by Lila Jean
In the blurry moment of adrenaline and pain, Tina lost most sense of the world around her. Everything in her body, everything in her very soul was focused on only one task, and that was to finally destroy the cursed amulet around her neck. She would break this pendant. She would overcome the weight on her neck that separated her from her goddess, and her plan would succeed.
Jaw tense, back aching, body pushed to its absolute limit, she felt the necklace beginning to break. It was on the cusp, about to be destroyed, and she just had to avoid the trident until it finally shattered. The only problem, of course, was whether or not Tina would be able to do that before Cora killed her.
“I should probably just kill you,” Cora seethed. “But I confess, I love seeing you helpless.” Cora brought the staff down hard, and Tina rolled out of the way at the last moment, body aching. The pendant glowed on her neck, bursting with energy as she diverted every ounce she could spare to flood it.
Once she broke it, she would have her power back. Once it was gone, she would win this battle and destroy this despicable woman forever.
At the top of the stairs, the door burst open, and her beautiful black wolf pummeled through. He paused momentarily at the top of the stairs to take in the scene, and he growled when his attention turned to Cora. Behind him, Tina’s princes appeared in the doorway, each of them sighing with relief as their eyes fell on her.
Cora gasped and ran for the table, the wolf charging after her, a dark blur through the air as he made to head her off. With a flourish, Cora spun her staff and slammed it against the ground, an earth-shattering quake shook the room, knocking Tina over. A golden ring of energy flew away from Cora, and it hit both Flynn and Killian hard in the chest. They fell off the stairs, their guns sliding far across the floor and hitting the far wall as most of the boys landed hard on their backs, Draven and Zane managing to land on their feet instead.
The moment of surprise was all Cora needed, and she reached the table, hooking the trident around her belt before stuffing the dagger alongside it and grabbing the sword. As her fingers touched the hilt, the blade radiated light, simmering with all the magic of Tina’s own dagger. Tina gritted her teeth, remembering the way Ray had turned to ash beneath her dagger blade, and she couldn’t let that happen to her men, too.
“Don’t let that blade touch you!” she shouted to the princes crowding around Cora. Draven, Zane, and Anthony nodded curtly, none of them taking their eyes off Cora as they sized up their enemy.
In unison, Draven and Zane lifted their handguns, aiming them at Cora. Instead of fear, the woman smirked, a twinkle of delight in her eyes as she faced off with three powerful soldiers with nothing but a staff, a sword, and a dagger. Draven opened fire, and to Tina’s horror, Cora’s sword seemed to move on its own, repositioning itself until it protected her and deflected the bullet, sending it ricocheting off the walls until it landed hard in the wooden shutters covering one of the windows.
“All right,” Draven muttered, putting the gun back in its holster and unsheathing his sword. “Plan B.”
With the god staff in one hand and the glimmering magical sword in the other, Cora slowly circled the three princes, her deadly gaze shifting between them as she waited for one to strike.
Tina ran to her injured men as Draven, Anthony, and Zane led the fight temporarily against Cora. Killian shook his head, wincing as he tried to stand, and Flynn grimaced as he slowly sat up. They both looked as if their worlds were spinning, and she wished she could heal them. “What the hell did she do to you?”
“That’s the plague staff,” Flynn said, his speech slurring as he tenderly touched his temples. “If that energy hits you, it disables you, making you ill. It’s a weapon of pestilence and famine.” He set his head in his hands, clearly trying to shake the wooziness.
“God, I hate that woman.” Tina wrinkled her nose, glaring daggers at Cora as she fought off a blow from Draven’s sword.
“Take this,” Killian said, teetering a little from the sheer impact of the fall. He handed her a little black earpiece. “It was Anthony’s, and you need to listen in, guide Amy where you can.”
“Okay.” Tina shoved it in her ear, more interested in moving on in the conversation and seeing how she could help him. “Killian, are you all right?”
“Fine, just dazed.” He looked back up at the stairs, at the twenty feet or so he’d fallen and shook his head as if trying to clear the pain. “Flynn looks a little worse off than me.”
“Flynn, honey,” Tina leaned over her demigod, who looked pale and as though he were going to vomit, the sword Odin had given him nearly falling out of its sheath at his waist. “Breathe.”
“I’m fine.” He shook out his hands and glared at Cora.
Tina had to admit, Cora was deadly. Though the woman had seemed demure and weak when they’d first met, Tina was quickly proven wrong as she watched the woman wield the god weapons with ease. Whatever powers her family had stolen from the gods, even after all these years, seemed to give her incredible strength, speed, and stamina. Though she gritted her teeth, grunting with effort at every blow, she didn’t give a single inch. Despite the princes’ advanced skill, not one of them landed a blow.
In the vast, empty room, Anthony constantly charged her, always a second too late as she whacked him hard against the face with the staff. He growled each time, the sparks of electricity sometimes shooting across his fur as he bared his teeth at her. Zane had shifted, and his powerfully strong white tiger swiped at Cora, roaring fiercely Draven fought in beautiful and seamless tandem to the others, striking at her as Zane and Anthony paced or geared up for a follow-up attack.
Zane snapped at her face. Whack. She hit him hard on the neck with the staff, sparks snapping across his fur as she whirled effortlessly around and blocked a blow from Draven’s sword with her own. With a graceful twist of her arm, she deflected his blade to the floor as she lifted the staff again to counter a blow from Anthony. Time and time again, she defended against the three princes, slowly wearing them down.
Cora slammed the staff against the ground again, but Draven ducked the golden ring, and Anthony pulled Zane out of the way at the last second. Cora frowned with disappointment and pressed on, no doubt determined to kill them all. Killian and Flynn forced themselves to their feet, staggering a little as they went to join the brotherhood’s battle against Cora.
Flynn unsheathed Gram and bringing the blade hard down on Cora’s sword. The resounding clang was ear-shattering, so jarring that Tina winced and gritted her teeth at the abrasive sound, and for the first time that day, Cora began to look scared.
Still, Flynn’s one god weapon against Cora’s three hardly made for a matched fight, and he didn’t seem able to make the blade glimmer and gleam with deadly power like she could.
It wasn’t enough. Only Tina and Damara together could stop this once and for all.
“Zane,” Amy said breathlessly over the earpiece. “Zane, dude, someone’s kicking me out of the Stronghold’s security system.” The sound of her fingers on the keyboard filtered through the headset. “Yeah, I’m definitely getting booted. What do I do?”
“He’s a little busy,” Tina said.
“Oh, Tina, thank goodness,” Amy said breathlessly. “I’m so glad you’re not dead!”
“Likewise,” Tina admitted.
“What do I do?” Amy pressed on, their reunion over. “He said I have to keep this connection open no matter what!”
“Even if you can’t control anything, you have to keep monitoring the cameras.” Tina’s throat went dry as everything around her began to unravel. “We need to at least keep an eye on them, or we’re toast. Understand?”
“I’ll … I’ll try.” Amy sighed, clearly frustrated.
In the middle of the swirling blades, the growling, the clang of metal on metal, Cora glared at Tina with such an intense hatred that it nearly stole the breath from Tina’s lungs. Instead of faltering, Tina glared back, full of equal rage and hatred for this wo
man who had tried to take everything from her—her magic, her life, her men.
In a movement so subtle that Tina almost didn’t see it, Cora grabbed the magical dagger at her waist and threw it, aimed straight for Tina’s heart, the blade moving so fast that it was nothing but a silver blur through the air.
“Tina!” Killian screamed. He dove in front of the blade, his impenetrable body blocking the dagger at the last second, and though she expected to see it bounce harmlessly off of him, it dug deep into his shoulder.
“No!” Tina ran to him and knelt, rolling him onto his back to find the dagger embedded up to the hilt in his muscle, his surprised and pained expression ripping her apart. The blade had torn apart his shirt, and the skin around the wound was beginning to turn gray. Desperate, fearing for her eagle’s life, she grabbed the hilt and yanked it out with all her might.
Killian groaned, in deep pain, and cradled the wound with his hand, but Tina tossed the dagger on the floor and examined the skin. Blood bubbled from the wound, but the spread of the gray ash had stopped, and she let out a small sigh of relief, petting his hair, trying to soothe him through the pain. Though it was gone, he still grimaced in agony, as if he were being stabbed again and again.
“Killian’s down,” Tina said into her earpiece. “Can you get a medic to our location?”
“Damn, no, I’m sorry.” Amy’s voice was breathless and panicky. “I don’t think I can get you any help right now.” She typed away at the keyboard. “The war is in full force, and no one is even close to you guys.”
“Shit.” She knelt beside him and ripped off a bit of her dress, doing her best to put pressure on the wound.
“I’m fine,” he said through clenched teeth, sitting up as she tied off the makeshift bandage. He groaned in agony.
“You are far from fine,” she snapped. “Sit this one out. We’ve got it—”
“A warrior quits when he’s dead, Tina.” Killian stood, leaning briefly against the wall for support and grabbing his sword with his good hand. “I won’t let anyone hurt you or my brothers.” With that, he returned to the melee.
A blurry concoction of pride and concern for her eagle rooted Tina in place. Despite the fact that she was facing off with five of the strongest shifters alive, Cora seemed like she could go on forever. She moved at an impossible pace, armed with powerful artifacts that could take the princes’ lives at any moment, and Tina couldn’t let this go on for a second longer.
With one hand against the wall for balance as the fight raged on in front of her, Tina focused everything she had on the necklace blocking her from the beautiful magic in her, asking Damara to do the same. It began to smoke, the sizzling metal hot as hell on her skin and burning her, but she pushed through the pain. This had taken long enough, and she would not let Cora hurt her princes.
“Tina,” Amy said in her ear, the voice a bit distant and hazy as Tina focused on her magic. “I’ve been officially booted. All I can do now is monitor, and the king found you. Tina, he’s coming for you with an army, at least forty guys, maybe more.”
“Shit.” Tina’s heart dropped, the dread icy and cold as it swam through her body. “This just keeps getting better.”
“He’s going to kill them all, Tina,” Amy said, her voice tinged with fear. “He looks ready for murder.”
“I won’t let that—”
Two hidden doors on the far wall burst open, slamming hard against the rocky walls as soldiers poured in with King William at their forefront. He surveyed the scene, a deep scowl on his face. His eyes finally settled on Tina, and they shared a brief look, their mutual hatred for each other simmering to a boil.
Cora never once paused, using the surprise as a chance to swipe at Anthony’s neck, but the massive black wolf dodged out of the way at the last second. The princes retreated toward Tina to regroup, the five of them blocking her from the oncoming horde and the deranged woman who wanted her dead.
“This is it, gentlemen,” Flynn said softly. “Our one impossible chance to end the war.”
“I’ve always liked impossible odds,” Draven said with a chuckle and a look over his shoulder toward Tina. “They’re more exciting.”
Anthony growled, the beautiful black wolf nodding toward his father, and the meaning was clear. He would handle his father.
“Good,” Flynn said with a nod. “Zane and I will help you.”
Zane growled in agreement, his white and black tail twitching as he geared up for the fight.
Across the room, King William wordlessly shifted, his form shimmering as he allowed his massive gray wolf to take over, baring his sharp teeth at Anthony in challenge. Deep down, Tina knew this fight would end with blood and a lot of it. It was up to her and Damara, however, to ensure none of that blood belonged to her princes.
“This is it, Damara,” she said softly. “Now or never, let’s destroy this damned relic once and for all.”
40
Flynn
The battle was not going their way.
Flynn swung Gram at a wolf shifter as King William’s forces tried to funnel in through the double doors. With the blade Odin himself had given him, infused with the All Father’s magic, Flynn was able to keep the wolves at bay, pinning them in the hallway as they howled, eager to push through the growing number of corpses at the doorway. He had to keep them pinned behind this bottleneck, because if they got through, they would easily overwhelm him, Tina, and the rest of the brotherhood.
He drove his sword into a wolf’s neck, the beast whimpering as it died on his blade, the metal beginning to glimmer and glow with fearsome magic as Flynn lost himself in the rhythm of the fight. Here and there, it hummed with power, and every now and then, the blade would gleam just as it had when Odin touched it, rife with deadly power. It was inconsistent, but as he called his magic to him, it finally turned a wolf’s skin to ash as he drove the sword into the beast’s heart.
Brimming with triumph, Flynn turned his head briefly to survey the room behind him, checking on the others.
To his rear, Zane ran containment, the massive tiger driving back and killing most of the wolves that managed to get by Flynn. A few had evaded him, but Zane had to focus on the primary threat, which was helping Flynn keep the rising tide of soldiers at bay.
The two of them worked in perfect tandem, brothers in arms guarding the bottleneck of wolves as Anthony and his father circled each other in the center of the room. The two giant werewolves snarled, snapping at each other, pausing before they dove for the jugular, each drawing blood.
Against the far wall, Cora resumed her attack on Tina, hardly leaving Tina a moment of peace to break the necklace. Flynn gritted his teeth in frustration, knowing the broken relic would finally push the battle back in their favor, and Cora must have known that as well. She had pulled the trident out again and was swinging it at Tina, eager to drain her magic as Killian and Draven, unable to shift due to the restrictive size of the room, continued to assault Cora with everything they had, trying to give Tina a chance to break free.
It took everything in Flynn’s body not to rush to her, to guard and protect her, to serve in his duty to guard his mate. He had lost her once, feared she was already dead, and their brief and happy reunion only fueled his desire to never again leave her side. And yet, if he left his post for even a moment, they would be overwhelmed. It was a battle that raged as much inside of him as outside, as he swung Gram, decapitating a wolf as it lunged for his neck.
With as much force as he could muster, he summoned a massive bolt of lightning and shot it into the hallway, frying several wolves unlucky enough to be caught in its way. The smell of burning fur and flesh stung his nose, but he pressed through the blood, through the sweat, through the still-rising illness from being attacked by the staff, unwilling to waver in his duty to protect his brotherhood and his woman.
The moment his and Zane’s defense failed, he and his brotherhood, his woman, and his hope for the future would die. Everything they had, everything they
had built together, it all rested on this moment and his ability to hold the wolves at bay. He pressed through, determined to give this every remaining ounce of energy he had to protect the people he loved most, even if it killed him.
The room was a chaotic whirlwind, and Flynn was no longer sure how the tide would turn. The exhausting battle raged on, and any moment now, one side would begin to waver. He merely hoped to the gods themselves that it wasn’t the brotherhood who began to fade first.
41
Anthony
Anthony and his father circled each other, two massive wolves pacing the center of the large room as they faced off in a fight to the death. He didn’t have to announce his challenge, as the wolves didn’t have nearly as many rules as the dragons, but it was clear that one of them would leave this room in a body bag.
He lunged, his enhanced speed giving him a leg up on his rival. He dug his teeth into his father’s shoulder, digging his claws into the horrible man’s fur, the match now officially begun. The rusty taste of his father’s blood filled his mouth, and the old wolf howled in pain, snarling as he wriggled free.
With Flynn and Zane blocking the hall, the corpses of the wolves beginning to pile by the exit, only three werewolves had thus far escaped through the blockade to aid his father. They circled Anthony, waiting for the order to attack. They snarled, their teeth bared menacingly, one of them lingering his gaze a little too long on Tina as she fought Cora against the wall. It pained Anthony to see his mate fighting for her life, dodging the trident, facing an impossibly powerful foe armed with some of the deadliest weapons possible. He felt he was failing in his duty to protect his mate, but if he didn’t end his father now, once and for all, he would fail her completely.
He slid against the floor, growling at the king, his claws digging into the stone floor, sparks igniting under him from the sheer force and speed of his movement. The three wolves tensed, ready to spring on him at a moment’s notice, just waiting for the sign to attack and assist their master in killing the heir to the throne.
