Lightning was her element. It would never hurt her.
She backed up, making her eyes wide with fear. Then she let Johnson hit her with the stunner.
Electricity enveloped her body. She soaked it in, letting it stoke her power. And then, when Johnson’s face showed his confusion that she wasn’t falling to the ground, she threw it back at him.
His body seized as the electrical charge surged through him, and he crumpled to the ground.
Tristan raced back outside. Flynn should have blown the wolves’ cells by now, but when he reached the courtyard he realized why he hadn’t. The dragons were writhing on the ground, caught in a blinding colored spell net.
If they freed the prisoners now, they’d all get cut down in the crossfire. He could hear them inside, their howls louder and wilder.
They were losing faith, their hope turning to fear and despair. Their emotions drove into his brain like spikes, and blood poured from his nose.
He wasn’t going to last much longer.
Mayah!
Flynn and Tank raced up to him. “We have to blow the central section,” Flynn shouted, over the rattle of gunfire and the roars of the dragons. “There’s got to be artifacts powering the defenses—including that spell net. If we take them out, we can still salvage this.”
Tristan tried to nod, but he could barely see. The shouts in his head were deafening, and he felt like his head would explode.
“Go… without me…” he managed. “Find… Mayah.”
“Fuck that,” Tank said. “We’re not leaving you to get slaughtered.”
Tank laid down cover fire, and Flynn supported Tristan as they crossed the courtyard. The central section, Tristan thought. The enemy dragon had said something about the central section. And Mayah.
He had to tell Flynn. But he couldn’t speak.
Bullets seemed to be raining down all around them. There was another explosion to his left. A grenade? Theirs or the enemy’s? He didn’t know anymore.
The sound of the wolves filled his head. And then, underneath all the cacophony, he heard Mayah’s dragon.
What?
But he knew what she meant. The vault. The ghosts. The failures.
Now? In the middle of a fucking battle?
His knees buckled, and he felt Flynn’s strong arm supporting him.
Free the memories.
In front of him, Tristan saw the vault, clear as anything. Right there. His hand reached out, but he couldn’t make himself do it.
He stopped, inches from the handle.
And then he heard Mayah’s voice, calling him.
Tristan!
He reached out and ripped open the vault, letting the ghosts surge over and through him. And then, with a sudden surge of knowing, he reached down to his necklace, the glass bubble he’d carried back from the spirit world, and crushed it in his hand.
Then he opened his mind all the way.
Memories deluged him. All the pain, all the torture. All the regrets, all the helplessness, all the failures. His desperate need to control just one thing, even at the cost of true love.
His knees gave way, and only his friends kept him from sinking to the ground.
It seemed to go on and on and on, hours and days and years, until there was nothing left inside him.
Then, in the back of the vault he saw that spark of light from the center of the necklace, like the one sparkling creature in the bottom of Pandora’s box.
Hope.
Love.
Mayah! Mate! He reached out to her like a lifeline.
And she was there.
He felt electricity course through him, as Mayah’s dragon surged from his mind to hers. The weight lifted from his shoulders.
He heard all the voices, all the wolves, but it didn’t hurt anymore.
He was the White Wolf. He was a fucking superhero.
He summoned all his powers and called out, his words rolling like thunder. White wolves! The time is now. Rise! Fight! You are free!
He felt all their minds, all their power. He could see it all, a swirling mass like a huge galaxy. His to shape.
With the Al-Maddeiri dragon at the center, like a blazing sun.
Tristan gathered all that power in his hands, and threw it at the spell net. It detonated like a mass of fireworks, and the dragons were free.
Tristan came back to Earth and turned to Flynn. “Now!”
Flynn hit the detonator, the cell walls exploded, and the white wolves surged to freedom.
Chapter 33
Mayah’s dragon poured through her body like a flash flood in a storm. She felt Tristan guiding her power, shaping it into a weapon along with that of the white wolves.
And when they broke the spell net, her dragon burst out of her.
The walls of the building crumbled, unable to withstand her dragon’s might. Somewhere beneath her, a tiny, forgettable human was buried in the rubble.
She unfurled her wings and shook herself, shedding chunks of building like a dog shaking droplets of water out of its fur.
The battle still raged. On the other side of the central core, Blaze and Rebel were magically levitating the entire the server room out of the wreckage. They’d encased it in a stasis spell, the ends of which were wrapped around Zane’s dragon body like a harness.
Holy fuck. That was one trick spell.
As Mayah pulled her back half out of the wreckage, she saw Zane grab the two nearest escapees into his front claws and lift off, calling out: Two rescues and a whole fucking server room. Zane out.
The other dragons were gathering up more white wolves—on their backs, in their claws. As soon as they had as many as they could carry, they took off, calling out their name and number of passengers so all the others could hear.
Where was Tristan?
Kira was off to the side, her body providing cover for Flynn, Tank, Sloan, Xander and Caitlyn as Flynn prepared a dimensional rift to take them to safety. Now that the complex’s spell defenses were down, they could do it right here.
If they didn’t get shot first.
Blaze and Rebel ran for Kira, casting protective spells as they went, but one of the Gen-X security teams was closing in. Mayah sent a blast of lightning their way, scattering them.
Flynn shouted, “Go! Go! Go!” and his team vanished through the rift, Flynn bringing up the rear. Kira grabbed Blaze and Rebel and took flight, sounding off for the count.
One of the security team launched a grenade at them, but Zakerek dove down and whacked it away from them with his tail, so it exploded harmlessly in the air. Carrying three terrified wolves, he climbed steeply and sounded off, then cloaked himself and vanished.
But she still couldn’t find Tristan.
And then Mayah saw him, running to help a woman who was trying to move part of a wall over near where the cells had been. There was someone trapped under the rubble.
Tristan was using his mind to blast guards out of the way, but there were too many of them, and they were closing in.
With a might leap and a beat of her wings, she was at his side, breathing fire and lightning at the guards. She used her body, with its tough hide, as a shield for the trapped prisoners, and ripped the section of wall away from the man’s leg.
Put the woman on my back, Mayah said. I’ll carry the man.
Tristan grabbed the woman to boost her up on Mayah’s back, and she cried out in shock. “Tristan?”
Tristan looked stunned. “Ma,” he whispered.
Later! said Mayah.
Tristan’s mother climbed up on Mayah’s back, with Tristan behind her. Mayah gently picked up the male wolf—Tristan’s father—in her claws.
Then, with a great roar and a blast of fire to clear the way, she launched herself into the air, and flew away into the night.
Chapter 34
They flew back to the hidden
cabin, the dragons spiraling in one by one and setting down their passengers before Changing to human and getting out of the way for the next group.
Zane was the only one who didn’t stop more than a minute, setting down his passengers, collecting Blaze and Rebel, and flying straight back to the Wild Dragons’ lair with the magically protected computer servers.
Now that the rush of the escape was over, the white wolves were disoriented, and overawed by everything—being surrounded by dragons, being free, being outside.
They’d all been in captivity for years. Some of the little ones had never been outdoors, except for the bare asphalt of the Gen-X exercise yard.
They’d never even seen a tree.
It nearly broke Mayah’s heart. She was glad Emon had agreed to let them settle in his domain. They’d be safer there than anywhere on Earth, with plenty of territory to roam in, and a chance to heal.
Thorne and Tempest were sorting them out, triaging anyone who needed medical attention so that Trish and Tyr could attend to them, handing out blankets and hot drinks to the rest, and conjuring warm clothes for anyone who needed them.
Tristan and Mayah had been the last to land, and Mayah gently held onto Tristan’s dad until Tristan could round up a stretcher and stretcher bearers for him. He squeezed both his mom’s and his dad’s hands before Cazbek and Mikah carried his dad away.
“Go ahead with Dad and the dragons to see the healer,” he told his mother. “She’s a personal friend of mine, so tell her I said to take good care of you. I’ll be along in a sec.”
He stood staring after them as they were carried away. To Mayah, he still glowed with the power of their bond—and the power that had been in him all along.
Amazingly strong. Incredibly brave. A man who kept his promises.
He’d saved her, just like he said he would.
Tristan turned around as soon as he felt the rush of air that accompanied Mayah’s Change, and opened his arms. She threw herself into them, and he lifted her up and whirled her around before kissing her with all the passion and relief in his heart.
Their minds were totally open to each other, emotion moving back and forth between them in waves. They started to pull apart, but then had to kiss each other again. And again.
Finally they managed to get an inch between their lips. Tristan smiled, resting his forehead against hers. She was warm and soft in his arms, but he knew that softness was underlaid by amazing strength and courage.
“You’re here,” he said simply. “You’re okay.”
Mayah looked up at him, her heart in her eyes. She loved him. Loved him. And now he could love her back, with no reservations. The headache was gone, and so were the nosebleeds. The power of their bond had healed him.
The sense of possibility in front of him was so new, so unbelievable, he didn’t even know what to do with it.
“Of course I’m okay,” she said. “You saved me.”
His smile got wider. “Yeah. I guess I did.”
“I knew you would.” She kissed him again. “I knew it all along.”
He stroked a strand of hair back behind her ear, gazing down at her. “You always had faith in me. Even when I didn’t deserve it.”
“You always deserved it. No one has ever tried harder to protect the people he cares about than you.” She cupped her hand around his face.
“You saved your parents, too. And the other white wolves.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, a huge grin spreading across her face. “We did it, Elf Lord. We got them out.”
We did it. Tristan picked her up and swung her around again, both of them whooping and hollering like idiots. They really had done it.
The cabin and the ground in front were full of little groups of shifters, drinking soup and coffee and starting to laugh and chatter among themselves. Globes of light danced through the air.
Mayah thumped his shoulder. “Put me down now. I want to meet your parents. Because holy shit, your parents!”
It was almost too much. Tristan could hardly wrap his head around it. After years of thinking they were all dead, he had his whole family back. First Terin, a couple years ago, and now this.
And he had Mayah. His mate. From feeling like the unluckiest wolf ever born, he’d suddenly gone to feeling like the luckiest.
He took Mayah’s hand and they went into the cabin. Trish had splinted up his dad’s leg and cleaned up his cuts. He was sitting in a chair, a cup of soup in one hand, his other hand tightly holding his mom’s.
When she saw Tristan, his mom’s eyes filled with tears. His dad swallowed hard.
Tristan put his hand on his mom’s shoulder. It was so thin, and her face was gaunt. “Hey,” was all he could manage to say.
She shook her head. “It’s really you,” she whispered. “I can’t believe it.”
“Me either.” He cleared his throat and pulled Mayah forward. “I want you to meet my mate, Mayah Lael of the House of Al-Maddeiri. She’s the dragon who pulled you out.”
“Oh, my.” Tristan’s mom put down her coffee and reached for Mayah. “You’re her. You’re the one.”
Mayah grinned at her. “Nope.” She pointed at Tristan. “He’s the one. He pulled all your powers together and blew the fuck out of that chamber of horrors.”
Tristan elbowed her in the ribs. She turned and mock-glared at him. “And yes, I just said ‘fuck’ in front of your parents. I’m a princess. I can do that shit and get away with it.”
Tristan just shook his head, but his dad busted out laughing. “I like her.”
Tristan pulled up chairs for himself and Mayah. “I can’t believe you’re still alive,” he said quietly to his mom, while Mayah said something else that made his dad laugh. “I thought Beckenham and his team killed you.” He swallowed hard, fighting back the emotion that threatened to overwhelm him. “I would have tried to come for you sooner.”
He didn’t know how. But he could have found a way.
“You came for us now,” she said. Then she glanced at his father and dropped her voice. “What about—do you know what happened to Terin? Did she make it out?”
Hope and fear warred in her face. Tristan nodded.
“She mated into a pack in Idaho. I’ve spent the last couple of years there. She and her mate have a daughter.” His mom brought her hand to her mouth, tears flooding her eyes.
“Sadly,” Tristan went on, “the kid takes after me, not Terin. She’s a hellraiser.”
His mom laughed through her tears. “Is she happy?”
Tristan squeezed her hand. “Yeah, mom. She is.”
“Can we see her? Is that where we’re going?”
Tristan shook his head. “Not right now. We found a safer place, where you can all start over. Have your own territory, if you want. Form a pack. Be free.”
He saw his dad listening now, hope dawning in both their eyes.
“But as soon as we get there, I’ll let Terin know I found you. She’ll be…”
He couldn’t finish, but he didn’t need to. He could feel the emotion running through them all. His family was coming home.
Chapter 35
It was Sunday night, and the Al-Maddeiri clan was hosting a huge outdoor barbecue in Emon’s domain. Besides Emon’s clan and all the rescued wolves, they’d invited the Greystones and their mates, plus guests from the Bad Blood Crew and the Silverlake pack.
Mayah stood with Emon on a little rise overlooking the party. Tristan was with his family, including his sister Terin and her two-year-old daughter Michelangela.
Looking down at the happy chaos, Mayah said to Emon, “Look at your domain. A few months ago, would you ever have believed it would look like this? So full of life, and people?”
At that moment, a wrestling pair of half-grown wolf cubs just missed knocking over one of the grills. Emon said in his usual grumpy way, “I hate people.”
Mayah hugged his arm. She knew he didn’t mean it. Very much. “Mikah likes people,” she said. “He’ll talk to them for you.”
They watched Mikah making the rounds, talking to the wolves, listening respectfully to what they had to say.
“And Cazbek seems to be having a good time.” Cazbek spat a shot of liquor up into the air and ignited it with his own fire, sending blue flames shooting into the sky, to the oohs and aahs of an admiring cluster of wolves.
“Uh huh,” Emon said sourly. “It’s all fun and games…”
Mayah joined in, “…until someone sets the table on fire.”
She glanced over the crowd. “Where’s Zakerek?”
“I think he took Rafe to the man cave.” Rafe was Terin’s mate. Emon added, “He might even have begged him to come, so he could get out of this madhouse. I think I might have to check up on them. Because even with all those infernal pinball machines, it’s still quieter there.”
Mayah giggled. “Uh huh. Remember when I was little and you’d brush my hair when I felt scared and sad, and tell me about how we’d have our own castle one day, with a big clan and lights and parties?”
“Yeah. What was I thinking?”
She hugged him again. “I think it’s nice. And so do you. At least now you have lots of people to be king of.”
“I already had lots of people. They just weren’t, you know. Right here. And anyway, it’s no fun when nobody bows and grovels. They don’t even believe me when I threaten to dismember them for insubordination and disobedience.”
“Maybe if you threatened them while you weren’t snuggling a wolf puppy and letting it lick your face? Just sayin’.”
Emon relented, grinning at her. “True. At least the wolf village is going to be out of earshot, when it’s done. And with fewer people, I can commandeer the man cave and the terrace for Sunday night dinners.”
Later that night, she and Tristan were in their bedroom, lying in bed while he stroked his fingers down the curves of her body, stopping every now and then to kiss her.
“Are you happy?” she asked him drowsily.
He dropped a kiss on her collarbone, then raised his head so he could look down at her. “Yeah, I am.” He kissed her shoulder. “It feels kind of strange,” he admitted.
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