by Ann Denton
"I’ve got the mage! You get the wasps!" I heard Drake yell from behind me, but I didn't turn to look.
"My fae’s dead!" I heard Easton shout. "I’m staying to help with Dickless!"
Dickless? I wondered in the back of my mind. When the hell had they given Trite that nickname? And why? Not that it actually fucking mattered. He deserved to be dickless after all the evil he’d done.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Bodie tracking left, so I focused on the fae on the right. I kept my eyes trained on the fantastic butt in front of me and pumped my wings hard so that I shot forward. I had a great fucking ass if I did say so myself. My hair looked pretty, billowing like liquid moonlight as the wannabe-Aubry-fae soared ahead of me. Her flying was top-fucking notch. Too bad she was a body-snatcher, otherwise I might have asked for tips.
I had to admit, chasing myself through the air of a mage university that'd been kidnapped by shifters... felt a little like I was caught in some hokey kids’ movie, to say the least.
But the stakes were so much higher than any kids’ movie. There were real kids here that I had to protect. Kids who grabbed my hand when I walked by. Kids who offered to share their toys with me. The night we’d helped the shifters move in, one little girl had insisted on crawling into my lap until she fell asleep.
I could not lose.
I put on another burst of speed, letting my adrenaline take over and fuel me to go faster. But the harder I pushed, the harder that fake-bitch-Aubry bit back. A gust of wind suddenly hit me like a brick wall and sent me spiraling. By the time I stopped tumbling, I’d nearly slammed into one of the trees that lined the quad.
Fury and determination lit me up like stadium lights and my upper lip curled into a snarl. Bring it on, evil twin. Except, I was all dolled up with nowhere to go, all raging and fuming with no clue how to effectively direct my anger.
"How the hell am I supposed to beat the wind?" I muttered.
A smooth, accented voice spoke up from behind me. "The wind’s weakness is that it can only blow one direction at a time. To defeat it, you must come at it from two sides."
I turned to see my cousin Kira floating next to me like a goddamned motivational quote come to life. Where the fuck did she get all her little sayings?
My cousin smiled at me. Her black hair was in a ponytail and a set of binoculars were hanging from her neck. Based on those accessories alone, I kind of expected her to be wearing a pair of camo pants and a tight black tank, army-girl style. Instead, she wore an airy plum dress and heels. She was… unique like that.
"Were you on duty?" I asked.
She nodded curtly. "But Rocco has taken all the fun out. He’s killed all the airborne. I take right, you take the left?"
I gave her a grin. "Looks like I’m about ten seconds away from watching the most embarrassing moment of my life."
Kira’s brows furrowed in confusion.
"I’m about to watch you kick ‘my’ ass." I used air quotes.
Kira laughed and zoomed off to the side. We watched from separate angles as fae-me struggled to open the door to the administration building. But we’d locked all the mages in the bursar’s office, so that building was a big no-go.
Time to see if this bitch has eyes in the back of her head.
I shot out, flying straight towards her, hoping to draw her attention. She let go of the door handle she’d been struggling with and quickly spun around, blasting me with another wave of wind that met my face like a concrete wall.
Fuck, that hurts!
But as my evil twin focused her windstream on me, Kira snuck up behind her and literally kicked her in the ass. Poser girl lost her balance and before she could use her wings to keep herself upright, Kira battered her with a blast of her own wind, and sent the imposter flying face-first onto the ground.
As soon as Kira’s windstream let up, I was back in action and in fake-me’s face. I knelt on the ground and my hands squeezed each side of her head. She tried to lift her hands and claw at me or punch me, but they were glued to the floor like magnets thanks to Larry’s spell.
The fae glared up at me and I shook my head. "You know, Kira, I’m like eighty percent sure this lady doesn’t like me."
"You? Impossible."
"Right? But I’m one hundred percent sure I don’t give a flying fuck."
With a sadistic little grin, I snapped fake-me’s neck like a glow stick. Her head dropped weightlessly into the grass beneath her, and I watched her hair turn from white back to its original shade of violet.
Kira and I clasped hands before bumping fists and letting the tips of our wings brush against one another. I’d never been close to her before, but after tackling an enemy together, I felt a camaraderie that hadn’t been there earlier.
"Thanks, cuz," I said.
She smirked. "I gotchu, boo."
I sniffed out a laugh because it sounded absolutely ridiculous in her Russian accent. "Picking up on some of that L.A. slang?"
"Perhaps. You like?" She asked the question as if she wanted my opinion on her current outfit or some shit.
"Yeah. I like it. Maybe if you stick around for a bit, you’ll pick up even more?"
It was a hint-slash-invitation for her to stay as long as she liked. I’d never really gotten to spend much time with any of my cousins, and after collaborating with her on a takedown, I realized just how much I’d missed out on growing up. It’d be nice to have another friend in my life—just in case Tee no longer counted. If she ever got her memory back, I was pretty sure the little pixie was gonna be more than furious with me.
"I wish that I could, dear cousin. Particularly now that you have crossed over—is that the saying? —from the dark side. But my friends say things are getting heated back in Moscow. I’ll probably have to leave sooner than I had hoped."
Damn. Just when we were finally starting to hit it off…
Suddenly, she cocked her chin and her gaze darted toward something over my shoulder. "We must go. The other two fae are no longer in the quad."
We took to the sky and scouted things out. Bodie was fast, but he had the distinct disadvantage of being grounded. His fae counterpart had already reached the library.
Damn it.
I expected explosions to go off and bricks to start flying, but they didn't. Instead, I heard the distinct sound of automatic gunfire.
Pop. Pop pop pop.
My eyes went wide as realization dawned, and I pushed my wings even faster. These imposters were trying to get inside and start shooting shifters. That was why they glamoured themselves to look like us before they did so. They were trying to turn our own people against us. Make it look like we were the ones murdering our followers.
Those lowlife mother fuckers...
I crashed through one of the library windows, tucking and rolling as I landed on the first floor. I ignored the cuts that sliced my arms and shoved myself up, my eyes immediately taking in my surroundings. I was in a reading room, one that held long tables with green lamps in the center and bookshelves lining either side.
In the main area, the shifters were already screaming and running. Parents picked up their children and bolted wildly in every direction. Books crashed to the floor as a disoriented gorilla accidentally smacked into the shelves and toppled them over. Couples sprinted hand-in-hand away from the carnage.
A terrified and confused expression crossed a young woman’s face as she stared at the fake-fae and said, "Bodie?"
A second later, the horror and blankness of death overtook her.
Nearby, I saw Russ, aka Stranger Danger from the museum. He rushed out of the stacks, flinging aside a few books as he scooped up the woman’s body. "No! Cheryl! No!"
"Bodie’s attacking!" a man yelled as he ducked behind the stacks.
"It's not us!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I sprinted toward fae-Bodie where he hovered, mowing down row after row of innocent people between the bookshelves. "It's autumn fae! They glamoured to make you think it's us! Bodie can’t f
ly!"
I tried to appeal to their reason. But they were way past that.
Animal screeches and piss filled the air as I ran toward my target. So did twirling fur and feathers, caught in the vortex of fleeing shifters as they rushed away.
At the sound of my voice, fae-Bodie cocked his head and turned his gun on me. "Nice of you to join me, Princess Aubry. I love it when ladies chase me, but I already told you, I'm just not that into you."
His words stung. Which was stupid. I knew it wasn't actually Bodie speaking but it was still his voice I heard, his face I saw. And the fucker could tell he’d gotten to me. He smiled as his finger pulled the trigger.
Gritting my teeth, I jumped into the air, spiraling into a barrel roll just as his gun went off and countless bullets sprayed beneath me. He lifted his arm, aiming higher. But just before the next round could graze me, the real Bodie charged into the room and shifted to a huge, six-foot-tall black wolf in less than two seconds. He leapt into the air with a fierce growl and tackled fake Bodie to the ground.
His fangs descended and clamped around the entire head of the fae beneath him with a sickening crunch. He jerked his neck back and forth twice and then all at once the body was left on the puke-green library carpet—headless.
The wolf spit out the head, which no longer looked like Bodie. The fae’s original face returned in death—some random fae fuck with black hair and pale skin and eyebrows nicer than mine.
Once the threat was gone, I turned to look at the rest of the room. I had no idea where Kira had gone, but the shifter crowd was hysterical. Half of them were still shrieking and crying over the sudden slaughter of their loved ones like Russ. Others had fled. Still other people stared at Bodie in shock and horror.
My mate turned to me, no longer in wolf form. "Did you get yours?"
I nodded in reply.
He then glanced up at the shifters with a stoic expression. "There is still one more glamoured fae and a mage on campus. The wasp looked like Drake the last time I saw him, but he can change his appearance at any moment, so be careful. And the mage is a deranged bastard popping up in random locations without shoes. Don't let anyone inside. Understand? No one. No matter who they look like, until you hear the all clear signal. Got it?"
Some heads nodded in response, but many others were too numb to even blink. I wasn't sure his words had even penetrated their thick walls of emotion.
I scrubbed a hand down my face, because this fight wasn’t done yet. Instead of basking in relief after surviving a series of gunshots, I had to continue pushing onward. I had to find yet another burst of energy somewhere, even though I felt like a car on a dusty highway without any gas, rolling on nothing but neutral gear and hope.
I had to keep fighting.
Bodie ran back outside and I followed on foot before taking to the air once more.
From up above, I saw Drake and Triton fighting on a new rooftop, the English department, while Easton sprinted across the quad to rejoin them. They must’ve switched locations again not long ago. The two of them blocked and exchanged blows faster than I'd ever seen. Potions and fire lit up the sky as they attacked, neither backing down.
Don’t you dare lose, Godzilla, I thought. Then I swallowed hard and forced my gaze away, concentrating on finding and eliminating the other Drake.
From the corner of my eye, I could see the flashing of gunfire and hear the rattling of the bullets. The clickity clack sounds erupted from the cafeteria inside the Student Union building—where most of the shifters had holed up.
NO! Shit!
Fear burned the back of my throat like cheap tequila, and I screamed down at Bodie. "The Union Center!"
"On it!" He shifted into his massive black wolf almost faster than I could blink and immediately charged on ahead.
As he ran, I darted through the night sky like I'd been catapulted, speeding ahead of Bodie, never once slowing down until I crashed through one of the cafeteria windows on the first floor of the Student Union. I rolled across a round table, accidentally crashing into the next table in line. Plastic chairs tumbled across the floor, some of their legs broken off and scattering, and the entire table flipped on its head.
It wasn’t clean, calm, or collected. It was sloppy.
My damn heart was beating as fast as a keyboard the night before a report was due. My chest was already pulsing with impending sadness. I wasn’t in the moment; I kept picturing the aftermath.
This could not be like the elementary school incident. It couldn’t.
Snap out of it, Aubry, and help these damn shifters, my brain barked.
But I wasn’t fast enough.
Fae-Drake came out of nowhere and grabbed me by the back of the neck, careful not to touch the ground before pumping his ‘dragon’ wings and lifting me up into the air. His lips curled into a cruel smile, one I could almost believe belonged to the real Drake.
Without a word, he aimed his Tommy gun right at my chest. I lashed out with the butt of my palm, changing the direction of his gun’s fire just before the bullets bit into me. They shattered more of the glass windows as the shifters screamed and scrambled in the background.
How many had he already killed? I couldn't bring myself to look. Not now when I was all that stood between them and a fucked-up gang of magic users hell bent on extermination.
How could I have been one of them? How could I not see the heartless bitch I’d become? What Triton had already become…
Behind me one of the shifters tried to use a gun. But I saw the man’s eyes close as he pulled the trigger and the shot went wide.
These people couldn’t save themselves.
They needed me.
Fury rushed through my veins and gave me an extra burst of energy. I reached behind my head and grabbed fae-Drake's arm, then I somersaulted in midair, flipping him up over my back and dropping him onto the ground. The wind knocked out of his chest as his back hit the concrete tile, but he continued firing his gun. The bullets raced toward the ceiling, blackening some of the dim lights as glass and dust and chunks of industrial ceiling tiles fell from above.
Spinning, I roundhouse kicked the gun right out of his damn hand. He jerked like he was about to get up and chase after it, but he couldn't move.
My eyes lit up. The Movement Restriction Spell! Yes! He was officially grounded now! Unless he stripped out of his clothes, that is, but I had no intention of giving him that much time.
I grabbed his gun and aimed it at Drake's chest—no, fae Drake's chest. Sadness and hopelessness filled me as I gazed into Drake's dark blue eyes.
They're not his, Aubry, I told myself. But I couldn't help but imagine that they were. I'd been so pissed at him. I'd wanted to draw blood. To make him hurt like he'd hurt me. And now that the time had come where I could enact my angered vision... my heart wasn't in it.
Right before I pulled the trigger, Bodie finally caught up to me and leapt through the glass as a wolf. Where I had faltered, he had no reservations. He bent down, clamped his teeth into the fae’s skull, and ripped fake-Drake’s head off like it was a mother fucking squeaky toy.
I let out a shaky sigh of relief. But I realized, no matter how upset I was at real-Drake, I didn't really want to hurt him. In fact… we needed to go help him.
I turned and locked eyes with Bodie’s wolf. "Triton is the last one left."
He nodded his massive, shaggy head. "Then, let’s go take him down."
Bodie leapt out the window, and I followed closely behind, taking to the air like a bird of prey. I scanned the rooftops as if I were a hawk, searching for any signs of movement and finally finding it on top of the gymnasium.
Drake and Triton had moved yet again. And once more, Easton was running across the grounds to catch up. Trite must've been absolutely blowing through Portal Potions…
Without a second thought, I surged into action. My wings practically whistled as I pushed through the air, and tears leaked from my eyes due to the speed. Never slowing, I tucked my wings so I coul
d plunge faster. At the last second, I kicked my feet in front of me and crashed into Triton's back from behind.
The contact was jarring, shooting pain up my legs and spine as my bones crunched together. His entire body lurched forward and smashed down into the pebbled rooftop, leaving a stone-free skid-mark fifteen-feet-long behind him.
I winced as I pushed onto my hands and knees, panting as I tried to catch my breath. Drake hurried over and helped me up. Sweat glistened on his face, his limbs shook, and his breath was heavy. The momentary contact of his skin against mine was... bittersweet—calming, invigorating, arousing, and heartbreaking.
As all those emotions cycled through my heart like a washing machine, a pink puff of smoke hit the air above Trite's head. A fucking Healing Potion. Of course, the bastard would cheat.
He suddenly leapt up as if nothing had happened while Drake and I stood there still trying to catch our breath. I had a feeling he'd been playing unfairly this entire time, dragging the fight out as long as he could, wearing Drake down until he had nothing left while Triton had all the energy and power in the world.
It was the mage way.
"Aren't you just so fucking lucky you stole my precious Aubry from me?" Triton sneered at the dragon shifter as he shoved his favorite necklace back into his shirt. It must’ve jostled out after I’d sent the fucker flying. I smiled at my tiny accomplishment as a flash of yellow-gold caught my eye then disappeared. Apparently, the metal necklace chain had caught a moonbeam as he stuffed the black gem away. "If she hadn't shown up and saved your ass, you'd be dead right now."
Drake snarled at him, but pain momentarily flashed in his eyes, making it look more like a grimace. Was he hurt? Had I seriously just kept him from dying?
The thought of Drake being gone cut like a knife, but dead? Knowing there was still so much unresolved angst between us, so many unspoken words, so many unfulfilled promises... it would have been unbearable.
Triton threw a potion out of nowhere. I hadn't even seen him reach into his pocket or rear back his arm. I'd been too engulfed in fear, worry, and sadness.
Just as quickly, Drake reacted, shoving me onto my ass a few feet away as the potion bottle smashed to the ground at his feet. Steam hissed into the air and a gaping hole ate through the roof. My eyes went wide. It hadn't been a potion after all—at least, no potion I'd ever seen. I was pretty sure it was just straight acid, which would have eaten through my body just as quickly as it ate through the concrete and stone around us. It would have... killed me.