I looked over at Jaxton and rolled my eyes. “I was just saying you have keen ears. Don’t sneak up on us.”
Jaxton leaned forward, cupped my face, and pressed his lips to mine. It was a gentle hello, a sweet nothing that meant everything. This was the moment I had wanted for ages, the moment that would break me. Yet I just had to live for it. I had to stop dwelling on what would happen, what could happen, and just be.
I knew the more I meditated, the more it might help. I held back a sneer at the thought. “You’re beneath my aerie. What do you expect? I wanted to see you before I needed to head out and meet with Rome.”
My senses went on alert. “What’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “There doesn’t have to be an issue every time I meet with my best friend.”
“I don’t know, lately, it feels like every time we take a step toward our future, something attacks us.”
Nelle came up on my side and hugged Jaxton’s other side. The three of us stood there in a little circle, and it felt like this could be something. I only wished it didn’t have to end.
“I’m meeting with Rome to discuss some border issues, yes. Plus, my best friend wanted a beer. He’s a bear. They like a good honey beer.”
“And what do birds like? A fishy beer?” Nelle asked, her eyes wide. “Or maybe something with worms?”
“The mermaid is asking me if I like fish beer? What do you eat, then, sweet sister of mine?” Jaxton teased.
I grinned. “Well, whatever you like, if you want it charbroiled, I’m your girl.” I snapped my fingers as flames danced between the two, just for an instant. Jaxton’s eyes widened even as Nelle clapped.
“That’s some decent control, mate of mine.”
I ignored part of that as I wasn’t ready and focused. For a moment, I breathed in and smiled. “I’ve had more control than usual, but it comes and goes. I don’t know if it’s the mating bond or the meditation, but while things still hurt, and I can feel it getting progressively worse, there are moments of clarity.”
The look Jaxton gave me was so intense, I felt Nelle pulling away ever so slightly to go finish packing up our things to give us some semblance of privacy. “Then our mating is helping?”
I reached up and danced my fingers along his cheek. “I don’t know, Jaxton. I do know that the attacks when they come still hurt. And that when I try to use my magic for more than just a burst like I just did, I can’t control what pours out of me. I’m afraid that I will hurt someone other than myself someday. Someone other than you. I will never forgive myself if that happens.”
“Maybe it just takes time. The full mating bond.”
“We don’t know how our partial one even snapped into place as it is. How are we supposed to know what to do to create the full one? I’m honestly not sure I want to mate with you.” The hurt that crossed his features was gone in an instant, but I still felt it etched across my soul. “I only meant because I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I know, but sometimes the words hurt.”
I closed my eyes and let out a breath. But before I could say anything, Jaxton’s second came forward, Aiden growling a bit.
“What’s wrong?”
“Something just feels…off, and I don’t know what it is.”
Jaxton stood taller, looking around the wing. “You’re right. It’s in the air. Get the sentries on alert. Nelle, call Rowen. Have her gather the troops.”
I blinked and then closed my eyes, letting my connection to the earth and the fire within me settle upon my body. I couldn’t do this often, but perhaps this close to Jaxton, this close to his source of power, I would be able to.
“You’re right. Something’s wrong.”
“No need to call me. I’m here.” We looked over at Rowen, her eyes fierce. “Something flew through the wards. I can’t figure out where it came from, only that it felt as if it was coming here.”
“Prepare—!” Jaxton began, and then there was a scream.
I dove for my sword as Nelle let her blades slip into her hands, her kohl-rimmed eyes narrowed. “Who was that?” she asked as Jaxton cursed under his breath.
“That was a sentry, and they only scream to alert when someone is coming. Damn it. Nelle, get back to the aerie.”
“I can fight.”
“I can’t focus on saving you if I’m doing this.”
“Jaxton, protect your people. I’ve got Nelle.” I looked over at the other woman, who gave me a tight nod. Nelle could fight, not as well as the others, and her magic worked better underwater than it ever would on land, but she was trying.
I wouldn’t clip her wings. Just like I tried not to clip mine.
Jaxton growled under his breath, cupped my face in a hard grip, and crushed his lips to mine. “Be safe.”
“You, too.”
And then the first revenant slid through the trees.
It was grotesque, one eye falling out of its socket, the other one bulging. Its mouth was open, jagged teeth bared with tiny bits of flesh in between. It lumbered towards us, and I frowned. Not all revenants looked like this. Some looked perfectly embalmed. Infused with magic as if they had been nearly healed to look almost human and not merely former casings of themselves.
This one, though, it held a different magic. As if it were just a warning shot, and Renee or Oriel hadn’t even bothered to put their full magic in it.
“It’s a trap!” I called out, realizing what this was.
This was a revenant without full magic, and that meant others were coming.
The other witches, the bears that had shown, and Frank the jaguar in cat form were there, ready to fight.
Flames danced down my sword as my body radiated energy. So much energy. It felt almost like the mating bond. The battle energy intensified it, and I had to push it back. I had to focus on what I was doing.
Hawks slid out of the trees, in hawk form and human form, as revenant after revenant came.
At least three graveyards full of walking death came forward, and I shouted, my back to Nelle as we fought, taking out one after another. When Aspen ran through the trees and came to Nelle’s side, I met his gaze, gave him a tight nod, and then went to my mate’s side. The fae king would keep Nelle safe, and I knew that whatever power he held within his bonds, he would use it to protect her and this wing.
I had never known a battle to come out here. This was where the hawks kept their most vulnerable. Their hatchlings. Their elderly.
The fact that Oriel’s minions could get this close told me that the wards were close to breaking. It didn’t matter how much energy Sage infused it with given her growing power, or how much I tried with what I had left.
The town was killing Rowen, and the magic wouldn’t be enough with whatever Oriel was doing to it.
We might not be enough.
I made it to Jaxton’s side as he clawed a revenant. I used my sword to decapitate the thing, a sense of pity filling me for the human the person had once been, before I went to the next one.
Flames reached out, running down my arms, and I gripped the sword, doing my best to send the fire down the metal. Only some remained, the others wrapping around my arm, singeing me. Then it sputtered out, and I cursed.
The magic was coming harder and faster, and I couldn’t stop it.
I wasn’t going to be enough.
Another wave of revenants came, and I staggered as a hawk went down, and then a bear. Sage and Rome fought side by side, him in bear form as he roared, and Sage using her water magic to push at the long line of revenants.
Rowen met my gaze as she fought next to my brother. Ash looked fuller of emotion than he had recently.
He looked almost like his old self, fighting to protect Rowen and the town.
He might have changed when the spell and curse twisted him, but some part of him was still there. I had to hope for that.
Rowen was at my side in an instant, her black hair pulled away from her face, a bloody gash on her cheek. The fact that she hadn’
t used a spell to even stanch the wound told me that she was running out of magic, the town draining her.
“We need to block them. They’re coming towards the hatchlings,” Jaxton said from my side.
Rowen nodded. “One more spell. I’m sorry, but we need the coven.” She met my eyes, the sense of knowing in her gaze almost overwhelming.
“I have enough for that,” I said, hoping it would be enough. Whatever held me to Jaxton gave me some power. Hopefully, it would be enough to at least get through this.
Renee stepped forward, William at her side, and some of the hawks let out a shriek, a loud call that I knew was anger and shock. Maybe some of them hadn’t believed that William was truly on the enemy’s side, but it didn’t matter.
He was here, and we had to stop him.
“Give up now,” Renee said. “The sooner this happens, the fewer people will die. Oriel just needs your town. Once you concede, once the witches perish, Oriel will let the others live. He promises you that.”
“Just give in,” William cooed. “It’ll be easier that way.”
“You bastard,” Jaxton snapped, angrier than I had ever seen him before. “How dare you betray us?”
“You didn’t even want me to be part of the wing. I was nothing when I was with you. Now, I have a mate and more power than you could ever dream of. Give in to Oriel. Save the others. Don’t be such a fucking coward with too much pride. Your indecisions are killing others.”
“That’s a lie,” I shouted.
“And you are a waste of space,” Renee said with a grin. “You can’t even control your power, and you’re killing the wing to make it happen. You don’t even have the strength to use one tiny little fire spell. All you do is rely on others, and you don’t even know how to fight a revenant correctly. You are nothing. You always have been. Soon, my master will kill you. If I don’t get to you first.”
Rowen gripped my hand as Sage came to my other side, taking the sword from me and tossing it to Jaxton. She took my hand, and while I missed the sword, I knew we needed to do this.
“One more spell,” Rowen growled. “One spell to banish.”
“Your coven, your power of three is nothing. But you can try. It’s all you do these days. You try.”
I met Rowen’s gaze, nodded, and spoke the spell we had practiced before.
“Earth, air, water, fire, bring us that which we desire. Stop this evil, purge this blight, banish this death to darkest night. Lord and Lady, ancestors, too, lend us your strength for what we must do. Take this darkness so we may be free. This is our will, so mote it be!”
Fire scorched my sides, licked my fingertips, and both Rowen and Sage fell to the ground. Ash and Rome were there to pick them up, Rowen pushing Ash away, Sage leaning into her mate. Had I burned them? Had I hurt them? I couldn’t think. My whole body shook, and I looked up at Jaxton as he fought revenant after revenant, hawks falling, the other shifters and humans dying, anyone who was part of Ravenwood trying to protect it.
I needed to protect them. I needed to do something.
My hair burst into flames and covered my body, yet I couldn’t feel it. I couldn’t do anything.
I met Jaxton’s gaze, and I screamed.
Chapter
Eighteen
Jaxton
I knew something was wrong as soon as I saw Laurel’s face. Her eyes widened, her gaze pure fire. Blue and purple flames flickered in her irises, while orange and red highlighted the edges of her pupils. She was close to burnout, flameout. If we weren’t careful, she would burst. And yet, I knew this couldn’t be the end. Still, the flame was so close, dancing along the mating bond. I needed to stop this. I had to protect her. But how was I supposed to do that?
I surged forward, only to come up short as William tossed himself in front of me. “Hello, dearest wing leader.”
“Why are you doing this?” I called out, my gaze searching for Laurel as the others came forward to help her. We would all be too late if we couldn’t get to her. Ash and Rowen were fighting revenants, Renee coming towards them as Rome shifted back to human form and fought naked next to Sage, trying to fight off the revenants as they came in droves. The spell hadn’t worked. Instead, it had imploded, splitting the revenants into two camps as flame and air and water danced in abundance between the two. Right then and there, I knew we needed earth, or perhaps even the magic of the fae and the shifters. We needed something other than the broken coven that lay before me. It wasn’t enough, but I couldn’t focus on that.
I needed to get through William. Needed to get through the cousin that I had once loved and thought was family so I could get to Laurel. Only she stood in a tunnel of flame, yet nothing burned her. I didn’t know if she was in pain, but the soundless scream erupting from her mouth called to me. I needed to get to her. I had to protect her, but first, I needed to defend my wing. How could I choose? My mate or my wing? And yet, it felt like my cousin William wasn’t going to give me a choice.
“You always thought you were better than us. You were only our wing leader because of who your father was. And he died. Died and left us. Yet everyone thought you could be strong enough to be wing leader.”
“The wing leader is chosen by strength and by who comes together. I didn’t get it because of my father. You know that.”
“You aren’t the strongest of us all. If you were, you wouldn’t spend so much of your time dealing with your witch.”
I blinked at him, wondering if he was serious. “Your mate is a witch. A necromancer. She raises the dead and twists their souls to do her bidding. What do you think a necromancer is?”
“Don’t you dare fucking talk about my mate.”
There was something wrong with him. I didn’t know what it was, but something was off. William was acting weirder than usual. Maybe much like my internal magic of being a shifter helped with the mating bond and eased some of Laurel’s pain, it twisted Renee’s and William’s souls.
“Soon, you’ll understand what Oriel wants and what you won’t have. But your dumb fucking bitch of a witch mate won’t even make it that far.” William shifted in a blink, turning to a hawk as he tried to use his talons to claw out my eyes. I shot forward with the sword, slashing through William’s chest as he let out a shriek. On the other side of the elemental wall, Renee screamed before fire rained down on us all. Ash cursed. He threw up his hands as a wall of earth came forward, and Rowen did the same, her air pushing the flames back. Sage had her hands deep in the dirt, her entire body shaking as she pulled water from the stream a hundred feet away. It slammed into the fire wall that Renee pushed.
And yet, Laurel stayed within the funnel of fire, pushing out flames in bursts towards revenants, but she seemed frozen in an ember in time.
I felt her within the mating bond and knew this was the end.
It had to be. I tossed the sword to Aspen as he fought with my sister, and I had to pray that he could help her.
I looked towards Aiden, my jaw tight. “The revenants are retreating. Get to the hatchlings.”
“I understand.” And Aiden did. Because my second had lost his mate, and I knew the broken shell of a man that had left behind.
He understood what I was doing.
Rowen and Sage scrambled to get to Laurel, but they couldn’t penetrate the flames, even as Rome and the others continued beating down the last of the revenants. I jumped over a fallen body, an unrecognizable revenant who had once been human, and kept moving forward.
Ash pounded his hands on the flames, blood pouring down his arms. Black, charred burns appeared on his palms as he kept pushing, trying to get to his sister.
For a man who had lost everything, someone with no future and a curse that was breaking him just as much as it was breaking his sibling, I saw the boy he had once been. The one who had put everything forth to try to protect those he loved.
Ash met my gaze, and I knew he understood. So did Rowen and Rome. I didn’t think Sage got it yet, but she would.
I jumped,
turning into my hawk in an instant, knowing that my animal would protect my mate thanks to our bond. I couldn’t say how I knew, but the bond was the only thing of truth in my head at the moment. I sliced through the flames before shifting back into human form and pulling Laurel close.
She looked at me, her body shaking, her eyes wide.
“The curse, it activated. I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
I cupped her face and wiped away her steaming tears. “It’s okay. I’m here.”
“But your wing. Your people.”
“They’ll be okay.”
“No, no.” She beat on my chest, even as the fire danced on our skins. It burned, though muted as if Laurel were doing everything in her power to protect me.
“It’s okay, Laurel. It’s okay.”
It wasn’t. I was going to watch the love of my life burn. Watch her fall to embers. But I couldn’t let her do it alone.
“You don’t get to kill yourself,” she screamed.
“I’m not. If you use our mating bond, we can keep the fire and curse within the wall. We won’t hurt anyone else. But you can’t do it alone. Use me. We can protect the town.”
It was as if I had always known this would be where it would end. And as Laurel screamed, I held her close, and the fire ignited.
Agony, sweet and blissful, rode our skin as the flames came closer and closer before engulfing us both. I looked down at the love of my life, the woman who would forever be mine, and smiled.
Because her power was a thing of beauty. It was a sweet ecstasy and strength that would bring a future. Though this could have been the ending, I knew it wasn’t. This was only Laurel’s beginning. I felt it through the mating bond; in the magic that pulsed around us.
And then there was only darkness. Only peace.
As I lay beneath the ashes, as others still screamed and shouted, sounding a world away as the curse unfolded, I looked up at the woman in front of me. The one who rose into the air, her wings aflame and burning brightly.
Dusk Unveiled (Ravenwood Coven Book 2) Page 14
