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Let’s go stop this war. It’s time to bring our people together. We’ve fixed the mecca and can live in peace once again.” The shifters would have immediately felt the death of Selene, but since I still held a connection to the mecca and my people within me, there wouldn’t be the usual backlash of power. The loss of control would be minimized.
Violet brushed her hands along her dress, wiping it clean of the debris she’d picked up fighting Sabina. “First we have to officially get your crown back. Which means you need to call a meeting of the packs.”
She was right. Calista would be able to help me with that. She had contacts everywhere, she’d get word out.
“I want wolves and bears, together. We’ll meet on the Island, and form an alliance tomorrow.” A grin ripped across my tense features. “The council is about to find out what happens to shifters who betray me.”
I hadn’t slept in almost forty-eight hours, or longer, my last night’s sleep being in the Otherworld before I was jailed. I took a brief nap on the boat across to the Island, but it was barely enough to keep me going. Calista and Gerald had very quickly gotten word out about the end of the war and called a meeting of the packs. Tomorrow morning I would go before all of my people. Not just my people, but also Kade’s.
It was bad timing, having to wait another day to reclaim my crown – officially anyway. Selene had only been dead for a few hours, and already a slight weakness was spreading in our packs. As I predicted my queen bond was keeping it at bay, but we still had to sort this out immediately.
“Will they all make it in time?” Carrie asked me as the boat started to dock.
“Some will have to travel all night, but they’ll make it,” I said as I stood, widening my stance to keep my balance. “Calista has already spread our story, the evidence of what Selene was doing with Sabina, the way they allowed the fae to enter the night of the summer festival, the way the council betrayed all of us with their secrets and lies…” I stepped into Kade’s heat, letting his body soothe my rough edges. “That this war with the bears is completely one-sided, and that bears and wolves are meant to rule together.”
Kade’s chest rumbled behind me. “Tomorrow morning we will petition to be co-rulers of the shifters, uniting our energy and the boroughs’ mecca. Here’s hoping they don’t fight us too hard.”
Our luck had never worked out that way, but it wouldn’t matter. Somehow or other, I would make them see this was the new future for all of us.
As soon as we were off the boat, Violet, Carrie, Kade and I took an ATV to the bear estate. Even though I could have safely gone to the wolf estate, I needed to see my sister first. I was tense the entire drive, hands clutching on the sidebars. No one spoke. Kade was driving, expertly weaving in and out of the natural landscape. Finn was running; he needed to work off some energy. Nix was in the sky, keeping an eye out. Having a bird’s eye view was turning out to be hugely useful. I wasn’t sure how I’d lived before Kade and Nix.
“Winnie is fine,” Kade said as he placed his hand across my thigh, which I was bouncing up and down. “Nix is already near the estate. She can see her playing in the garden.”
A surge of relief and joy burst through me. I laced my fingers in Kade’s and pulled our joined hands up close to my chest, cradling them. “I’m failing her as a mother slash sister. I keep promising myself I’ll do better, and she keeps getting pushed aside for this crazy life I’m living. I don’t want to be like that anymore. I don’t want her to always be second.”
Kade’s grip tightened and our ATV ground to a halt as he turned to face me fully. “We will do better by Winnie.” His voice was serious, no room for doubts. “We’re going to be a family. She’ll live with us, and we’ll be there every single day for her. She’ll never doubt that she’s loved and wanted and protected. She’s my cub now, and I’ll not let either of you down.”
I couldn’t move or react, trembling in a way I had never experienced before. I knew I was going to crumble apart, but I desperately fought to keep myself together. It took me some time, but I regained control of my emotions. I threw myself into him, hugging him tightly for being so perfect, for loving me so much he was the glue to all my broken pieces. For also loving the most precious person in the world to me. Winnie.
When I pulled back, my voice was hoarse as I said, “Let’s go get our cub.”
From the corner of my eye I could see Carrie’s huge smile and Violet’s tear-streaked face, and a small part of my heart ached. I reached back and brushed my hand against Violets, ignoring her usual flinch as our energies collided. I then blew her a kiss, telling her silently that she was also my family, that I would always be there for her, and now she had Kade too. I might not have had the best experience with family, but that was going to change now. My version of a family would stick together. We would have each other’s backs. We would stand against all who tried to tear us apart.
Exiting the ATV, I sprinted into the garden, following the sounds of childish laughter. My heart was beating rapidly as Winnie came into sight, her hair a mess of waves, her cheeks pink. She didn’t see me until I was almost on top of her; her eyes lit up as I dashed up and scooped her into my arms.
“Sissy!” she shrieked in my ear. Fat, hot tears were already dripping down my cheeks as I stood there holding her, trying my best not to squeeze the life out of her in my need to be close to her.
Wiggling her way back a little, she placed a tiny hand on my cheek, her eyes serious and looking far older than her five years. “Why are you crying, Ari? I missed you so much. Don’t cry. I’ll look after you.”
The dam burst and actual sobs escaped from my tightly pressed lips. Winnie wound her arms around my neck then and hugged me hard. She was looking after me in the innocent way of a child.
“I love you so much, Win. I love you more than anything else in this world. More than any crown or title.”
She pulled back again and patted my cheek this time. “I know you do, silly. You always say you love me.” She quieted a moment. “Will you have to go away again? I don’t like it when you leave.”
I shook my head a few times, a frantic back and forth, before I calmed enough to say, “I promise you, Win, I am going to do everything in my power to ensure we’re not apart like that anymore. Kade and I
are going to try and rule together. You’ll live with us. You’re our family and we are sticking together.”
She looked thoughtful as she asked: “Like having real parents?”
More sobs were trying to emerge, but I kept them contained. “Yes, baby girl, exactly like having real parents. We’ll never let anyone hurt you. You’ll be safe and loved every single day.”
Kade, who had been hovering close by, stepped into us now and wrapped his long arms around us both. His warmth and energy was everywhere, and I let him hold me up, because my legs were so weak. Winnie giggled, popping her head up and brushing her lips across my cheek and then Kade’s. “I think I’m going to like having parents.” Then she wiggled and I knew it was time to let her go. Five year olds only have so much hug threshold before they need their freedom.
When she was back on her bare feet, her little head darted around. “Can you help me find Chase? He’s hiding somewhere and I have been looking forever!”
I turned to Kade and he grinned. “Chase is my nephew.”
Winnie bobbed her head up and down. “Yes, he’s my best friend. We play every day and we’re going to be mermaids and pirates when we grow up.”
I bent so my head was level with hers and gave her a bright grin. “Glad you found that bear best friend you’ve been looking for, Win. Now … let’s see if we can find that sneaky cub.”
She let out a delighted shriek and then we were off, running through Kade’s luscious garden, playing hide and seek. In a few hours’ time I’d have to rest and prepare for tomorrow, but for now there was nothing else in the world I’d rather be doing. Even though exhaustion was beckoning for me to sleep, and Kade as well, we played in the garden for over two hours, running after Chase and Winnie, making animals noises and hiding behind trees. It was finally around 3 P.M that I lost my battle with my heavy eyes and my head began to dip down into my half-eaten sandwich.
“Ari needs a nap!” Winnie giggled, which had Chase bursting into fits of laughter.