by Amy Star
The pair staggered to their feet.
Elise slowly tested her ankle. “Not great.” She frowned. “But it’ll get me there.”
“Us. It’ll get us there. Or were you planning on slipping away again?”
“Relax, would you? I’m not leaving you behind. You’re the only one who has a real shot at getting through to Trevor.”
“Exactly.” Holly nodded, slyly checking her trust pendent to make sure it was still blue. “What’s the next step.”
Elise gingerly picked up the crystal vial. “Bottoms up.” Without hesitation, she downed the contents of the vial in one fell swoop. She winced hard, sputtering and gagging.
“Please tell me you didn’t poison yourself.”
“Jury’s out,” Elise groaned.
She sunk to her knees, shuddering. She cried out in pain, winding her hands into her hair.
“Elise!” Holly cried. It was going to take a lot more than juice and cookies to fix this.
Elise’s body began to change. Fur sprouted. Her bones cracked and popped as they rearranged themselves. Her face elongated into a terrible snout filled with razor-sharp teeth.
Elise, now fully a bear, rose up on her hind legs. She quickly lost her balance, falling backward onto the coffee table. The wood splintered under her weight, sending shrapnel everywhere.
Holly brought her hands up to protect her face as shards of wood sliced her bare arms. Elise squirmed until she was on all fours again. She fixed Holly in her pale gaze and let out a roar loud enough to shake the windows.
“Okay! Be patient,” Holly snapped. “Let me get my bow.” She dashed out to the deck only to find the bow missing from its usual spot. One of her shifters must’ve taken it.
Elise stood in the living room, stomping and growling.
“What is it, girl? Did Tommy fall down a well?” Holly muttered under her breath as she hurried back into the house.
Elise stuck her nose into a pile of fabric and grunted.
Peering closer, Holly realized Elise’s leather belt was buried beneath the fabric scraps. She reached for it, smiling when she saw the daggers still in place.
Elise bobbed her head and snorted.
“Glad to know I won’t have to fight anyone barehanded,” Holly said.
Elise lowered her massive body to give Holly a chance to climb on. Once Holly was secure, Elise turned toward the deck.
“Don’t you dare!” Holly cried, but it was too late.
Elise took off at a hard gallop, throwing her body against the floor-to-ceiling windows. Glass rained down like a hailstorm. Holly buried her face to avoid the shards. Elise cleared the deck in two bounds before launching herself over the railing. They landed hard on the forest floor, but Elise didn’t stop.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Holly gasped. “Are you trying to get us killed?”
Elise roared in response as she pushed herself harder. Holly took big fistfuls of fur to hold herself into place.
Maiden, if you were ever going to give me some advice, now would be the time.
There was no answer.
Maiden? Please, I need your help. One of the firstborns is at risk.
Again, nothing.
A terrible sense of dread sunk into Holly’s gut as she realized she was on her own.
The forest rushed by in a blur of green, brown, and gray. Once, Holly thought she saw a flash of red between the trees, but thought she imagined it.
No, she hadn’t.
She saw a bolt of red again and a third time.
Something rushed up alongside Elise.
Holly caught a glint of gold and a white, feral smile.
Edwina.
“What are you doing here?” Holly shouted.
Edwina appeared beside her, shrouded in black mist.
Holly spotted two other patches of mist, presumably belonging to the other coven sisters.
“Something is happening beyond the veil. We’re going to investigate. What are you doing?”
“The Silver Spruce shifters are going to the silver mines to confront the dark shifters,” Holly explained in a rush. “They don’t realize how outnumbered they are. We’re going to help.”
“Friend of yours?” Edwina looked down her nose at Elise’s bear form.
Elise snarled and tried to push ahead, but she was no match for the magic mist carrying Edwina.
“Will you help us?” Holly asked. “The Golden Oak shifters might get spooked if they see witches in our numbers.”
“I’m always up for scaring the pants off those power-hungry bastards,” Edwina sneered. “We’ll go ahead. See you there.” She disappeared into her mist cloud and shot forward through the trees.
“That takes some of the pressure off,” Holly muttered.
“By the way,” Susanna appeared in her own cloud of black mist, “that dress is really ugly.”
She vanished before Holly had a chance to say anything, not that she could think of anything to say. She glanced at her gown. Or what was left of it. The molten gold skirt had been torn to shreds. With each lurch of Elise’s body, the gown ripped more.
Holly felt terrible. With everything happening around her, it seemed silly to feel guilty over a destroyed dress, but it didn’t belong to her. She didn’t like damaging things that weren’t hers to damage.
The sounds of battle rang out through the forest. They were getting close.
Holly gasped in horror as they passed the shredded body of a fallen shifter. The closer they came to the silver mines, the more bodies they passed. They were going too fast for Holly to get a proper look at any of their faces. She prayed that none of them belonged to her shifters.
Was that why the Maiden had gone silent? Had the firstborn destined to father Holly’s child die? Was this all for naught?
A massive reddish-brown bear crashed through the tree line and fell in line alongside them. Holly recognized Garret, who roared in shock and rage as he realized she was charging into battle.
Elise began to falter. Her shoulders started to shrink. The fur Holly grasped in her hands started to thin. The potion was wearing off.
Elise stumbled forward, sending Holly flying over her back. She landed hard on the ground, the wind knocked out of her, but she couldn’t stay down.
Holly scrambled onto her belly to get a better look at Elise, who was halfway between forms.
“Keep going!” Elise cried. “I’ll be all right.”
Holly couldn’t force herself to believe Elise’s words.
The hulking form of Garret appeared at her side. Holly grabbed his fur, using it to haul herself up. Somehow, she managed to swing her leg over Garret’s broad back.
“If you take me back to the house, I’ll never forgive you,” she warned. “Take me to the mines. I’m going to help.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
The scene at the silver mines was worse than Holly ever imagined. Bodies littered the ground, both bear and man.
Edwina, Susanna, and Hattie stood near the mouth of the nearest mine, sending blasts of magic into the shafts. Dark shifters hiding within the mines darted out, charred and screaming.
Guns fired. Swords clashed. Arrows soared through the air.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. None of this was supposed to happen.
She was too late. Holly had failed to protect Silver Spruce.
She was going to be sick. The air shot out of her lungs as she watched a grizzly bear swipe a man across his face. The man fell. His face flew three feet before landing in the dirt.
She buried her face in Garret’s fur. She felt weak, defeated, and out of her depth in every way. It was all too much. Too much horror. Too much blood. Too much death.
How could she do anything to stop this now that it had already gone so far?
“Garret,” she whispered.
His ears twitched as he strained to hear her over the roar of battle.
“Get the others. We’re going home. I can’t do this.”
Garret stood stone still, ponder
ing.
“Garret, please!” Holly sobbed. “I can’t be here. I can’t do this.”
He might not have moved if it weren’t for the pale-blond bear lunging at him.
At first, Holly thought it was Keller, but the fur color was far too light. Keller looked more golden. She scanned the battlefield for him but couldn’t make him out. The forest was too dense. The night was too heavy.
The form that did catch her eye was one she hadn’t seen for some time. Trevor strode through the trees in human form. He looked relaxed as if he were merely taking a nighttime stroll.
A Silver Spruce shifter charged at him with a mighty cry, ready to cleave him in two with what looked like some kind of ax. Trevor flicked a needle-thin blade, sliding right through the man. He was dead before he hit the ground.
From where she watched, Holly heard a sick hissing sound. The man’s body began to bubble and steam. Trevor’s blade was coated in some kind of poison.
Holly wondered where he had gotten ahold of such a substance. She stole a glance at the witches near the entrance of the mines.
When she turned her gaze back to Trevor, she understood that she couldn’t leave this battlefield. She needed to see this through. If it ended in his death, then so be it. After the cruelty she had just witnessed, she couldn’t imagine Trevor as someone worth saving. Even if he was a firstborn.
Another roar rang through the trees. Holly’s chest felt lighter. She’d recognize that voice anywhere, even if it came from the throat of a bear.
Loch darted through the trees, swift and silent as a shadow. He positioned himself behind Trevor, who hadn’t even so much as glanced over his shoulder.
Holly bit down onto her bottom lip as Loch closed in on him.
He leaped, his claws out and his mouth open. He looked like he was going to tear Trevor to shreds. At the last minute, Trevor stepped to the side. Loch landed beside Trevor, undeterred. He readied himself to lung again, when he suddenly went still.
Holly’s breath hitched in her chest as she realized the all-but-invisible blade of Trevor’s sword was pressed against Loch’s neck.
“So close.” Trevor sighed. “Yet not quite close enough.”
Trevor took something out of his pocket. A pouch of some sort. He took a pinch of vibrant red powder and flung it into Loch’s face.
Loch howled and tried to shake off the powder. Soon, his body began to return to his human form.
Naked, shaking, and with a blade still at his throat, he looked up at Trevor.
“Interesting little invention, isn’t it?” Trevor purred. “I spent years making it. I can force any shifter to revert to their weaker form with the tiniest pinch. Of course, it burns like hell, too. That’s just for fun.”
“You’re going to burn,” Loch hissed. “You’re going to burn in hell for what you’ve done.”
“Maybe.” Trevor shrugged. “But I won’t have to worry about that. You on the other hand…” Trevor pressed the blade tighter against Loch’s neck.
The skin in contact with the blade began to bubble and blister. Loch cried out and tried to squirm away, but Trevor took hold of his hair and held him in place.
“No!” Holly screamed, reaching toward Loch. As she did, a burst of magic flew from her hand. White-gold light lit up the forest until it was as bright as broad daylight.
Holly felt dizzy as she slid from Garret’s back, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t.
“Let him go!” she screamed. More of Elise’s borrowed magic poured from her, splashing pools of light around the forest as if it were water.
Everyone, friend or foe, stopped to watch the scene unfold.
“The Maiden has arrived,” Trevor cackled. “And she’s dressed for a party. Sort of.”
“Let him go,” she repeated through gritted teeth.
“Run, Holly! Get out of here,” Loch pled.
“I’m afraid I can’t let him go, love,” Trevor said. “I’m going to be the father of the child who will unite the bear clans once and for all. To do that, I have to get rid of the other contenders.”
“No, you don’t,” Holly said, her voice eerily calm. “The choice is mine, remember?”
Trevor arched a brow. “What are you suggesting?”
“If you let him go, if you stop this bloodshed, I will go with you.” A single tear slipped down her cheek.
“Holly, no!” Loch pled, thrashing against Trevor’s iron grip.
“It’s all right.” She reached out and pushed his sweat and blood-soaked hair away from his face. “It’s all right.”
“I won’t let you do this.”
“Doesn’t look like you have much of a choice, mate.” Trevor clicked his tongue. “The lady is the one in charge.”
“Will you honor my terms?” Holly said.
Trevor looked her up and down, taking in every inch of her body. “I will.”
Trevor sheathed his sword. The dark shifters who followed him did so as well.
“It’s over!” Trevor shouted. “We have our prize. We will return to Golden Oak immediately. Leave the dead and the dying. They don’t matter to us anymore.”
“Holly,” Loch pled.
“I don’t regret it,” Holly whispered to him. “I still love you. That won’t ever change.”
“I love you, too.”
“How sweet,” Trevor hissed. “Time to go.”
He grabbed Holly by the arm and marched north.
Holly looked over her shoulder to see Garret, still in bear form, standing beside Loch. Johnny, in his human form, stepped out from behind a tree with tears in his eyes. Holly scanned the forest for Keller but didn’t see him.
Tears spilled down her cheeks.
She would’ve liked to see him one last time.
“I suppose you think you’re brave, don’t you?” Trevor murmured.
“No.” Holly shook her head. “I just wanted to do the right thing.”
THE FINAL CHAPTER—Loch
Loch stood in the center of Holly’s room as dawn spread its sunny rays over the forest.
The edge of her bedspread was still wrinkled from where they’d made love, not even twenty-four hours ago.
He moved away from the bed and walked into her closet. It didn’t look exactly as it had when he first set foot inside. Clothes were thrown all about, probably by Holly, when she was trying to find the perfect dress. He smiled faintly at the memory of accidentally dosing both of them with paralysis powder.
When he left her room, he closed the door behind him. He’d been in her room since Garret and Johnny dragged him from the battlefield. No one knew where Keller was. He wasn’t among the dead, but he wasn’t among the living, either.
Some of the Silver Spruce shifters were still searching the mines looking for survivors or hostages. Loch held out hope that Keller would be found in there somewhere. Slowly, he made his way downstairs.
Johnny and Garret sat on the couch, staring blankly at the dead fireplace.
“Any word on Keller?” Loch asked.
“Not yet,” Garret mumbled. “I saw him just before I ran into Holly. He looked fine. He wasn’t injured or anything.”
“I saw him just before Trevor took Holly away,” Johnny offered. “He vanished after that.”
“Maybe he just doesn’t want to be here,” Loch offered. “I can’t say I blame him.”
“Where else would he go?” Johnny asked. “Keller isn’t one to run away from problems. If he were here, he’d be planning a way to get Holly back.”
“There’s no reason why we can’t make a plan,” Garret said. “I wouldn’t know where to start, but there has to be something we can do.”
“There is,” Loch snapped. “We gather whatever weapons and men we have at our disposal and march into Golden Oak. Trevor can’t hide forever.”
“You saw their shifters on the battlefield last night.” Johnny sighed. “Their worst fighter is twice as skilled as our best one. Charging into Golden Oak, guns blazing, is a death sentence.”
“So?”
Garret and Johnny fixed him with curious stares.
“You’re worth nothing to Holly dead,” Garret said.
“I’d rather die trying to bring her home than live another second without her here,” Loch declared.
“You think you’re the only one who feels that way?” Johnny snapped. “I’ve lost her twice now. Twice. I didn’t think I’d survive it the second time.”
“All that tells me is that you don’t care enough to keep her safe.”
Johnny was on his feet before Garret could pull him back. “You really, really don’t want to push me right now,” Johnny snarled.
“Or what? You’ll kill me? I already told you, I don’t care. Give it your best shot!”
“Enough!” Garret roared, getting to his feet. “We’re going to get her back. We simply need time to regroup, that’s all. Loch, if we don’t do this the smart way, we will lose her for good.”
“And what if we take too long and the bastard has already forced her to carry his child?” Loch seethed. “Time is one thing Holly doesn’t have. We have to get to her before it’s too late.”
“I’ll make some calls,” Garret said. “Surely, some of the shifters are still willing to fight with us.”
“Those who are left,” Johnny scoffed. “We lost more than half our men out there. It’s the first Golden Oak attack all over again. We’ve left women widowed. Children fatherless. I can’t be a part of something like that.”
“You’re going to let Holly stay in Golden Oak with that creep because you’re too scared of becoming a monster?” Loch scoffed. “Guess what? Monsters win wars like this.”
He strode off before the others could say anything else. He didn’t give a shit. Leave them to their philosophizing and phone calls. Loch wasn’t going to sit around and wait for someone else to rescue the woman he loved.
He was going to do it himself.
He went to the armory. It was all but cleared out; however, he managed to find a few rusty daggers to add to his personal arsenal.
What he wanted more than anything was some of that red powder Trevor sprinkled on him. No one would get in his way if he had something like that.
As far as getting some, well, he had some ideas. None of them were good, but they were all he had.